Need help with control logic

[acroman]

Hi y'all,
Back in the hobby after a several year hiatus, and trying to figure out something I've always dreamed of: controlling lighting intensity/ color based on delayed observations from a designated geographic location e.g. Fiji. Wouldn't it be cool to have natural storms and cloudy days on your tank to mimic nature? Delayed, because of time zones and observation schedules. It seems like the technology is there now; problem is that I'm a biologist, not a computer scientist. Anyone have any idea how to do this with an Alexa/Google smart dimmer?

 

[JohnL]

Back in the hobby after a several year hiatus

Welcome back to the hobby. Interesting idea. I have no idea how to do this.

 

[kharmaguru]

Hi y'all,
Back in the hobby after a several year hiatus, and trying to figure out something I've always dreamed of: controlling lighting intensity/ color based on delayed observations from a designated geographic location e.g. Fiji. Wouldn't it be cool to have natural storms and cloudy days on your tank to mimic nature? Delayed, because of time zones and observation schedules. It seems like the technology is there now; problem is that I'm a biologist, not a computer scientist. Anyone have any idea how to do this with an Alexa/Google smart dimmer?

Diy controllers like the Coralux storm and Storm-X controllers work with geographic location imitation, storms, clouds, etc. It's limited to PWM dimming but can be adapted to 0-10v dimming.

Coralux Storm LED Controller

There is also the Bluefish controller that does the same thing but offers a more polished appearance and phone connectivity.

Store | BLUEFISH Aquarium LED Controller

Smart dimmers are most likely triac dimmers for standard household lighting and whatever you are dimming would need to be compatible with that type. In the aquarium trade that means nothing would be, however there are LED drivers that can dim on triacs if again you want to pursue the DIY route.

 

[acroman]

I'll be playing with these, which why i was thinking standard dimmer. Pretty cool having the driver onboard, as well as the ability to dim. At that price point, it's easy enough to have a couple sets of spares, and no soldering required.

I'll take a look at the coralux and bluefish. worst case scenario, maybe run the 0-10v through a raspberry pi to control the 110v dimming?

Thanks for the help!