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Unread 08/27/2018, 03:31 PM   #51
kjonulak
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sisterlimonpot View Post
Meh,

If it's possible, it would be well within your wheelhouse to program. sending you a PM.
Sent you a PM...


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Unread 09/04/2018, 01:20 PM   #52
kjonulak
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Success!

So this past Saturday Jimmy (Sisterlimonpot) came by my place with his Apex unit, an oscilloscope and a bunch of ethernet cables. Our intent was to test the Apex variable ports V1/V2 & V3/V4 to see if they would dim and brighten my LED light. The more important aspect of this was at the 0Vdc level, which is where I've been having my issue with the Bluefish controller. We needed the Apex to go to 0Vdc so that the lights would turn off. Now as a reminder, the Bluefish with one light attached would go to 0Vdc and the LED's would glow and some channels were pulsing. With 2+ lights the Bluefish controller would not go to 0Vdc and the LED's would stay on.

In order to make the Apex variable ports to work with my lights, I needed to make an interface cable to make the pin outputslook like the Bluefish controller output, since my dimming circuit is setup to work with the Bluefish outputs. I made a set of interface cables and for some reason the female RJ-45 jacks internally were wired in a non conventional way, so that took us awhile to say the least to figure out what was what with the connectors. Once we got past that hurdle we hooked up the Apex and turned on one light to 100% and then turned it off. Which should have been 0Vdc. Well that didn't happen. The output of the Apex with just one light was hovering around 0.5Vdc. At that level the LED's are on. So the Apex was performing worse than the Bluefish controller. Not good.

So I hooked up the Apollo Reef controller to show Jimmy how that controller works. Now as a reminder that controller will dim the LED's to 0Vdc with one or all 4 of the lights connected. We also hooked up the Bluefish controller to measure the output voltage. Now with the Bluefish controller still connected we decided to hook up the potentiometers to see how the output voltage looked. There was some discussion and testing on how to connect the potentiometers. After a bit of testing we connected them between DIM+ and DIM- of the MeanWell power supplies. We adjusted the resistance of one of the potentiometers and bam the LED's turned off at 0Vdc. We did the same with the other potentiometers and the other channels turned off. We turned the LED's back on full (100%) and looked at the voltage and the output voltage looked good. It was either at 10Vdc or close enough. We also tested the Apex with the potentiometers and we were able to get the output voltage to go to 0Vdc with all lights connected.

We had the solution. Now I had tested the potentiometers with the resistance set to 4.7K ohms as per the instructions from Spencer (Bluefish) but the lights did not turn off. What we found when we measured the resistance of the potentiometers where the lights did turn off was that we were at 1K ohms or less. The potentiometers we were using are 100K ohm potentiometers with a single turn, so the adjustment was really tight. What I really need is a potentiometer that is rated for 1.5K ohms and has 5 or 10 turns to go from 0 ohms to it's maximum rating. The closest I could find was a 10 turn 2.2K ohm potentiometer. I need one for each color channel, so I ordered 6 of them. I should have them late next week.

I am going to make a setup like what you see in the picture below. The unit in the picture I made years ago to test the MeanWell power supplies. Since the supplies will dim and brighten also based on resistance levels (0-100K ohms) I would use it to make sure the different channels were working correctly.

The unit I make will look very similar and the outputs will plug into my light fixture and I can then adjust the resistance on each color channel to get the lights to turn off.

Now I have a choice of either using the Apex or Bluefish controller. Both have their Pros and Cons. I will most likely go with the Bluefish controller for now since it does have more steps when it comes to ramping the LED's up or down, but it is good to know that the Apex will work with my setup.

A BIG Thanks to Jimmy for driving an hour each way to my place and spending his Saturday afternoon helping solve the issue.


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Unread 10/07/2018, 11:32 AM   #53
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Dimming to OFF Box Finished

So I thought I would give a couple of updates on my DIY LED build.

The dimming to off box is finished. Now this box is needed to help pull the the power levels down in order to allow the LED's to turn off or get as close to off. I used 6 - 0 ohm to 2.2K ohm, 10 turn potentiometers. One for each light channel. The UV and Red LED's are still a bit brighter than expected and they are pulsing a bit, so I need to play with the dimming to off box a little more to see if I can get them to dim a bit more. With the way they are it is not a deal breaker. I can raise the power levels to 3-4% to keep them from pulsing. I was also planning on using a Wemo timer to turn off all the LED power supplies at night anyway, so it will work. In testing the Bluefish controller with the sunrise and sunset features, I am pleased with the results.

Here are the pictures of the box. The left RJ-45 connector plugs into the UV, Blue/Royal Blue and Cool White power supplies. The right RJ-45 connector plugs into the Warm White, Red and Green power supplies.


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Unread 10/07/2018, 12:57 PM   #54
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LED's/Heatsinks Mounted Over 250 Gallon Tank

So I have the LED's/Heatsinks mounted over the tank. I had 4 cable hanging kits in my box of spare parts. One of them was different vs the others, so I used that one to hang the Center Rear light. It hangs about 5” lower vs the other 3 lights, but I think that will be fine.

I recently watched the BRS/WWC videos showing WWC's 2 - SPS dominate tanks and their 1 mixed reef tank. If you haven't watched them, I think it is worth taking the time to watch them. Now based on their data, they hang their LED lights higher up over the tanks and their maximum PAR levels which are pretty consistent across the tanks is only around 350 PAR. So a really high PAR level as per their data is not required. They are running the Radion Gen4 Pro’s over their tanks using a modified AB+ schedule. I was thinking I could run a similar schedule over my tank.

So I decided to hang my lights as high up as possible. The Left, Right and Center Front lights are 19" above the water level and the Center Rear light is 14" above the water, because of the different hanging cable.

I do have a PAR meter, and in measuring the PAR levels at about 70% of full power. I was over 700 PAR just below the water’s surface and I was measuring over 600 PAR almost at the middle bottom of the tank. I also was seeing a 500+ PAR pretty consistent across the tank. My wife’s comment was the tank was hurting her eyes. With the rocks and sand being white, the amount of reflectance was high. I would imagine that I could get 900+ or even 1000 PAR if I have all the channels set to 100%. I will have to test that out one day.

I still need to add the light shields and diffusers, so I will need to up the power some once they are added. I don’t think I will have an issue raising the power levels.

Overall I’m really pleased with how the lights came out. Pictures don’t really show how the tank really looks. I do have consistent light throughout the tank, which is what I was shooting for. With the addition of the diffusers, I should get rid of the multicolor shimmer and have a more blended shimmer. I will post additional updates once I get the light shields and diffusers added.

I will have to post the pictures in a couple of extra posts since 5 pictures are the limit per post.


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Unread 10/07/2018, 01:04 PM   #55
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LED Lenses

So here are some images of the LED Lenses. There is a lens holder that snaps into the LED mount and the lens snaps into the lens holder. There are different types of lens available. I am using the 80 degree lenses. Light coming off the LED's is usually around 120 degrees. These lenses tighten the angle to 80 degrees. I find using these lenses I can get a tighter beam. The down side is if you don't have enough LED's then you can get spotting. Adding more LED's and raising them higher up over the tank will eliminate that. The lenses I find will also increase the PAR levels since you are tightening the beam angle.


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Unread 10/07/2018, 01:08 PM   #56
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Lights Over the Tank

Here are the lights right after I mounted them. Eventually they will be hidden behind the canopy. The black color you see behind them and the tank is a black rubber paint I put on the drywall. With the cables holding the heatsinks, I could tilt the heatsinks, but I found that leaving them level gives me a more consistent light across the tank.


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Unread 10/07/2018, 01:54 PM   #57
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LED Lights Are On!

Finally, it's been a long road to get to this point. The LED's are on. I will need to play with the settings. Once I'm done with some testing, I will be turning the lights off during the tank cycling. I put up the cardboard to represent the canopy so I can see what the tank will look like.

The rocks are just in the tank for now during the cycle. I haven't decided on how much rock I want or the layout. I have about 20lbs of LR I received from KP Aquatics back in April in my nano tank and sump on that tank. That rock will eventually make it's way to the two tanks I am cycling right now. Yes, I have a 130 gallon that is also connected with my 250 in the fish room. They share the same in floor sump pit. I am also debating on whether to get another 20-30lbs of LR from KP Aquatics.

iPhone pictures never seem to capture the "real" look of the tank.

I am working with Jimmy (Sisterlimonpot) he will be building my light shields/rails. The design will allow me to sandwich the diffuser material between to sheets of polycarbonate as part of the light shield. Once those are built I will post the info on them and how they are working over the tank. I need to get the materials and then head over to his place to get them made.


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Unread 10/07/2018, 06:02 PM   #58
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Nice work


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Unread 10/07/2018, 08:56 PM   #59
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Nice work
Thanks!


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Unread 10/08/2018, 09:42 AM   #60
drtrash
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Looks awesome, dig the aquascape, shame to go thru the early ugly phase for new system, good luck


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Unread 10/08/2018, 12:18 PM   #61
kjonulak
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Looks awesome, dig the aquascape, shame to go thru the early ugly phase for new system, good luck
Hey Mike;

Hope you are doing better.

I've been using an ATS on my temporary setup. It's been working great. I am planning on having several ATS's on the new setup. I should be installing the new ATS this weekend on the new setup. I am going to leave the lights off on both tanks during the initial cycling. My hope is that the ATS will grow the algae vs the rocks in the tanks. If not, I plan on getting a couple of sea hares. Those guys can eat through algae like there is no tomorrow. When the current ATS on the temporary setup starting growing algae, the algae in the tanks started to disappear pretty quickly. I did have a stubborn algae a Caulerpa verticillata species that was not going away. I put in a couple of sea hares and those guys ate it faster than it could grow back. Now I have a few tangs and they seem to be doing a good job at keeping the rock clean. I returned the sea hares.


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