Maeda Needs Dimmable LED Advice

[Maeda]

Hey so i'm a pretty handy guy, and very comfortable with DIYing things, and i'm looking into building a few LED lights for my aquarium..

 

The first light will be run 24/7 as my moonlight but will periodically be run much much brighter (about 4-6 hours a day).

 

I want it to be able to fade up and fade down. This is imperative, and it needs to work with the RKE(Reef Keeper Elite).

 

Example..

LED's run at 5% all night

Sunrise 5% -> 100%

LED's run at 100% all day

Sunset 100% -> 5%

LED's back to running at 5%

 

-----

 

So where should I start here? I'm pretty familiar with the basics of building LED light and DC circuits, but I have no idea how to get them to dim/fade up and down, or how to get it to play with the RKE.

 

I was hoping to get this as point source as possible so I can get some shimmer going on in my tank, but at the same time spread out enough so it won't look like a spot lit moonlight. Looking at the SSC P7 and MC-E's to see if I can get this going..

[Milad LEDGroupBuy.com]

Hey so i'm a pretty handy guy, and very comfortable with DIYing things, and i'm looking into building a few LED lights for my aquarium..

 

The first light will be run 24/7 as my moonlight but will periodically be run much much brighter (about 4-6 hours a day).

 

I want it to be able to fade up and fade down. This is imperative, and it needs to work with the RKE(Reef Keeper Elite).

 

Example..

LED's run at 5% all night

Sunrise 5% -> 100%

LED's run at 100% all day

Sunset 100% -> 5%

LED's back to running at 5%

 

-----

 

So where should I start here? I'm pretty familiar with the basics of building LED light and DC circuits, but I have no idea how to get them to dim/fade up and down, or how to get it to play with the RKE.

 

I was hoping to get this as point source as possible so I can get some shimmer going on in my tank, but at the same time spread out enough so it won't look like a spot lit moonlight. Looking at the SSC P7 and MC-E's to see if I can get this going..

 

 

HIBrights will do well as a moon light but they won't really add much from my understanding other than just being moonlights. So you wont get a shimmer

 

the CREE XP* family and most other 3w high output LEDs will give you shimmer but you cant dim them low enough not to disturb the livestock.

 

So I would probably recommend deciding if you want moonlight or shimmer. Because they will require different LEDs.

 

As far as the RKE, you just need to check how the dimming works, usually the controllers have 10v dimming which hook up directly to most drivers really easily. For the Neptune you can set up a cat5 cable to plug right into the neptune and into a connection to your driver.

[Maeda]

so... you can't dim high output 3w LEDs? Why not?

 

I guess i'll have to think a bit more...

[adambrum]

so... you can't dim high output 3w LEDs? Why not?

 

I guess i'll have to think a bit more...

 

Have a look at my post a few threads down from this, i have dimmed 10w leds down to moonlight levels.

 

I take it the rkl has 0-10v output ?

[TheWAND]

so... you can't dim high output 3w LEDs? Why not?

 

I guess i'll have to think a bit more...

I think you can. If Vertex can do it, why can't you? Make your moonlighting no optics and you can run the RB at 30-60%, depending on how bright you want it at night. It doesn't disturb corals at all and fish still go away for the night.

[Maeda]

Have a look at my post a few threads down from this, i have dimmed 10w leds down to moonlight levels.

 

I take it the rkl has 0-10v output ?

 

RKE not RKL in my case but yes I think it does.

 

EDIT: Confirmed

 

http://www.digitalaquatics.com/saltwater/ALC

[LowMax]

If you use Meanwell ELN-60-48D power supplies with the DA Advanced Light Controller (ALC) it should do everything you need. That's how my system is set up. Learned how to set it all up from searches on Nano-Reef and the Digital Aquatics forums.

[Maeda]

If you use Meanwell ELN-60-48D power supplies with the DA Advanced Light Controller (ALC) it should do everything you need. That's how my system is set up. Learned how to set it all up from searches on Nano-Reef and the Digital Aquatics forums.

 

wow and 01-er!

 

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

[LowMax]

I usually just read but decided to post finally.

[doctaq]

a meanwell cannot dim 3w leds low enough not to disturb coral

[adambrum]

a meanwell cannot dim 3w leds low enough not to disturb coral

 

I found this too hence why i started looking at dmx drivers, Perhaps the new drivers from nanotuners might be up for the job as they take 0-10v

[LowMax]

a meanwell cannot dim 3w leds low enough not to disturb coral

 

I agree with that. I could never locate a driver that would ramp down smoothly below about 10% (1V) output. That's why I suggested the ALC. You can get DA lunar pods that are direct plug in to the ALC for simple moon lighting. The ALC has a simple lunar lighting function.

[Genj]

I run CREEs and they will not go low enough. So I run a single blue AM series from superbrightleds.com They plug directly into the 12v wall wart that I am using to power the fans on the LED heatsink.

 

Find the product page here: Moonlight

 

 

[cptbjorn]

if you want to make some drivers you can do all that pretty easily. cat4101 are probably the simplest but there are a bunch of different driver chips with enable inputs for pwm dimming, and every one I've tried has had good enough dimming resolution to be used as moonlights. not sure if the RKE does PWM or variable DC but either one is workable.

 

another possible solution could be to parallel a low current source with an off the shelf LED driver, so when the driver dims down and cuts out there will still be a couple milliamps flowing for moonlight. this would take some experimentation though to make sure it doesn't interfere with the driver.