If you're interested in using the 18 emitter boards (run 2 channels of 12 and 6) that I used, I have quite a few blank boards that I could get made up. You'd need 6 boards (108 emitters) to cover your tank but wouldn't have to worry about drilling and tapping 216 holes or gluing down 108 individual emitters. Also almost zero risk of shorts due to less than perfect soldering. Let me know if you want to explore this option.
Reef Discussion
I would spend some time reading up on colour combinations - as Magic says the OCW are proving popular in the US, but you might still want to add some other 'exotic' colours such as Deep Red and Cyan.
This is a fantastic thread to read.
This is a fantastic thread to read.
Yes, that is a good thread but this is the one that started it all http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=246394
I have spent many hours reading through this one.
Well guys, you're blowing my tiny little mind away. It's all English, but I guess until I see it it just reads BLAH BLAH donut BLAH BLAH.
Shane, $1k still sounds well within budget (read lower is always better but I don't want to settle for less than I'd be happy with and my original thought for "off the shelf" units was closer to the $2k mark.
$2k was agreed to at my next bonus (mid next year) but $1k seems a lot easier sell :-)
Going off Shane's indicative list any idea what color temp this is going to look like?
A few reds are a must for a sunrise. Is it a case of wiring all the same LED's to 1 (or more) drivers and then controlling the output of that driver, in combination with the others, to get the desired color at any time during the cycle?
And the controllers, are they fully customisable in terms of different drivers at different outputs? Are there an in definite number of "steps" that can be programmed per channel? Do they ramp from A to B or switch? So much reading to do.....
Thanks so far guys. Really appreciated.
Shane, $1k still sounds well within budget (read lower is always better but I don't want to settle for less than I'd be happy with and my original thought for "off the shelf" units was closer to the $2k mark.
$2k was agreed to at my next bonus (mid next year) but $1k seems a lot easier sell :-)
Going off Shane's indicative list any idea what color temp this is going to look like?
A few reds are a must for a sunrise. Is it a case of wiring all the same LED's to 1 (or more) drivers and then controlling the output of that driver, in combination with the others, to get the desired color at any time during the cycle?
And the controllers, are they fully customisable in terms of different drivers at different outputs? Are there an in definite number of "steps" that can be programmed per channel? Do they ramp from A to B or switch? So much reading to do.....
Thanks so far guys. Really appreciated.
The typhon has 4 channels which ramp up to your preset % and then back down to 0% when set, the length of the ramp can also be changed. All 4 channels can be programmed separately to each other.
As an example I have channel 1: whites 2:blues 3:uv, true v and 6.5k whites 4: sump. In mornings blue ramps up first over 45mins then violets then whites, and in the arvos it does the opposite. Then over night the sump light comes on for few hours
As an example I have channel 1: whites 2:blues 3:uv, true v and 6.5k whites 4: sump. In mornings blue ramps up first over 45mins then violets then whites, and in the arvos it does the opposite. Then over night the sump light comes on for few hours
How that first photo rendered on my iPhone on the first page (I think it was nearly the last thread) would be what I would be aiming for as a "day time white".
Will have to check the thread out tomorrow on a PC.
Maybe I need to start collecting photo's and posting them as an example of what colors I am after.
The white/blue combo will be about 14k at 100% current - but you will be able to control each colour to suit your preference. For example, blue at 100% and white at 70% would be closer to 20k (I am making this up :rolleyes but you get the idea).
Reds are very overpowering - I don't think you would really want these on there own - it would look like sunrise during a major bushfire. Neutral whites have a fair bit of red in them so starting them off on their own may be the way to go.
As far as the dimming, there are two options - the first uses a commencement time, a ramp up/down time, and a total time. The second allows you to set waypoints during the day i.e. 0% at 11.00am, 10% at 12.00pm, 50% at 3.00pm etc.
I am about to commence negotiations with another member to build a touch screen controller to control 10 channels - by the time you are ready I might have a semi-professional version available :)
Keep asking the questions.
Reds are very overpowering - I don't think you would really want these on there own - it would look like sunrise during a major bushfire. Neutral whites have a fair bit of red in them so starting them off on their own may be the way to go.
Pretty much, yes - in my example you would have the whites, royal blues, violets and ocean corals all on seperate drivers which can be dimmed seperately.
Again, pretty much, yes. Most have used the Meanwell ELN 60-48P drivers with an Arduino based controller - this has 256 steps but does cutout at around 16% i.e. it will not dim all the way to 0%. I am going to try a LDD series driver in conjunction with an Arduino PWM expander (don't worry about the technical details) which will have 1024 levels of dimming and will dim all the way to 0%. This is my next project ;)
As far as the dimming, there are two options - the first uses a commencement time, a ramp up/down time, and a total time. The second allows you to set waypoints during the day i.e. 0% at 11.00am, 10% at 12.00pm, 50% at 3.00pm etc.
I am about to commence negotiations with another member to build a touch screen controller to control 10 channels - by the time you are ready I might have a semi-professional version available :)
Keep asking the questions.
Yep, be careful with reds ... they have to be paired with cyan or turquoise (or that nm range) to balance them out - the combination produces white, but you still get the red and green pop in your corals. I tried a PAR30 lamp with 1x red LED, the rest blues and whites ... and it looked like a fishie porn hotel, pure pink.
MagicJ good additional thread to read, though the one I posted is a the 'current' battleground for the LED nerds and includes lots of references to ocw etc. Macca if you were to read for 30mins I would skim the first page or two then flick to the back of the thread and work backwards from there. But it does definitely take time to get your head around =0)
Aside from whatever digital magic occured to get the pics to look this way, how they render (on my screen anyway) is the look I am after. Every computer screen will be slightly different however it's a guide only to help figure out what LED's to buy and how many.
The fine tuning will be in hard hard to drive each color.
From http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=246394
This would look really nice as a "white daytime" look.
And here is a light cycle I like the look off (maybe a little whiter in the middle part)
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qscL9ch-7ow" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
thereefuge - Why is it when I embed YouTube it never works....
search for maxpsect cycle
It's a video by jkjoshkinsell
More pics to come as I stumble across them.
The fine tuning will be in hard hard to drive each color.
From http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=246394
This would look really nice as a "white daytime" look.
And here is a light cycle I like the look off (maybe a little whiter in the middle part)
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qscL9ch-7ow" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
thereefuge - Why is it when I embed YouTube it never works....
search for maxpsect cycle
It's a video by jkjoshkinsell
More pics to come as I stumble across them.
Synodontis is saying I'll want about 8 strings (front to back), MagicJ is on 3. Need to figure this out.
Happier with the 108 (or so) indicated by MagicJ, even if I drive them at a lower power than if I had 80. It should allow for a more even spread and help eliminate any spotlighting (right/wrong????)
I'll try and draw up a rough guide looking down, showing bracing, etc with dimensions and then start overlaying strings, then start dropping some LED's on the string (hell, in theory I could even try and figure out the light throw based on the assumption of no rockwork once I know lense types, etc).
Happier with the 108 (or so) indicated by MagicJ, even if I drive them at a lower power than if I had 80. It should allow for a more even spread and help eliminate any spotlighting (right/wrong????)
I'll try and draw up a rough guide looking down, showing bracing, etc with dimensions and then start overlaying strings, then start dropping some LED's on the string (hell, in theory I could even try and figure out the light throw based on the assumption of no rockwork once I know lense types, etc).
Macca,
Have a look through my build thread. The PCBs I have hold 18 Cree emitters (LEDs) and the combination can be customised. I have neutral white, cool white, blue and royal blue on mine but I have had some built for others that use NUV and warm white emitters. Anything that fits the Cree XP/XT footprint can be used. You need a total of 4 screws per board.
[Broken External Image]:http://users.tpg.com.au/awsewell//PCB assembled.jpg
Cheers for that.
Does the 2 Channels mean I would need to "group" the different colors to control them? I'm really liking to idea of having only 1 color per driver (multiple drivers if I need) so I can have total control of the "end result" in terms of color.
Also I assume this is more of a "clustered" solution than running strips of LED's. Any pro's/Co's?
Cheers
Couple more potentially useful links:
LED calculator - Excel based and gives guidelines on number of LEDs, optics etc: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=304152
Choosing optics: http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/pages/Choosing-the-right-optic.html
Why full spectrum is important: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=313663
Also:
Definitely look at the OCW and 3-up options (though that removes yout ability to control every colour), and supplement with Natural White and Royal Blue as required to get the look you want, plus a smattering of TV.
Found a thread with someone asking about 6ft options and it has some useful advice: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=313546
Clustering like this, a cluster every 2ft or so:
[Broken External Image]:http://www.duke.edu/~awb12/Pics/Full spectrum LED guide/Figure 4.png
[Broken External Image]:http://www.duke.edu/~awb12/Pics/Full spectrum LED guide/Figure 6.png
LED calculator - Excel based and gives guidelines on number of LEDs, optics etc: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=304152
Choosing optics: http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/pages/Choosing-the-right-optic.html
Why full spectrum is important: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=313663
Also:
Would suggest you need around 144 total?
Definitely look at the OCW and 3-up options (though that removes yout ability to control every colour), and supplement with Natural White and Royal Blue as required to get the look you want, plus a smattering of TV.
Found a thread with someone asking about 6ft options and it has some useful advice: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=313546
Clustering like this, a cluster every 2ft or so:
[Broken External Image]:http://www.duke.edu/~awb12/Pics/Full spectrum LED guide/Figure 4.png
[Broken External Image]:http://www.duke.edu/~awb12/Pics/Full spectrum LED guide/Figure 6.png
I have just fitted 4 ocean coral whites in place of 4 blue and 4 true violets. I barely noticed the overall colour change but the corals "pop" more than before.
I was playing around with colour combinations with my arduino connected just to see what each different colour actually did in the tank. When I get home tonight I will take a series of pictures showing the 3 different colour channels (12x white - 12x royal blue - 2x blue 2x violet 4x OCW) on my tank at full power. You can really see the differences in colours of the corals and even my yellow tang who looks bright red under the "Exotic" colours.
watch this space...
I was playing around with colour combinations with my arduino connected just to see what each different colour actually did in the tank. When I get home tonight I will take a series of pictures showing the 3 different colour channels (12x white - 12x royal blue - 2x blue 2x violet 4x OCW) on my tank at full power. You can really see the differences in colours of the corals and even my yellow tang who looks bright red under the "Exotic" colours.
watch this space...
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