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Coral Vue Hydros

Matto's 17.4g Rimless Newb Aventure!


mattclark82

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  • 1 month later...
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+ thermal adhesive + LED + soldering iron + wire + heatsink = WIN

 

Display tank

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Fuge (w/ 350 ma driver)

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*fired

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little bit of a fudge up at the top right of the DT array :/ next time will drink less buuuur

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i wanna see more.... looking really good man

Thanks!

Gonna be working on the canopy and such more this week

Might switch out the 350mA driver and use a ELN-60-27P and add two more LEDs to the fuge light, and put it on the controller. Not sure yet.

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Using a razor blade, I removed the star I misplaced on the heatsink. All it took was keeping the blade flat, and cleanup of the star and the heatsink was a cake. Not sure how much harder it will become with time or heat.

 

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Knowing that I can remove stars, I am starting to second guess my layout. Any advice? I am concerned about the NW spread, they will have 80 degree optics, and not to high off the tank.

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Typhoon LED Controller

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Plug, note BLUE = NEUTRAL = WIDE PLUG BROWN = LOAD = NARROW PLUG

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Test wiring and calibration

SV2 Settings:

RB @ 750mA

NW @ 1000mA (FL = 1500mA)

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First fire at 100% PWM:

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With optics. Seriously it is so bright, I photographed at ISO100 f3.2 1/160s in a dark room. It is blinding, and I got a punch from the girlfriend when I turned it on for not warning her. Ha :lol:

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So, basically the funnest DIY I have done.

 

I was thinking also, there are a lot of people who say it is hard to put a Typhon LED controller in a project box, because the buttons are on the base shield and the screen is on the front shield, and there are no such things as extensions. I have an idea, could a ribbon cable, which is used for Arduino boards, and mount LCD shield separate? I have not count the pins yet.

My only other comment, is it is hard to see the difference in brightness until you get down to 30% PWM, anyone experiance this? are my eyes buggered?

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  • 3 weeks later...
Mr. Microscope

Awesome build!

 

You may want to add a couple CW to your LED's. If done sparingly, can add an overall brightness to the lighting without giving you an icey look.

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I am thinking that. Firstly I am gonna get the whole canopy done, I figured the pine I bought for it would stain as the stand did, but it did not. So i have to redo that.

But first I think i need to tackle a sleek project box for the controller. It is gonna be interesting.

Later on I want to put a cluster of cyan/dr/tv around two of my rb, and put them on a driver. Will probley sneak in two CW somewhere.

but closing on a house end of next month, so I have to get this done and ready for water before to late.

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Just a quick photo rundown of long night of work. In short, Typhon mounted in box, everything wired, but gonna redo from drivers to LEDs and Typhon as the wiring is quite short and constrictive, and the polarity of the PWM is reversed at the driver plug.

 

First I cut the face plate of a 6x3x2 RadioShack project box. I cut a window for the LCD screen with a nibbler tool (if you get the RadioShack one, note that the nibbler part will not open deep enough to cut the bottom of the box, but barely the top, I would check out Harbor Freight, if they have a better one).

Then I drilled 4 holes for access to the buttons. In the future I am gonna get some acrylic rod and glue on the switch buttons.

I mounted the Typhon with (4) #4-20 x 1" SS bolts.

Note when viewing LCD screen from the front, it will not lay flat on the front plate of the box because of the LEDs used to light the display. To solve this, I used one #4-20 nut and one #6 nylon washer.

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**photo is flipped from the rest

 

Then I placed the LCD screen on the bolts, and fastened it with (4) #6 nylon washers and (4) #4-20 SS nuts

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Then I attached the bottom card of the controller to the LCD screen, fastening it with (4) #10 & #6 nylon washers and (4) #4-20 SS nuts. I used double washers because some of the solder joints on the board were quite raised, so the added protection from the nut was needed.

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Assembled view from the front.

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View from the back. I drilled 4 holes for A/V female plugs for the PWM signal, and one large hole for the power plug. I could not find a large enough power plug from RadioShack for the controller, I was going to place a plug on the box with a piggy to the controller inside, to keep the box clean. I bought the wrong size plug.

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Next I mounted the A/V plugs and soldered the PWM signal wires to it that came with the controller. I wired DIM+ to the inside plug, and DIM- to the outside).

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View of the A/V plugs from the back

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Next I plugged the PWM wires into the controller mindful of polarity, and closed up the box.

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Fired up.

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The connections I used between the drivers and the Typhon Controller. I will change this, as it is quite constrictive.

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So parts needed:

 

Lowes

(4) #4-20x1" SS bolts

(10) #4-20 SS nuts

(10) #6 nylon washers

(4) #10 nylon washers

 

RadioShack

(1) Project Box (6x3x2") - could use next size smaller, but it needs the groves for boards ground down, and is tight.

(4) female phono jacks

(4) male phono plugs (to attach to DIM wires on driver, I did not show this part)

 

 

Got RO?

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Cleaned up the wiring a bit, and mounted the drivers to the frame.

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It's alive!

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Testing at 100% PWM for a bit.

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Also mounted the optics, and man, the really concentrate the heat! The heatsink after an hour is warm, the stars are the same temp, but wowzers, it is really hot right under the optics, about an inch away.

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  • 3 weeks later...
mattclark82
I WANT MORE!!!

 

MEEE TOO!!! Gonna get glass cut for sump tomorrow

 

looks great, nice work, im ready to see it stocked

 

Thanks! Your tank is looking slick. I hope to be stocking next month, as I close on my house the end of this month, and will be moving. I am sooooo ready.

 

Nice

 

Thanks! I went to a local shop this past weekend, and they have the Radion XR30W all over, hooked up to their MPs and the storm effect and color adjustment is awesome. I was seriously debating selling my LED rig and buying one, but my wallet is kinda on low flow at the moment. I like the XR30W's minimal look over your cube. Really nice.

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  • 2 months later...
neonstingray

Hey Matt, how far from the top of the rim did you end up placing the glass-holes overflow? It looks like about a 1/2" gap? I'm brainstorming how I'll position mine on my ADA 60P for a relatively low flow rate (eheim 1048 pump).

 

Thanks!

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