Controlling Popbloom LED with TC420

[PFish]

Hi All,

I have read a lot of posts on the site about controlling DSunY and other LED light systems using the TC420 so I know it can be done.

I currently have the PopBloom Shannon 50 led unit that has 4 channels and a small remote control. Unfortunately although you can control the lights to some extent you can fade each of the channels independently. And I assume the in-built controller isn't too smart and lacks a real-time clock, so if there is a power outage it resets itself. To compound to the problem is the 3rd channel is now stuck at 100%.

My assumption was that if I took the light apart there would be 4 obvious power channels that I could just wire into each of the channels on the TC420 and solve all the issues and allow me to fade each channel separately and have the RTC in TC420 so if there was a power outage it would remember what time of day it was.

Although I am comfortable soldering some wires and playing around with Arduinos, I am not an electrical engineer so am not sure where I should be connecting to on the LED board. Is anyone on this forum able to help?

I have attached a few photos to help.
Photo 1 - LED Pattern
Photo 2 - full board
Photo 3 - The remote and driver end of the board. I was hoping I could simply unsolder this and wire up the TC420 to here somewhere

Thanks again

 

[PeterC99]

Just following along to find out the solution. Great write up on LED lighting electronics!

Good luck!

 

[Djmac]

I recent bought a shannon 16 Refugium light and have been thinking about 'automating' it. I think its the same remote but I could be wrong. Anyway, I sniffed all the IR codes from the remote and successfully sent them to it with an arduino.

I've also reached out to DSunY to see if there were any additional IR codes, specifically IR codes that are "absolute" ie set channel 1 to X%, rather than relative (like the +/- channel commands on the remote).

Anyway, these are the IR codes I found:
F700FF OFF
F740BF FULL
F7807F GROW
F7C03F MOON

F718E7 4hr
F7A05F 6hr
F79867 8hr
F720DF 10hr
F738C7 12hr
F7609F 14hr
F758A7 16hr
F7E01F 18hr
F7D827 24hr

F708F7 Ch1 down
F710EF ch1 up
F78877 ch2 down
F7906F ch2 up
F748B7 ch3 down
F750AF ch3 up
F7C837 ch4 down
F7D02F ch4 up

Im also planning to do a brute force check of the IR codes against the light I have to see if I can find any other candidates.

My plan is to automate the light with something external (home assistant probably), using IR blaster to control the light. I am a bit worried with the 'relative' channel up/down codes that it will get out of sync, but the IR sends appear to be pretty reliable so far.

 

[oreo54]

I recent bought a shannon 16 Refugium light and have been thinking about 'automating' it. I think its the same remote but I could be wrong. Anyway, I sniffed all the IR codes from the remote and successfully sent them to it with an arduino.

I've also reached out to DSunY to see if there were any additional IR codes, specifically IR codes that are "absolute" ie set channel 1 to X%, rather than relative (like the +/- channel commands on the remote).



Im also planning to do a brute force check of the IR codes against the light I have to see if I can find any other candidates.

My plan is to automate the light with something external (home assistant probably), using IR blaster to control the light. I am a bit worried with the 'relative' channel up/down codes that it will get out of sync, but the IR sends appear to be pretty reliable so far.

Well first thing, no your remote is not the same controller as the old post above. More than likely the "Turing" one.
Hardwired controller. And an old model to boot.
The "Shannon" system is quite different.

Popbloom is "upgrading" their system I believe, which you are apparently aware of. Wifi.
Not sure what exactly is happening with it..
Don't know if they did this for the "shannon" series across the board or just the 90's?

Popbloom RS90 wifi upgrade

Hi Oliver I recently joined the Popbloom family and purchased on EBay 2x RS 90 lights and brackets with controller, but when I ordered I didn’t realise you had a WI-FI version coming out, is it possible I can upgrade mine to the Wi-Fi version? So far very happy with the lights, but having the...

www.reef2reef.com

IR snooping is always interesting.. Good luck.

 

[Djmac]

Well first thing, no your remote is not the same controller as the old post above. More than likely the "Turing" one.
Hardwired controller. And an old model to boot.
The "Shannon" system is quite different.

Popbloom is "upgrading" their system I believe, which you are apparently aware of. Wifi.
Not sure what exactly is happening with it..
Don't know if they did this for the "shannon" series across the board or just the 90's?

Popbloom RS90 wifi upgrade

Hi Oliver I recently joined the Popbloom family and purchased on EBay 2x RS 90 lights and brackets with controller, but when I ordered I didn’t realise you had a WI-FI version coming out, is it possible I can upgrade mine to the Wi-Fi version? So far very happy with the lights, but having the...

www.reef2reef.com

IR snooping is always interesting.. Good luck.

The original post above is for the Shannon 50, I have the shannon 16. It certainly looks like the same remote for the S50 and the S16 version that I have.

Wifi would be awesome, but for $80AUD Im not complaining too much for the S16 feature set.

I've also got the Popbloom RS90 with the RL90 upgrade wifi board, they are great so far.

My main disappointment with the shannon is that you dont be able to avoid the "sunrise" feature on it. Ie I'm using an external timer to automate it, and at power on it takes half an hour to get to set brightness. So I have to remind myself to come back in 30 minutes to check that it worked properly, and its not cooking my chaeto . (The lights new so I'm just being extra cautious)

 

[chrisebarks]

Hi Everyone, was any progress made here? I am looking at the pictures and it looks like it would be possible to control the leds if the second board is removed from the led board.