Tweaking the LED

[Salty Cracker]

All the LEDs showed up today (thanks Adam!).  I should have the tank switched over to the new lights within a couple of days I would think.  Definitely like the solderless LEDs, even though a couple came apart.

The goal is definitely an SPS tank, with full colours, and good growth, and 100% LED.  This should be the final 'tweak' to achieve that goal.  Total wattage would probably be ~300W when all the channels are lit. 

 

[Salty Cracker]

First of the new fixtures finished... 1) the almost completed fixture, 2)the UV channel on (two of the optics aren't on, can you tell?  3)the white channel on (only the 6 brightest ones are white) and 4) the Royal Blue channel.  The RB has 4 or 5 'blue' bulbs in it, just for some variation in the colour.

 

[Big_Als_London]

Looks awesome Glen. Nice and clean looking.

 

[Salty Cracker]

Looks awesome Glen. Nice and clean looking.

Unlike my original build!

 

[AdamS]

WTF? I've put 2 days in and suddenly you have yours done first?

I did manage to do 0-10V dimming with the arduino tho.

 

[phi delt reefer]

WTF? I've put 2 days in and suddenly you have yours done first?

I did manage to do 0-10V dimming with the arduino tho.

key is to get borderline blackout drunk then start building... right Glenn?

 

[Salty Cracker]

WTF? I've put 2 days in and suddenly you have yours done first?

I did manage to do 0-10V dimming with the arduino tho.

Well I only have one done, just have to glue on the optics and wire up the drivers, but the last one I need to cannibalize the existing fixtures so I'll be doing that while getting slobbery drunk tonight. 

So how did you get 10v out of a 5v output?

 

[AdamS]

Just jam more voltage in!

No really...

 

[Salty Cracker]

So if I'm reading that right (and I'm sure I'm not), you just added in 15V and used the arduino as a controller?

 

[AdamS]

No, output of the arduino goes into an 'op-amp' (lm358) which essentially doubles the output voltage. The op-amp is fed 15v, which allows it to take the 5V and make it 10.

 

[Neopimp]

Good old op amps

 

[Neopimp]

I got a bag of them and other electronics if anyone else is interested

 

[unibob]

Any chance you have a photo of the setup in your signature? Would love to see a photo.

 

[Salty Cracker]

Any chance you have a photo of the setup in your signature? Would love to see a photo.

I'll have a shot of it when it's all done and in place, but man, we can't get funny with the signatures!

 

[Salty Cracker]

Okay, the camera shows the differences in lighting better than a good camera.

First photo shows one panel on 'white' and one panel on 'blue'  Note that the white panel only has SEVEN white LEDs going. 

Second photo shows the two outside panels running violet/UV bulbs (7 per panel) and the center has 6 violet/UV bulbs going and two BLUE.  Look at the difference. That's the way the phone took the picture, it doesn't look that extreme in person. 

All bulbs have 60deg lenses. To me, the very best mix of 36 LEDS on a panel: 7 Whites, 5 UV, 2 BLUE, and 22 ROYAL BLUE.  Best viewing at night is 28 ROYAL BLUE across the tank.  The hardest on the eyes is definitely VIOLET/UV only.  However, the coral seems to react best to the UV.  Red is pretty much useless IMHO and I never tried any orange or anything.  I just want the corals to colour up and grow. 

I'll get a shot of the completed setup hopefully tomorrow.  I have to clean up the wires for the wire police

 

[Salty Cracker]

So again in that bottom photo...the outside panels have 7 UV/VIOLET bulbs on only, and the center panel has 5 UV/VIOLET and 2 BLUES.  That's how much difference those 2 bulbs make on a panel. 


I don't have a par meter, but I would have to guess that the light levels at the bottom of the tank have to be really really good now.  I've moved a few frags under overhangs.

Under the 'all on' setting, I would say this would be a 'fish only' colour lighting.  With the white channel off, the tank is stunning. 

 

[AdamS]

I have 3 blues and 9 rbs on one channel on each panel. I find that the blues look green and really show up on the rock work. I wonder if you don't see this problem because you are not really replacing an rb with a blue. At this point I am planning to replace the blues with royal blues. I still have space for 6 LEDs per panel so I may add an all blue channel at some point.

Stop by this weekend if you have some time, I could use some critiquing.

Oh, with just UV on, everything seems to look double...Er is that the booze?

 

[Salty Cracker]

I have 3 blues and 9 rbs on one channel on each panel. I find that the blues look green and really show up on the rock work. I wonder if you don't see this problem because you are not really replacing an rb with a blue. At this point I am planning to replace the blues with royal blues. I still have space for 6 LEDs per panel so I may add an all blue channel at some point.

Stop by this weekend if you have some time, I could use some critiquing.

Oh, with just UV on, everything seems to look double...Er is that the booze?

I have the blues on the UV channel on the center panel, and that helps a lot.  The blues are definitely 'green' looking, and yes, the UVs look 'double'  very hard to focus on.  I think for the corals however, they are the most important in the bunch.  The best you're going to do visually is whites off, UV's and RBs on, or just RB's.  So hopefully you have them on separate channels

I might be meeting with teebone this weekend, if so I'll let you know and maybe pop by for a look.  At the very least, it has to look better than the T5s no?  If not, it's not set up right

 

[phi delt reefer]

are you getting good blending with the 60 degree optics or is the color separation noticeable?

My biggest issue with leds is the disco effect. A diffuser panel should solve that but no one ever seems to use them. With out the reef looks very artificial.

also - are you using neutral whites or cool whites?  Are the the whites turned up as much as the RBs?  Are the blues even necessary considering you are only using two on an entire panel?

 

[Salty Cracker]

With 36 LEDs per panel, blending really isn't an issue.  I was using 80 deg optics but want to up par in the tank so I have more LEDs, less spread on each bulb. As for disco I find that white has the least noticeable effect, RBs second, and violets and reds are the worst (noticeable color dancing). So no reds in the mix, the uv channel only comes on with the RB channel and the white channel is on most of the day.  The blue bulbs aren't really needed you're right, but I figured it wouldn't hurt lol.

For me I like the shimmer, I don't like seeing different colors on the rock work. When I upgraded to MH for PC bulbs 'way back when' I was thrilled with the shimmer. So I've always been happy the led has it too. But when I tried reds...man it was awful.