For Lumini / Lominie Pixie 30 (P30) her's how to add ramp up/down and timer with memory. Quite cheaply

[fr3n0z]

Hi Guys, i've bought this light used for my first nano tank, since budget is what it is, and is low ...since i wanted a reliable timer and a rump up down function i've searched a bit and i came down with the solution. a 25€ TC420 controller.

Very easy to setup, it controls the 4 channel, it can be programmed finely to do ramp up/down in how long we want, etc etc.... and has a internal memory who store time and programming also when back from a power outage.

 

[oreo54]

Hi Guys, i've bought this light used for my first nano tank, since budget is what it is, and is low ...since i wanted a reliable timer and a rump up down function i've searched a bit and i came down with the solution. a 25€ TC420 controller.

Very easy to setup, it controls the 4 channel, it can be programmed finely to do ramp up/down in how long we want, etc etc.... and has a internal memory who store time and programming also when back from a power outage.

Yea tc-420 is a pretty versatile controller.
TC-421 adds a phone app but the programmings a bit different.
You can mod it to dim DIY's or any 5V PWM dimming driver .


Used to have a cool website dedicated to it.
Now one needs the "Wayback Machine" to see it.

http://www.tc420.net/choosing-LEDs-for-your-aquarium.php

 

[Stephane332]

Salut les gars, j'ai acheté cette lumière utilisée pour mon premier nano tank, car le budget est ce qu'il est et est faible ... puisque je voulais une minuterie fiable et une fonction de montée en puissance, j'ai cherché un peu et je suis venu vers le bas avec la solution. un contrôleur TC420 à 25€.

Très facile à configurer, il contrôle les 4 canaux, il peut être programmé finement pour faire monter/descendre dans la durée que l'on veut, etc etc.... et dispose d'une mémoire interne qui stocke le temps et la programmation également au retour d'une alimentation panne.

Salut, et quelle réglage faites vous comme montée en puissance et pendant quelle durée svp. Je vais essayer de l'installer. Mais ce qui paraît simple pour vous, va l'être un peu moins pour moi...

Translation:
Hi, and what setting do you make as a power up and for how long please. I will try to install it. But what seems simple for you, will be a little less so for me...

 

[fr3n0z]

Salut, et quelle réglage faites vous comme montée en puissance et pendant quelle durée svp. Je vais essayer de l'installer. Mais ce qui paraît simple pour vous, va l'être un peu moins pour moi...

Translation:
Hi, and what setting do you make as a power up and for how long please. I will try to install it. But what seems simple for you, will be a little less so for

I am noob and my setting if you want i can give them to you but i am not sure they are good setting. I'll send you a PM can give you a hand install it if u want

 

[klaute]

Could you please share the connections to us which were done between the controller and the light connector.
I have ordered the same light and want to build a controller based on a ESP8266 or ESP32.

Do you know what's the name of the connectors Luminie using? I'm not getting good results from google.

 

[fr3n0z]

That's the connection in the lamp. I just cut the original plug and soldered a jst style plug since the original one i could not find it.

Be carefull lominie/lumini have 2 version of lamp, one with bigger led and one with smaller...here's also the connection for the model with the smaller led...

 

[klaute]

That's the connection in the lamp. I just cut the original plug and soldered a jst style plug since the original one i could not find it.

Be carefull lominie/lumini have 2 version of lamp, one with bigger led and one with smaller...here's also the connection for the model with the smaller led...

Thank you very much!

Yesterday I found a extension wire which has the same connector.
Is my assumption correct that one wire applies the 24V of the power supply to the lamp and the others are connected to GND, controlled by PWM?

Have you tried to find out the relation of the pins in the connector to the colored wires in the cable?
I haven't received my device yet.

I would expect that a Wemos D1 mini (ESP8266 device) and 4 boards of D4181 MOSFET breakout boards will do the trick to control it by Wifi.

I'm not sure about the software to use yet, maybe diyHue could have support. I will see...

 

[fr3n0z]

Yep you are right. I did not checked the plug since I did not use it. But if you unmount the lamp you can just do a continuity test and see what the cables in the plug correspond to.

 

[fr3n0z]

You can also just by a tuya WiFi led driver for 10bucks and plug it to that.

 

[klaute]

You can also just by a tuya WiFi led driver for 10bucks and plug it to that.

I received my P30 and the wifi LED controller today. The LED controller is already back on the way to the seller.
The controller is 18€ and only supports to control RGB (3 channels) instead of the brightness of all 4 channels separately. For me it is not satisfactory.

Yes I know that I can do a continuity check of the wires in the cable, now that I have received my own Luminie I can do it by myself.

Thank you for support.

 

[klaute]

I have finished the first prototype today.

The controller is old NodeMCU, which is connected to 4x D4184 MOS breakout boards.
The cable I mentioned a few pots before I cut it in half and attached it to the MOS boards.

The NodeMCU‘s power supply is a 7805, it‘s output is connected to the Vin pin. The input of the 7805 is connected to the 24V of the DC power plug.

The code is available here:

https://git.okoyono.de/klaute/lumini_p30_control/src/branch/main

The software is based on the generic ESP8266 generic dimmable light - firmware which comes from the diyHue project.

I have modified it to support a time based light curve and did some improvements on the Webinterface. I‘m still improving the functionality…

The controller works well, ramps up/down the channels as configured.

 

[fr3n0z]

I have finished the first prototype today.

The controller is old NodeMCU, which is connected to 4x D4184 MOS breakout boards.
The cable I mentioned a few pots before I cut it in half and attached it to the MOS boards.

The NodeMCU‘s power supply is a 7805, it‘s output is connected to the Vin pin. The input of the 7805 is connected to the 24V of the DC power plug.

The code is available here:

https://git.okoyono.de/klaute/lumini_p30_control/src/branch/main

The software is based on the generic ESP8266 generic dimmable light - firmware which comes from the diyHue project.

I have modified it to support a time based light curve and did some improvements on the Webinterface. I‘m still improving the functionality…

The controller works well, ramps up/down the channels as configured.

This is just another level of work. Very very impressed, would like to be able to do stuff like that. Really congratulation.

If you would like to share a very fast sketch of your wiring (i got mostly all a part from the lamp to mosfet, i see lots of reds and not sure where they go) i would definetly ditch the tc420 for your project.

Also the webinterface i wonder how does it work, did you writed all?

Again, really congrats!

 

[klaute]

Thank you!

I‘m still working on the Webinterface and try to finish implementing a (at least) minimum feature set…

The project is available here: https://git.okoyono.de/klaute/lumini_p30_control/src/branch/main

I will give an update maybe in a few days.

 

[fr3n0z]

Thank you!

I‘m still working on the Webinterface and try to finish implementing a (at least) minimum feature set…

The project is available here: https://git.okoyono.de/klaute/lumini_p30_control/src/branch/main

I will give an update maybe in a few days.

Thanks man, i don't grasp everything but i surely try to do it. I will ask you if something stop me.... Thanks a lot for now!

 

[Spidi]

Since often the suggested config is 100% on ch 1 3 4 and 20 /30% on ch 2
Have you ever tried soldering pins 1 and 3 to ensure that you can dim all channels with the original controller?
(1-3 with the same percentage and 2 and 4 independently)

1-3 is an example