Full Spectrum Arduino LED Build

[jbadd99]

I'm gonna need those boards

Power supply came in yesterday. I've spent many hours into the wee hours working on the wiring. So far I have four channels wired up, Royal Blues, Whites, and Violets on one array. There has been a learning curve:

1. Soldering irons and heatsinks make for hard soldering :doh:
2. Make sure you have enough wire... didn't realize it was going to take so much
3. Give yourself LOTS of time for wiring... like make it a weekend project maybe.

I still have the RGB LEDs I picked up to wire up. I started on them, but I've run into a snag.

I also goofed around with the Arduino for a few minutes, but couldn't get them to dim. I don't currently share a common ground. This should be recitified when I get my 48v to 12/5v converter.

Also ran into a slight issue with my LCD buzzing. Apparently it has to do with the power conversion going on inside the unit. It buzzed really bad powered by USB and not so much powered with a 12v AC/DC adapter. The manufacturer recommended 9v as optimal.

Thats it for now. Pictures to follow later in the day when I can keep my eyes opened.

 

[jbadd99]

My wiring mess so far:

alt="" />

My new dilemma:

alt="" />

alt="" />


I was testing the green channel only. As you can see, not all my connections are finished, in fact, only the green channel has a completed circuit, but the red LED is also lit.

I contacted the seller, LED GroupBuy a while back to make sure these were wireable separately and was assured they were.

Here's the wiring diagram provided for single channel connections:

alt="" />

and for tri-channel connections:

alt="" />

After looking I don't see how you could possibly do both with the same chip without running into some issues, namely current. Any thoughts?

 

[giulianom]

The only way the 3-way would work is if you could make the 3 leds isolated from each other.

Are there any solder pads or bridges on the back?

 

[johniii]

GiulianoM;858943 wrote: The only way the 3-way would work is if you could make the 3 leds isolated from each other.

Are there any solder pads or bridges on the back?

+1 to this. You may have to break the traces between the chips

 

[jbadd99]

GiulianoM;858943 wrote: The only way the 3-way would work is if you could make the 3 leds isolated from each other.

Are there any solder pads or bridges on the back?

I'm going to try lifting the tip leads off and soldering straight to the chip leads. Ill know as soon as I take one off whether or not it will work the hard part will be getting the leads off.

 

[jbadd99]

alt="" />

So the upper left and bottom connections were bridged. I removed one pad on each from the star and BAM! problem solved. Three independently working channels. In a minute I'm going to email LED Group Buy and voice my displeasure.

One array down - one to go.. ugh! It took me around 6-7 hours and ~40 feet of wire. Of course, this includes several breaks from fatigue and general displeasure after my above listed dilemma. And then how to put them all together... hrmmm... considering a nice wooden finish fixture, or looking into that 3D printing idea... the troffer doesn't seem to be materializing.

 

[jbadd99]

Ok, test wiring went so well I decided to drop it over my tank for a minute.

All I can say is :wow2::wow2::wow2::wow2: WOW!

I've been running LEDs for nearly three years and I've never seen colors like that in my corals.

I had planned on taking a break, but now I think Imma start working on the second array...

I tried to get a picture with my iPhone 5, but it bleached out... boo!

I'm super excited now!

 

[jbadd99]

Proof it works!

alt="" />

 

[giulianom]

Look at what I just finished assembling for you:

alt="" />


How do you want to get them?

 

[jbadd99]

GiulianoM;859490 wrote: Look at what I just finished assembling for you:

alt="" />


How do you want to get them?

Woohoo!

 

[jbadd99]

Spot the new LEDs...

alt="" />

 

[jbadd99]

So nothing new yet. Been busy with work, but I'm back to working on my project.

I got my 48v/5-12v converter last week and tested whether or not I could program the Arduino to dim the LEDs, which it worked.

I started wiring up the other side last night. Hopefully it wont take as long as the last one did (about 8 hours). I hope to finish it today or tonight.

 

[rodasphoto]

I can't wait to see some pics.

 

[jbadd99]

Well, good news and bad news... good news, I finished up wiring. Only about 4.5 hours this time since I had most of the bugs worked out.

Bad news, while working I popped the dome off one of my green LEDs on the tri-color chip. This of course broke the circuit, so one of my strings doesn't work until I replace it - probably next week.

All other strings wired and working.

Now I need to seriously consider how I'm going to start mounting this thing and start looking into programming some basic lighting/timing function into my Arduino.

For now I think I'm going to use my Mega until I get the issues worked out with the DUE and voltage compatibility with the RTC.

 

[jbadd99]

http://www.liquidware.com/shop/show/TEX/TripleWide+ExtenderShield+X">TripleWide Extender Shield</a>

Very nice. I think I might pick one of these up later down the road. At a standstill until I figure out how I should frame this thing for mounting.

Anyone have ideas? I'm out for now.

 

[giulianom]

I don't think those extenders will work with the Mega/Due sized boards.

They have connectors on the sides, but not the end...

You may still be able to use it if the board is short enough to clear the pins on the end...

Neat idea, though.

 

[jbadd99]

Wow. It's seriously been six months?

So, what happened? Life. I've had some major life changes and moved. Got to looking through my box of tank goodies the other day and say my project sitting there. Also been reading about some others on here doing full spectrum builds got me thinking about mine again as well. I haven't had much free time lately due to work and school, but I'm gonna make some time to start working on this in small chunks. Even if it's nothing more than getting the lights up with an on/off dimming timer. I can work the rest in later.

In fact - I think I'm gonna go tinker with my build now.

 

[giulianom]

Tell me about it, 6 months go by like WOOSH.

2 years go by, now that's something.

 

[jbadd99]

Well, tonight I got around to replacing a bad OCW LED on the second panel. Also had to rewire a couple that I seemed to have done in the wrong order previously (each color is on its own channel).

Everything was tested and works.

Now I have two aspects to look at:
1. Find a housing or figure out how to mount it (I prefer a housing)

2. Work on a simple program for the lights for now. Something with a slow ramp up and also down is what I'm after for now, but I need to order a different RTC for the new board.

 

[jbadd99]

I fired up both channels tonight for the first time,.. At 20%. The girlfriend says "holy cow that's bright".... The I ramped this bad boy up to 95%.... I'm still seeing spots now.

I have a basic mounting I constructed from angled steel and rivets. I need to figure out how I will mount the fans now as well as all the drivers.

The fans will be controlled via PWM and a 12v on board transformer.

Slowly, but surely this thing is coming together. Anyone know of someone that can precision cut acrylic? Thinking of welding my own box together, but I need fan

alt="" />