Yeah, your right. Now I just need to sort out the LEDs but theres no reply from Cutter yet. TBH Im pretty dissapointed with the service. I think when they realised they were out of stock of what I had ordered they should have contacted me and asked if I wanted a substitute or if I wanted to wait. Now after making the mistake they dont seem to be in a hurry to help me out either.

Im hoping they turn out to be WG bin so I can carry on with the project.

tagging along.

What did you do to go about testing the LEDs? Seems like a good idea especially since I'll have my LED's before my heatsink and I'll be ancy to do something anyway

I just used 2 AAA batteries to test and just fired them up for less than a second. Im not sure if this is the correct way to test them though.

That's a perfectly fine way to test them.

Small Update:

Still no reply from cutter so I dont know if the white LEDs are any good.

Ive been a bit busy lately so have only managed to get half the R Blues wired up so far.

For some strange reason the heatsink screw holes seem to be slightly smalIer than last time. I dont know why as I used the same size drill bit and tap as with the pico array. The only thing I did differently was to use a little wd40 when tapping. I decided to use steel screws with washers in the end as the nylon ones were not very strong and seemed to break quite easily in the smaller holes. Anyone know a good way to get a nylon screw with no head out of a tapped hole?

Pics:

Half of the blues wired up with optics fitted. I was pleased with how easily the optics attach.


Powered on



I couldnt resist trying them out over half of my reef. WOW! The corals really glowed and I think the coverage will be pretty good (difficut to be sure without the whites though). I think the 60 degree optics are about right as they really increased the intensity of the light but still give quite good coverage.

Im hoping to get time to finish wiring up the blues this weekend and some of the whites if Cutter get back to me and they are useable.

Sweet.

I just got a reply from Cutter. They cant tell me which bin the LEDs are but suggested they could be WH or WG. I think they are probably WH as they appear pretty yellow so I will have to send them back. I have asked Cutter if they are willing to send the replacements straight away as otherwise I will have to wait for at least 3 or 4 weeks so hopefully they will agree, especially as they sent the wrong ones.

Time for an update....


The Arduino/automation side of the project is now complete (Thanks to Hugh and his hard work) . Unfortunately I can't do much with it as im still waiting for the replacement LEDs from Cutter so havent been able to finish the wiring

In the mean time here are some photos of the arduino etc. :-

Assembled. Im am probably going to ditch the idea of having the display showing through the front of the fixture and just have the whole unit sitting inside.



Boards seperated. Arduino (left), LCD display (right) and interface board (centre) with RTC chip, crystal, battery, buffer (to protect arduino when controlling multiple buckpucks) and connectors etc.



And some screenshots:-

Main screen. The bars at the top show the current intensity of each colour of LED. There is a temperature reading from the temp sensor and the current date and time. The botton line is used to scroll between different screens.


Time/Date adjust screen.


LED test screen. This allows me to manually set the intensity of each LED and has display bars like the main screen.


Extras Screen. The speed up option increases the speed by 20 (3 seconds per minute) for testing. The from EEPROM option loads a test data array from memory. The debug screen option outputs status data to the arduino software for debugging.

Nice.

very nice...

UPDATE:

Still no white LEDs from Cutter. They said they would chase the postal service a week ago but havent got back to me. Maybe its just me but If I sent a customer the incorrect item I would be trying to be as helpfull as possible to sort the issue out. Ive sent them another chase up email but Im losing hope as it been 5 1/2 weeks since I placed the order.

I just saw your update on your Adruino. Thats pretty slick. How much did that end up costing you (out of curiosity)

Dave,

It won't get you your LEDs any quicker but I've had only good experiences with Cutter (LEDs promptly followed by an order of optics). I'm sure it's a pain in the ass for them too if stuff goes missing...

It only cost about £50-60 for components. Not bad really when you consider what it will do.

I didnt have any issues the last time I orderd either. They arrived very quickly and were exactly what I ordered.

I know things can go wrong however good the company is, Im just a bit stressed with waiting for a reply as I think they should at least me keeping me updated on the situation especially as the original problem was their fault.

News from the delivery of your LEDs ?

Does your friend agrees to make available the sktech (code) used in your arduino? If yes, can you send me or post it on the forum please ?

No LEDs yet. It appears that they were lost in the post so cutter are re-sending.

There shouldnt be any issue posting the code as I think its already published online somewhere. I will be seeing him on monday so I'll ask him then.

It is not luck!
I hope you get the leds quickly




Ok, thanks.

Sucks, always one vendor that screws up and affects the build. Chin up mate, you'll be happy soon I'm sure.

Link to code as promised:-

Code

The main program file is krusduino.pde

Its the first version of the code so its a work in progress but it works well and I havent found any issues yet when testing.

Awesome!
Thank you for the code. I will study it and adapt it to my LCD display.

Royal Mail left a card today saying they had a package they couldnt deliver as I owe them customs charges so hopefully its my LEDs finally!!. Hopefully I will be able to make some progress with the build this weekend.

In the mean time, here is a photo of the tank with the current T5 lighting that the LEDs will be replacing.

Collected the LEDs first thing this morning.. yaaay! and its only taken about 10 weeks to get them

Ive wired up 2 of the 4 heatsinks with whites so far. Im hoping to get the rest done today and will post some photos.

woot hurry up now...

Woah... busy day.......

Finished wiring all the LEDs today and built a test fixture to play around with spacing etc so got to see all of the LEDs running over the tank for the first time. There was good news and bad news....

The bad news was that with the LEDs layed out as originally planned the dim area in the centre of the tank was worse than expected and didnt look good at all. The good news is that I tried rotating the heatsinks the other way to give a 3 x 16 array instead of 4 x 12 and the coverage is much better so theres no need for more LEDs. Im very happy I went with seperate heatsinks now

I also tested the arduino and it worked perfectly.

Tommorow I will start building the fixture and post some pics.

Off to bed now.

Photo of all the LEDs on heatsinks. Finally! I used some molex connectors to make it easier to connect.


I couldnt get any photos of the testing yesterday as I had to hold the temporary fixtur to stop it going for a swim so didnt have a hand free for a camera. I will be working on the fixture today and will post some pics later.

Knocked this up this morning. Its simple but should do the job perfectly well. Its built from MDF as I couldnt find any ply locally that wasnt bent or warped.




Primed, ready for vinyl wrap.

Very neat!

Cool. Looking forward to seeing it all buttoned up.

Almost finished

Ive now got the fixture pretty much done except for a splashguard and top vented cover. All the wiring is now complete and I have started testing. Heres some photo's.









Im currently monitoring the temperature with the temp sensor and an IR thermometer. Once Ive finished testing I just need to make the splashguard and cover and work out how Im going to hang it. Then I can start messing about with the arduino to get a good dawn-dusk cycle.

This may sound like a stupid question but.... Does anyone know the correct distance to use an IR thermometer to measure the die temp? Im not sure if Im doing it correctly as there is a big difference in temperature depending on how far away I hold the thermometer from the LED.

Woah! That looks great! Better than any Solaris, Galileo or something like that. I wish knew something about Arduino stuff to make one myself

Thanks Sammy. Im pretty happy with the way its turned out so far, especially as its just mdf with vinyl wrap. I would have liked to build if from acrylic but Im not an acrylic wizard like you so thought mdf would be a safer bet . Im lucky someone did the arduino part for me as I wouldnt have known how to do it myself.

Nice job Dave!
I'm curious if you have any plans to get some PAR readings and a FTS.
I think you said you tank is 24" deep, I'm interested in your readings at the bottom with those 60 degree optics.

Well done, Nick

Nice! Do u have more info on the ardunio?

Cheers
JC

Oops. Think I missed ur earlier post with the codes.

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers
JC

I dont have a meter so wont be able to get any PAR readings unless I can borrow one from someone unfortunately. I will post before and after shots once its above the tank.

All I can say is wow after lurking in forums on many boards I think your controller build is number one I can't wait to see that fixture over your tank
do you still indited to make the details of that protoboard availabil such as parts list and how it is wired
as of now that is my stumbling block and probably for many others and do you think your friend could add a storm feature to that code

Thanks. I cant take credit for the controller though. I dont see why it wouldnt be possible to add a storm feature but its not something that we will be addidng to this build. Heres a diagram of the arduino pinouts and a rough cicuit diagram as there isnt a digital version yet,

THANK YOU

After all the delays I have finally finished!

The LED fixture is now above the tank and I am really happy with it, especially the coverage and amazing coral colour. I had a bit of a shock just now because I forgot to remove the timer that I used for controlling the T5s so it all went off and I thought I had blown something

Its really difficult to get an accurate photo because of the royal blue issue but here is a quick quick FTS with the LEDs. Unfortunately the T5s were off for an hour before I fitted the LED fixture so some of the corals are retracted. The LEDs are currenty running at 50%



I will try to take some better photos tommorow.

Clean.... How much did the whole entire finished fixture run you?

About £700-750 in total.

Oh wow. That's much less than I expected, plus you don't have to replace the bulbs. Awesome job!

Awsome job Dave. The result seem well worth that hassle. Make sure to add it to the list.

Thanks. Yeah, it was a long wait but definately worth it now. I will get some good before and after pics and add to the LED thread tomorow.

Im currently watching the tank with the moonlights on which is the royal blues in their lowest setting. I wasnt sure if all 24 LEDs would be too much for moonlights but its just about right and looks really good.

Looks amazing Dave! and thats only 50% and that thing is bright! good work. Also love the round corners on the tank and stand

Yeah, I love the look of the osaka tank. The only drawback is the lack of sump.

I am surprised at how bright it is. Its difficult to tell as it looks so different but with the LEDs running at around 60-70% it looks about as bright as the 4 T5s so I have started at 50% so I dont bleach the corals and I will watch closely over the next week or two and tweak as necessary. I wish I had a way to measure the PAR.

Very nice build.

Do you have any problems with condensation on the wiring? Didn't see where splash guard was fitted.

I also live in the UK, I got my lenses from cutter & anyone else in UK should note that when your package arrives in the UK, VAT is added and the Royal Mail have a standard £8 fee for adding the VAT. My lenses and a couple of spare LED's were worth £40, after Cutters delivery charge, the VAT (which is calculated from Cutters invoice total) & the £8 fee, I ended up paying £67 in total

There is a splash guard on each side which is 3mm clear acrylic. Sorry, I forgot to upload a photo of this.

I didnt get stung the first time cutter sent my LEDs but I didn with the replacements. I think it depends which courrier Cutter use as the first ones were delivered by UPS and the second Royal Mail. I think the £8 royal mail charge is a complete rip off.