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Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Thu Oct 24, 2013 8:38 am
by rimai
Yes, please let us know how it goes and how you connected everything together as this is most likely going to help someone else in the future.

Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 8:30 am
by Dctrojan
Okay everyone the LED drivers I bought from rapidleds dim my LEDS! :) I hooked up everything this morning and It seems to be working great so far. All i had to do is cut the old 36V transformers from the line and i replaced it with the meanwell Drivers. I only bought 2 drivers to test before i committed to buying 4 of the drivers, I only hooked up the whites to the drivers. here's a link to the lights and drivers i used.

Ill post a picture and a video of the fixtures once I get the other drivers.

http://www.rapidled.com/mean-well-eln-6 ... le-driver/

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aquarium-LED-Li ... 0915148718

Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 8:46 am
by Sacohen
Great to hear.
What size tank do you have?
I think you said you have 2 light modules.

Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 9:13 am
by lnevo
Very cool. I like the dimensions on these...

Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 9:50 am
by Sacohen
What are the actual dimensions.
According to some spec I found on Alibaba.com 300x260x60mm which equals 11.811 x 10.2362 x 2.3622.

Does that sound about right?
I'm trying to see how many I would need for a 55 gallon tank. 48" long 12" Wide 21" Deep.

I'm thinking 2.

2 of these and 4 drivers is just over $400 including shipping on the drivers.

Not a bad price.

Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 9:58 am
by Dctrojan
That is exactly what i have a 55 gallon and I have 2 fixtures. they seem to grow everything I have: and are pretty powerful atleast in my noobie opinion. I have to acclimate my corals at a certain depth for awhile before i can move them up in the tank.
Im adding a actinic strip from rapid leds as soon as I replenish some funds. I want a more 2:1 ratio of B:W

My tank has been running with these lights for 8 weeks approx and my open brain has atleast doubled in size since then, however I do spot feed once a week.

Im by no means saying these lights will work for everyone, I took a noob chance and ordered the cheaper fixtures from ebay and so far they have worked fine, Im not sure what kinda longevity I will get out of these. They have no fans but the transformer/driver is outside the fixture so it doesnt contribute to the overall heat inside the canopy. I plan to add some fans to my canopy soon to help keep the fixture cool. Im sure if you have a open top the LEDS shouldnt need a fan or two.
Sacohen wrote:What are the actual dimensions.
According to some spec I found on Alibaba.com 300x260x60mm which equals 11.811 x 10.2362 x 2.3622.

Does that sound about right?
I'm trying to see how many I would need for a 55 gallon tank. 48" long 12" Wide 21" Deep.

I'm thinking 2.

2 of these and 4 drivers is just over $400 including shipping on the drivers.

Not a bad price.

Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 10:09 am
by Sacohen
Yeah. Right now I have no canopy and just 1/4" mesh screen over the tank.

I have to build up some funds. I just spent a bunch on a Jebao DC 6000 pump and a RO/DI unit.

I've looked at lots of options and short of a DIY setup this is the least expensive I can come up with that meets my needs.

As far as longevity, I took a chance on the Jebao WP-40 and 25 so I'm willing to gamble a bit.

If you have a standard 55 there is a bar in the middle of it, so I guess you have 1 fixture on each side.

Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 10:40 am
by Dctrojan
Sacohen wrote:Yeah. Right now I have no canopy and just 1/4" mesh screen over the tank.

I have to build up some funds. I just spent a bunch on a Jebao DC 6000 pump and a RO/DI unit.

I've looked at lots of options and short of a DIY setup this is the least expensive I can come up with that meets my needs.

As far as longevity, I took a chance on the Jebao WP-40 and 25 so I'm willing to gamble a bit.

If you have a standard 55 there is a bar in the middle of it, so I guess you have 1 fixture on each side.
Yes exactly I have one on each side. the Jebao wp-40 Is definitely my next upgrade.

Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 11:16 am
by Sacohen
Thanks. There have been some reported problems with the Jebao pumps, but they are few.
I've had not problems with my 40 and 25. I hope my DC-6000 is just as good.

There is a group buy on Reef2Reef for the Jebao.
The last day to order and pay is Nov 1.

http://www.reef2reef.com/forums/richmon ... p-buy.html

Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 2:53 pm
by Dctrojan
Dang those jebao are super cool. Thanks for the heads up . Im not a member of the forum so ill have to register and possible jump in on the group buy.

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Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 5:00 pm
by Sacohen
No Problem. Like to pass on the info.

Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 9:33 pm
by Dctrojan
Sacohen wrote:Thanks. There have been some reported problems with the Jebao pumps, but they are few.
I've had not problems with my 40 and 25. I hope my DC-6000 is just as good.

There is a group buy on Reef2Reef for the Jebao.
The last day to order and pay is Nov 1.

http://www.reef2reef.com/forums/richmon ... p-buy.html
What size are you using in your 55 gallon jebao?

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Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2013 5:57 am
by Sacohen
I'm using a WP-40 and 25 controlled by the Reef Angel in Anti-Sync.
There is custom code in my INO that lnevo created for paultruner911 and helped me incorporate into my code to randomly change the mode of the DC pump every day or on reboot of the controller.

Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2013 5:33 pm
by Dctrojan
Ive got 2 other circulation pumps a small 500 and a 700 gph. I would have way too much current. I think I may get the bigger one and try it out. What do you mean DC pump? Is that the return pump?

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Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2013 6:08 pm
by Sacohen
The DCPump class is code that was set up to handle any of the pumps like the Jebao that run off DC power instead of 110V AC power.

It applies to the return pumps or the WP pumps.

I just saw that you got in on the Group Buy on Reef2Reef and got a WP-40 and a DC6000.
Congratulations.

Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2013 7:44 pm
by Dctrojan
Sure did. I swear , this is a addiction . Now all ive got to get is the two other drivers and ill be set. Sounds like we will be running a similar setup maybe, maybe we can help each other with the codes

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Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2013 5:50 am
by Sacohen
Sure. Not a problem. I keep my code updated in the PDE/INO section & there is a link in ny sig.

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Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2013 3:04 pm
by Sacohen
Dctrojan; I just wanted to see how you are liking the light still?

The only thing I noticed about them when I looked at them on Ebay is there is no reds, pretty much just blue, whit and a little green.

Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2013 5:14 pm
by KRavEN
So I did more testing Sunday with the other header on the power supply with 12v, gnd, and dim but had no success getting it to do anything via pwm. I traced out some things on the driver board and there are some un-populated components along the path so I believe this is why it won't work. I'm going to just use an i2c dual channel digital potentiometer to do the dimming.

Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2013 5:36 pm
by lnevo
Can you explain this option? Do you have a part already that does this or is this something that needs to be built?

Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2013 7:13 pm
by KRavEN
Was thinking the AD5282 would work fine. i2c is pretty easy: gnd, 5v, sda, scl come from the RA i2c bus. Stiffening cap on AD5282 vcc line. Hook up the dim+ and dim- on the drivers to the appropriate resistor and wiper terminals. Then just find or write a new arduino class to control the AD5282.

Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 5:39 am
by lnevo
Wow, sounds like a great solution.

Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 6:20 am
by lnevo
How would you control multiple fixtures? I'm guessing you'd need a few of those and give each one their own address? Ir would you be able to wire multiple pots to each channel?

Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 10:22 am
by Dctrojan
Sacohen wrote:Dctrojan; I just wanted to see how you are liking the light still?

The only thing I noticed about them when I looked at them on Ebay is there is no reds, pretty much just blue, whit and a little green.
Im still liking them they work great . Everything in my tank is growing like crazy. Im still wanting to add a actinic strip of royal blues to the system eventually. I also thought about adding a red or two as well.
I havent been able to do much research on the red leds yet and if I truly would need them.


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Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 10:30 am
by Sacohen
Thanks I was thinking of adding 1 4' strip from Buildmyled.com of their 14000K lighting.

You just have the Meanwell drivers connected to the lights and you are getting dimming control, correct?

I keep see these post from KRavEN that looks like he is doing something much more elaborate.

Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 10:51 am
by Dctrojan
Yup mines just wired in right between the wall outlet and 5he fixture. I just removed the old one power supplies and wired the meanwells in. I would take a picture but its a mess and I haven't had a chance to clean it up. The drivers dont dim all the way to 0 only to about 15 before the fixture cuts off. I tend to only run my whites up to 60% throughout the day and the blues are at 100 %

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Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 11:05 am
by Sacohen
Cool. thanks for the info. I'm still leaning towards this setup, just need to get the money together.
Every time I'm able to save some money something "important" comes up and I have to pay a stupid bill or get food for the family.

Jeeze they don't really need to eat 3 times a day every day do they???

Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 1:57 pm
by KRavEN
lnevo wrote:How would you control multiple fixtures? I'm guessing you'd need a few of those and give each one their own address? Ir would you be able to wire multiple pots to each channel?
That chip is a dual channel chip. The way my light is wired is I have 3 drivers on one pot and 3 drivers on the other. I could go with 3 of these chips and control all 6 individually but the way the led layout I don't think it's worth it. I'll just replace the 2 manual pots with the dual digital pot.

Yes, multiple fixtures multiple chips with different addresses. The address is set via pins on the chip being pulled high or low.

Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 4:54 pm
by lnevo
So this would work to replace any manual dimmer then?

Re: Chinese made LED diy

Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 6:02 am
by KRavEN
Should. I still need to get one and try it out.