Adding a ramp timer

[FUNGI]

sorry late to this party, but why would this not work?

Aquarium Lighting Controller, LED Light Timer for Intelligent Sunrise Simulation and Universal Compatibility, Programmable Settings with Digital Dimmer and Memory Function​

Aquarium Lighting Controller, LED Light Timer for Intelligent Sunrise Simulation and Universal Compatibility, Programmable Settings with Digital Dimmer and Memory Function for - Walmart.com

Buy Aquarium Lighting Controller, LED Light Timer for Intelligent Sunrise Simulation and Universal Compatibility, Programmable Settings with Digital Dimmer and Memory Function for at Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

 

[oreo54]

sorry late to this party, but why would this not work?

Aquarium Lighting Controller, LED Light Timer for Intelligent Sunrise Simulation and Universal Compatibility, Programmable Settings with Digital Dimmer and Memory Function​

Aquarium Lighting Controller, LED Light Timer for Intelligent Sunrise Simulation and Universal Compatibility, Programmable Settings with Digital Dimmer and Memory Function for - Walmart.com

Buy Aquarium Lighting Controller, LED Light Timer for Intelligent Sunrise Simulation and Universal Compatibility, Programmable Settings with Digital Dimmer and Memory Function for at Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

Different type of system. That uses a power mosfet to switch the full led power to a led based on constant voltage. Their lights use constant current drivers..sooo.. different tech.

 

[jsmkmavity]

Ok, thank you.
So is arduino free, and which version do i want?

 

[DanyL]

My honest opinion.. Dealing with the current controller and its firmware is pointless. Even if one manages to configure it with it being wifi sooner or later it will be annoying.

Only reasonable (not that others cant be done) is a complete replacement either like a tc-420 or a new esp32 board via bluetooth.

At this point you don't even know which playstore software to download.. i.e the maker or if any will be available in the future if say one changes phones.

Best to make it generic which pretty much points to dumping the old controller.

I think you missed my point in dumping the current firmware. This alone allows us to program any esp8266 with it and debug it.
It can than be connected to an oscilloscope or logic analyzer, maybe there are even logs that may give us some useful information.
And even without flashing it - it is possible to reverse the firmware itself, which given a good decompiler (which again - last I checked, there weren’t any. But it’s been awhile) - one could reverse the exact code that produce the PWM signal.

So it is useful regardless wether you will be using both the firmware or the old microcontroller.

Ok, so

https://github.com/espressif/esptool/releases/download/v4.8.1/esptool-v4.8.1-win64.zip

And

https://www.silabs.com/documents/public/software/CP210x_Universal_Windows_Driver.zip

Are for working on the existing board or for new ones?

The esptool is for all esp based board.
The driver - to any board using the same USB controller.

 

[oreo54]

I think you missed my point in dumping the current firmware. This alone allows us to program any esp8266 with it and debug it.
It can than be connected to an oscilloscope or logic analyzer, maybe there are even logs that may give us some useful information.
And even without flashing it - it is possible to reverse the firmware itself, which given a good decompiler (which again - last I checked, there weren’t any. But it’s been awhile) - one could reverse the exact code that produce the PWM signal.

So it is useful regardless wether you will be using both the firmware or the old microcontroller.

Well the only useful info I can think of is what frequency the gpio pwm pin is set to. That just needs an oscilloscope. And that won't tell you if the driver can accept a range of frequencies. Anyways from the specs its limited to 100-1000Hz.
Possibly how to change the logon method?

I mean you may be right.. I'm not seeing it though. This isn't a complicated system just unknown.

Second you are always stuck w/ WIFI though there are work arounds but any changes to the light (assuming you managed to hurdle the wifi thing) would need to be signed on to the controllers wifi network.then after changes signing out and logging in to another network .. if you want.

I think it a great learning experience though so don't get me wrong.
And some of the things learned will help IF one goes to a new board and new firmware/software.

It's not even my light and I'm getting impatient.. LOL..

As to software from scratch.. I got this thing about people constantly re-inventing the wheel.
As I also have seen that these Chinese (Possibly India) programmers with aquarium LIGHTING are not the top notch ones.

 

[oreo54]

Ok, so now i realize a bit more info about me might have been helpful. I am a hvac technician (34 years), with a lot of electrical experience for 120/240 volt ac and 24 volt ac control wiring. I have good test meters. I can test for voltage wherever you want before i take things apart if that helps. If it just makes more sense to start over with esp32 and/or arduino that is fine too.

I'd like to know the voltage on the yellow and the white wire on the driver
vr1 to ground and pwm to ground. got an oscilloscope see what the frequency is..
in both manual mode and wifi mode.

My dad used to push pins through the wires in order to not need to remove them but give a spot to measure from. Odd huh..

 

[oreo54]

Ok, thank you.
So is arduino free, and which version do i want?

Yes it's free.. as to versions.. well usually get the latest. And wait for someting to bite you in the..
just kidding.,.. SORT of.

Which Arduino IDE version do we recommend? At the moment, there are some plugins for the ESP32 (like the SPIFFS Filesystem Uploader Plugin) that are not yet supported on Arduino 2.

Installing ESP32 in Arduino IDE (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux) | Random Nerd Tutorials

Learn how to install the ESP32 board add-on in Arduino IDE in less than 1 minute. This guides works in any operating system: Windows PC, Mac OS X, and Linux.

randomnerdtutorials.com

BUT first... version 2

Software

Open-source electronic prototyping platform enabling users to create interactive electronic objects.

www.arduino.cc

don't forget the cable..

 

[oreo54]

Unrelated.. but this things pretty cool..

borneo/hw/datasheets/blc06mk1.pdf at master · borneo-iot/borneo

The world's most advanced open-source aquarium LED PWM controller & mobile app. - borneo-iot/borneo

github.com

Well if that isn' t special...same person...

I Built an open-source LED controller and app from scratch

Hello Reefers, I’ve been working on designing and building what I hope will be the perfect open-source aquarium light controller, and a mobile app to go along with it. So far, I’ve got a working prototype with a 6-channel design and a functional app. I’ve been coding for nearly 20 years and...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[jsmkmavity]

We have kits of various size and style "pins" now to back probe connectors like your dad used to do. Sometimes with it connected, sometimes with it disconnected because the opening in the connector is so small. I am sure anybody puting together electronics has the same thing.
Yes, i noticed it was the same person earlier today. Sent a message asking when it will be available.

 

[oreo54]

We have kits of various size and style "pins" now to back probe connectors like your dad used to do. Sometimes with it connected, sometimes with it disconnected because the opening in the connector is so small. I am sure anybody puting together electronics has the same thing.
Yes, i noticed it was the same person earlier today. Sent a message asking when it will be available.

You don't and probably can't use the drivers..
Your voltage on the DC to the LEDs is too high.
So again using manual dim and at 100% if you measure the voltage to the LEDs you will find it's probably around. 80- 90V
Current should be around 550mA.
If you measure the voltage without the led board plugged in the driver should ramp up to its maximum voltage possible. Probably around 100v DC.
Something else to measure to understand the circuity.
A WARNING ..some drivers do not take kindly to " hot swapping" i.e energize them and then plug them into the led board. Either have a load attached or measure then shut off.

 

[jsmkmavity]

Pwm to ground whites channel 0/4.4
VR1 to ground whites channel 1.8/2.6
Pwm to ground blues channel 0/4.4
VR1 to ground blues channel 2.45/4.45

 

[jsmkmavity]

The blues channel always has the moonlight on so its higher. Hz was 997 blues and o whites

 

[oreo54]

Pwm to ground whites channel 0/4.4
VR1 to ground whites channel 1.8/2.6
Pwm to ground blues channel 0/4.4
VR1 to ground blues channel 2.45/4.45

Well 4.4 is close to 5....though I was expecting 3.3...
I like your number..
Not sure what to do w the vr number
Were those measurements taken in manual or wifi mode?

200Hz is pretty low but within the 100-1000Hz range if the esp.

Point is it looks like a fairly standard dim ming protocol.
I' d feel better if either the vr or pwm were like zero on vr if pwm is 4 4 and something on vr if pwm was close to zero.
In other words and either or situation.

There's a moonlight function?
You pretty well destroyed my belief in I know what I'm doing..

 

[jsmkmavity]

Lower numbers are switch to manual higher numbers switch to wifi

 

[jsmkmavity]

Re tested hz=997

 

[jsmkmavity]

The only way to turn off moonlight is turn off main power switch to the whole light. Fans run all the time too.

 

[oreo54]

Re tested hz=997

Better

 

[oreo54]

The only way to turn off moonlight is turn off main power switch to the whole light. Fans run all the time too.

Fans I understand..the moonlight I don"t.
There may be a missing "part" under that wiring mess. Or it's tied into the fan circuit..
Cutting the power to the AC to the 12V power supply will determine that, maybe.
12v board.. Also any idea of what is under that black thing (arrow) ?

Remember I suspected the power to the microprocessor may come from that board as well. Then cutting the power will not tell us anything since it may quench the main drivers.

CAUTION If the leds are ON you can't run it fanless for long due to heating.

BTW in a discussion with oldrev there is no simple way to switch his program or of course programmer from wifi to bluetooth.

BUT a suggestion was to get an old router (no need to hook it to a modem or such). Just use it to complete the process the software requires. If this doesn't work with the current software it will work with theirs.

They are dirt cheap if you don't have one lying around..

Pardon Our Interruption...

Actually I'd skip the above. To simplify things i'd not get a dual band router.
Cheap new 2.4GHz wifi router

Pardon Our Interruption...

One more measurement ..brown and orange wire voltage to the microcontroller.

BTW 21 leds on blue channel 3 on independent (good thing) moonlight channel, 28 on the white channel.
To drive 28 "3w class" leds in series at 550mA would require close to 100V DC..
Driving 3 only requires about 7v .. All based on a n average V(f) of 3.3V

Using a "dummy" network will solve a lot of problems inc. your Orphek one.. maybe. Still need to get the respective apps..

 

[jsmkmavity]

7.8 volts to microcontroller

 

[jsmkmavity]

My guess is this is the moonlight channel. Three pairs of wires go to the led panel, and this is one pair