Controlling Viparspectra Lights

[bishoptf]

Hi Tom - I have 2 of those 165w Viparspectra lights too and would like to mod them like Michael Lane. Do I need these boards plus something called a goby hat?

Well thats a loaded question, @Michael Lane made some great boards that will plug and play and daisy chain the signal from one light to another and only requires PWM input plus a ground. Technically you could do it with a raspberry pi running @Ranjib reef-pi software, by default raspberry pi have 2 channels of pwm, you would just connect directly to the rpi gpio headers. The reef-pi hats just make things easier and provide lots more connections beside pwm, temp, doser, ato, outlets etc. You just have to decide on which way you want to go there are several hats out there like leviathon, robo-tank and I just made up some @Michael Lane hats but leviathon and robo-tank are more plug and play so it all depends on which way you want to go...I also had some of the vipar adapter boards made up and there should be some available, if interested in the vipar boards you need to reach out to @Ranjib he should have some available.

I will say modding the vipar's even further by removing some white led's and adding led strips for moonlights really take them to the next level. Let me know if you have any questions...

 

[diver22]

Ok good morning all, @Tom Bishop I have a friend that has 6 x 3.5v leds in a string. these are the leds he is running, "LED, QuasarBrite, White, Through Hole, T-1 3/4 (5mm), 20 mA, 3.5 V, 2300 mcd" and is using them as a moon light looks great and shimmers nicely, is he able to connect it to a RPi running reef-pi to the 3.3v & ground pins ? or does he need something else ? I'm currently working on my Vipar lights and he is interested in running the moon lights to start off.

I have attached the spec's fr the LED in case further info is needed..

Thanks for any help he can get.

 

[bishoptf]

Ok good morning all, @Tom Bishop I have a friend that has 6 x 3.5v leds in a string. these are the leds he is running, "LED, QuasarBrite, White, Through Hole, T-1 3/4 (5mm), 20 mA, 3.5 V, 2300 mcd" and is using them as a moon light looks great and shimmers nicely, is he able to connect it to a RPi running reef-pi to the 3.3v & ground pins ? or does he need something else ? I'm currently working on my Vipar lights and he is interested in running the moon lights to start off.

I have attached the spec's fr the LED in case further info is needed..

Thanks for any help he can get.

Yeah the pi does not have the amperage to drive any loads, for that you need to use a n-channel mosfet, see my earlier posts https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/controlling-viparspectra-lights.698216/post-7464479 and it will show you what I am using, you can get them on Amazon but then you need to swap out the mosfet since the one that comes with it is not a n-channel and will reduce the lights to much. That is what you need to use if you want to run some led light strips, I assume those led strips power supply is 12v?

 

[diver22]

Yeah the pi does not have the amperage to drive any loads, for that you need to use a n-channel mosfet, see my earlier posts https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/controlling-viparspectra-lights.698216/post-7464479 and it will show you what I am using, you can get them on Amazon but then you need to swap out the mosfet since the one that comes with it is not a n-channel and will reduce the lights to much. That is what you need to use if you want to run some led light strips, I assume those led strips power supply is 12v?

OK will look at your post, Tom they are not Strips they are individually LED light.

Also here is this guys video modifying them, but want to run them of the reef-pi

Also found this link specific to the PI using one GPIO pin it can drive 4 LED's considering the voltage of 3.3 or 5v are used.

Market-Specific Embedded Industrial Solutions from OKdo

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[bishoptf]

OK will look at your post, Tom they are not Strips they are individually LED light.

Also here is this guys video modifying them, but want to run them of the reef-pi

Also found this link specific to the PI using one GPIO pin it can drive 4 LED's considering the voltage of 3.3 or 5v are used.

Market-Specific Embedded Industrial Solutions from OKdo

Tailored solutions using the latest tech to boost efficiency, cut costs, and foster sustainability. We bridge creativity and IoT innovation for your success.

www.okdo.com

I can vouch for one led, I drive one for my ATO container, but I am not sure how many you could reliably run. Do they say how many watts one led is rated at? If you read that link that you have listed it talks about the limitation trying run them from the PI and goes on to talk about using a n-channel mosfet and separate power supply, that is how I would recommend you doing it and then you drive the mosfet with pwm, either raspberry or pca9685.

 

[diver22]

I can vouch for one led, I drive one for my ATO container, but I am not sure how many you could reliably run. Do they say how many watts one led is rated at? If you read that link that you have listed it talks about the limitation trying run them from the PI and goes on to talk about using a n-channel mosfet and separate power supply, that is how I would recommend you doing it and then you drive the mosfet with pwm, either raspberry or pca9685.

Tom I was just creating a new post, for this... I attached the PDF with the LED spec's, I will attach again.

It do not see the watt's not sure if you find it... But a mosfet would not be a bad thing, how would he wire it to the mosfet considering he is applying 12v power to the mosfet seperatly considering he is wiring it in Serial ? how would the wiring be if you can help in that I did see your post with your moon lights but hnestly got lost with those black plugs did not make any sense lol...

 

[Sixdinnersquid]

I was inspired by @AbjectMaelstroM's reef-pi thread controlling Viparspectra lights and @ph123uk's thread controlling Viparspectra. I picked up a couple of lights recently and I'm finally getting around to checking them out.

I spent a bit of time characterizing the lights today. Of course, I found the same things the others found as well, which is good news. The documentation on the board matches the pin out.

The light uses 200 Hz PWM at 3.3v.

It also works at other frequencies; I tested 100 Hz - 3 kHz. It flashes once you get a bit below 100 Hz. I also noticed that the same duty cycle at higher frequencies resulted in brighter output. So that sounds like it is using an RC filter internally.

The only thing that doesn't make much sense to me is that I measured 3v on the On/Off pin. It seems that others have simply bridged it to 12v. I confirmed that connecting it GND shuts off the light, and that providing 3.3v turns the light back on. I'm not sure if 12v on that pin would be potentially damaging.

I'm feeling pretty good about this light, except that the 1% setting is still pretty bright. I haven't tried dimming between 0 and 1% yet. I plan to work on a conversion board over the next couple of weeks to get these lights over my 2 side tanks.

Has anyone else observed that the on/off really will function with a 3.3V signal? If it does, it would seem that a Pi's GPIO could switch the unit directly without having to switch the 12V signal using a relay. It would certainly simplify things, if possible.

Related to the prior point, is there any indication of what current is supported by the 12V pin? It would be nice if we could buck that down to 5V and power the aforementioned Pi (zero).

I scanned through the thread and didn't see what I'm looking for, so forgive me if it's there and I missed it - this thread has gotten long!

 

[bishoptf]

Has anyone else observed that the on/off really will function with a 3.3V signal? If it does, it would seem that a Pi's GPIO could switch the unit directly without having to switch the 12V signal using a relay. It would certainly simplify things, if possible.

Related to the prior point, is there any indication of what current is supported by the 12V pin? It would be nice if we could buck that down to 5V and power the aforementioned Pi (zero).

I scanned through the thread and didn't see what I'm looking for, so forgive me if it's there and I missed it - this thread has gotten long!

Yeah there is no relay, switch on/off via pwm.

 

[Sixdinnersquid]

Your notes check out. My LED drivers seem to be pushing with 9V, contrary to both your notes and the freaking specs printed on the driver housings, but NBD. Everything works exactly as you've described. (Even the weird nonzero output at zero PWM.)

Just finished testing with an ESP8266, about to port over a Pi Zero with MQTT.

This is the most fun I've had in a year.