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DIY Timer/Dimmer. Kind of..

17K views 86 replies 13 participants last post by  JasterMake 
#1 ·
Anyone have experience with this?? I have been playing with it for a few days and so far so good.. The software is glitchy but it gets the job done., and it's easy to use once you figure out the software.. And learn to use the reset button..
I have lots of the specs on the unit if anyone is interested.


 
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#42 ·
Section of the board that has blue LEDs along with White & Red. Gives an idea of what all the components are.

Bump: Middle of the light where the 2 separate 12" long boards are connected.

Bump: end of the board where the Blue switch is

Bump: End of the board where the main wires connect along with the white/red switch
 

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#43 ·
The only way to determine if it will work will be to try it. The "wires" or traces that connect the leds or resistors to each other are hidden on the underside of the "board" (the white adhesive material that the leds and resistors are mounted on). You can not remove it without risk of destroying the unit.

To make matters a little more complicated the 2 "boards" are joined together with R and W jumped in the process.

To test it out; the center would need to be cleaned up and the solder jumps would need to be removed.

All the solder jumps would need to be removed. Not super difficult just time consuming.


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#45 · (Edited)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyV1SJ8LEdU
Sorry for the delay. Finally got around to getting all the needed parts and at this point, proved functionality of separating the 3 circuits.

Hopefully in an hour or so I will have the rest of it done and post a new video. Seeing as all I have right now is a 2 channel dimmer I will have the white & red on 1 channel and the blue on another channel. But if I will solder / wire things so that I can use the controller that JesterMake has eventually.

p.s., no wise cracks about my state of the art work shop....
it's cold in the garage right now :)
 
#56 ·
Awesome. This question has been asked in multiple threads. I'm glad you were able to prove it can be done.

No problems with the workshop... Mine is located in the the closet, laundry room, and garage..
Well, with extreme diligence from JeffKrol the LED controller that JasterMake posted in this thread is now working correctly with a Finnex Planted + light! Pretty amazed at the possibilities I now have. This is a short, celebratory video I did tonite after I got one of the channels working correctly. Will try to do a complete write up on the total process sometime soon. THANK_YOU JasterMake for finding this controller!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3EdwQmYyk0
 
#47 ·
Ok, so I was able to wire up 3 separate pairs of wires coming out of the light (yes, I realize 4 is all that is technically needed but I am still in the tinkering phase).
I wired up the original transformer to 2 power leads to make the Fluval controller happy. I then plugged in 2 of the 3 light leads into the controller and sure enough it works! I am able to separately ramp up channel 1 then ramp it down. Then ramp up channel 2 and ramp it down. Works pretty nice. Now the down side (cause you knew there would be one) - if you have a power outage, you have to completely re-program the controller :-(
Not that programming it is very difficult, but it does take time.
JasterMake, I am assuming the controller you have, once programmed, can live thru a power outage. Assuming it does, I am definitely doing a little online shopping tomorrow.

If the other Finnex models are similar, then I can easily see adding dimming (thru a PWM dimmer) capabilities, or an actual controller if you don't mind a little MICRO soldering. For us "old" guys, that means getting out the high power readers and the really small tweezers LOL.

JasterMake, thank-you for this thread. Hopefully many others will benefit.
 
#50 ·
Ok, so I was able to wire up 3 separate pairs of wires coming out of the light I then plugged in 2 of the 3 light leads into the controller and sure enough it works.
Great work..

Btw I was being a bit humerus as to the bricking the LED. Using your 12v, even cross wiring it, would most likely not break anything. I believe the back voltage would not have been strong enough to reverse the diode blocking.
In other words, it just wouldn't light.. ;)
 
#58 · (Edited)
you know.. "if" the controller can be easily powered by 5V it does make it compatible w/ PWM drivers like the LDD-H series..
There would be no need to connect full LED voltage to it.
Even if 5V is too low, the output could be voltage reduced (more futzy circuitry though)
Only problem may be the frequency..
Need to trace the output on an o-scope.. anyone??
Some VOM do have a frequency setting as well.

Fairly cheap computer interfaced PWM 5 channel controller..

hmmm...


for those wanting to play dxextreme has them for $30.19 free shipping..
http://www.dx.com/p/tc420-1-4-led-p...-black-12-24v-140cm-cable-269307#.VmsFBL92F8E
 
#60 · (Edited)
(pg2 for me)
I'm sorry I didn't remember the first part of this thread. Would have saved me a bunch of time..and would have made you my first "go to" guy.

100-1Khz.. for LDD's so it is within their range.
Not sure this controller will work at 5V. The PWM seems to idol at 5.. so where is it going to go?

Care to scope it at that voltage?
don't like the voltage overshoot much either..I suppose some type of capacitance/inductance effect..
I assume that is "ringing"?
http://www.ti.com/lit/an/slyt465/slyt465.pdf
As MOSFET switching speeds continue to increase, controlling
the switch-node ringing of a synchronous buck
converter is critical. Doing so requires a good layout and
proper analog-circuit design with a boot resistor, a highside
gate resistor, or a snubber.
OK ,here is the 2 questions:
1) How to get it to output just 5V pulses, considering the apparent limitations of the pulse idling at 5v.
Run it at a higher voltage and then drop it at the output?

2) how to increase the power handling?
Some of the larger Beamswork's exceed 4A out on a single channel.
Using what we did (cascade ) and larger spec MOSFETS seems to be one answer..
Second answer would be to replace the ones inside w/ larger capacity.. BUT may require heatsinks..
BTW I can't read the numbers on the internal MOSFETS on the output. Out of curiosity do you know what they are?

Sorry for having so many questions but so few answers.. ;)

Oh when we ran the controller on 9V the output metered oddly on the VOM. I was expecting the usual averaging i.e at 50% it would average around 4.5V. The meter didn't do this..
At first I thought it was just doing "max" but now that I see the trace is it possible the 5v "idle" voltage was responsible?
9.57 volts from 400ma transformer
Yes. Interesting, 100% = 9.57, 50%=9.40, 25%=9.3
after all this we can get to the WIFI part.. ;)
 
#64 ·
This is the closest I could get for 5v peak to peak. It needs 10v input for this. The unit just has enough power to run at 5.5v. But then the output min is 5v and it it goes up a couple of volts from there as you increase it.



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#66 ·
It will be a tight fit side to side. As these are a few tenths of a mm smaller than those. The on board FETs I measured at 6.1mm. But there is lots of space going up. With some careful bending I could probably get the giant FET in the pic hooked up.



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#68 ·
#67 · (Edited)
Wow! All I can say is I am MUCH happier I did not have to try and do THAT soldering job. Getting the resister on the MOSFET in my case was more than enough for me.

For what it's worth, after mine has been running most of the day I can say teh digital IR temp gun does show 2-3 degrees higher temp in the area of the existing MOSFETs. The new ones I installed seem to have teh exact same temp as the acrylic box.
 
#70 · (Edited)
While doing some shopping, I found this to be interesting:
Runs 5v-24V 4 channel only, no "programming" that I can see but runs off Bluetooth and has 6A/ channel.. 24A total..

DC 5V 24V Bluetooth 4.0 RGB LED Controller 4-Zone Remote Control

Another fun toy.. ;)
http://www.vozop.com/index.php/led-...rgb-led-controller-4-zone-remote-control.html
none seem to have a "clock" so timing doesn't seem possible..
http://www.vozop.com/index.php/led-...for-iphone-ipad-ios-android-system-phone.html
http://www.vozop.com/index.php/mili...ntroller-ios-android-mi-light-controller.html
Oh and Jastermake.. did you ever get anywhere w/ hacking the software??
 
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#76 ·
so the controller can control an LDD , just like a Typhon/Aduino/Coralux StormX..

just need to set a common ground w/ the LDD..


Actually w/ a small circuit board you can do multiple dimming protocols per channel.. PWM signal using the base, full switching w/ the FET..

I actually ordered one today (I got tired of asking people to to this/that.. ;)) and a few asst parts from China.. BUT I've got an odd hassle.. Long story..

Thanks
 
#81 · (Edited)
Yep, watching it dim down as we speak. took a bit to figure out the goofy software, and it was annoying finding I can't program by button.. but it easily replaced my Typhon..
Why I didn't wire the 5th.. ????
Forgot to measure the mosfets for replacements though. "I" won't need them at this point.. Others might..
Of course you could just stack them anyways..like before..

 
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