My Neptune Apex web interface compatible DIY reef controller

[Krazie4Acans]

I don't have 5.1's so someone else will have to answer that. I'm running two different setups. the first is Lumia 5.2's and the second if Radion G3 pucks on my own fixture. They are both giving me great results.

I'm running the two 1.5a channels at 1a instead of 1.5. If you go with a driver board that will work with the LDD-L series then you can get the 1.5a LDD-L drivers if you want to drive them that hard.

 

[d0ughb0y]

Looks like I will have to just program this without testing and just let users test this.

powergate cancelled my meanwell ldd order because they are out of stock and won't be in stock till january. resellers must be buying up all the inventory and reselling them at a high price.

regarding ramp, I think I'll set it up as a user defined function, with default using sine function. To define the ramp function, you can simply specify values in an array, similar to the custom waveform function for the jebao pump control now.

 

[Krazie4Acans]

Onlinecomponents has them instock and was a bit cheaper for me. Check them out.

 

[d0ughb0y]

I have and it costs more for me due to minimum order requirement.

I'm also thinking of replacing the apex info section at the bottom of the web page to an alerts/alarm section. The number of alert source has been increasing. sensors, ato, doser, pwm fan. the apex info does not really apply to the chauvet controller anyway and was carried over from the apex version of the htm/javascript code.

 

[Krazie4Acans]

Mouser had them as well with no minimum and they ship quick.

 

[d0ughb0y]

they are out of stock as of now. I know they had them in stock last week.

I think I can manage coding this without testing on actual led. The only critical part is to get the right pwm signal out.

 

[SorsCode]

d0ughb0y -

Let me know and I can test. I have a test station all setup.

 

[Guy1980]

I'll be ready to test in the next few days too. Just trying to mount it all ready for full testing. Got the same pwm board too

 

[StillLearning06]

Ive got a little problem, I've added a second ph stamp (both are ph. V5.0). How and what do I need to change in the serial event handlers so when I calibrate my second pH stamp so that It doesn't affect my first pH stamp?

I tried calibrating the CalRX probe and it changed the values on pH probe 1.

 

[StillLearning06]

Also does anyone know where to get a cheaper electrical conductivity probe and stamp? Not really cost effective to spend almost $200 for the kit.

 

[rott]

sparkfun has it for $149 at least it is a little cheaper

 

[d0ughb0y]

Ive got a little problem, I've added a second ph stamp (both are ph. V5.0). How and what do I need to change in the serial event handlers so when I calibrate my second pH stamp so that It doesn't affect my first pH stamp?

I tried calibrating the CalRX probe and it changed the values on pH probe 1.

this should not be the case with the latest code. (latest code does not use serial event).

however, for now, I suggest you calibrate the probes using the atlas sketch for the ph stamp. then reload the chauvet code after calibration.

you can get conductivity kit from sparkfun. They have 5 left.
I noticed the conductivity affects the ph reading, so you must place them as far away from each other as possible. I think the atlas page mentions this. I'm going to put one probe in the sump and one in the overflow.

 

[d0ughb0y]

I found ldds on ebay, but still figuring out which one to get.

Will running LED at 500ma @100% result in the same lifespan as running at 700ma@70% duty cycle? They both will total approx 90 watts.

 

[Krazie4Acans]

I found ldds on ebay, but still figuring out which one to get.

Will running LED at 500ma @100% result in the same lifespan as running at 700ma@70% duty cycle? They both will total approx 90 watts.

It depends on the rated forward current on the LEDs. If they are rated for 1.0a and you are asking about running them at either 500ma or 700ma then that is different than if they are rated at 700ma and you are asking. In the first scenario running a 1.0a LED at 700ma would give you a bit longer life out of the LED but when the difference is 5-7 years at 1.0a and 5.1-7.3 years at 700ma does it really matter? Also running an LED below it's rated current does have a slight effect on the output color spectrum of the LED which may or may not effect the color you want. So keep that in mind. I prefer running them at the rated current and just dimming them as if gives more flexibility in being able to get full brightness if I need it. Krazie :jester:

 

[d0ughb0y]

thanks. This is for the lumia 5.1 rated at 700ma.
I'll go ahead and get the 700ma ldd on ebay.

are you running lumia 5.2 white and rb channel at 1a or 1.5a?

 

[Krazie4Acans]

I'm currently running them at 1a but the LDD is socketed incase MeanWell decides to make a 1.5a LDD-H model. If they do then I can just swap out the LDD and run them a bit dimmer.

 

[formula409]

Can i please appeal to you to use an Arduino nano etc instead of a PCA chip, you could buy almost 6 tiny Arduino's for the price of the PCA off eBay and it means the fan control and temp can be on the same chip!

5ch pwm + 1ch pwm for fans and one analogue for onewire temp

And it means you could use one of O2's 5ch controllers with onboard 328p as a slave of your controller!

It means less wires! and if someone really needed channels you could use it with another mega

 

[d0ughb0y]

I may do that. I actually have a bunch of pro-minis, which is even cheaper than the nano. In reality I think most typical user will only need 6 pwm lines.

do you know if the 5ch controller with on board 328 has the i2c lines exposed? if so, I can probably just write a program from scratch to load on that board and use i2c to connect to the controller.

 

[Guy1980]

I'm running one of @o2surplus 'smartycat' boards currently with 6 channels and a 328. It has i2c enabled from it so that should work if he has included it in all his boards. I'm gonna keep mine as an all in one backup so if anything goes wrong with the hardware on this build or for testing, I can swap it back out and keep the led's going. Once your build and components list is complete o2 may even be persuaded to design a shield with everything on it, he is an eagle aholic after all

 

[d0ughb0y]

is there a link to the circuit?