Interested in Apex/RK controlled d120's?

[lnevo]

No way! The rj45 port is the nice finished look i bought the kit for. I will install it nicely in the case and then plug an ethernet cable into it and strip that

[howaboutme]

Haha..of course! Looking forward to the picts and commentary as you do the mod.

[lnevo]

[lnevo]

Both lights have been hacked. The range on the dimming with knobs is definitely smaller than the stock. We'll see how low and high they will go once I hook up the controller. Previously it dimmed a lot lower and was much brighter at high. But its working so far and i can always revert back. I'll touch base with RR to see if that is normal behavior. I have to say the inside is nice and clean and makes a pretty good foundation for hacking. The kit worked out very nicely from an instruction and ease of use.

[lnevo]

perspective. (wouldn't let me edit the above.)

 

Anyway, Rick at ReefRadiance is going to get back to me after doing some checks on the generic d2040 fixture i got on ebay. I'm hoping to hear back soon. In the meantime I've wired the dimming wires directly to my controller and disabled the knobs. The lights dim really well across a nice spectrum now.

[Jon M Profeta]

I just took mine apart and it has 3 pins not 4 on the dimmer. Yellow/black/white. Don't know where to start with these 120w Chinese led lights. Here are some pics of the drivers and wires. I am trying to use my reed keeper alc to control them with the 0-10v. Anyone shed any light????

 

 

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[Jon M Profeta]

I wrote this really late last night so a lot of you were probably sleeping if anybody knows what these three wires do and how I can hook it up please explain thank you

 

 

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[AlanM]

This is another totally different style of connector.  Lots of people seem to make very similar lights out of different components. 

 

So the three pins on that big potentiometer hooked up to the board would probably be 1) Ground 0V, 2) wiper, 3) 10V.  The middle one is almost definitely the wiper, and it would be the one that varies the voltage to control the lights.  The outer two we don't know, but if you have a voltmeter put the red and black leads from the meter on the two outer ones and read the voltage.   If you get a -10V then the one that the red one is on is the ground.  If you get +10V, then the one that the black one is on is the ground.  If you get something other than +/- 10V then your reefkeeper might not be able to control them.  Once you know what the ground is, put the black one on that one and the red one on the middle one and turn the knob to one end of it's range and then to the other.  That will tell you the variance of the control voltages.

 

In your photo almost certainly the yellow wire is the wiper, the black one is ground and the white one is +10V.

 

Maybe Tom (Origami) can weigh in here because I might not be thinking of this right, but I believe you should be able to  pull that plug with the three wires off the little board and use a couple of these:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Solderless-Wire-Quick-Splice-Connector/dp/B0041PF5QY

 

on the black and yellow wires (provided those were verified as ground and variable), to reversibly splice in your - and + wires, respectively, from the ReefKeeper and button it all up and call it job done. 

 

If you ever wanted to put it back to stock and use the knobs again you can just take off the splicer and  put a little electrical tape on the wires and plug it back into the dimmer board.

[AlanM]

BTW, attempt at your own risk.  I am not to blame if you shock yourself or blow the dimmer board, ReefKeeper, or LED driver.

[Origami]

The drawing on the driver shows that the yellow wire is likely the wiper. What's the DC voltage between the black and white wires? Also, can you get the part (model) number off of that LED driver? It's a little fuzzy in the picture. That may provide more insight into what the input looks like and what requirements there are for control. 

 

The driver shows:

 

White wires (paired) = AC voltage in

Red/Black pair = LED voltage output (variable)

Black/Yellow/White triplet = Variable Output Control

[Jon M Profeta]

I measured the voltage and it only goes up to 4.85 The model number is hp060a-vr. I did a Google search already.

 

 

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Edited November 6, 2014 by Jon M Profeta

[Origami]

One can only guess at this point, without further information, exactly what the device can use as control - whether it's resistance only or if it can tolerate a DC control voltage or even a PWM input. Some drivers these days are compatible with all three control signal types. You could also experiment, but you may damage the driver. Another alternative might be to replace the driver with a known product that is directly compatible with a PWM control input.

[Jon M Profeta]

So between the black and yellow is were I get my 0-5 voltage. So that would mean the the black is ground the yellow or white would be the voltage going in and then either yellow or white would be the signal going back to the driver to increase or decrease voltage to the leds. Sound right. So since it is only 5v I should be able to take a test light and find out which one is my supply voltage. But now does the reef keeper alc supply the voltage to the driver?

 

 

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[Jon M Profeta]

Also I found this link to be able to use a 0-10v source to power a 0-5v. Let me know if this looks right. https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101031121337AAxGuxd

 

 

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[AlanM]

The voltage between the black and yellow should change as you turn the knob if the three-wire connector is still attached to the dimmer board.  Does it do that?

 

None of them, black, white, yellow is the "supply voltage".  They are all control.  The reefkeeper will have a variable dimming output that will supply almost no current, but should be able to handle 0-10V DC voltage.

 

If yours takes 5V DC to control instead of 10V DC, though, with a little bit of work and a couple resistors you can build a voltage divider like that link describes to split the 10V from the RK into 5V.

[Origami]

So between the black and yellow is were I get my 0-5 voltage. So that would mean the the black is ground the yellow or white would be the voltage going in and then either yellow or white would be the signal going back to the driver to increase or decrease voltage to the leds. Sound right. So since it is only 5v I should be able to take a test light and find out which one is my supply voltage. But now does the reef keeper alc supply the voltage to the driver?

 

 

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What is the White to Black voltage? When you turn the dimmer (trim-pot), does the Black-to-White voltage remain constant and does the Black-to-Yellow voltage change?

 

I don't know what the RK supplies. It may supply a 10V PWM signal some other controllers. I just don't know that controller.

 

 

Also I found this link to be able to use a 0-10v source to power a 0-5v. Let me know if this looks right. https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101031121337AAxGuxd

 

 

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This solution assumes a somewhat high input impedance at the terminal device (e.g. >10 kOhm). If it's not a high input impedance, then the voltage divider approach used in your referenced thread will have much-reduced impact.

 

Can you get a picture of the underside of the dimmer board so that I can see the printed circuit board traces? Also, is there a part number that you can get off of the dimmer (potentiometer)? Have you bothered to measure the open-circuit resistance across the terminals of the trimmer?

[Jon M Profeta]

. That is the front of the dimmer board. The back side does not have any writing on it.

 

 

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[lnevo]

The back we could see the wire trace though

[Jon M Profeta]

The black to white reads 4.90 constant. The yellow it the one that dims it back to the driver.

 

 

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[Jon M Profeta]

http://i.imgur.com/HFdFa6R.jpg

 

 

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[Jon M Profeta]

http://i.imgur.com/iu1PkLY.jpg

 

 

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[Jon M Profeta]

Is this what you guys wanted?

 

 

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[Jon M Profeta]

Just opened the driver. It shows what the 3 wires do. Now my alc reef keeper does 0-10v. How do I get the voltage down to 0-5v. Here is a pic. It says ground/pwm/5v http://i.imgur.com/dm3jlsi.jpg

 

 

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Edited November 7, 2014 by Jon M Profeta

[Jon M Profeta]

I know I am posting an awful lot but my mind is thinking 10 different things. If i get a voltage divider would that work? I seen this one. But it says analog. Mine is a pwm signal right. http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=261236107511

 

 

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Edited November 7, 2014 by Jon M Profeta

[Origami]

The picture is fine. It confirms that the yellow wire is likely the wiper on the trimpot. 

 

Bingo. That picture of the inside of the driver is perfect. The center terminal is silkscreened with "PWM" indicating that the circuit board was likely designed to take in a PWM (pulse width modulated) signal. That likely means that it has a fairly high input impedance. Now, the manufacturer may use the same board and just populate it differently... but, if you want to give it a whirl, you could just use a simple voltage divider circuit (the one you posted before used two 1K resistors) to cut the PWM pulse height down from 10 volts to 5 volts. Just be forewarned: There's always a chance that, when you don't have good documentation, something could go wrong. Even when you do....