The budget bruiser LED build... - Page 3

lingwendil · 01/16/2018, 08:52 PM

Hey, I'm in no real hurry

I'd rather it be easy to do right so I get my two perfect boards.

Still haven't had the time to fool with code yet.

MrMan · 01/17/2018, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lingwendil

Hey, I'm in no real hurry

I'd rather it be easy to do right so I get my two perfect boards.

Still haven't had the time to fool with code yet.

Sounds good, replacement was sent yesterday. I noticed a bug with the code last night where right when it finished ramping from full brightness to the sunset level the cool white channels went to full brightness before turning off. Always fun chasing down the last random bugs

MrMan · 01/18/2018, 01:21 PM

Hate waiting for parts to arrive... Threw together a design for an 8 channel driver since I can't build anything yet

Does it make sense to use a barrel connector with a header for PWM? Better to just use wire to board connectors for input voltage as well perhaps?

oreo57 · 01/18/2018, 01:47 PM

As to powering the board.. Whatever works for 8A @ 60V DC for a run of 12 feet..

16GA would probably do...

lingwendil · 01/20/2018, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrMan

Hate waiting for parts to arrive... Threw together a design for an 8 channel driver since I can't build anything yet

Does it make sense to use a barrel connector with a header for PWM? Better to just use wire to board connectors for input voltage as well perhaps?

I personally like to use 1/8" stereo headphone style jacks for PWM, but a header would work too. Could always do up a quick harness to plug into it that runs to the endcaps of the fixture, also more versatile for running things like cat6 RJ45 sockets for PWM.

For power, barrel jacks work if used in ratings, but I would want something like a screw terminal strip or Molex headers up at High currents.

oreo57 · 01/20/2018, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lingwendil

For power, barrel jacks work if used in ratings, but I would want something like a screw terminal strip or Molex headers up at High currents.

Consulting the computer geeks..
http://www.overclock.net/t/1562670/m...erage-limit/20

Quote:

The safe limit for #18 wire is about 12.5 A, then #16 is 15 A. The actual Molex connector itself is the weak point though.

I made up a testing bench for HID headlights and two 35 W ballasts pull about 6 A each form the 12 V rail on start-up then fo down to about 3.1 A each. After a couple months of on off cycles, the Molex connector turned from a semi opaque white to having brown burn marks all around it. So I would definitely stick to 11 A (132 W) on the 12 V side as the maximum current being pulled from a single cable coming out of the PSU.

MrMan · 01/21/2018, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lingwendil

I personally like to use 1/8" stereo headphone style jacks for PWM, but a header would work too. Could always do up a quick harness to plug into it that runs to the endcaps of the fixture, also more versatile for running things like cat6 RJ45 sockets for PWM.

For power, barrel jacks work if used in ratings, but I would want something like a screw terminal strip or Molex headers up at High currents.

The barrel jack used on the Wemos board is only rated for 6A I think so I'll probably change it to something like the PTSM series (same connectors used on the blue acro driver) with two pins for positive and negative. RJ45 would be nice but it's only 8 wires so you don't have enough. I'll probably just leave it as a header for signals so people can use what they want, no point trying to limit it since it's not an all-in-one type board anyway.

oreo57 · 01/21/2018, 04:14 PM

How about getting fancy and add parallel printer cable connector?

Centronics 36

Better db15..........

lingwendil · 01/22/2018, 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrMan

The barrel jack used on the Wemos board is only rated for 6A I think so I'll probably change it to something like the PTSM series (same connectors used on the blue acro driver) with two pins for positive and negative. RJ45 would be nice but it's only 8 wires so you don't have enough. I'll probably just leave it as a header for signals so people can use what they want, no point trying to limit it since it's not an all-in-one type board anyway.

Headers are very versatile, I'm happy with a header. The sky's the limit with custom harnesses

DC in via the solderless connectors that are on the BlueAcro gear would be sweet.

MrMan · 01/27/2018, 11:25 PM

Boards are done

tested all channels at full power using the wemos from my light and everything worked great! Down side is I don't really have any packing stuff at home so I'll probably have to wait till Monday to cut up some packing stuff...

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

lingwendil · 01/28/2018, 03:43 PM

Whoa!

Oh baby!

Very nice. I can't wait!

saf1 · 01/31/2018, 03:14 PM

@MrMan - looks good. Can those be mounted directly on top of a heat skink? Also, is that something you are considering making a couple extra?

MrMan · 01/31/2018, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saf1

@MrMan - looks good. Can those be mounted directly on top of a heat skink? Also, is that something you are considering making a couple extra?

They're designed to mount to the heatsink for cooling using a thermal gap pad or thermal tape. The input voltage is on the bottom side which is why there needs to be isolation but lots of options available for that.

If there's interest I have a few boards left that I could build up, but not worth building them 1 at a time due to cost

saf1 · 01/31/2018, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrMan

They're designed to mount to the heatsink for cooling using a thermal gap pad or thermal tape. The input voltage is on the bottom side which is why there needs to be isolation but lots of options available for that.

If there's interest I have a few boards left that I could build up, but not worth building them 1 at a time due to cost

Thanks for the info, appreciate it and it totally makes sense. I actually have a pair of blueacro drivers but I'm running into difficulty with soldering the PWM leads. There isn't a lot of wiggle room due to how close the holes are. His revised drivers have a connection - mine don't

So just looking at options to power my acrostars. It was pointed out to me that your driver may have them thus my question.

Regardless I'll still have to include another middle man / driver that takes the PWM signal and coverts it to Apex's. Steve's has that available although not sure how well it works.

oreo57 · 01/31/2018, 06:47 PM

So you need the 10v analog to 5V PWM converter ?
Besides Steves there are Chinese options around..
https://www.amazon.com/Dimming-Contr...8KR0R0F0PGKG18
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010LTA6J4

https://forum.neptunesystems.com/sho...0-volts-to-PWM

saf1 · 01/31/2018, 07:20 PM

@oreo57 - yes. Steves's are cheaper. I've not seen the other ones before that you linked. Thanks for the Neptune thread. I didn't see that one before. I may have another problem though with my power source. I bought a MeanWell HLG-240H-36. I didn't see any pwm leads. My smaller MeanWell's have them so I'm thinking I needed to buy something with another suffix to designate pwm...

oreo57 · 01/31/2018, 10:00 PM

Yea.. 36B.....

http://www.mouser.com/ds/2/260/HLG-240H-SPEC-805975.pdf

saf1 · 02/01/2018, 08:01 AM

Oh well...I can place an order and get it here pretty quick. Thanks for confirmation.

kampo · 03/01/2018, 06:43 PM

@lingwendil

curious if you have done any more work on your cluster. i've gotten mine up and running and been messing with i and really like it. realized today I wasn't paying attention to what Vero I hooked up and put a 3k one in it instead of the 4k I planned on my cluster. overall like it, barely run much white though.

need to figure out why a couple of my zoas are ****ed since I switched from a SBreef i was using temporarily to my light full time this past week. they only stay open part of the day.

I ended up with:

Luxeon K16 running at 1000mah
2 3up stars with Lime 2xCool Blue 2xHyperViolet 1xCyan running at 700mah
Vero 10 3k running at 300ma

these are pics of it running at 40percent Blue 100percent "color" 15percent white. messed with camera settings a bit, this is a pretty acurate look to the tank.

lingwendil · 03/03/2018, 04:28 PM

Looks good!

I haven't had much free time lately, and last I messed around with the custom controllers I was having compiler issues getting the code to work, so no updates yet. The last couple months have been very busy, unfortunately. I'll hopefully get a crack at hooking up a driver board this week.

Nice looking build you've got it seems. What controller are you using on it?

MrMan · 03/03/2018, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lingwendil

Looks good!

I haven't had much free time lately, and last I messed around with the custom controllers I was having compiler issues getting the code to work, so no updates yet. The last couple months have been very busy, unfortunately. I'll hopefully get a crack at hooking up a driver board this week.

Nice looking build you've got it seems. What controller are you using on it?

Should I order a couple Wemos's to program and send over?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

kampo · 03/03/2018, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lingwendil

Looks good!

I haven't had much free time lately, and last I messed around with the custom controllers I was having compiler issues getting the code to work, so no updates yet. The last couple months have been very busy, unfortunately. I'll hopefully get a crack at hooking up a driver board this week.

Nice looking build you've got it seems. What controller are you using on it?

I ended up punting on a fancy controller. just solderd up a TC420 like Jeffkrol posted how to do on plantedtank. needed it to work and couldn't get MrMans Blynk setup to work properly so I ended up punting, i'm sure its my error, but needed it to work since i needed to give back my temporary light i was borrowing. the only downside of the tc420 is 1% royal blue is still brighter than I would like for a moon light.

lingwendil · 03/04/2018, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrMan

Should I order a couple Wemos's to program and send over?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

I've got three of them sitting right here, but if you're offering, should would be faster the way my spare time is lol.

MrMan · 03/04/2018, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lingwendil

I've got three of them sitting right here, but if you're offering, should would be faster the way my spare time is lol.

Probably take a month to get here but yea I can do that. I'll get a couple extra to play around with too, thinking about designing a controller based on blynk, it's got pretty nice logging/graphing features that'd be good for temp/ph

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

01/16/2018, 08:52 PM	#51
lingwendil Man who sold the world Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Oakley, behind enemy lines in communist occupied California. Posts: 254	Hey, I'm in no real hurry I'd rather it be easy to do right so I get my two perfect boards. Still haven't had the time to fool with code yet. __________________ LED snob. Unapologetic Luxeon Rebel and Bridgelux Vero fanboy. Every time a fluorescent or halide fixture is scrapped, an angel gets its wings.

01/28/2018, 03:43 PM	#61
lingwendil Man who sold the world Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Oakley, behind enemy lines in communist occupied California. Posts: 254	Whoa! Oh baby! Very nice. I can't wait! __________________ LED snob. Unapologetic Luxeon Rebel and Bridgelux Vero fanboy. Every time a fluorescent or halide fixture is scrapped, an angel gets its wings.

01/31/2018, 03:14 PM	#62
saf1 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: California Posts: 2,259	@MrMan - looks good. Can those be mounted directly on top of a heat skink? Also, is that something you are considering making a couple extra? __________________ -saf1 Current Tank Info: 210 gallon mixed reef

01/31/2018, 07:20 PM	#66
saf1 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: California Posts: 2,259	@oreo57 - yes. Steves's are cheaper. I've not seen the other ones before that you linked. Thanks for the Neptune thread. I didn't see that one before. I may have another problem though with my power source. I bought a MeanWell HLG-240H-36. I didn't see any pwm leads. My smaller MeanWell's have them so I'm thinking I needed to buy something with another suffix to designate pwm... __________________ -saf1 Current Tank Info: 210 gallon mixed reef

02/01/2018, 08:01 AM	#68
saf1 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: California Posts: 2,259	Oh well...I can place an order and get it here pretty quick. Thanks for confirmation. __________________ -saf1 Current Tank Info: 210 gallon mixed reef

01/18/2018, 01:21 PM	#53
MrMan Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2017 Posts: 20	Hate waiting for parts to arrive... Threw together a design for an 8 channel driver since I can't build anything yet Does it make sense to use a barrel connector with a header for PWM? Better to just use wire to board connectors for input voltage as well perhaps?

01/18/2018, 01:47 PM	#54
oreo57 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Posts: 1,793	As to powering the board.. Whatever works for 8A @ 60V DC for a run of 12 feet.. 16GA would probably do...

01/21/2018, 04:14 PM	#58
oreo57 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Posts: 1,793	How about getting fancy and add parallel printer cable connector? Centronics 36 Better db15..........

01/27/2018, 11:25 PM	#60
MrMan Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2017 Posts: 20	Boards are done tested all channels at full power using the wemos from my light and everything worked great! Down side is I don't really have any packing stuff at home so I'll probably have to wait till Monday to cut up some packing stuff... Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

01/31/2018, 06:47 PM	#65
oreo57 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Posts: 1,793	So you need the 10v analog to 5V PWM converter ? Besides Steves there are Chinese options around.. https://www.amazon.com/Dimming-Contr...8KR0R0F0PGKG18 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010LTA6J4 https://forum.neptunesystems.com/sho...0-volts-to-PWM

01/31/2018, 10:00 PM	#67
oreo57 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Posts: 1,793	Yea.. 36B..... http://www.mouser.com/ds/2/260/HLG-240H-SPEC-805975.pdf

03/01/2018, 06:43 PM	#69
kampo Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2016 Posts: 54	@lingwendil curious if you have done any more work on your cluster. i've gotten mine up and running and been messing with i and really like it. realized today I wasn't paying attention to what Vero I hooked up and put a 3k one in it instead of the 4k I planned on my cluster. overall like it, barely run much white though. need to figure out why a couple of my zoas are ****ed since I switched from a SBreef i was using temporarily to my light full time this past week. they only stay open part of the day. I ended up with: Luxeon K16 running at 1000mah 2 3up stars with Lime 2xCool Blue 2xHyperViolet 1xCyan running at 700mah Vero 10 3k running at 300ma these are pics of it running at 40percent Blue 100percent "color" 15percent white. messed with camera settings a bit, this is a pretty acurate look to the tank.

03/03/2018, 04:28 PM	#70
lingwendil Man who sold the world Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Oakley, behind enemy lines in communist occupied California. Posts: 254	Looks good! I haven't had much free time lately, and last I messed around with the custom controllers I was having compiler issues getting the code to work, so no updates yet. The last couple months have been very busy, unfortunately. I'll hopefully get a crack at hooking up a driver board this week. Nice looking build you've got it seems. What controller are you using on it? __________________ LED snob. Unapologetic Luxeon Rebel and Bridgelux Vero fanboy. Every time a fluorescent or halide fixture is scrapped, an angel gets its wings.