Going to try a LED build. Any advice is appreciated

mr btldreef

Member
thanks a million... i thought i picked the right one. one more question...
i have to find the resistance value.... hovv?
i place resistor on main povver to the strings?
or on each string?
also i had seen a post on the big site... about protecting the dimming device.... my audrino controller. once again use a resistor???
 

2quills

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr btldreef http:///t/387057/going-to-try-a-led-build-any-advice-is-appreciated/120#post_3435945
thanks a million... i thought i picked the right one. one more question...
i have to find the resistance value.... hovv?
i place resistor on main povver to the strings?
or on each string?
also i had seen a post on the big site... about protecting the dimming device.... my audrino controller. once again use a resistor???
The simple route would be to just use what every body else is using in this case. 1ohm-5watt resistors at the head/front of each string, with 1 amps fuses being ran in front of those.
Calculating resistance value for resistors isn't needed in a case like this where you are using led specific types of drivers since they only supply the amount of voltage that the load/leds require in order to operate. As apposed to other types of power supplies that put out a constant voltage. These put out a constant current and the voltage is adjusted by the driver automatically. The 1ohm-5watt resistors in this case, or like in Lois's case are used for nothing more than a convenient way to test voltage which easily allows us to convert as a measurement of current. A little bit different than measuring current how folks are typically using the ELN's. The fuses are what protect the strings. Because if 1 string goes out from a bad led then all of the remaining current gets passed through the other strings. So the 1 amps fast blow fuses are employed to blow incase current exceeds 1 amp in order to protect all the other strings.
Honestly, I'm not 100% sure for the dimming device. I haven't seen anyone using anything to protect the micro controllers, but to be honest I haven't really followed the audrino threads too much. I'm sure there's a way but I'll have to do a little more research on that and look at my notes. The resistance calculations are confusing so I have to have all of the info in front of me to make sense of it all. My guess is folks must be using it to protect from over voltage. But I'm also thinking those folks may be running different power supplies than the meanwells if they're doing that.
 

mr btldreef

Member
Okay then thanks for clearing that up. I am going to try to make this work this weekend. I have to make a resistor fuse board first then I will attempt this.
 

cryptics

Member
Mark gave me the LED's on Friday night but some a$$ made an illegal u-turn on saturday (while I was driving to the chiropractor) and hit me. Back was sore for a few days so i didn't get them set up yet. I am going to try to do them tonight or tomorrow when I am off. i will get pics up when I do. He did a really nice job
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
I haven't read it yet, but how in the world do the dimmer switches work? Do you have to manually control them, or is it something that can be done through a reef controller/computer thing to control dawn/dusk effects? I'm just getting really curious about all of this stuff with LEDs.
 

btldreef

Moderator
A lot is dependent on which dimmer you use. Ours (and I'm sure my husband can explain this better) does sunrise and sunset effects.
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Ohh, so not only can you control what color temp your lights come on at full daylight, but it will also control a dawn/dusk effect as well... depending on which dimmer and how much you spend? That sounds about right. Do ya'll use a reef controller / monitor on any of ya'lls tanks? Would you with an LED lighting system?
 

btldreef

Moderator
We have an Audrino unit. Cryptics uses the RapidLED dimmer, I don't think that one does sunset and sunrise.
We have a controller on the tank that is tied into the lights, but I really don't know how, lol
 

2quills

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/387057/going-to-try-a-led-build-any-advice-is-appreciated/120#post_3438844
Ohh, so not only can you control what color temp your lights come on at full daylight, but it will also control a dawn/dusk effect as well... depending on which dimmer and how much you spend? That sounds about right. Do ya'll use a reef controller / monitor on any of ya'lls tanks? Would you with an LED lighting system?
Lots of different options out there. You can dim manualy with knobs (potentiometers) and use timers to turn the leds on or off. You can use programable dimming modules. Or you can use aquarium controlers such as the Apex or Profilux. Depending on how much money you want to spend on one of those they can do all sorts of fancy things like simulate random thunderstorms, cloud effects, follow the lunar cycles with your moonlights etc. Or if you're a real geek and into that stuff you can design and build your own controler. Just don't ask me how because some of that stuff is beyond me when it comes to writing programs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BTLDreef
http:///t/387057/going-to-try-a-led-build-any-advice-is-appreciated/120#post_3438845
We have an Audrino unit. Cryptics uses the RapidLED dimmer, I don't think that one does sunset and sunrise.
We have a controller on the tank that is tied into the lights, but I really don't know how, lol
I believe those rapid dimmers do sunset and sunrise effects. I think the difference is that they have three pre progammed times for ramp up and ramp down times that you can chose from. Where as the Typhon (Arduino based) controller that you guys have allows you to pick and chose your own program times to whatever you want. Pretty nifty. I'm probably going to go with the same controler for starts.
 

mr btldreef

Member
Rapidled's dimmer does do the sunset /sunrise and can be turned on with his controller, his reef keeper will be used to turn them on at certain times.
 

cryptics

Member
Finally putting up some pics. This is just with the blues and reds. I also am possibly the worst photographer that has ever lived :) I will get pics with the whites tomorrow. Here are some of the new additions i picked up today also

My new Jason Fox Neon Yellow Rim Leptoseris :) A few rics and Zoas/Pallys

Full frag Rack Utter Chaos bottom left and "cryptics" zoas in the bottom right

Cool bright orange chalice

Torch
 
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