SpencerShepard Posted December 6, 2014 Author Share Posted December 6, 2014 Spencer - I got my Bluefish controller and a breakout board from Steve's today. Hooked up and channel 2 on the breakout board is not working. Originally I got the whites to work on Channel 1, could not get blues to work on Channel 2. I spent about 90 minutes troubleshooting, then tried swapping the wires - now the blues work fine on Channel 1, but I can not get the whites to work on Channel 2. Any suggestions? Hmm...sorry about that. Can you shoot me an email? spencer@blueworldaquariums.com Link to comment
sNEIRBO Posted December 7, 2014 Share Posted December 7, 2014 I finally figured out … it was a bad cable between the breakout board and the controller. As soon as I switched cables it started working. I never thought to try a different cable yesterday. It is 100% working now! Link to comment
SpencerShepard Posted December 7, 2014 Author Share Posted December 7, 2014 I finally figured out … it was a bad cable between the breakout board and the controller. As soon as I switched cables it started working. I never thought to try a different cable yesterday. It is 100% working now! That is the first bad cable I have heard of. I probably wouldn't have even thought to ask....so good work! Email me your shipping address and I will send you a replacement cable. Link to comment
sNEIRBO Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 The 1K range is actually on the cheap side for a tank that size. I think mine is up to ~$1400 for my 80. So, the bigger tank is on again. We found a used 120 gallon tank off of Craigslist (48x24x24). It was almost too good to be true, I couldn't pass it up - tank (drilled, dual mega flow overflows, dual returns, glass lids), stand and canopy - very cheap. No lights, no sump. So the Christmas project is to get this cleaned up, retrofitted, build the sump and ready to go by 1/5/15 (back to work day). I was going to go with Rapid LED Onyx fixtures, and modify the canopy to allow them to be mounted in that, and of course I knew from the Blueifsh page, that the Onyx fixtures worked with the Bluefish controller ... but Rapid LED is now saying the Onyx fixtures are out of stock ... of course! Jumped over to BML.com instead - leaning that way now. Any idea if their fixtures work with Bluefish? It looks like they have the same mono cable connector that works with Bluefish. Link to comment
rod00007 Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 So, the bigger tank is on again. We found a used 120 gallon tank off of Craigslist (48x24x24). It was almost too good to be true, I couldn't pass it up - tank (drilled, dual mega flow overflows, dual returns, glass lids), stand and canopy - very cheap. No lights, no sump. So the Christmas project is to get this cleaned up, retrofitted, build the sump and ready to go by 1/5/15 (back to work day). I was going to go with Rapid LED Onyx fixtures, and modify the canopy to allow them to be mounted in that, and of course I knew from the Blueifsh page, that the Onyx fixtures worked with the Bluefish controller ... but Rapid LED is now saying the Onyx fixtures are out of stock ... of course! Jumped over to BML.com instead - leaning that way now. Any idea if their fixtures work with Bluefish? It looks like they have the same mono cable connector that works with Bluefish. Excited for you on the tank. Link to comment
SpencerShepard Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share Posted December 16, 2014 So, the bigger tank is on again. We found a used 120 gallon tank off of Craigslist (48x24x24). It was almost too good to be true, I couldn't pass it up - tank (drilled, dual mega flow overflows, dual returns, glass lids), stand and canopy - very cheap. No lights, no sump. So the Christmas project is to get this cleaned up, retrofitted, build the sump and ready to go by 1/5/15 (back to work day). I was going to go with Rapid LED Onyx fixtures, and modify the canopy to allow them to be mounted in that, and of course I knew from the Blueifsh page, that the Onyx fixtures worked with the Bluefish controller ... but Rapid LED is now saying the Onyx fixtures are out of stock ... of course! Jumped over to BML.com instead - leaning that way now. Any idea if their fixtures work with Bluefish? It looks like they have the same mono cable connector that works with Bluefish. Yes they should be, but we use stereo cables. You might need to do some wiring, or a stereo to L R splitter. I haven't looked into their connectors in much detail. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Yes they should be, but we use stereo cables. You might need to do some wiring, or a stereo to L R splitter. I haven't looked into their connectors in much detail. BML strips dim all at once, so a stereo cable should do fine since it will still only send one signal to it. Link to comment
sNEIRBO Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Excited for you on the tank. I am VERY excited about this! Just placed the order with BML.com. They recommended two 48" long fixtures for the tank, and provided some DIY mounting ideas to attach the fixtures inside of the canopy without having to modify the canopy. I went with a 12k and their Super Actinic, both in the higher intensity XB configurations. Just slightly more than the Onyx fixtures would have cost me. I was tempted to go with a 3rd UV fixture, but for now I figure I'll see what I can do with the Magenta and UV Stunners that are in the nanoCube hood. I might be able to at least get a little red in there to simulate early sunrise / sunset with the stunners. And with BML's mounting ideas, I figured out how I can mount the Stunners at the same level with the BML fixtures. Link to comment
sNEIRBO Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 Spencer - Trying to order two power dimmers online - site won't allow me to select / calculate shipping costs, so it keeps dumping out, and I can't complete the transaction. Link to comment
SpencerShepard Posted December 17, 2014 Author Share Posted December 17, 2014 Sorry...should be good to go now. Link to comment
sNEIRBO Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 Sorry...should be good to go now. Yup - just ordered. Thanks! Link to comment
sNEIRBO Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 I ended up going with 3 BML fixtures - a 12k, a 14k and their Super Actinic. I'm going to want the 12k & 14k to be on the same channel as "white". Will either of these approaches work to connect them to the same channel? 1) Take bare wire from both fixtures and attach them to one set of connections on a breakout board (Channel1)? So there would be 4 wires, into the screw connections for Channel1, then each connector would plug into a fixture. 2) Take one connection from the breakout board, go to a splitter, then two separate connector cables from there going to the 2 fixtures? The ultimate plan for lighting on the new tank is - Channel1 - Whites (12k & 14k BML fixtures) Channel2 - Super Actinic (BML fixture) Channel3 - Stunner Magenta (for sunrise / sunset) Channel4 - Stunner UV Channel5 - Stunner Royal Blue (as moonlights) If I need to put the 12k & 14k fixtures on separate channels, I could string the Stunner Magenta & UV strips together. Link to comment
SpencerShepard Posted December 22, 2014 Author Share Posted December 22, 2014 If they are indeed mono cables used for the BML fixtures, I think you're on the right track with your first option. Might as well put your BML Actinic strip on Channel 2 of the breakout board to get full use. Link to comment
sNEIRBO Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Got my new Build My LED fixtures today. Tried hooking up the Bluefish to them - not so successful ... I connected them like this - Channel 1 - Whites (12k & 14k tied together in Channel 1 of breakout board) Channel 2 - Super Actinics (Channel 2 of breakout board) I can control the BML fixtures up and down, but they won't go to completely dark. At 0% they're still fairly bright. I have all channels on the Bluefish board set to 5V. Any advice? Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 The BML drivers probably do not dim to zero. You'll need to use a relay (like a wall timer or on a reef controller) to turn them fully off. Link to comment
sNEIRBO Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Figured it out! Need to use the Power-PWM boards. Once I hooked the BML fixtures up to the Power-PWM boards, I'm getting complete darkness at 0%. This actually solves a problem was well - the power bricks that came with the BML fixtures are kind of big. The new Bluefish Power-PWM boards have a splitter, so I only need one brick per 2 fixtures. Space savings in the stand / sump area. I'm going to need to buy another Power-PWM board, but that's considerably cheaper than an Apex controller! Going to ultimately end up with separate channels for each of the Whites this way, but that also means I end up either having to lose the UV Stunners, or the Moonlights. The TrueLumens Moonlights need a smaller transformer than the Stunners. Can only lay them out like this - Board One Channel 1 12k Whites Channel 2 14k Whites Board Two Channel 3 Super Actinics Channel 4 Magenta Stunners Board Three Channel 5 TrueLumens Moonlights Channel 6 EMPTY OR Board Three Channel 5 UV Stunners Channel 6 Blue Stunners (as moonlights) Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 This actually solves a problem was well - the power bricks that came with the BML fixtures are kind of big. The new Bluefish Power-PWM boards have a splitter, so I only need one brick per 2 fixtures. Space savings in the stand / sump area. This is probably a BAD idea. There is a reason that they include the power supplies they do. How many watts are your BML strips rated for, and how many watts does each power supply give? Link to comment
SpencerShepard Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 Unfortunately it looks like the BML strips do not dim to zero: http://www.buildmyled.com/14000k-reef-spectrum-xb-series/ (under Product Features) I am not sure that the BML strips are safe to use with the Power Dimmer either. Link to comment
sNEIRBO Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Awesome - looks like an APEX controller is in my near future! Anyone want to buy a slightly used Bluefish controller??? Link to comment
SpencerShepard Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 Here's an easy solution: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10747 Wire that to your spare channel, set the Minimum dimming to 50-100%, Morning/Midday/Evening to 100%, Night to 0%. This will turn them on/off with your light cycle. Link to comment
ryhiem Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Just wanted to double check. I'm running a diy setup with meanwell 700H ldds. So I need to adjust the controller to a 5v pwm output. Thanks Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Yes, LDD drivers are 2.5-6v PWM. Link to comment
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