Reef Angel Forum

Hi All-

I am in the process of building my 57 gallon rimless system and before building up my lighting I wanted to check here (since this is the controller I will purchase) to see what the consensus is on LED PWM dimming performance. I intend to use dimming only for sunrise/sunset functions and also will be wiring the LED's such that the blue (450 nm range) are independent of the whites so that I can turn them down and use them as evening viewing lights for coral fluorescence, I may use a old Ecoxotic 455 nm module I have as a moonlight. Basically what I am trying to ascertain is-

is there a consensus on which PMW driver I should purchase to plug and play nicely with the reef angel controller (I know new generation has solved a few issues) and that also seems to actually dim the LED's somewhat linearly.

If you have a LED set up that you made, which provides nice linear dimming and plug and play with the reef angel, could you tell me which brand and part number you used for the PMW on the LEDs as well as the powersupply... I can figure out heat sink, LED colors, and lense but am stuck in neutral/reverse on the electronics- everyone has a different idea- hoping that now that I have decided on reef angel for control (yeah, OPEN SOURCE) perhaps the best choice will be narrowed to one or two options that work well.

Meanwells are probably the easiest ones, because they take AC input and you won't need to have an additional power supply. Model # ELN-60-48P
I heard RECOM also works very well. One of the other users have been using it.

Someone had posted odd dimming performance but that might have been with the D version? I think I have that correct. I.e P vs D for dimming control. Am
I to take this to mean that if I just use a independent mean well driver for each LED string and plug into or wire to the PWM output on reef angle all
I need is that with LED on heat syncs and I am good to go?

Sorry for NOB Qs but I need some help here. obviously. Programming will be very fun.

The poor performance was when a "D" version was being fed with PWM signal.
The "P" version is much well suited for us and it's being used by a lot of users.
Your are correct on your thinking. All you need is get some meanwells "P" hooked up to the PWM port and you are golden.

Actually, to clarify, it wasn't really poor performance. I'm sorry for my words.
The drivers were performing accordinly.
There was no linearity on the dimming, that's all.

Thanks a lot for the clarification. I will now set about picking my colors and design/lenses for the LED mounts on the three heat sinks. Purchase the MeanWell P drivers and wire up... I guess I will need to get the ReefAngel to test the lights as I will save the money on a power source and just use the ReefAngel controller, its great you boosted performance so that we can run these directly with the newer controller board. Thanks a lot. I will order the ReefAngel and PWM module for expansion as budget comes in for that and lights are being built.

Now I just have to get to work with the PVC cement and get the tank running in fresh to test my systems, build a canopy, wire up a bunch of LEDs... and hope I win the lottery along the way!

I REALLY WANT to go wireless to use the iPhone app.... but my wife thinks its all just a bit insane... correct I am sure, but fun none the less.

Thanks again.

Ok, so I am ordering up my LED build components... and will be ordering a reef angel in a month or so when the build is working.
My final question.

I will be running 4 Meanwell ELN-60-48p drivers for a total of 48 leds. Eventually I will get the PMW expansion module to allow all to be independently controlled. However, is it possible to run two controllers from each output that is standard, i.e. I could have two "Blue" strings, and they would be run through 1 PMW output and dim together, while the two "white" strings would also be wired together and dim together... or will I only be able to run a single Meanwell driver from each PMW output? Like I said, final will be using expansion hub but to save money I would like to be able to just run all 4 in two groups from RA out of the box... any way this could work? Seems like it should be able to be made to work??

Thanks again

Yes, it works that way.
You can connect multiple drivers to the same PWM Port.

Most excellent... your controller just keeps getting better and better, so far it does everything I have wanted... ordering an ATO soon... and it does that too!

Thanks again.