Narrow Reflector for the NanoBox V3 array?

[Reefkid88]

Good lord that tank looks amazing !!! Still dont know about the fixture lol but those colors are amazing.

[Horerczy]

Can always doll up the heatsinks with a facade of some sort.

[R_MC]

To do:

-connect dimmer for t5: I'll be using the front white channel for the t5's. It is only 3.3v which might not be enough. I believe the ballast is 10v pwm. If so I'll drop a bjt on the 12v line and switch it using the 3.3.

-tidy up wiring - zip tie party!

-install extended reflectors for the t5's (have to pick up some craft wood for spacing the magnets and hanging the inner reflectors)

-Install the top mount so that it can be hung...and reinforce the wall mount so that the whole thing doesn't come tumbling down.

 

 

Other than that... Pretty happy. The color with all LEDs on is perfect and blends very well with the ATI coral plus. The heat sinks seem to be able to keep up at full load. And the bluefish controller is sweeeet. Now I just need that bigger tank

 

Biggest benefit for me is that the photo below is straight out of the camera. No white balance foolery or anything. As a photographer, I'm really excited to be able to grab quick shots without having everything blown out. I attribute this to the warm white and lime LEDs plus the t5's strong green component.

 

[DaveFason]

The T5s will be your best friend for straight out of camera photos. I have a few spare 1-10v to PWM convertors you could use for dimming the T5s. Personally I would let the LEDs do the dimming and let T5s run 100%.

[R_MC]

Hey Dave,

 

Thanks for the feedback. The PWM converters you have will accept a 3.3v PWM input to 0-10V out (provided a 12v source)? If so, I'd definitely take one off your hands - just let me know where I can shoot the paypal.

 

The alternative is building an rc integrator into an 3x basic op amp.

 

 

Thanks,

Rob

[R_MC]

Just mocked it up: http://lushprojects.com/circuitjs/circuitjs.html?cct=$+1+0.000005+1.1208435524800693+62+5+50%0Av+400+400+400+256+0+2+1000+1.65+1.65+0+0.25%0Ag+400+400+400+448+0%0Aw+496+352+496+400+0%0Aa+496+336+640+336+1+12+0+1000000%0Aw+640+336+640+400+0%0Ar+496+400+640+400+0+2500%0Ar+400+400+496+400+0+1000%0Aw+496+256+496+320+0%0AO+640+336+704+336+0%0Ar+432+256+464+256+0+10000%0Aw+400+256+432+256+0%0Aw+464+256+496+256+0%0Ac+496+320+400+400+0+0.000006799999999999999+0.6813991031176038%0Ao+0+64+0+34+10+0.0001953125+0+-1%0Ao+8+64+0+34+2.5+0.00009765625+1+-1%0A

Think I'll just build this - easy enough and should get the job done. PWM > Analog.

[DaveFason]

Hey Dave,

 

Thanks for the feedback. The PWM converters you have will accept a 3.3v PWM input to 0-10V out (provided a 12v source)? If so, I'd definitely take one off your hands - just let me know where I can shoot the paypal.

 

The alternative is building an rc integrator into an 3x basic op amp.

 

 

Thanks,

Rob

 

Yep. Shoot me your email. They are made just for the BF Mini as well.

[R_MC]

Thanks dave, I'll try building a quick filter+amplifier first - if my EE skillz fail me I'll be pinging you.

Best,

Rob

[gus6464]

Do you have a link to the heatsinks you bought?

[Confuse]

To do:

-connect dimmer for t5: I'll be using the front white channel for the t5's. It is only 3.3v which might not be enough. I believe the ballast is 10v pwm. If so I'll drop a bjt on the 12v line and switch it using the 3.3.

-tidy up wiring - zip tie party!

-install extended reflectors for the t5's (have to pick up some craft wood for spacing the magnets and hanging the inner reflectors)

-Install the top mount so that it can be hung...and reinforce the wall mount so that the whole thing doesn't come tumbling down.

 

 

Other than that... Pretty happy. The color with all LEDs on is perfect and blends very well with the ATI coral plus. The heat sinks seem to be able to keep up at full load. And the bluefish controller is sweeeet. Now I just need that bigger tank

 

Biggest benefit for me is that the photo below is straight out of the camera. No white balance foolery or anything. As a photographer, I'm really excited to be able to grab quick shots without having everything blown out. I attribute this to the warm white and lime LEDs plus the t5's strong green component.

 

 

Wow! The tank looks great! Do you have any pictures of just the LEDs on alone? And how is the shimmer effect?

[R_MC]

 

Wow! The tank looks great! Do you have any pictures of just the LEDs on alone? And how is the shimmer effect?

 

Hi Confuse - no pics of the LED's alone yet - but I'd say the light is very similar to the ATI Coral white - just tilted a bit more blue. Will post some pics soon. Not a lot of shimmer on account of the diffusers + large reflectors. I'd say somewhere between T5 and Metal Halide towards the T5 end.

 

Thanks for following along,

Rob

[jedimasterben]

Do you have a link to the heatsinks you bought?

It is the Thermalright HR-03. I am only finding them for $20 though, not $10, so R_MC probably has a better source for them

[R_MC]

It is the Thermalright HR-03. I am only finding them for $20 though, not $10, so R_MC probably has a better source for them

 

The sauce: http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=Thermalright+HR-03

[jedimasterben]

 

The sauce: http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=Thermalright+HR-03

 

#winning

[R_MC]

So the circuit worked, but I made one mistake and have one lingering issue.

 

 

Don't drink and engineer. I use 12v supplies for 90% of my projects... it totally slipped my mind that the V supply I used here was 48V. Lucky the chip didn't blow up. I wired it up and noticed that it was not dimming. Read the output and saw 20V... Took an embarrassingly long time for me to realize what was going on (facepalm). The rated max Vin for the op amp is 28V...but it seems to work for my purposes at 48 (with some tweaks to the gain).

 

Second issue is that I can't seem to dim the T5's down to zero.

 

I'm using the SD218-40. Even when shorting the Dimming+ to ground I get a very dim light from the T5's. If this ballast really can't be dimmed to off (looks like it from the datasheet 1% to 100% dimming), then I'll have to wire a relay up to ANOTHER god damned circuit to trip it off at a sufficiently low dimming level. Blarahsdkajgasd.

[gus6464]

So the circuit worked, but I made one mistake and have one lingering issue.

 

 

Don't drink and engineer. I use 12v supplies for 90% of my projects... it totally slipped my mind that the V supply I used here was 48V. Lucky the chip didn't blow up. I wired it up and noticed that it was not dimming. Read the output and saw 20V... actually thought for a minute about how I was getting 20V out of a 48V supply (facepalm). The rated max Vin for the op amp is 28V...but it seems to work for my purposes at 48 (with some tweaks to the gain).

 

Second issue is that I can't seem to dim the T5's down to zero.

 

I'm using the SD218-40. Even when shorting the Dimming+ to ground I get a very dim light from the T5's. If this ballast really can't be dimmed to off (looks like it from the datasheet 1% to 100% dimming), then I'll have to wire a relay up to ANOTHER god damned circuit to trip it off at a sufficiently low dimming level. Blarahsdkajgasd.

 

No T5 ballast lets you dim to 0. All do 1 which is why they are specced 1-10v. On all dimmable units the controller shuts off the power when you select 0.

[R_MC]

Learned that today. So I'll need to wire a relay up. The one's I have on hand are 0-5VDC relays 10% drop out 75% pull in (0.5V off 3.75V on). I have a 5V supply for the bluefish. I also have a hand full of http://www.datasheetspdf.com/PDF/SH8M41/735401/1Nch Pch fet packages.

 

I'll build a switch + relay to follow the PWM->Voltage converter (shown with duty cycle at 50% - relay on - change the input duty cycle to <10% to see it switch off)

 

[R_MC]

The only issue with the circuit above is that the Fet packages I have have a threshold voltage of 1-2.5V (not very accurate as they're intended for higher voltage switching (up to 80V).

 

This means that the T5 will shut-off between about 10% and 20% dimming. What's the point of dimming down to 1% if it shuts off at 20!

To get around this I'll chain another op-amp (Why not? I have 4 on the chip) so that I am able to dim down to 1%.

 

[R_MC]

Relay is all hooked up - electronics are 100% done (woot)

 

Remaining tasks:

-Mount pipe flange on top of the light

-Fix pipe brackets to the wall

-Route wire through pipe + attach new ac plug

-Mount the extended reflectors inside the light

-various hot glue cleanup

[R_MC]

 

Deep t5 reflectors and hanger are done.

[R_MC]

Dry run for the big tank swap:

 

 

 

I'll be adding another 6-10 inch extension pipe - right now it's a bit high up off the tank.

 

Tomorrow is the big switcheroo - wish me luck!

[gus6464]

Damn that looks good. Those reflectors are so sexy.

[R_MC]

It's live and I've started a new thread over in the members tanks section - thank you for all the help I received in building this light. Without all of the feedback, ideas, and other contributions it would not have become what it is. I really love this light and am looking forward to observing how coral grows under its unique distribution.

 

 

[RollaJase]

Turned out great! Really nice job .