(Another) Arduino Light Controller DIY build.

[Katchupoy]

I see what you meant. Yes when they say UNO, it should be basically the same build whatever the manufacturer is. But what you are looking for are extras that are not usually found in UNO's. Most of the time, these extras are additional shield that you attached to your UNO.

Here are some of the flavors.
Arduino - Products

 

[Katchupoy]

It seem most people have gone with the DS18B20 which was previously known as the Dallas from what I can gather.

So is this what you have too? Dallas 1?

 

[Rol]

So is this what you have too? Dallas 1?

DS18B20 cable is what I have,

 

[eartaker]

Hi eartaker,
What the trick to getting the DS18B20 working?
"One wire does not name a type " is one of the problems.
Have got a SaintSmart UNO to test the DS18B20 and already found Display code is LiquidCrystal lcd(8, 9, 4, 5, 6, 7);
Appreciate any adviced, Thanks

No trick to getting it working, I'm confused why your asking about LCD pins when talking about the temp probe. You can test your code via serial then work on LCD. Never the less... take a look at this. bildr » One Wire Digital Temperature. DS18B20 + Arduino


Also if you go here I can give you help in real time. freenode Web IRC (qwebirc)

Katchupoy, buy this one https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11050

 

[Katchupoy]

I like that one too... but they are out of stock.

 

[eartaker]

Ahh I didnt see they were out... The DS18B20 uses 3 wires 1 resistor and you have to use the OneWire.h library. very easy to interface with using the code in the tutorial I posted.

 

[eartaker]

Also, post what code you have and are trying to test the probe with if you are still having issues

 

[superclown]

Hey guys its my first post on the forums, main reason for joining was I stumbled upon this thread when looking for my answer and was hoping for some insight if possible

I have a 55 / 3w china led unit looks identical to the black if you search ebay for 55x3w reef led you should see em


They did a group buy on these with local reef club and called the member modified led's basically they took 3 of the white led's out of the unit and replaced with a 3w UV led's in hopes that the 3 uv chips would provide a better than nothing solution for uv output for proper coral growth. I know that these china reef led's can have lots of differences in wiring and quality of bulb's pending on where they came from but the guys did make sure that they were using bridgelux 3w bulbs.

Mine have 2 switches for one and off for each color channel and a pot switch to dim each on. Would I be able to hook my arduino up and replace the function of the pot's without purchase of a different driver. My thoughts and hopes was that if these were already being dimmed this fashion that it should be fairly straight foward but I will need some help and driection.

While I do understand simple electronic principal. I absolutly have no clue when it comes to writing code or exactly what to look for when i pop the cover off the led unit

 

[Katchupoy]

Superclown. Welcome welcome to RF.. You came to the right place. Although this thread has been dead for a while, i believe it is still relevant. The thread ii started n RC has been closed a long time ago.

So let me ask you this. Do you want as simple ramp up and down of your LEDs? It does not matter if they are chinese or not, what matters is the driver you are using. Are they dimmable ? The reason i ask these questions is because this project is all about simplicity. There are no clouds feature and no menu where you can play with. But just a simple ramp up and down of white and blue ligths.

Very basic functions. Not that the hardware cannot do it, it is because of the limited knowledge i have with programming. This also means that later when are more experienced with the language, then you can keep working on it until you reached your goal.

Btw. Have you seen my caddnima website? Just google DIY CADDNIMA and it should point you to my website. The step by step build is there including the SANDBOX where i tried to rewrite the procedure again. Still working on it, its just been very busy lately.

Cesar

 

[fulkerl]

The arduino should dim your led as it just replaces the pot for dimming the led. visit Katchupoy home page to see how to wire to your pots. Link: https://sites.google.com/site/caddnima/myreeftank/led_controller

 

[fulkerl]

Katchupoy, I don't think this Thread is dead Its just slowed down a bit I visit it all the time as I slowly work on my controller. Thanks to All who have posted here, As There is a ton of info here.

 

[superclown]

Superclown. Welcome welcome to RF.. You came to the right place. Although this thread has been dead for a while, i believe it is still relevant. The thread ii started n RC has been closed a long time ago.

So let me ask you this. Do you want as simple ramp up and down of your LEDs? It does not matter if they are chinese or not, what matters is the driver you are using. Are they dimmable ? The reason i ask these questions is because this project is all about simplicity. There are no clouds feature and no menu where you can play with. But just a simple ramp up and down of white and blue ligths.

Very basic functions. Not that the hardware cannot do it, it is because of the limited knowledge i have with programming. This also means that later when are more experienced with the language, then you can keep working on it until you reached your goal.

Btw. Have you seen my caddnima website? Just google DIY CADDNIMA and it should point you to my website. The step by step build is there including the SANDBOX where i tried to rewrite the procedure again. Still working on it, its just been very busy lately.

Cesar

yes mine are dimmable, with 2 pots I can adjust the white channel and the blue channel with the knobs. I don't really care about following weather patterns and all that extra stuff while kind of neat I don't feel its going to make a difference in coral growth.

I mainly want to be able to dim from 0 to 100% then back to 0 on each channel and do a overlap effect with the channels so it creats the sunrise sunset and ends with just the blue's on for atinics.

I am sure later I want feature such as full power when I want the lights on during a normal off time. Was wondering if there was a way I could keep the dimming knobs and just bypass with arduino so at that time when I wanted the knobs just turn off the arduino. If not thats not a big deal but thought would be cool.

 

[fulkerl]

I think all that would be needed is a small switch between the power ground and the pot, when switched on it would pypass the audrino and give dimming control back to the pot.

 

[superclown]

I think all that would be needed is a small switch between the power ground and the pot, when switched on it would pypass the audrino and give dimming control back to the pot.

I looked at the led I have and it is wired up pretty much like I thought it was its got 2 wires running to a dimmer switch directly from each ballast. I am assuming this is controlling the voltage output to the ballast
I am assuming I could get a reading of the output by turning the dimming knob all the way down and probing the positive wire directly out of the ballast then turning all the way up and probe again to get my low and high values. then it should be as simple as wiring a toggle swich in between the dimmer and arduino, then program the arduino with those matching values for dusk / dawn.

Im novice at this so please forgive me but through a dimmer is it controlling voltage itself or something else? I made a diagram of the wiring to help better understand what I got going on

 

[superclown]

 

[pandora32]

Your all beyond me now...lol. Im still stuck on building my own led or not.

 

[fulkerl]

my dimmer controls voltage from 0 to ten volts, ten volts leds on max to o volts leds off.

 

[firefightered66]

Hello ya"ll, I have built the same arduino as Caddni's controller and using his code. The problem I am having is the LEDs will flicker for about 30 sec then ramp up and flicker again at the end of the ramp. I am using the Uno and using pwm pins 3 and 11 for the LEDs. Anyone know of a fix?

 

[Katchupoy]

FF66, welcome to RF. Let me refresh my mind here to see whats going on.

I have several questions.
What kind of drivers did you use?
Did you also incorporate the knob? or potentiometers based on my diagrams?

Can you double check if my diagrams are a match to your wirings?
https://sites.google.com/site/caddnima/myreeftank/led_controller

Also, when you have time, please double check this website too.
https://sites.google.com/site/caddnima/sandbox

These might answer some of your questions? If not, let me know here, so we can take a look at it.


Based on this sketch....

I was using Pins 3 and 11. So you are correct using those pins.
My guess is something to do with wiring?

Please double check on the diagram based on the links i gave you above. Most specially pay attention to the ground.

Cesar

 

[Katchupoy]

Superclown, I apologize for the late reply. I did not have any emails on this thread except the last one. But let me see if this can help.
Check the diagrams here.
https://sites.google.com/site/caddnima/myreeftank/led_controller