I haven't worked on my unit at all. Work's been crazy and I was building a simpler fixture for a friend which I finally finished this week end. Well, not totally finished, looking for a better way to make the connection from the dim4 to the 2 fixtures.
I finally got the rest of my drivers and got a few extra LDD700's and 1000's that were back ordered. I think I'm going to start figuring out the temp sensors and alerts with the Jarduino on my existing tank and leave the lighting until I get my stand and hood built for my 210.

know what you mean about work... been crazy for me too. I found a different schematic to use for the fans that seems to fix issue some ppl were having. I've only tested it out a little, but it works. Let me know if you want it, and I'll post it up after work one night this week.

The temp sensors are really striaght forward to setup, if you need any help, shoot me a pm, and I'll do my best to help.

Chris

Lol, is smoke coming out of a transformer a bad thing, hahaha :D

Ok, so maybe I did something wrong... maybe. :)

I took this step down transformer and took out the 2 stock resistors. I put a jumper where one resistor was and installed a variable resistor where the other was. Plugged it in and POP!!!! blue smoke, HOLY CRAP!! Fire! lol, extremely exciting. :shocked!:

What did I do wrong???
http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...ps663f9c80.jpg

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...ps573946ff.jpg

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1e6ded92.jpg

I tested the variable resistor and the centre leg is the wiper and the other 2 legs are either side of the resistor. I used the back leg so the further out the adjustment screw was the lower the voltage, turn it clockwise and the voltage increased. the unused leg is the one you see sticking out of the variable resistor.

Should have used the newer smoke free ones...duh

Where did the smoke come from Dom?

BTW, I still have all the parts for a LM2575-ADJ adjustable stepdown converter if you want them.

Ahhhh, but I hear it takes quite the expertise to get these ones to release this particular smoke, lol.

It came out of the top of the 1000uF high temp capacitor. The brown one on the left, you can kind of see where it blew the 3 embossed triangles open at the top.
I did find some of the LM2576HV Chris was talking about on ebay for fairly cheap. But I kinda wanted to get what I have working, since, well you know, I have them :)

Well... actually one less now :lol:

The LM2576HV i have works well, stays cool, and is able to step down from 48VDC. Most of the other dc/dc converters are limited to ~36v, but the biggest selling point is that they come pre-assembled. :mrgreen:

Here's that schematic for the fan.
http://imageshack.us/scaled/large/22/fanbufferv12.jpg

Hmmm, pic is too small to make out. I tried saving it and zooming in but it went all blurry... unless that's the aftermath of the exploding transformer :razz:

lol.... sounds like Bill Clinton. Tranformer smoked, but I didn't inhale. Why is everything so blurry? :lol:

Nope, didn't inhale. No really... :rolleyes:

Well I had a few minutes tonight so I finished soldering up one proto board and hooked up one of my waterproof temp sensors. After figuring out the address of it, modifying and re-laoding the sketch, all works well :D

Here is my controller

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z13lj3yevz...Controller.jpg

Well, I got a bit of time to fiddle around with my DC/DC step down transformers. And after staring at it for a while and tracing down pathway's I tried risking one and doing some trial and error. Turns out all I needed to do was remove the jumper that I'd originally installed and twin each of the solder points so instead of the 2 separate resistors, I had just the one variable resistor with 2 empty solder points. Everything seems to work and I can reduce the input 36V down to a variable 5.8V-12V
On to the next phase....

So it's looking like my MH bulbs on my existing fixture are coming up for replacement. The 77 gal DT is growing some algae that my 20 gal under LED's is not. Sooo... instead of waiting until the 210 gal upgrade is complete I'm going to build my light fixture with the Jarduino controller and get the MH's off the main DT. With that in mind I wanted to build on the full Jarduino V 1.2 beta release instead of the partial free program that I've been working with so far.
My plan for the 210 is to have 3 - 18" heatsinks. I have 1 built and is running on my 20 gal (it has to be modified and given another LED cluster for the 210) and I bought 2 more heatsinks last fall that have been patiently waiting. Last night I got all the little screws on the heatsinks while the wife watched "Dancing With the Stars, lol.
Here's the result:
http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9e1c72f3.jpg
I'll be downloading the new Jarduino code tonight and start playing with it.

ScubaSteve and Chatouille (and anyone else building this thing): How are your projects coming? Love to hear back about your success and/or frustrations :P

Who/where did you buy your heatsink and end caps from for the LED's?

I'm considering the heatsink from LED group buy but can't justify paying $4 per inch. I'm hoping the one you're using is significantly cheaper.

Thanks!

Dom! It's to finish these lights bud! :razz: I'm doing a a PhD and running a business and I finished back in February :wink:

Just kidding.... :razz:

My LED tank is running great. I have zero filtration in the biocube and I'm growing SPS and a clam like a champ. Helps having a F- ton of light! :wink: The 3-ups are the way to go despite the fact they limit your output. I have zero colour separation which is nice. I wish I had the ability to control the red on the OCW stars separately but the turquoise and green really beef up the colours. My only complaint is the fans. I don't have the options you do to control the fans and have been foiled at other attempts to piggyback them off the existing circuitry. I'll probably have to hack the Typhon and repurpose a pin for the fans. Oh, and I managed to break a couple of fins off one fan so it sounds like a 747 taking off in my living room... Haven't had the time to replace it yet though.

Mine's up and going.... still running ver. 1.1 though. I saw Jamie post that 1.2 final is in the works, so will update when that comes out. Really enjoy the dusk/dawn effect, and the ability to dial in the color. The PWM controlled fan works great... heatsink has never raised above 90 F. (I drilled partially through the heatsink and used thermal adhesive to secure in the DS18B20 sensor) I can’t believe how much cooler these run vs. MH or T5’s.


Overall, I'm pleased with it, but still some tweaking to do. I need to order another ribbon cable to try out, I get random artifacts on my LCD display on occasion. (don't get them if directly plugged into the shield) Everything looks good, but my red's don't *pop* quite as much as I'm used to. (under MH, with T5 supplementation) I used all Luxeon Rebels, (RB, B, NW, WW, 420 nm violets) but just ordered some Cree's from Milad to play with to see if it helps. If I can get the red to really *pop* like everything else, I'll be happy.

Sorry to break it to ya, but ya, these are the LED group buy heatsinks from makersled. Keep in mind that with that price you get all the mounting screws, heatsink, splash guard and cooling fan. It's still on the pricey side, but it's clean and no tapping needed. The top of the heatsink is channeled for a 5/16" nut so hanging is clean and easy. I originally went this way so I could fool around with 1 - 18" fixture, try several things out, and still just loosen off the screws and move the LED's around, change spectrum etc. Then when I had all the bugs worked out duplicate it on 2 more for my 6' tank.

LOL, I know, eh? I run my own business too, and it's been totally crazy. Never fails, feast or famine.
Good to hear you're happy with your rig. I'm running my 3-up's on 2 channels (RB's and NW's) but my OCW's on just one. I'm happy with it so far.

On my 20 gal cube I've got the 425nm TV's as well and I'm pretty happy with them. Can't say they make the red's pop though. On my new lights I got 3 TV per heatsink that go into the 405nm. Not sure that'll make any difference, but I thought I'd try them out.
There's a guy on UKreefs that had issues with his screen doing weird things too with a cable on his screen. I read he had it figured out and was running a 24" cable (I think), but I can't remember how he fixed it. Something to do with his connections not giving a good enough contact or something.

I had a little bit of time tonight and got the LED's of 1 heatsink screwed down and ready for wiring. I might get the other screwed up tomorrow.

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...psc771c89c.jpg

Thanks for the info.

I've been looking for alternatives but they do have the best one yet!

I'm in the process of setting up a new 60g cube - 24x24x24. Considering a single 18" fixture. May consider maybe 20" depending on LED options.

Still exploring LED options. Short listed to Steve's or aquastyle. Still lots of decisions to make - colors, ratios, wattage and drivers. At one point, I was thinking of the 10w LEDs but decided against it because of driver costs. Now I'm back to the 3w LEDs to get better coverage.

I have a Jarduino ready to go running the v1.2 beta 2 sketch. Now just waiting for the relay board and temperature sensors.

I've decided on the Meanwell drivers since they're waterproof IP67. Safer around water especially salt water. Model number will depend on my LED selections.

Any advice?

What's your plan for the top of your cube? If you're going with a hood that's going to cover everything anyway, I might give consideration to stock aluminum as a heat sink. However that would entail either drilling and tapping or gluing the LED's directly to it. In my mind (and my tendency to never leave well enough alone) these methods are less than desirable. I like the fact that I'll never have to purchase another heatsink again. I'll just continue to re-purpose these and change the LED's as technology and knowledge of these light fixtures develops.
If your plan is an open top with the fixture visible, these heatsinks are totally finished. It does take a bit of planning and imagination to make the wires going in and out clean, but certainly doable. I ended up drilling the heatsink and putting grommets and following the hangar I built.
My plan for my final fixture will be inside a hood mounted on moveable rails built from pocket door tack and rollers.

All my LED's have come from Milad. On my last order I was less than impressed with the packaging and shipping, but the product was good and the customer service was there to deal with my complaints.
If you're even thinking of multi chip, talk to Mike (mike31154). Nice guy and he knows tons of stuff about them. I was leaning that way after talking with him but I ended up chickening out, favouring what I knew.
My first fixture I used Inventronics drivers with the dim4 board and it was just ok. I didn't realize I wouldn't get dimming to zero and that sucked. All my lights go on 10% then ramp from there. It's amazing how bright 10% is. Might as well not even have dimming for the most part.
For my new build, I've got a wack of LDD 1000 and 700 Meanwwell drivers for the RB's, OCW's, TV's and a couple HLG's for my NW's. The OCW's and TV's are Exotic LED's and the rest are all 3W Cree's.
Ratio mix is much the eye of the beholder. I went with overkill and plan on adjusting by dimmer rather than try and get the correct mix by number of LED's. I live nowhere near anyone who runs a LED fixture so I can't really see anything in person to know what I'd call the mix I like. So, I have to figure it out on my own :)

Hope that helps somewhat. If you get to building something, start a build thread right away and keep us all posted.

I have 8 of the TV's, and like I said... overall I'm happy. The red's are just a bit deeper/darker when compared to my old MH/T5 combo, but it's pretty much a wash though, 'cuz other colors are better. (it'll be curious to see what the Cree’s will add to the mix)

Yeah, I saw that post on UK a while back about the cable.... funny thing is that my cable is only ~5" long. I might order the LCD shield from Itead, and try that if the new cable doesn't fix my problems.

I'm in the same boat as you Dom... no one around with LED's, and even the closest LFS is a bit over 3 hours from me. I also agree that it's easier to go overboard a bit, and just control the individual output lvl's, rather than to try to get the exact LED ratio

And then there were two...


http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7ba981ae.jpg

looking good!!! Keep the pic's coming

Got the V1.2beta uploaded last night and running. I didn't play with the other version really so I'm actually not sure I see a difference, lol.
Now I need to figure out what the difference is between the UTFT library and the ITDB02_Graph16 library. I just loaded the graph16 one for now. Which are you guys running?

Over my morning coffee/breakfast I managed to pre-tin all my LED pads and jumper the RB's on the 3 up's
Even managed to keep my coffee/breakfast off the heatsink :D
6 LED clusters in total

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...psdbffe1a4.jpg

Geeze, I must have been asleep at the switch when I was originally doing my planning. I went to start wiring my LED's and looked over my plan drawing and just noticed now that I had the XM-L NW's on the same strings as my XT-E's. Du'oh! Good thing I bought extra LDD's :D

I think that I read that the difference between the libraries was optimization, not sure if one is more compatible than the other or not. (I'm using ITDB32S)

Hmmm, I wonder if it's noticeable.... Oh well, I'll worry about that later. I gotta get this thing wired up :D

Worked a bit on doing some soldering. Ugh, I think my eyes are gonna start bleeding, lol. I still have to drill the heatsink and get some grommets to pass the wires through. I ended up re-working my schematic so that each heatsink is individually wired and will be running on separate drivers from one another so if anything goes wrong with one I can unplug it and not affect the other 2. Each heatsink will have a 12" "tail" with these connectors:

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...pse411e84a.jpg

There will be one for the positive side and one for the negative. Should make everything nice and easy to work on or change when needed. Anyway here's where I'm at so far with the one heatsink:


http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0a0b100a.jpg

Well, something woke me up early this morning so I got up and tried to figure this out. I have one heatsink ready (somewhat, still waiting on some connectors) but I strill didn't know if everything worked in conjunction with the Jarduino. So I spent some time re-reading the original RC thread and temporarily hooked up what I have. Here's the pre-powered up pic in case I blew something up :D

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...ps27fc4df6.jpg

Crossed my fingers and powered everything up.....
YAAAAAA!!! It works! It's alive !!!!!
Switched the screen over to test LED mode and worked the sliders and everything works awesome! 0% dimming and everything. So I took a pic at step 1 of the sliders so the crappy phone could take a pic of it. I only have the XT-E NW's, RB's, TV's and the OCW channels hooked up, but you get the idea.

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1addadb9.jpg

EDIT: Actually now that I look at the pic I must have turned the RB's to 0 as they're not on in the pic, but they do work

looking good! the full spectrum really brings the colours out on your hammer.

LOL, HAHA. Busted! I was too lazy to get mine so I used my wife's to punch out the unused pins on the 24 pin IC socket adapters.

LOL... I completely missed that. I had to go back and look at the pic’s, I thought I missed a post with a tank shot or something. It IS a sweet looking hammer though. :lol:

So, I'm re-thinking my connector issue. Just my LED's are going to take 16 wires. The heat sensor takes 3 and the PWM fans take 3 for a total 22. Been thinking of going with a DB25 connector affixed right to the heatsink and a breadboard mount DB25 by the arduino with a disconnect-able cable between them for each LED fixture. Any thoughts?

I've been jumping between sites trying to keep up with everyone building the Jarduino.

Not sure if this was the forum but someone had purchased multichannel LED drivers from eBay. I'm looking for one of these multichannel LED drivers for my second Jarduino - development system.

If someone has the link, please point me in the right direction.

Thank you!

Hmmm, might have been Mike31154. Check his multichip build thread. http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=82206

I would just double check what the connector is rated for, but sounds like an option. Even the molex connectors from an ATX powersupply would work. (24 pin ATX power connector) My vote would go to an amphenol 97 series circular connector.... but they are pricey.

Wow, you ain't kidding, $70 ea for 22 pin. And I'd need 12 for the connections and cords. Don't think so, lol. I'll keep looking though, I like the build of them.

$70 would be on the high side, all depends where you order. There are other manufacturers that make simillar connectors that are less expensive, just can't think of the name at the moment. ( I've mainly only used the amphenols )