48" LED Array - Up and Running...Mostly

[Ron99]

Originally Posted by zoaelite

ron that's pretty impressive! Watch out you might get sued for copy right infringement considering what happened to solaris .

I can't want to see it on an actual fish tank with with some par values!
Levi

t

[Ron99]

Whoops, not sure what happened with that last post

Originally Posted by superduperwesman

AWESOME! Looks very nice

Originally Posted by zoaElite

Ron that's pretty impressive! Watch out you might get sued for copy right infringement considering what happened to solaris .

I can't want to see it on an actual fish tank with with some PAR values!
Levi

Thanks guys. I say bring it! I'll take on Orbitech and their marginal patent!

So just out of curiosity, in air, 18 inches away from the LEDs and no optics yet: 260 PAR. This is gonna be good

[Dyspnea]

Tagging along!

Very interesting thread

[Ron99]

For some added LED info, I just did some PAR readings in the iReef pico. it has 6 Cree XR-E LEDs being underdriven by a 350mA dimming buckpuck that I actually have turned down a little from full power. No optics are used, just bare emitters. PAR readings were about 170 near the top of my rock which is about 4 inches below the surface of the water and about 5 inches below the LEDs. Par drops to about 80 near the bottom of the tank about 10 inches below the water line.

just wait till you can crank it up and let it go it should be nice and bright under there.

Bill

[Ron99]

A bit slow as I need to redo a few of the molex connectors and pick up a few little bits for assembly. But I did a quick test in air again with optics. At 18" with 60 degree optics the PAR jumps to about 375 vs 250 without optics.

[byee]

Originally Posted by Ron99

Still needs a bit of extra circuitry as the Arduino puts out a 5V PWM signal and the Meanwell needs 10V. So it requires a 12V DC supply, a voltage regulator to get 10V, and a transistor that applies the 5V PWM from the Arduino to the 10V line.

Now I imagine you will ask why not just use a 10V DC supply without the voltage regulator? Most 10V AC/DC converters are not 10V. Some can be less but often they can be more; closer to 12V even. But the Meanwell dimming circuit is very sensitive and anything above something like 10.6 or 10.8 V will fry it so I want to make sure I have a steady 10V for the dimming. I may also use the same 12V converter to supply 5V with a voltage regulator to power the Arduino too rather than have a separate 5V supply for that.

Ron99,

The max voltage for the Arduino is 9VDC. There is also an onboard voltage regulator which will regulate the voltage down to 5VDC for the electronics.

May need the use of OP amps to drive the Meanwell LED driver. Vancouver Reefer (Canreef member) may have something since he's been down this path with his setup. I believe he used the LED Pucks which is similar to the Meanwell.

There are also other threads on about LED lighting on some of the other aquarium forums.

I've also been toying with the idea of using the Arduino as a platform for my aquarium controller - pH, temperature and lighting.

Good luck!

[Ron99]

The Arduino specs say 6 - 20 volts as the limits for input with 7 - 12 volts recommended. I have a 12V power supply that will feed the Arduino, three 12V fans and, with an LM317 voltage regulator, the 10V for the PWM signal to the Meanwells (via a transistor controlled by the PWM out of the Arduino) so that is all figured out. Just have to build that part . The main thing I need to figure out will be programming the Arduino as I'm not a programmer.

I have followed many threads on LEDs on reef central and nano-reef and have built a basic array for my pico tank already (6 LEDs and one dimming buckpuck). The array itself is all wired and works fine without dimming right now. Now it's on to assembly in the housing and then building and programming the controller.

[Ron99]

P.S. Big thanks to hillegom for the power supply. I owe you a frag or three when your new tank is up and running

[hillegom]

Thanks Ron.
Will look forward to a frag or so. Nice to be able to help with that big project of yours.
Surplus here for surplus there.