BTLDreef's 180 Tank Build

mr btldreef

mr btldreef

Member
Well I have been doing some upgrading , trading, and modifying lately.
Some new corals I will have pics tomorrow of them.
Raptors rainbows
Magicians
Enchinata
Rainbow acans
Neon green acans
Chalice redish orange not sure the name
Pink lemonade
Copps rainbow montipora
Sunset montipora
Blowpop zoas
Green lanterns
As far as upgrading:
Replacing eln drivers with hlg drivers for my LEDs.
Added another mp40w.
Modifications:
Making a display panel for my controller, light controller, ph monitor, and ecosmart driver.
Replaced bad LEDs. Added 80 degree optics to select white LEDs.
 
mr btldreef

mr btldreef

Member
Well I have been doing some upgrading , trading, and modifying lately.
Some new corals I will have pics tomorrow of them.
Raptors rainbows
Magicians
Enchinata
Rainbow acans
Neon green acans
Chalice redish orange not sure the name
Pink lemonade
Copps rainbow montipora
Sunset montipora
Blowpop zoas
Green lanterns
As far as upgrading:
Replacing eln drivers with hlg drivers for my LEDs.
Added another mp40w.
Modifications:
Making a display panel for my controller, light controller, ph monitor, and ecosmart driver.
Replaced bad LEDs. Added 80 degree optics to select white LEDs.
 
mr btldreef

mr btldreef

Member
Well I have been doing some upgrading , trading, and modifying lately.
Some new corals I will have pics tomorrow of them.
Raptors rainbows
Magicians
Enchinata
Rainbow acans
Neon green acans
Chalice redish orange not sure the name
Pink lemonade
Copps rainbow montipora
Sunset montipora
Blowpop zoas
Green lanterns
As far as upgrading:
Replacing eln drivers with hlg drivers for my LEDs.
Added another mp40w.
Modifications:
Making a display panel for my controller, light controller, ph monitor, and ecosmart driver.
Replaced bad LEDs. Added 80 degree optics to select white LEDs.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Looks good. Nice and clean. So explain to me what's going on with the fuses and resistors (if you don't mind)...you used one resistor to be able to check current from the driver? Not the individual strings?
 
mr btldreef

mr btldreef

Member
okay...so yea funny you say that 2quills. i finally repaired the bad string of blues. i just ran the hlg and all blues turned on. bad thing... i thought i am supposed run one resistor for the entire circuit. i guess i am incorrect. i after 2 minutes i see smoke coming from my board. i could not tell exactly the problem but i felt the resistor and it is too hot. so once again i ask you... since you have been very helpful , am i supposed to run a 5w 1k ohm resistor for each individual string before the fuse??
is this correct resistor??
http://search.digikey.com/us/en/products/UB5C-1RF1/UB5C-1.0-ND/2176624
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Yep, 1ohm-5w or 3w. Both will work. I'd do one on each string after the fuses so that they can be protected too. With the resistors on each string you'll be able to test voltage going across the resistor. And your voltage reading will be the equivalent of the same measurement in amps. .75 volts = 750mA etc. This will be important to know in case there is a large difference in current passing through the individual strings. You'll be able to determine which ones will need to be balanced if necessary. In Lois's case we got pretty lucky, her strings turned out to be pretty well balanced right out of the gate. Small differences in voltages from one led to another or differences in resistance from one solder joint to the next can equate to larger differences in current. The key will be to have all 6 strings to be running within about 50mA of each other or less.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Just looking back at your pics. You mentioned there was smoke coming from the board. Those bolts that you're using as terminals, are the bolt heads actually touching the wood board underneath? If so you'll probably want to find a way to raise that board up a little bit. Wood has the ability to act as a conductor since it absorbs and holds moisture. It can either be a little bit of moisture or a lot depending on the environment. That could lead to a catastrophic failure. At best you'll short out all of your strings but the fuses will blow, potentionaly even fry the drivers, or worst case it could easily start a fire. All contacts should be insulated or kept from touching any wood or metal period. Resistors will get hot no matter what. What they do is actually resist a specific amount of voltage and dissipate that voltage in the form of heat. So they will be hotter than the fuses for sure.
 
mr btldreef

mr btldreef

Member
the bolts have an additional layer of plastic under them to keep them out of moisture or from touching the wood. yes i do understand that the resistors are going to get hot but not the amount of hot i am talking about. basically i knew from my experience of resistors that it should not be getting to that temperature. also considering that i had the dim control to zero and the leds still had turned on. hence voltage still had gotten past and had given voltage to the leds. i already ordered the resistors and i should be good to go by friday. i am still thinking about keeping the eln drivers to run the whites. i just like the ability to dim them seperately and ramp them up / down at different times to give a east to west type of sunrise/sunset.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr btldreef http:///t/385998/btldreefs-180-tank-build/200#post_3438445
the bolts have an additional layer of plastic under them to keep them out of moisture or from touching the wood. yes i do understand that the resistors are going to get hot but not the amount of hot i am talking about. basically i knew from my experience of resistors that it should not be getting to that temperature. also considering that i had the dim control to zero and the leds still had turned on. hence voltage still had gotten past and had given voltage to the leds. i already ordered the resistors and i should be good to go by friday. i am still thinking about keeping the eln drivers to run the whites. i just like the ability to dim them seperately and ramp them up / down at different times to give a east to west type of sunrise/sunset.
Cool, I couldn't tell from the pictures so I thought I should throw that out there. What size resistor did you have on there? You can actually run any size that you want. But going anything over 1ohm really would just be a gross waste of power. You could actually run as small as a 0.1 ohm - 2 watt and just multiply your voltage measurements by a factor of 10 to get your equivalent reading in amps. Would only be burning off .1 watt worth of power instead of 1 watt per resistor. Not a big deal either way, I typically recommend the 1ohm resistors for simplicities sake since that's what everybody else is using and it's easy to understand.
 
mr btldreef

mr btldreef

Member
2quills
the resistor on there is a 1 ohm 5watt. the one in the link i had posted. jeeeez i am dying to see cryptics' leds over his tank. so ... when are you going leds ???? it is so completely worth it.
just traded some corals ....post pics up tomorrow. more zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzoooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssssss
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr btldreef http:///t/385998/btldreefs-180-tank-build/200#post_3438551
2quills
the resistor on there is a 1 ohm 5watt. the one in the link i had posted. jeeeez i am dying to see cryptics' leds over his tank. so ... when are you going leds ???? it is so completely worth it.
just traded some corals ....post pics up tomorrow. more zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzoooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssssss
Corey the resistors are the ones you had us get from Digikey
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///t/385998/btldreefs-180-tank-build/200#post_3438552
Corey the resistors are the ones you had us get from Digikey
Yep, I remember. Just wasn't sure if that's what he'd used right out of the gate or not.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr btldreef http:///t/385998/btldreefs-180-tank-build/200#post_3438551
2quills
the resistor on there is a 1 ohm 5watt. the one in the link i had posted. jeeeez i am dying to see cryptics' leds over his tank. so ... when are you going leds ???? it is so completely worth it.
just traded some corals ....post pics up tomorrow. more zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzoooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssssss
The plan is to get all of my materials with my tax return money. So hopefully in about two more months or so. I almost pulled the trigger last night on getting some supplies for my scrubber lights. I'll probably start those a little bit sooner. Just going to use the cheaper Bridglux leds for that though.
Your previous post reminded me to send an email off to Meanwell that I had been meaning to do for a while. In order to achieve total darkness with the HLG's in regards to dimming you'll have to use a switch and relay as they've illustrated in their data sheet. The resistors don't have any bearing on not being able to dim down to 0. But I want to know exactly what type of switch and relay I'll need to do that since I haven't seen anyone else do that yet in their build. Another option would be to simply use a timer to cut the power on to the driver right before ramp up time in the morning and off right after ramp down time in the evening.
 
mr btldreef

mr btldreef

Member
Your switch/relay is going to be your tank controller. It's just a timed ontrol circuit that cuts power. After 10% the LEDs are barely producing any light.
 
luvmyreef

luvmyreef

Active Member
WOW. You got that tank looking really nice.
So, correct me if I am wrong, you have led's on this tank? Everything doing good? If I send you the money, can you build me a light for my 180g? lol.
 
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