Looking for 10W LED Help.

[Stlouphil]

The "last" ok "most recent" part of the puzzle:

Front of the board.


Back of the board.

I soldered a jumper on the back of the board because the LDD ground coming from the project box is a single wire. (Soldered a jumper in there too.)

I didn't expect this, but the O2Surplus board fades in when power is applied, neat touch. The price was certainly right, for $17 + Shipping, I have a simple 4 channel dimmer. Right now I have left and right on separate channels, but I can always put them on a single if I need too.

Now, on to the violets....

Cool. That is the final touch. Especially for $17. is there a knob? How do you dim? Link to buy one?

 

[Poseidon]

Yes, the 4 blue boxes in the picture are pots that can be turned for each channel 1-4. On the left edge you see the 2 black wires, those are the 5v input, along the top is PWM output, and the bottom is the place that you set the brightness, using a small screwdriver.

PM O2Surplus here on RC, that is who I bought it from.

 

[Stlouphil]

Yes, the 4 blue boxes in the picture are pots that can be turned for each channel 1-4. On the left edge you see the 2 black wires, those are the 5v input, along the top is PWM output, and the bottom is the place that you set the brightness, using a small screwdriver.

PM O2Surplus here on RC, that is who I bought it from.

Any further updates on adding violets to your lighting? I still trying to decide if it's worth it or just add a few more RB.

 

[Poseidon]

Nope, I did talk a bit with Reef LED Lab, they seemed to think I could add those $29 monsters at 1000mAh. However on the site they recommend 700 mAh, which means another LDD, and board. (More fish money.)

I did however order a step down converter from e-bay that will allow me to drop the wall wart that I am using for the PWM signal. So, the LEDs will only tie up one plug instead of 2. ($7.99 free ship, including a voltage display of input and output.)

 

[Stlouphil]

Nope, I did talk a bit with Reef LED Lab, they seemed to think I could add those $29 monsters at 1000mAh. However on the site they recommend 700 mAh, which means another LDD, and board. (More fish money.)



I did however order a step down converter from e-bay that will allow me to drop the wall wart that I am using for the PWM signal. So, the LEDs will only tie up one plug instead of 2. ($7.99 free ship, including a voltage display of input and output.)

This is really a pretty cost effective up grade. Adding T5s with ballast, end caps, reflectors and bulbs would be 150 bucks. I'm running the LEDs 7 hours now and halides 6.5 with no ill effects and my SPS are finally starting to take off. New tank only 4.5 months old.

I'm thinking of adding a few whites to cycle on with the RB just to mute the blue when the halides are off. Simply for viewing.

It's worth 7.99 to eliminate the phone charger. Lol

 

[Poseidon]

This is really a pretty cost effective up grade. Adding T5s with ballast, end caps, reflectors and bulbs would be 150 bucks. I'm running the LEDs 7 hours now and halides 6.5 with no ill effects and my SPS are finally starting to take off. New tank only 4.5 months old.

I'm thinking of adding a few whites to cycle on with the RB just to mute the blue when the halides are off. Simply for viewing.

It's worth 7.99 to eliminate the phone charger. Lol

I sure thought so. My halide is on about 6.5 hours, and LED's are on from 2 to 11 I think. I am going to add about another 90 minutes to the halide eventually.

For some reason, I am battling some additional algae growth on the glass at the moment, I am sure that it had to do with additional available light.

 

[zachts]

This is really a pretty cost effective up grade. Adding T5s with ballast, end caps, reflectors and bulbs would be 150 bucks. I'm running the LEDs 7 hours now and halides 6.5 with no ill effects and my SPS are finally starting to take off. New tank only 4.5 months old.

I'm thinking of adding a few whites to cycle on with the RB just to mute the blue when the halides are off. Simply for viewing.

It's worth 7.99 to eliminate the phone charger. Lol

Been MIA for a few days or I'd have suggested it sooner, but a small amount of desoldering (removing the pull down resistor from the board) also eliminates the need for the phone charger and still allows controller dimming (just defaults to full on then instead of off then if the controller fails)

 

[zachts]

I sure thought so. My halide is on about 6.5 hours, and LED's are on from 2 to 11 I think. I am going to add about another 90 minutes to the halide eventually.

For some reason, I am battling some additional algae growth on the glass at the moment, I am sure that it had to do with additional available light.

Precisely, more light, more algea until the nutrient levels balance back out. Add an extra snail or two. It's also that much more usable light for your coral

 

[Poseidon]

Been MIA for a few days or I'd have suggested it sooner, but a small amount of desoldering (removing the pull down resistor from the board) also eliminates the need for the phone charger and still allows controller dimming (just defaults to full on then instead of off then if the controller fails)

Where does the LDD get the 5V from in that case? Right now, I have the 5v coming into the dimmer, then to the LDD.

 

[zachts]

Where does the LDD get the 5V from in that case? Right now, I have the 5v coming into the dimmer, then to the LDD.

Only necessary if you don't plan to dim the LEDs. or at least if you don't care if they go 100% if you were dimming them and the control signal to the PWM pin was disconnected.

The LDD doesn't need 5V to be full on at 100%. The board it is mounted to has a resistor that pulls the PWM pin to ground which turns off the LDD when a signal is not being provided.(a safety feature to prevent accidental baking of corals)

Your 5v to pwm dimmer to LDD pwm pin would still achieve dimming without the resistor, the LDD's default state then is ON instead of the way the board is configured now which makes the default state of the LDD OFF.

 

[Poseidon]

Got it! The way I read yor previous post, it sounded like I could have dropped the wall wart with just taking out the resistor, and still have dimming, since I added the dimmer.

 

[Poseidon]

Bringing this one back to the top as I finally got around to finishing the LED driver box. I also bought a new halide fixture, with a much better reflector in it. Here are the FINISHED pictures. LOL!


The heat sink is now only 10" in length, and yes it does get quite warm. I have added a thermal switch from Steve's LED's to the middle of the heat sink, and it has never tripped off. The quarter is there for scale.


Mounted to the side of the halide, this time I used a rubber grommet between the LED's and halide. The grommet creates an air gap to allow for better cooling, and less heat transfer from the halide to the LED.


Lights on. This is taken with a Ushio 20K bulb that was about 12 months old, it has been replaced by a Phoenix 14K, which I like a lot more. I like the Phoenix even better than the Radium to be honest. The 14K Phoenix looks just a tad more blue to me, I know the charts show otherwise. Also the LED on the left is dim because I had touched the LED with the double sticky tape on the bottom of the reflector. The LED was on when I was placing those, and it started smoking immediately. I ended up replacing that particular emitter, and ordered a spare in case I do something stupid again.


LDD's into the O2 Surplus manual PWM Dimmer. This works perfect for me, manual dimmer on LED's that are only there to enhance the color of the tank, and add a dawn/dusk effect to the halide.


E-bay special voltage dropper. This takes the 36v from the LED power supply and drops it to 5.2V which goes into the O2 Surplus dimmer.


All 3 parts hanging before getting added to the project box.


All placed in the box, you can see the voltage to the Dimmer at 5.22. I can also push a button and see the input voltage, which is 36.2.


And finally all buttoned up, looking much cleaner than having that dimmer hanging out in space.