Dave Fason's LED Build with Ryujin Lighting Controller

[gummbyjim]

Recently I purchased an LED lighting system from Paul Price that was made by Dave Fason. Dave Fason did an excellent job with the build. In the following post I am going to try and review the build, the controller and the Nanobox program as best I can.

 

Let me start by talking about the lighting a bit. Dave did a very neat job when he arranged all the LEDs in the hood. In the hood there are 24 LEDs in total which consist of 12 Cree XP-E Royal Blues and 12 Cree XP-G cool whites. The output on these things are incredible. Going from a stock compact florescent to these things have been a pleasure. Here is what the LED setup looks like.

 

 

The next part of this build is the Ryujin Board. This thing is incredible. I am not an expert on this but I believe that all the drivers are on the board and they are called buck pucks. An external power supply hooks up to the board which powers the drivers and the board itself. The board includes an OLED screen which displays the current time. There is also a place to put a USB cable so that you could program the board on your computer. Here is what the board looks like.

 

 

The board interacts with the computer through a program called Nanobox. Mr. Fason created this program with a friend to program the board. The program is excellent in customizing everything from sunrise, to sunset, to cloud coverage. It even does thunderstorms.

 

 

Here you could see the nanobox program. On this particular build I have four drivers which are all displayed above. Driver 1 and driver 2 are dimming drivers while driver 3 and driver 4 are on off drivers. Driver 1 and 2 have a start time, end time, and how long it takes to go from min bright to max bright. It also lets you customize how bright you want your LEDs to get. Driver 3 and Driver 4 simply have a start time and end time. One of the coolest things you can do with Nanobox is program both storms and clouds. When you program storms and clouds you can program them for a particular day at a particular time. Its really cool to do both at the same time because you will see the tank dim down with random lightning flashes. Of course if you want you could always program lightning without clouds and visa versa. The great thing about this board and this program is that it really gives you the flexibility to do what you want with your lighting.

 

My overall review of the build, the board and the Nanobox program is outstanding. Dave has done a great job interfacing the controller with the computer. It really takes lighting to a whole new level. I would recommend Dave Fason to anyone for a truly customizable LED build.

[OceanFlyer]

I wanted to add to this review having just received Dave Fason's 12-24 LED fixture.

 

Wanting the low power consumption and long useful life of LED's I began a search on the web, this, and other sites about lighting a nano reef with LED's. In the course of my research I saw this review and was impressed.

 

I emailed for information and Dave was quick to respond and patiently answered a seemingly endless list of questions. I knew that I could order something and have it fairly soon but not being in a hurry I decided on his product. Dave explained that they were built by him and it would take a little time which was fine. I also liked the idea of helping a new business and a person with a passion for this hobby.

 

During the build time Dave kept me informed as to the progress and also provided me with useful information that helped me prepare for the lights arrival.

 

The shipment arrived on time and was packaged very securely. Upon inspection I was very pleased with the quality of his work. It was exactly as described and everything worked right out of the box. The fixture he recommended was easy to build and looks terrific with the lights as shown here.

 

Both the white and blue's are adjustable with a very small screwdriver which allows you to set them up to your individual liking.

 

Much of the technical aspects of this fixture is covered in the previous review and on Dave's website so I won't go over that again.

 

I will say however, that this 12-24 set up carries a lot of punch for any Nano.

 

The only negative is the 12 volt fan is audible. I don't have a skimmer or other devises running so I can hear the fan purr. If I could make one change/recommendation it would be to find a way to reduce it's noise level somewhat.

 

Overall I'm very satisfied and would encourage anyone looking for lighting to consider Dave's products.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recently I purchased an LED lighting system from Paul Price that was made by Dave Fason. Dave Fason did an excellent job with the build. In the following post I am going to try and review the build, the controller and the Nanobox program as best I can.

 

Let me start by talking about the lighting a bit. Dave did a very neat job when he arranged all the LEDs in the hood. In the hood there are 24 LEDs in total which consist of 12 Cree XP-E Royal Blues and 12 Cree XP-G cool whites. The output on these things are incredible. Going from a stock compact florescent to these things have been a pleasure. Here is what the LED setup looks like.

 

 

The next part of this build is the Ryujin Board. This thing is incredible. I am not an expert on this but I believe that all the drivers are on the board and they are called buck pucks. An external power supply hooks up to the board which powers the drivers and the board itself. The board includes an OLED screen which displays the current time. There is also a place to put a USB cable so that you could program the board on your computer. Here is what the board looks like.

 

 

The board interacts with the computer through a program called Nanobox. Mr. Fason created this program with a friend to program the board. The program is excellent in customizing everything from sunrise, to sunset, to cloud coverage. It even does thunderstorms.

 

 

Here you could see the nanobox program. On this particular build I have four drivers which are all displayed above. Driver 1 and driver 2 are dimming drivers while driver 3 and driver 4 are on off drivers. Driver 1 and 2 have a start time, end time, and how long it takes to go from min bright to max bright. It also lets you customize how bright you want your LEDs to get. Driver 3 and Driver 4 simply have a start time and end time. One of the coolest things you can do with Nanobox is program both storms and clouds. When you program storms and clouds you can program them for a particular day at a particular time. Its really cool to do both at the same time because you will see the tank dim down with random lightning flashes. Of course if you want you could always program lightning without clouds and visa versa. The great thing about this board and this program is that it really gives you the flexibility to do what you want with your lighting.

 

My overall review of the build, the board and the Nanobox program is outstanding. Dave has done a great job interfacing the controller with the computer. It really takes lighting to a whole new level. I would recommend Dave Fason to anyone for a truly customizable LED build.

[Deleted User 6]

Good to see more reviews of Dave's stuff. I have an earlier review here:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=270141

[OceanFlyer]

You know how Road & Track gives those long term owners report on cars? I thought I would do one for Dave Fason's LED's.

 

I installed his system back in Sept 2011 and you can read my comments below. Eight months later it is working very well. I have found it to be all I need for my cube (18X18X18). Even though the tank is deep the lights cover everything and the corals are happy

 

Like any product some care needs to be taken. Three months ago the fan noise was getting louder. I emailed Dave and got an immediate reply. He suggested that the fan blade area might need cleaning. Dah! He was right. There was a dust build up. I used cue tips dipped in alcohol to get most of it and followed with the vacuum cleaner. Noise gone. Now every few weeks I take a look. That has been the only problem.

 

For potential owners I will tell you the lights are very bright turned all the way up. It took me some time to get them adjusted for my situation. I'm currently at 100% on the blues and 60% on the whites. In addition, I reduced the time they are on. Blues only for 8 hours and all lights on for 7. That seems to be the sweet spot for my tank. The nice thing is both blues and whites are easy to adjust.

 

Overall, I'm pleased with these lights. There have been several new LED systems introduced since purchasing these and like all of us I've been tempted to spend more money but in the end these are great - why change.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recently I purchased an LED lighting system from Paul Price that was made by Dave Fason. Dave Fason did an excellent job with the build. In the following post I am going to try and review the build, the controller and the Nanobox program as best I can.

 

Let me start by talking about the lighting a bit. Dave did a very neat job when he arranged all the LEDs in the hood. In the hood there are 24 LEDs in total which consist of 12 Cree XP-E Royal Blues and 12 Cree XP-G cool whites. The output on these things are incredible. Going from a stock compact florescent to these things have been a pleasure. Here is what the LED setup looks like.

 

 

The next part of this build is the Ryujin Board. This thing is incredible. I am not an expert on this but I believe that all the drivers are on the board and they are called buck pucks. An external power supply hooks up to the board which powers the drivers and the board itself. The board includes an OLED screen which displays the current time. There is also a place to put a USB cable so that you could program the board on your computer. Here is what the board looks like.

 

 

The board interacts with the computer through a program called Nanobox. Mr. Fason created this program with a friend to program the board. The program is excellent in customizing everything from sunrise, to sunset, to cloud coverage. It even does thunderstorms.

 

 

Here you could see the nanobox program. On this particular build I have four drivers which are all displayed above. Driver 1 and driver 2 are dimming drivers while driver 3 and driver 4 are on off drivers. Driver 1 and 2 have a start time, end time, and how long it takes to go from min bright to max bright. It also lets you customize how bright you want your LEDs to get. Driver 3 and Driver 4 simply have a start time and end time. One of the coolest things you can do with Nanobox is program both storms and clouds. When you program storms and clouds you can program them for a particular day at a particular time. Its really cool to do both at the same time because you will see the tank dim down with random lightning flashes. Of course if you want you could always program lightning without clouds and visa versa. The great thing about this board and this program is that it really gives you the flexibility to do what you want with your lighting.

 

My overall review of the build, the board and the Nanobox program is outstanding. Dave has done a great job interfacing the controller with the computer. It really takes lighting to a whole new level. I would recommend Dave Fason to anyone for a truly customizable LED build.

[siwelk]

 

Good to hear.