aquastyle online diy led's

ryanmell · Post by **ryanmell** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 8:42 pm

anyone using the reefangel with a aquastyle diy led kit? does sunset/sunrise work well?

Thanks

Sebyte · Post by **Sebyte** » Sun Feb 26, 2012 11:01 am

Hi,

Just taken a look at their site as I will be building my own LED System. I am looking at the 72 LED package, great value by the looks!

I noticed that with all their kits you have a choice of drivers, Maxwllen or Meanwell. I do know that Meanwell dimable drivers work ok with RA if that is any help. Not sure about the Maxwellen. Should I buy their kit I will get the Meanwell drivers.

If you decide to go that route please feel free to PM me on how things work out.

abhi_123 · Post by **abhi_123** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 11:23 am

i am also planning to buy 72 led dimmable kit. from the research i made the meanwell drivers they are offering with the kit will work on both pwm & analog version.

Sebyte · Post by **Sebyte** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 12:52 pm

I have just gone live today with their kit, and all is looking good!

The order took nine days from Hong Kong to Toronto. Which I thought was very good. I had exchanged a few emails with their contact Ray, who was very helpfull on advising how manyLEDs to use.

I have a Red Sea Max 250 (65 gal.) and have replaced 240 watts of VHO T5 with my DIY 56 x 3w Bridgelux LEDs on two 15x4.5" heat sinks in the stock hood. I have used MeanWell LPF-60D-48 drivers as they work with both analog and Pwm, as well as a resistor pot, which I used for testing while building.

As I am moving soon I dont have a lot of time, so built just a two channel setup, two strings of 14 LEDs in parallel per driver. After I have moved I may rebuild using four or more channels so I can have a better mix.

At present I am running at 75% max to allow the stock to acclimatize to the change of light.

Only running sun rise sunset at the moment, not sure if it is worth doing cloud effect on two channels. If anyone has done so I would like to hear comments, and also code used.

So far a big PLUS for Aquastyle.

stevenhman · Post by **stevenhman** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 8:23 pm

Sounds great! I've tried getting some info on DIY led builds and as soon as you say that you're not going to be using the Cree LED's the flow of information stops, haha.

Sebyte · Post by **Sebyte** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 5:08 am

I have been in Electronics and IT for over 40 years, and believe I have a good understanding of the component issues.

Cree's are the top end with top price, the Rolls Royce of LEDs. Yes Cree's give out according to their spec sheets a higher performance than Bridgelux. But unless you have high level test equipment the differences are minimal related to the cost advantage of Bridgelux.

MPO is that there is a lot of hype, and some people have been swept along with the tide for lack of basic understanding. no flames please

I added and extra 8 LEDs more than what I would have used with Cree's. At $2.00 per led it cost only just over the price of one Cree. Ok the power usage is a little bit higher with Bridgelux, but in the over all cost of the hobby it is nothing. I am still making a huge saving in energy over the 240 watts of T5 VHO I was using.

I cannot afford a Rolls Royce, but I can afford a Mercedes Benz

abhi_123 · Post by **abhi_123** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 6:00 am

Sebyte wrote:I have been in Electronics and IT for over 40 years, and believe I have a good understanding of the component issues.

Cree's are the top end with top price, the Rolls Royce of LEDs. Yes Cree's give out according to their spec sheets a higher performance than Bridgelux. But unless you have high level test equipment the differences are minimal related to the cost advantage of Bridgelux.

MPO is that there is a lot of hype, and some people have been swept along with the tide for lack of basic understanding. no flames please

I added and extra 8 LEDs more than what I would have used with Cree's. At $2.00 per led it cost only just over the price of one Cree. Ok the power usage is a little bit higher with Bridgelux, but in the over all cost of the hobby it is nothing. I am still making a huge saving in energy over the 240 watts of T5 VHO I was using.

I cannot afford a Rolls Royce, but I can afford a Mercedes Benz

+1. I think corals are still not that smart to differenciate between cree & bridgelux leds

symon_say · Post by **symon_say** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 4:48 am

I have then to and everything in my tank is doing fine, by the way, have any one control the maxwellen drivers??

stevenhman · Post by **stevenhman** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 12:29 pm

Thanks for the additional boost to my confidence in the Bridgelux LED's Steve!

I just got mine this morning in the mail, very fast shipping. I ordered 50 (I'm only using 48) and they included 2 extra LED's and a LED tester.

Sebyte · Post by **Sebyte** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 1:29 pm

In your other post you say that you have : 2 x Meanwell ELN-60-48p. I went for the LPF version as they don't have the internal pot and are self adjusting, also they work with analogue and PWM. For the extra $10 I thought they were a better choice.

stevenhman · Post by **stevenhman** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 1:37 pm

Ah, well... I already have ordered the drivers otherwise I would have no problem going with your advice. I hadn't even heard of the LPF series.

symon_say · Post by **symon_say** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 6:02 pm

Anyone have try to control the maxwellen drivers that come with this kit to??

Sebyte · Post by **Sebyte** » Wed Apr 11, 2012 4:53 am

When I was planning my LED system I looked around for info on the maxwellen drivers, there seems to be very little.

What I did pick up was that compared to the MeanWell's they are noise and run hot. Also the are not UL (Underwriter) certified, for what that is worth!

The reason I did not go with them was that they can only be controlled by a variable resistor (potentiometer), because their control circuit produces the voltage as opposed to the MeanWell drivers that require either an external voltage of PWM signal, so were not compatible as far as I was concerned with the Reef Angel. (unless someone has got them to work, if so please post how)

Also they cannot be turned down to 0% and require a relay to turn them fully off.

I went with the MeanWell LPF series because they have a self sensing circuit that detects if a Pot is connected or an external analog or PWM signal. In addition the MeanWell LPF series will turn the LED's dim to 3% and at 0% go into a standby mode, like a TV, and do not really need to use up valuable RA ports.

IMHO the cost saving does not out weigh the benefits of the MeanWell drivers.

symon_say · Post by **symon_say** » Sat Apr 14, 2012 4:01 pm

For the cost is much, cause the kit came with the maxwellen, and i need 6 meanwell drivers for my leds, and that's in the case i don't add any more.

I know i'll change drivers later for meanwell or something easily dimmable and better quality, but when you're setting a tank from 0, the cost off all the thing needed is a lot.

I have spend a lot of money and still need a lot more, the beauty of the hobby, but i'm really happy for now, i have a friend how build his drivers and have a lot of features and things you can do, maybe later i try that cause the cost is less than the meanwell.

Sebyte · Post by **Sebyte** » Sat Apr 14, 2012 4:17 pm

For the cost is much, cause the kit came with the maxwellen, and i need 6 meanwell drivers for my leds, and that's in the case i don't add any more.

If you need six meanwell drivers how many LEDs are you using per driver?

If you are just stringing the LEDs in series you are not getting the best from the unit. You will find that by using strings of series LEDs in parallel you can run more per driver. I am running 28 LEDs per driver, two strings of 14 series LEDs then the two strings in parallel

symon_say · Post by **symon_say** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 8:06 pm

I have 72 LEDs, isn't that suppose to be tricky, wiring LEDs in parallel? Now i'm interested in what you're gonna tell me about this.

Sebyte · Post by **Sebyte** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 5:47 am

First, I did not buy a kit, I ordered my components individually. That is why I bought Meanwells.

Using LED's in a series parallel configuration is not tricky. Here is a circuit to show what I mean by series parralel.

: LED circuit.jpg (12.66 KiB) Viewed 9163 times

This is showing 30 LEDs on one driver. The number of LEDs used depends on the driver you are using. To understand more about LED circuits, and more, look at http://led.linear1.org/

They also have a Wizard to work out circuits for you http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz

If you are going to have 72 LEDs, I think you mean that you will have 36 white and 36 blue.

I run 28 LEDs per one MeanWell LPF-60D-48. You may need to use the MeanWell LPF-90D-48 I am not sure.

Email Ray at support@aquastyleonline.com, and tell him exactly what you want to do and he will let you know how many LEDs you can use this way on a driver. They also send a circuit diagram with your order.

Blawson · Post by **Blawson** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 12:17 pm

Doesn't running parallel reduce the performance of each led?

Sebyte · Post by **Sebyte** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 2:37 pm

My understanding is that wiring in series divides the total power supply between the LEDs. Wiring them in parallel means that each LED will receive the total voltage that the power supply is outputting.

If all LEDs were wired in Parallel on a fixed voltage, then there may well be a lower performance than if wired in series.

However we are talking about using Constant Current Drivers. If you connect strings of series wired LEDs in Parallel, then each string is supplied with the total voltage output of the driver (if it is a dimming driver then at the % of the total it is set at) and the individual LED's in each string divide the total voltage applied. As the Meanwell drivers deliver a constant current to the circuit, the driver adjusts the output voltage accordingly to maintain the current as the resistance of the circuit does not change. Unless I have OHMS law skewed

There are many references to using this type of circuit and it is a general practice in commercial built systems from what I understand. One such reference is http://reefledlights.com/wiring-diagrams/

I must confess it is a long time since I studied electronics (LEDs had not even been invented, nor had Integrated Circuits) and I am no expert on LED lighting, just an experimenter, if I have my theory wrong I stand to be corrected

symon_say · Post by **symon_say** » Thu Apr 19, 2012 4:08 pm

I talk to Ray, and he thinks that the RA cannot control the LPF drivers, but if it was not an error from you, you're using the LPF series with RA, right??

Sebyte · Post by **Sebyte** » Thu Apr 19, 2012 4:23 pm

They do work as that is what I am using

symon_say · Post by **symon_say** » Thu Apr 19, 2012 7:37 pm

Thanks I'll get 2.

Treamaya · Post by **Treamaya** » Fri Apr 20, 2012 6:43 pm

Sebyte, your OHM's law is spot on. Voltage is the same across each branch of a parallel circuit, with the amount current going down each path is determined by the resistance of that path.

Sebyte · Post by **Sebyte** » Sat Apr 21, 2012 4:58 am

I know it was a long time ago for me, but I did not think OHMS law had changed

I know this is going off subject.

But, LED's were first came to market as a practical electronic component in 1962, the year I started collage. They were not introduced to us, like the humble transistor, into our course work until my third year. Until then we were still working with Vacuum Tubes (valves), for NOR and NAND logic circuits. The space required for a simple device was BIG!

Now today we have such integration that we can have a very small and powerful device, like the Reef Angel, performing tasks that would have required a computer the size of a small house back then. It is amazing how far electronics has gone in such a short span in time, thanks to people like Roberto who have a vision and put it into practice.

Treamaya · Post by **Treamaya** » Sun Apr 22, 2012 3:51 pm

My apologies for being slightly off topic here. I am thinking of ordering an Aquatsyle LED kit for my 72 bowfront. However the website is being blocked by my Malwarebytes antivirus software. Any ideas? THis is the first website is has full out blocked me from.

Sebyte · Post by **Sebyte** » Sun Apr 22, 2012 4:55 pm

I have no idea. http://www.aquastyleonline.com/ always works ok for me. I access it from my iPad as well as PC running window 7 , Nortons Internet Security and two malware apps. As far as I am concerned the site is safe.

Just had a thought, maybe your malware is set up to block anything coming from China? I have come across software that has block on some of the eastern European countries because they are a large source for phishing sites.

Only you can decide if you want to turn your protection off.

BTW, I have no connection with Aquastyle, I have just found them a good source for parts.

abhi_123 · Post by **abhi_123** » Mon Apr 23, 2012 2:20 am

Inspired by steve i am also planning to go for them. will be having the same 56 led fixture for my tank controlled via 2 meanwell LPF Drivers as steve is using.

My doubt is that should we need separate relay port for white & blue leds or we can run two drivers with single port? will be using pwm signals for dimming via expansion module.

Sebyte · Post by **Sebyte** » Mon Apr 23, 2012 3:36 am

You can run several drivers on a port.

But you do not even need to run the drivers through a port

Use this, instead of the PWMSlope() function, I use PWMParabola()

Code: Select all

CODE: SELECT ALL
PWMParabola(9,0,21,0,15,75,0);

Parabola starts at 9:00am, ends at 9:00pm.
Instensity grows from 15 to 75 and back down to 15.
Returns 0 when not within the time schedule.

The 0 at the end of the function forces the Driver to switch off. With Meanwell drivers they go into a hibernation state consuming very low power. My understanding is that Meanwell recommend not turning the drivers off as they respond better from that state when the command signel is ramped up.

abhi_123 · Post by **abhi_123** » Mon Apr 23, 2012 4:28 am

Thanks Steve for the Info.

Btw wat is the main difference between a Slope & Parabola?

If i opt for slope mode is it not possible with LPF Range of Drivers?

Sebyte · Post by **Sebyte** » Mon Apr 23, 2012 4:56 am

You can use either with the LPF drivers, in fact with any driver that can take a PWM or Analog signal.

The difference is that PWMSlope() function gives a liner % increase until it gets to max %, then a linear decrease back to start %.

PMWParabola() gives a Parabola or Bell curve over the duration that the lights are on. This is closer to the way that the sun moves across the sky, and gives a more realistic effect.

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