Rapidled driver (eln-60-48P) with Apex controller?

[rhwimmers]

so wire the + on the 9v to the blue wires and - on the 9v to the white ones?

 

[Comtek]

i just went in and verified mine are the ELN60-48P
but i'm using a yellow cat5 and a blue cat5 and the wiring is different
but you allready verified 10V on both vs1 and vs2
try the 9v battery on the dimmer circuit

 

[rhwimmers]

lights right up with the battery

 

[Comtek]

trust me these work on a 0-10v signal
there has to be something in the cat 5
set all the vs ports to on as in the pic
then verify with a multimeter and if your getting 10V then everything has to be right
the 9v battery proves that they work on 0-10v (9v)

 

[rhwimmers]

I FINALLY GOT IT WORKING. Had to switch the wires around...

Orange/white (Pin1) needed to go to blues (from meanwell driver)
Orange (pin 2) goes to whites
Green (pin 5) needed to go to white
blue/white (pin 6) had to go to the blues

So pretty much the opposite of the drawing, any idea why it would be different?

 

[Comtek]

what color is your cat5 cable?
don't know why it would be backwards
but glad it's finally figured out.
the pics were made by RUSS i grabed them from the neptune systems sponsor section

 

[Comtek]

as an after thought make sure to set the pot in the drivers to the proper current depending on your leds i forgot to do mine and spent a year running mine at like 20% current and killed everything in my tank except fish due to lack of light

 

[rhwimmers]

Doh! Yeah I've had my LEDs running for about 3 months with the rapidled controller so I already did all of that. Although I thought they shipped with the setting on "high" already. I did calibrate them to whatever was recommended (blues are .89 and whites are 1.1 or something around there).
The Cat5 cable was black - but the exterior color of the cable does not matter. It definitely was a standard cat5, I am an IT guy so make cables/run wire frequently.
I did see in the guide in troubleshooting to change just swap the cables so I just gave that a shot.
Thanks so much for ALL of your help!!! Hope this thread can help some others out at some point.

 

[rhwimmers]

I created ramp up profile from 15-100 over 2 hours and it didn't look like they had a low intensity. I am guessing there is a pretty large visual difference between 15% and 100%?

 

[hllywd]

That was the point of my earlier post concerning 15% being much too bright for moonlight use... even with only the blues lit. In my setup there is a very large visual, and measured PAR differential between 15% and my max setting which IIRC is 80%.

 

[Crazy4Tangs]

I have my ELN-60-48P drivers on an Apex as well and I'm trying to get them dimming properly. I have my V1, V2, V3, and V4 ports all wired properly but I can't seem to get them to dim.

 

[rhwimmers]

still having issues? have a diagram or anything?

 

[Whitelight]

Each VSP whether included in the full version Apex, or the add on for the Lite version controls 2 channels of 0 - 10VDC output. The 0 - 10VDC may be used to control Tunzes, brighten/dim compatible lighting, or something else that requires an analog 0 - 10VDC variable signal.Tim

So, does this mean that if I want to build a DIY LED set and control blues, whites and 'other colors' independently, that I'll need more than the 2 channels provided in the full Apex? And controlling Tunze powerheads will require more channels as well? Would you have to buy a VDM add-on in addition to the two channels provided? Seems to get pretty pricey on top of the $500 full apex cost.

 

[garbled]

An Apex VDM should run 4 channels, it has 2 channels per rj45 port. But yes, more than 4, and you need another VDM.

 

[Crazy4Tangs]

still having issues? have a diagram or anything?

No, not really. I managed to get them to dim, but the PVM signal won't go below 20% so I'll likely be switching out the drivers in the future for the D model. The only issue that I've run into since then was when a "cloud" came through the other day, my royal blues got stuck at the starting intensity level of my RampUp profile. I could change the minimum value and change the intensity, but the controller would not change it automatically. I simply switched ports for the royal blues and put the "problem" on my warm whites. I sort of got around it by changing my code to include a time between ramp profiles that simply turns them ON at full intensity.

 

[M28cruiser]

Glad someone directed me to this thread. I was going to order 4 new drivers because I thought the P drivers do not work with the Apex system that I m ordering.

Thanks for the info

 

[Frank@wall]

I just sent back my P drivers today to Rapid LED because they told me I need the D's

 

[Frank@wall]

will the blues and whites work independently through the Apex even though its wired in the same RJ-45 and VS Port?

 

[Crazy4Tangs]

No. In order to have independent control over the colors, you need to connect them to separate VS ports.

 

[rhwimmers]

However each RJ45 port has 2 connections, so you can do a total of 4 independent "controls" with the full apex... I think port 1+2 are one connection, then 4+5 are another. So one RJ45 can do white and blue. If you need more than that you can buy another module.