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Meepduino: 2.0 RELEASED!


MeepNand

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WELLP, i got it to work...sorta. I had to hook up all my LEDs to the drivers in order for the whole system to function for some reason. I only had one driver hooked up the other day cuz if anything happens, i only blow out one string and not all 8. the problem Im having now is my LED will not fully turn off when I have everything at 0% it will just emit a faint glow. Second, I could turn up all channels to 100% individually and everything is totally fine and works. But if try to turn everything up at 100%, my whites and blues will stay at 100%, but my OCW and HV would barely work.

 

I will try and trouble shoot this one last time tonight, if else fails, I would have to use my light as is for now since the tank have been without its light since Friday. also, I need sleep. Stayed up till almost 3am last night trying to work this out. Im 80% there I think. Just gotta hold it out a little longer.

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Is your power supply the correct size? The HV will appear dim no matter what you do, but try checking the OCW with a 9v battery.

As for the glowing of th leds, that happens to me too. Try attaching the ground pin to the LDDs' PWM pin in addition to teh 10k resistor from the Arduino.

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Well im not using the LDD, but another type of LED driver. The driver can drive up to 10 LED with a 36V power supply. I have 15 HV and 5 470m, 495nm and 660nm driven by 3 of these drivers. One string I have 10 HV, the rest is split between 2 other drivers. the 10 HV has its own channel where the OCW combo and the remaining 5HV is on another channel. If i turn on each channel to 100% individually everything is fine. If i turn on the whites, RB and the OCW channels to 100%, it would still work. But if i start to turn on the HV channel, both the OCW and HV channel will be barely on. Im guessing the the forwarding voltage of the HV has to do with the weirdness of how my light is acting now. Right now Im just running the lights without the HV string as this is the most stable right now.

 

Also im really bumbed about the fan control. It just doesnt want to work. Right now Im using a timer to turn the whole system on and set the time schedule on the arduino to run the program as soon as its on, and have the timer turn off after the program is finished.

 

IMAG1889.jpg

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Shoot, fan control! I knew I forgot something.

Did you make sure the driver is cimpatible with 5v PWM? If it's a 10v PWM or a 10v analog or a 5v analog driver, it might produce strange results. Try running some example programs on the Arduino with PWM, like Fade.

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The driver is compatible with PWM signal from 0.3-18v. I did try your controller with my light a few months back and it performed flawlessly. I was able to turn my lights off completely. But with my new configuration and new LED lights, something is out of wack right now.

 

Im debating if I should keep this simple and not mess with the fan control and basically have a timer that turns the whole system on and the arduino just runs the program and turn off the whole system when the time is up. It kind of defeats the purpose of having a controller, but at least my fans wont be on 24/7

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0.3-18v PWM? I've never heard of something like that. Are you certain that's not the output voltage?



The driver is compatible with PWM signal from 0.3-18v. I did try your controller with my light a few months back and it performed flawlessly. I was able to turn my lights off completely. But with my new configuration and new LED lights, something is out of wack right now.

 

Im debating if I should keep this simple and not mess with the fan control and basically have a timer that turns the whole system on and the arduino just runs the program and turn off the whole system when the time is up. It kind of defeats the purpose of having a controller, but at least my fans wont be on 24/7

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From what I can read, the LOW of the PWM signal must be below 0.3v and the HIGH must be above 3.3v. It's probably the wiring.

Have you tried running an example sketch yet?

not yet, I didnt mess with the light anymore this weekend. Ill try it out sometime this week

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This may be a dumb question, but I am new to arduino programming, so new I haven't ever touched one but I have a Leonardo arriving within the week. However, LEDs I am very familiar with and have made a few DIY units which have lasted a little over a year now with zero complications. Would a Chinese mega 2560 unit like this one work? http://m.ebay.com/itm/271019848784?nav=SEARCH&sbk=1

Has there been anyone that has tried a Chinese arduino with his controller program? Or do I just need to save my money for the Arduino name brand? Any feedback is greatly appreciated!!

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Thanks guys, I seem to have been caught up in the other 20 pages of this forum that I completely neglected the first page where it stated "clone"... ?

At least there's a nice little link to a kit now, for anyone else that is interested in ordering a board and lcd. ?

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Thanks guys, I seem to have been caught up in the other 20 pages of this forum that I completely neglected the first page where it stated "clone"...

At least there's a nice little link to a kit now, for anyone else that is interested in ordering a board and lcd.

The "kit" is the same as the sum of the parts; you get exactly the same thing at the convenience of ordering 2 less parts buy at a much higher cost. It is for that reason it is better to buy discrete parts. On the other hand, you get everything refunded if one thing doesn't work.

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hows the controller coming along? im really looking forward to the fan control :D

I'll PM you with a test code. I don't have the time right now to test everything myself. Anybody else who would like to beta test is welcome to PM me.

 

EDIT: Although the wiring is a lot different, and I had to remove DS1302 functionality because it was interfering with the alarm pins. 3 pins is too many.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have been away for quite some time, but these improvements are very impressive! Keep up the awesome work Meep. I don't understand most of the things that are going on now. What's an SSR that you have attached to the pumps in the diagram?

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I have been away for quite some time, but these improvements are very impressive! Keep up the awesome work Meep. I don't understand most of the things that are going on now. What's an SSR that you have attached to the pumps in the diagram?

A solid state relay. If you us one with pumps you should put a flyback diode (google it, it's very simple) but they are meant to be switched on and off many times, which is why I recommend them.

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A solid state relay. If you us one with pumps you should put a flyback diode (google it, it's very simple) but they are meant to be switched on and off many times, which is why I recommend them.

So this is something unnecessary if I don't have any pumps to control?

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So this is something unnecessary if I don't have any pumps to control?

Well, normal relays weld shut over time. I would say they are good for all uses.

If you don't want to use them, that's fine, just make sure to swap the normal electromechanical relays out every once in a while.

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