dacdaddy Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 You think there's much difference if you replace the Cyan and Cool blue with the 3up stars of Cyan/CB/Deep Red? I know red doesnt penetrate the water much, but would it make a difference with some of the colors in the display? Also, I come to understand that people are realized more violet should be used in their lights, as evidenced by this build. Is there any typical new school of thought on the ratio of Violets? Link to comment
cichlidtx Posted May 9, 2013 Author Share Posted May 9, 2013 You think there's much difference if you replace the Cyan and Cool blue with the 3up stars of Cyan/CB/Deep Red? I know red doesnt penetrate the water much, but would it make a difference with some of the colors in the display? Also, I come to understand that people are realized more violet should be used in their lights, as evidenced by this build. Is there any typical new school of thought on the ratio of Violets? To be honest with you I'm not really sure. I'm going by what some of the guru's recommendations. They have been testing different colors for a while. I have some reds that I may try and see if it makes a difference in color. Based on opinion this and full spectrum setups are optimum for growth and color rendition. We will see shortly. But on a side note note, I did get a new toy to test with this new fixture. I'm beta testing this 6 channel controller. I will be giving review as I get things up and running, hopefully soon. I'm currently researching connectors for power, PWM signals, and fan. I want a clean look from power box to the fixture, not a bunch of wires. If you have some ideas let me know. Some of the features are: 6-Channel 8-Bit PWM 256 Dimming Levels Geo-located Sunrise/Sunset Cloud Channel Clustering Lightning Storm Effects Link to comment
MeepNand Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 Looks good! I see a button and a dial only though. Is the button a 5 way button? Link to comment
cichlidtx Posted May 9, 2013 Author Share Posted May 9, 2013 The button is a reset switch and the dial is a click-wheel system. Rotate to scroll and press to activate, hope that makes sense. I'll have an acrylic case for it soon. Link to comment
MeepNand Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 The button is a reset switch and the dial is a click-wheel system. Rotate to scroll and press to activate, hope that makes sense. I'll have an acrylic case for it soon. I get it. Nice design! Although a 20x4 lcd would have really helped over a 16x2. Link to comment
dacdaddy Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 I'm still fresh to the DIY stuff, and am trying to get to the nitty gritty of the drivers. Does 6 channel mean it would perform similarly to 6 separate drivers i.e. control 6 separate arrays (provided there was enough power)? Link to comment
dacdaddy Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 How deep are your pockets? Haha, Not haywire, but I want a nice, clean, well built setup, that also won't fry the softies at 15% power. I'm trying to dot all I's and cross all T's, to the point thereafter any changes would be of the tinkering magnitude. Thus far I don't know enough information to get the functions I want at the best price yet, but I'm workin on it, thanks to you fellas Link to comment
cichlidtx Posted May 9, 2013 Author Share Posted May 9, 2013 I'm still fresh to the DIY stuff, and am trying to get to the nitty gritty of the drivers. Does 6 channel mean it would perform similarly to 6 separate drivers i.e. control 6 separate arrays (provided there was enough power)? You are correct it will control 6 individual drivers via PWM output. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 To be honest with you I'm not really sure. I'm going by what some of the guru's recommendations. They have been testing different colors for a while. I have some reds that I may try and see if it makes a difference in color. Based on opinion this and full spectrum setups are optimum for growth and color rendition. We will see shortly. But on a side note note, I did get a new toy to test with this new fixture. I'm beta testing this 6 channel controller. I will be giving review as I get things up and running, hopefully soon. I'm currently researching connectors for power, PWM signals, and fan. I want a clean look from power box to the fixture, not a bunch of wires. If you have some ideas let me know. Some of the features are: 6-Channel 8-Bit PWM 256 Dimming Levels Geo-located Sunrise/Sunset Cloud Channel Clustering Lightning Storm Effects http://s157.photobucket.com/user/khromero/media/LED%20Build/001_zps6cd46f44.jpg.html'> I'm jelly. Link to comment
dacdaddy Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 You are correct it will control 6 individual drivers via PWM output. So how many volts per channel can this driver handle? Or is it completely up to the power supply you get for it? What current and other specs are you planning to run the chips at? Yes, Grape Jelly Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 The drivers are what control the forward voltage, not the controller. Link to comment
MeepNand Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 What Jedi said. Also, how much will the controller cost? Link to comment
cichlidtx Posted May 11, 2013 Author Share Posted May 11, 2013 What Jedi said. Also, how much will the controller cost? To be honest with you I'm not sure. I want to hook it up and give it a try but there was a bug in the code and I'm waiting for FTDI cable to get here to update it. You all have any ideas for wiring from drivers to fixture i.e., hard wire, cat6, DB15, HDMI? Looking for some ideas for ease of use. Link to comment
MeepNand Posted May 11, 2013 Share Posted May 11, 2013 I use regular solid wire, but I wouldn't recommend it. You could use male-female jumper wires and solder a resistor onto the makle end, then add another jumper and solder the other end of the resistor onto that end. Link to comment
Neto Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 any pictures of this over your tank? thanks! Link to comment
cichlidtx Posted August 26, 2013 Author Share Posted August 26, 2013 I'm almost finished with the light. I just added a different controller yesterday, Arduino mega running jarduino sketch. I need to complete a few more things and then mount over nanocube temporarily. My plan is to build a frag tank almost like your tank, 24x24x12 that this will go on. I will post up some pics when all tidied up. Link to comment
cichlidtx Posted August 28, 2013 Author Share Posted August 28, 2013 As promised, some updated pics of my fixture. I still need to test it longer and mount the display. I hope to accomplish that this weekend and maybe attach to the nanocube. Anyway, on to the pics and as always feedback much appreciated. Need some ideas on mounting the display? Link to comment
Confuse Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 Looks awesome!! I think for me, housing all those drivers and power supply was the most challenging part of my build. Link to comment
farkwar Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 Mounting display? Custon faceplates: Brushed aluminum. Brushed stainless. Black anodized aluminum. Stupid question, why is the heatsink offset and off center? Link to comment
Giga Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 I would have used metal and not wood-seem to much of a fire hazard with all the electricity goin on there and heat. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 Wood isn't an issue. Unless it's saturated with moisture, it won't conduct worth a damn (i.e. no shorts to it). The arc required to set wood on fire would need to be huge, far beyond what is capable from the low voltage DC running around that setup. And heat isn't an issue either, as the combustion point of wood is way higher than the heat that would be produced by any component failing (575F / 300C). Link to comment
cichlidtx Posted August 29, 2013 Author Share Posted August 29, 2013 Mounting display? Custon faceplates: Brushed aluminum. Brushed stainless. Black anodized aluminum. Stupid question, why is the heatsink offset and off center? I wish I had access to a machine shop, I would go with brushed aluminum. I will probably use black acrylic. The heatsink is offset for the way it will hang over my nanocube. This only temporary until I can build a 24x24x10 cube. I would have used metal and not wood-seem to much of a fire hazard with all the electricity goin on there and heat. What evil said, thanks i was going to have to research that to answer correctly. I ran the light for 4 hours and the heatsink was cool to the touch and the fan on the PS never turned on. Link to comment
Giga Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Wood isn't an issue. Unless it's saturated with moisture, it won't conduct worth a damn (i.e. no shorts to it). The arc required to set wood on fire would need to be huge, far beyond what is capable from the low voltage DC running around that setup. And heat isn't an issue either, as the combustion point of wood is way higher than the heat that would be produced by any component failing (575F / 300C). This is true and way to show me up. There is ac power running to it and ldd can blow and heat up-sure chances are slim and maybe Im just over thinking things Link to comment
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