Evergrow/Reefbreeders LED 0-10v expansion dimming

[Sacohen]

That's basically what I wanted to know or if they made any changes that would make the mod not work.
We know it works on the D120 and the D2040. We're just guessing it should work on the 2014 model.

[lnevo]

You're kind of on you're own regardless since I've only seen 4-6 people posting about doing the same hack.. Maybe it's a bit more for people who are quiet. but yeah it's a shot in the dark. I'd say a good shot though. If you want to be 100% sure then go with the RR fixture from the start. Any other light is still going to be much more $$$. And if you go the ebay route, it's not like you invested that much and you still have a pair of good lights. I know it's a tough call, I struggled with it for a long time and finally dropped the dough when the price was at $120 per fixture. Now they're less than $80, I'd almost say no brainer, but this hobby eats every penny it can

[Sacohen]

You're doing it with the D2040, aren't you?

[lnevo]

Yea, I'm pretty sure that Alan's initial attempt was on a D120

[Sacohen]

I think they were too.
Got some thinking to do.

[paperdesk]

I ordered the analog version of the RA specifically so that I could control the d120's. Then, lo and behold, when I open up the d120 it says PWM instead of VDIM. Does this mean that my RA won't dim it? I went ahead and hooked it up and the lights come on but they do not dim. Does this mean I have to get the dimming expansion to make it work? I shorted pins 1 and 2 and connected the dimming leads to pins 3 and 4.

[lnevo]

When did you get your RA, there may be jumpers in the relay box to change it to PWM

[paperdesk]

I bought it in August 2014!

[lnevo]

Cool. Roberto should be able to confirm.

[paperdesk]

I am also controlling a jabeo pump but if I remember right it is pwm anyway, so switching over to pwm should be fine, if it is possible!

[Sacohen]

Jebao is Analog or PWM.

[paperdesk]

Ok, that's a plus, just waiting to see if Roberto will chime in . . .

[rimai]

Yeap. that box should have it.

[paperdesk]

Thanks! I'll try that tonight!

[paperdesk]

Is there a diagram that shows what to jumper?

[paperdesk]

I found the eagle files, so all I need to know are what pins to jumper to change form analog
to pwm.

[rimai]

If you open the relay box, you will see the jumpers. It's mislabelled though.
It will show that you Analog/PWM when its in fact the reverse. It should read PWM/Analog.

[paperdesk]

oK, thanks! i'll check it out. I thought the jumpers were in the head unit and I didn't make sense of any of the labels in there!

[paperdesk]

All is working well. They even dim down to about 6%. Then they go almost off but still on just enough to see if looking at them directly but not enough to light anything. I wasn't sure if this was bad for the drivers. Any thoughts? On a whole I'm very happy and surprised they dim so low!

[paperdesk]

clarification, even when dimmed to 0% they still remain on as described above. I have a wall timer shut off power since I wasn't sure if that was OK.

[lnevo]

That's correct. I didn't test at 6% but definitely noticable par difference between 5 and 10%. I believe visually you can see a change at 7% or so, so yeah.. very cool

[Sacohen]

I had the same problem with my moonlights and Roberto gave me this code.

Change it to your channel and the times you want it on and off.

Code: Select all

 if ( hour()>=13 && hour()<21 )
  ReefAngel.PWM.SetChannel( 5, 0 );
  else
  ReefAngel.PWM.SetChannel( 5, PWMSlope(21,0,13,0,0,MoonPhase() ,60,0) );

[paperdesk]

Thank you very much Steve, I'll try that code.

[paperdesk]

Hmm, code didn't work for me. I must have done something wrong. I'll discuss the details in a separate thread.

[AlanM]

Are you saying that the new D120's have PWM dimming now instead of analog pots?

paperdesk, where did you get those PWM d120s?

[paperdesk]

I got them off eBay in May. Send me a pm and I can let you know the seller.

[Sacohen]

I finally had a chance to open the Evergrow Dimmable Full Spectrum D2120 that I got off E- Bay.
I think it looks like the pots that lnevo has on his lights.







What do you guys think?

[lnevo]

Yup, i disconnected the jack and shoved wires into the jack and did all the wiring without cutting anything.

[AlanM]

I finally had a chance to open the Evergrow Dimmable Full Spectrum D2120 that I got off E- Bay.
I think it looks like the pots that lnevo has on his lights.







What do you guys think?

That's exactly what mine looked like. That pot is a high value one and the little surface mount resistors do the job of adding a little bit of taper to the knob action so that it works almost like an audio taper potentiometer and gives you a more "linear" feel to the dimming where it's less sensitive at the bottom of the range where small changes in light level are very visible and more sensitive at the top, where a change of 10% or so might not even be visible to you.

Some evergrows just have a 10k pot and nothing else on the little board.

[Sacohen]

So obviously the VDIN+ and - are for the RA dimming Module.
Are pins 1 &2 the ones you short out?

Lee said he disconnected the jack and shoved wires into the jack.

You would shove the wires into the plug that has the 4 black wires on mine or would they get pushed into the socket that the plug goes in.

Also I was thinking of just shoving the wires in to the backside of the plug and leaving everything connected, would that work?

I was meaning to read through the thread on WAMAS again and I'm sure the answer is in there, but I haven't gotten to it yet.