jedimasterben Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 but if I'm using a 700mA driver then even if the wiring failed, the LEDs could still easily handle the power they're getting, so it wouldn't do any damage? It would just mean one or more of the strings of LEDs would be off until I noticed and fixed the issue? Doing it this way allows me to use the new makers 5up Pro instead, which I think looks much neater, and allows upgrade to 0-10v dimming if I ever decide to get a reef controller. There is no 'upgrade' to a better controller later - they don't support PWM dimming so you cannot use the Storm that you already have. If you're already planning on spending $70 for the MakersDriver 5up and another $50 for the MakersController (which isn't great compared to the Storm), then you're spending over twice what you'd spend in getting another board and more LDD. Link to comment
cocojakes Posted October 4, 2014 Author Share Posted October 4, 2014 No I'm upgrading everything regardless, because I'm selling my old LED system as a set to a friend, so I would need a new everything anyway. I wouldn't need to buy anything new if I wasn't, but since I'm gonna be buying everything from scratch again anyway, I like that the makers controller only has a single cable coming out of it, instead of all the loose cables coming out of my storm, and I don't like the ascetics of the storm cases. As far as I can tell I'm not losing any of the core functionality that I actually use. Its a difference of only 20 dollars between full storm system and full makers system (70+50+35 vs 65+15+35+10+10) the upgrade i'm talking about is if I were to eventually get an apex for example, it could be used in conjunction with the makers 5up pro. Like I said, i'm deciding if I should replace my old storm with the makers controller, or another storm. What makes you say the makers controller isn't great compared to the storm? What functionality is it missing? Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 What makes you say the makers controller isn't great compared to the storm? What functionality is it missing? Not too much, but some of the advanced dimming features (dedicated moonlight channels, PWM fan dimming, lat/lon timing, etc). IMHO I'd choose the Storm every time if you're not going to have the controller sit out in the open. Link to comment
cocojakes Posted October 4, 2014 Author Share Posted October 4, 2014 Yeah, see I don't use any of those features, for moonlighting I just put my violet channel on 1%, I just run my fans at 6v instead of 12v and they're silent as the night, and I don't use the lat/long function because I just do a fully custom sunrise/set based on my work schedule so that the lights are still on when I get home late at night, and aren't on when I sleep in late in the morning I agree the storm has more functionality, but the controller will be sitting out in the open on my new stand, and the single cable is worth the 20 dollars to me So long as no one has had catastrophic failure out of the units or anything lol Link to comment
farkwar Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 You're going to run them in parallel? Good luck. Don't let the smoke out. Honestly, sell those Lumias if you can and buy a couple quality pucks. Link to comment
cocojakes Posted October 4, 2014 Author Share Posted October 4, 2014 You're going to run them in parallel? Good luck. Don't let the smoke out. I'll try not to Shouldn't smoke out with only 700mA max, which is less than their rated max Honestly, sell those luminas if you can and buy a couple quality pucks. lol I'm replacing pucks with the luminas. I'm tired of disco, I want back what I had when I had my kessil. true single point source. I even have nice lenses for my luminas Link to comment
farkwar Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 Get the Kessils then. The Lumias are nowhere near the same quality. Those lenses will exacerbate color separation on those LEDs. You actually can see 5 individual distinct red spots with the lens on. If you do keep them, you need to do the opposite and diffuse them. Link to comment
cocojakes Posted October 4, 2014 Author Share Posted October 4, 2014 The lens I ordered is 120 degrees, should it not do the same as the lens on the kessil, where it pretty much combines them into one point source? The kessils, for the amount of control I want, I would have got the 360s, which are 400+ each, plus a controller, would be close to a thousand dollars, this I got the 2x luminas + lens + heatsink + fan for 100, then another 200 on power and controllers, is a third the cost for two kessils. Link to comment
farkwar Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 I had the 50-80 lens. I dont know what a 120 lens would look like on it. I should shut up and work on mine. Again, good luck. Listen to Ben, he'll get you through the build. Link to comment
cocojakes Posted October 6, 2014 Author Share Posted October 6, 2014 does anyone know if the makers controller back light ever turns off? Or is it like the Storm controller where the backlight just stays on 24/7? Link to comment
aesp533262 Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 "The LCD backlight is now driven through a 2N222 NPN transistor - this means that we have PWM control of the backlight, so that it is bright when you need it, and dim when you're away." "Extra pins Storm X: D6 (LCD Dim), D8, D9 (8-bit PWM), D10 (8-bit PWM), D13, D11 (8-bit PWM), D12 (DS18B20 header), A6 (input only), A7 (input only)" I do not have the StormX but I have been working on getting all my information in order to begin ordering my parts. But I noticed these notes on the coralux website. Wouldn't this indicate that the LCD is dimmable, to some extent, if not all the way? Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 On the Storm X, yes. Link to comment
aesp533262 Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 how would the wiring work to get the dimming to work on storm x? Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 It's a setting in the controller, all you do is set it and it works. Link to comment
aesp533262 Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 Sorry to divert the conversation. Thank you for the info. Link to comment
cocojakes Posted January 12, 2015 Author Share Posted January 12, 2015 can the makers 5up pro board be hooked up to an apex? It says it accepts 0-10v dimming, but claims to need the dimming knob add on for that, but then when you go to the add on, it doesn't say anything about 0-10v dimming. Would it just be a single 0-10v input that dims all 5 channels, or can you group the channels into two groups of dimming control so you could dim your actinics separate from whites, or even control all 5 channels separately? They give very little info on the LEDgroupbuy page, and pretty much the same info on the makers page. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 The MakersDriver 5up does not have 0-10v support without the dimming accessory. You use the dimming accessory as a 'trim pot' and set the maximum percentages for the five channels and then the single 0-10v signal dims them all up and down according to those maximum settings. Link to comment
cocojakes Posted January 12, 2015 Author Share Posted January 12, 2015 Thats what I feared. How does the dimming module work? It appears to have a 10pin molex connector, does it not use 0-10v to control them? Or is it using resistivity? If it was using 0-10 then one could just get a molex connector and plug an external 0-10v such as an apex, into it (bridge any channels you want grouped). but I can't imagine thats the case, otherwise you wouldn't need the dimming accessory. I guess i'm going with two of the 2up dimmers, that way I can have separate control over actinics and whites. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 It takes the output that would normally power the MakersController and uses it to give a 10v signal to the potentiometers. Then from there, the potentiometers change that voltage, and there is a small circuit on the board that converts the analog signal to the 5v PWM that the LDD need. Link to comment
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