I've had my Reef Angel setup for a couple years now and everything has been working perfectly until last Friday.
I've not made any changes to my code nor hardware for at least a year, maybe more, so I'm not sure what is happening.
I have 2 Apollo LED's that require an analog signal to control dimming, and I believe I may have the very first Reef Angel analog dimmer ever made, since I had to send my PWM dimmer back to Roberto for modifications. Prior to that, there was no analog dimmer available.
Anyway, the Apollo LED's each have 1 blue channel and 1 white channel that I've been controlling via the Reef Angel and modified analog dimmer module. My code uses the parabola function and memory locations for the start/stop percent's and duration. I haven't messed with any of that since it was setup either, so that is not the problem.
So, all of a sudden, my LED channels 0 thru 3 stopped sending any signals to my fixtures.
My first thought was that maybe the fixtures broke, but 2 going at the same time was unlikely. I further ruled them out by removing the signal wires from the dimmer module, and used a 9v battery for the signal to test each channel individually. Both channels on both fixtures lighted up when using the battery as the analog signal. Result, fixtures are not broken.
That leaves me with 2 possible issues. Either the Dimmer module is bad, or the 12v power source is not supplying enough power to the dimmer module.
Next I tried to check both of those by checking for voltage with a multimeter. My main outlet and the powerstrip that my 12v adapter is plugged into both give me readings of 120v. So my "source" power supply is OK.
Then I checked the dimmer module by using 12VDC power "pin" for positive, and then used one of the Ground "pins" as negative. I checked both Grounds to be thorough and both gave me a reading of 0.09 volts! I thought that didn't seem right as it should be 12.0 volts. So, I then removed the casing on the plug part (where the small adapter parts are housed) and checked the 2 soldered wires and those also gave me 0.09 volts. So, it's not the wire leading up to the dimmer module, it seems to be a problem with the 12 VDC power adapter.
Am I correct in this analysis or could there be another issue that is causing the problem? I'm going to try to go find a new 12v adapter today and see if that fixes it. I'll report back later if it does or if the problem still persists.
Problem with (analog) dimming module
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- Posts: 188
- Joined: Fri Dec 30, 2011 6:57 am
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- Posts: 188
- Joined: Fri Dec 30, 2011 6:57 am
Re: Problem with (analog) dimming module
Yep, the 12 VDC power supply was the issue. I picked one up from Radio Shack and wired it up... lights came right on as normal.
I got an Enercell 12VDC, 1.5A Output and replaced the original I had with the dimmer. Worked like a charm!
I got an Enercell 12VDC, 1.5A Output and replaced the original I had with the dimmer. Worked like a charm!