Adding a ramp timer

[DanyL]

Correct, no wifi. I have whats available in my phone (android) but it goes with me when i leave.

Hmm I’m having a hard time to understand your goal here.

What exactly are you trying to achieve?
When you say “No WiFi” you mean the light doesn’t have a WiFi interface? Or is there no WiFi at your home?

Is the functionality you are looking for available and you simply have no access to it?

 

[jsmkmavity]

No wifi at home

 

[DanyL]

No wifi at home

Ok, most lights don’t actually need a home network, but can rather be programmed by temporarily connecting to their own access point.

have you tried to see if the light shows up as an access point when you scan the available networks with your phone?

If the light does have some kind of interface, it may allow more functions that with the physical controls.

Also, what kind of light is it?
Some will have a web interface, while others need a dedicated app to communicate with.

 

[jsmkmavity]

My understanding of both lights (the orphek and the black box) is they need to be connected to wifi to work. I tired setting up the orphek with my phone without success. The orbit light you manually set the start time and the end time for sunrise/sunset and the max intensity of the 4 colors and walk away.
That is what i want my black box to do.

 

[oreo54]

Pretty sure your black box does not need to be on the wifi network 24/7..
AND as stated earlier you should be able to log in via an access point on your phone.
That seems to be the normal way to get you to setup your wifi. It isn't really necessary to do that.
Should be UI in order to do your programming then get out of the access point..

go into your phone network settings and log into the lights access point.
Default password

Which according to this vid may not really work..
'

 

[DanyL]

It will be tremendously less complicated to set it up through a WiFi interface if it has these functionalities already built in, than to reverse engineer both the hardware, the firmware and than to write your own code to achieve the same.

 

[oreo54]

It will be tremendously less complicated to set it up through a WiFi interface if it has these functionalities already built in, than to reverse engineer both the hardware, the firmware and than to write your own code to achieve the same.

OR.. have someone program a new board.:)
There are 6 wires to it.. and looks like 4 are for voltage/ground. The 2 white wires are PWM (gpio) pins..
red 3.3v, black ground
Orange/brown less than 10v?
ESP8266 does it have bluetooth capability like the esp32?
Just use bluetooth instead of wifi.

Only reason I suggest a new board is , for me, erasing and reflashing is annoying..

 

[DanyL]

OR.. have someone program a new board.:)

It still is more complocated than to use an already existing interface.

There are 6 wires to it.. and looks like 4 are for voltage/ground. The 2 white wires are PWM (gpio) pins..

Most likely, yes.
Unless the board is used just as an interface to a different controller, which I seen done before, and than it may have a different protocol.

ESP8266 does it have bluetooth capability like the esp32?
Just use bluetooth instead of wifi

WiFi only.

Only reason I suggest a new board is , for me, erasing and reflashing is annoying..

Erasing and reflashing is essentially the very same thing, and most tools allow you to do so in one shot.

Thst said, if he will go this route I would suggest using a new controller regardless.
Just to have the original as a backup.
No need to backup fw, deal with security fuses etc, and he will be able to use whatever board he likes.

 

[oreo54]

It still is more complicated than to use an already existing interface.







No need to backup anything, and he will be able to use whatever board he likes.

Yea I didn't see bluetooth in the specs. So really you get nowhere. Well you could use a ESP32 board.


But going back to the orig.. all one needs to do (well in theory) is use the 2 white wires for a different 5v (believe 3.3v) output basic controller.
The TC-420 if you tap off the MOSFET gate (5v 500-ish Hz) you should be able to control the drivers just fine.
Most pwm is a range as is the frequency.... BUT certainly no guarantee.


The microprocessor board PWM looks to have a 100Hz-1KHz range and output of 3.3v.
Not sure why they chose the pins they did (GPIO 5 and 2) is ??

 

[jsmkmavity]

A bluetooth board would be fine. I just want it to ramp up and down for sunrise/sunset instead of just turning on/ at set times.
Is it apparent from my pics what board i would need for blue tooth or manual? If i did a manual board would it have the buttons on it for programming or would i need another part? I know these questions are rediculously simple but i just dont have any electronics knowledge or experience. I am great with line voltage switches/outlets/breakers and contactors and transformers for control wiring but i am DEEPLY entrenched in what i call analog technology!!! I will catch on!

 

[oreo54]

A bluetooth board would be fine. I just want it to ramp up and down for sunrise/sunset instead of just turning on/ at set times.
Is it apparent from my pics what board i would need for blue tooth or manual? If i did a manual board would it have the buttons on it for programming or would i need another part? I know these questions are rediculously simple but i just dont have any electronics knowledge or experience. I am great with line voltage switches/outlets/breakers and contactors and transformers for control wiring but i am DEEPLY entrenched in what i call analog technology!!! I will catch on!

Do you have a Windows based computer?
Show/tell me where these 2 white (guess white and grey) wires go..

 

[DanyL]

A bluetooth board would be fine. I just want it to ramp up and down for sunrise/sunset instead of just turning on/ at set times.
Is it apparent from my pics what board i would need for blue tooth or manual? If i did a manual board would it have the buttons on it for programming or would i need another part? I know these questions are rediculously simple but i just dont have any electronics knowledge or experience. I am great with line voltage switches/outlets/breakers and contactors and transformers for control wiring but i am DEEPLY entrenched in what i call analog technology!!! I will catch on!

@oreo54 im thinking wether it won’t be easier to relay another microcontroller to the esp, it will detect the on/off switching and will simply add the ramp.

This should add the functionality he is looking for without touching the firmware, while preserving the current functionality of the board.

 

[oreo54]

@oreo54 im thinking wether it won’t be easier to relay another microcontroller to the esp

This should add the functionality he is looking for without touching the firmware, while preserving the current functionality of the board.

Nice outside the box thinking but technically nothing is easier than just sticking the white and grey wire to the mosfet gate circuit of a tc-420. I'd use the TC421 but there seems to be a question as to the gate voltage.
Almost every cheap strip controller uses a MOSFET switch. Th 3 I tested all were 5v and under 550Hz in frequency. BUT no guarantee..
Ignore everything but the mosfet and TC-420. Meanwell would be their driver and of course all the power circuitry.As to the original NOTHING is changed but where the white/grey wires go to.

 

[jsmkmavity]

Whit and grey go to the on/off switch after switching colors to red and black in butt connectors.

 

[oreo54]

Whit and grey go to the on/off switch after switching colors to red and black in butt connectors.

On/off or wifi on/off? It's a DPDT switch.. where does it go from there?
Anyways going back a bit.. are you SURE you can't access the lights internal network..
Like in this vid. Turn the light on and chechk available networks on your phone.

 

[DanyL]

Nice outside the box thinking but technically nothing is easier than just sticking the white and grey wire to the mosfet gate circuit of a tc-420. I'd use the TC421 but there seems to be a question as to the gate voltage.
Almost every cheap strip controller uses a MOSFET switch. Th 3 I tested all were 5v and under 550Hz in frequency. BUT no guarantee..
Ignore everything but the mosfet and TC-420. Meanwell would be their driver and of course all the power circuitry.As to the original NOTHING is changed but where the white/grey wires go to.

A TC420 should work just fine, no doubt.
But it does seem like an overkill to me when you can use a tiny microcontroller to achieve the same thing (even though some slight programming will need to be done).

 

[oreo54]

A TC40 should work just fine, no doubt.
though some slight programming will need to be done.

Hears the sound of finger nails on a blackboard.. ;)

 

[jsmkmavity]

One wire goes to each dimmer knob and 1 goes to each bigger board

 

[oreo54]

One wire goes to each dimmer knob and 1 goes to each bigger board

OK so those are the AC/DC drivers for the leds. Switch shifts from microcontroller dimming to manual dimming. Center wires go to the big boards? One to each?
From the sticker it looks like the drivers the "usual" 65(?)-100V DC 550mA.

 

[DanyL]

Hears the sound of finger nails on a blackboard.. ;)

I heard it well when you proposed a TC-420 for the task :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

I get it though, one is a ready to use package and the other needs some more diy on top.