lnevo July 18, 2014 Share July 18, 2014 I have been told the kit works with the generic Evergrow D2040 fixture that I bought. I have placed an order for two and will be documenting the install as soon as I can. I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures so people can see if their connections, etc will be compatible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lnevo August 5, 2014 Share August 5, 2014 The kits have been delievered. I'll be doing the unboxing tonight and probably the replacement sometime this weekend. I received the installation instructions this past weekend. Everything seems pretty straight forward. From what I've gathered this is a replacement of the stock dimmers. Holes will need to be drilled into the case in order to add an RJ-45 jack that is compatible with the 2-channel Apex wiring layout (pins 1+2, 5+6) So far, the only disconcerting thing is that it says to set the Apex operating parameters at 45-70. Effectively this puts the number of dimming increments at only 25 settings. However, there is some good news as supposedly less than 45 and the unit will be off and higher than 70 will stay at 100%. This is good becasue previous hacks reported having flickering below 10% and required turning off the ports that the lights are connected to. Now, I'm not sure how the Apex deals with dimming, but I'll be using a ReefAngel. Currently the built-in dimming ports no the RA are set from 0-100 just like the Apex, but the dimming circuitry is actually 8 bit and can be set from 0-255. The newer dimming expansion modules are actually 12 bit and are capable of being set from 0-4095. What does this mean? Nothing yet... Alan has been helping the RA community add support for the higher resolutions. For the stock dimming this would change the operating range from 45-70 to 115-178 giving us 63 increments of dimming (remember this is using an analog singal...) and if you are using the dimming expansion, we'd translate that range to 1843-2866, giving essentially 1024 increments of dimming. Which every dimming port you use though we should get really nice smooth dimming on the ReefAngel. I don't know if Apex does the same in the background or not. Would love to hear from those that have more details. Anyway, very excited about adding dimming capabilities to my D2040 fixture. I really hope to have good news to report and let everyone who has one of these lights get in on the controller action If anyone has any questions or wants a specific picture of something, let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM August 5, 2014 Author Share August 5, 2014 I don't know how the Apex handles dimming. I know you can only set integer values as percents from 0 to 100, but internally if you made it go from 10% to 20% over the course of 10 hours would that mean that you'd get one step of voltage from 1V to 1.1V to 1.2V, etc once per hour or that you'd get some nice even slope. For the Reef Angel I had to change the PWM Slope dimming functions to evaluate what level they would be at once per second because if you had 4095 levels of dimming, which the RA chipset has, you would lose all that precision if you just checked once per minute like the libraries were doing previously. When I was putting a voltage on there I definitely saw flickering down under 10-15%. I have no idea what else they're putting in there to turn them off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howaboutme August 5, 2014 Share August 5, 2014 Great job guys! If using the stock dimming, which I am assuming is the one on the main relay, will I notice anything when ramping up or down considering the lower (but still higher thanks to Alan) resolution? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM August 5, 2014 Author Share August 5, 2014 From the ReefAngel, those ports on the main relay box are called Actinic and Daylight. You should notice them ramping up smoother if you are there watching when the lights are very dim. Those steps you can see. In the middle of the dimming range it won't make much visual difference because your eye can't detect the difference between 51% and 52%, but it can easily see the difference between 1% and 2%. It suddenly gets twice as bright, heh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howaboutme August 6, 2014 Share August 6, 2014 Got it. Thanks, Alan! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lnevo August 6, 2014 Share August 6, 2014 (edited) So, not much to it. It's swap in replacement dimmers connected to a nice rj-45 port. They seem to have a lot more circuitry then the stock ones. I'm lacking the right drill bits and usb cable for my dimming module. So I have a bit of shopping to do. Edited August 6, 2014 by lnevo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howaboutme August 6, 2014 Share August 6, 2014 So you're going to strip off the RJ45 and attached the RA cable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lnevo August 6, 2014 Share August 6, 2014 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howaboutme August 6, 2014 Share August 6, 2014 Haha..of course! Looking forward to the picts and commentary as you do the mod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lnevo August 7, 2014 Share August 7, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lnevo August 7, 2014 Share August 7, 2014 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lnevo August 9, 2014 Share August 9, 2014 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon M Profeta November 6, 2014 Share November 6, 2014 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???? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon M Profeta November 6, 2014 Share November 6, 2014 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 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM November 6, 2014 Author Share November 6, 2014 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM November 6, 2014 Author Share November 6, 2014 BTW, attempt at your own risk. I am not to blame if you shock yourself or blow the dimmer board, ReefKeeper, or LED driver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami November 6, 2014 Share November 6, 2014 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon M Profeta November 6, 2014 Share November 6, 2014 (edited) I measured the voltage and it only goes up to 4.85 The model number is hp060a-vr. I did a Google search already. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Edited November 6, 2014 by Jon M Profeta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami November 6, 2014 Share November 6, 2014 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon M Profeta November 6, 2014 Share November 6, 2014 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? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon M Profeta November 6, 2014 Share November 6, 2014 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 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM November 6, 2014 Author Share November 6, 2014 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami November 6, 2014 Share November 6, 2014 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? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 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 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon M Profeta November 7, 2014 Share November 7, 2014 . That is the front of the dimmer board. The back side does not have any writing on it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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