Meridian 45 rolling pattern using camera

[exnisstech]

It is pretty blue but I added 14k edges later on and it balances out nicely. The main point though is the the light from my 35 is identical to my 11. If you are running the exact same schedule on both lights they should be identical. If the 45 is different from the 11 something is wrong with one of them. The only difference would be you have four times as many of each wavelength.

That's what I would expect. Both of these taken today running the same schedule on both. Its a head scratcher for me.

Schedule

 

[tharbin]

While the four panels are identical, there is probably one WiFi module for the whole fixture. My off-the-cuff guess would be a problem with the 45's WiFi module not setting one or more of the channels correctly.

 

[NCsalt]

I have a 45 and i haven’t noticed with my videos.

 

[NCsalt]

I just went and snapped some pics of mine right now.




Mine is the Shallow version with the 14k edge bars.

 

[VintageReefer]

It is pretty blue but I added 14k edges later on and it balances out nicely. The main point though is the the light from my 35 is identical to my 11. If you are running the exact same schedule on both lights they should be identical. If the 45 is different from the 11 something is wrong with one of them. The only difference would be you have four times as many of each wavelength.

I do use the 14k edge bars with my profile and it balances out. If you don’t have edges I would keep the shared schedule I have and increase white vs decrease blues

 

[exnisstech]

I do use the 14k edge bars with my profile and it balances out. If you don’t have edges I would keep the shared schedule I have and increase white vs decrease blues

Do you know of a schedule to emulate 14k? It's a nice feature I think my AI Hydra app had that allowed the kelvin to set and the app adjusted the channels to meet the Kelvin chosen.

 

[VintageReefer]

Do you know of a schedule to emulate 14k? It's a nice feature I think my AI Hydra app had that allowed the kelvin to set and the app adjusted the channels to meet the Kelvin chosen.

The shallow reef is 14k if you set all channels equal

I have the og and shallow on tanks 10’ apart. I could try and see what’s needed to make the og look like the shallow

 

[VintageReefer]

 

[exnisstech]

The shallow reef is 14k if you set all channels equal

I have the og and shallow on tanks 10’ apart. I could try and see what’s needed to make the og look like the shallow

Thanks for the offer but don't bother. If I can get the 45 to match the 11 I'll be happy. The shallow reef wasn't an option when I got the 11 so the one I have should be the same as the 45 to rule that out. I'm thinking there has to be something going on with the different look running the same schedule and the flickering of the 45 while I understand how it can be caused on a camera I don't think it's something normal for this light.

 

[exnisstech]

Is this something to look forward to? The intensity slider?

 

[VintageReefer]

Is this something to look forward to? The intensity slider?

Yes and look at the middle of the pic also

 

[tharbin]

Yes and look at the middle of the pic also

Very cool

 

[NCsalt]

Heeeyy! Ooooohh my!

 

[exnisstech]

Well I got up this morning and when the lights came on the bluish cast to the water is gone. I also discovered that my Gals iPhone 17 doesn't have the screen flickering so I went back in and using my phone which is on android a Pixel 10 pro XL and if I slow down the shutter speed the screen flickering goes away. So it appears for what ever reason be it different ambient light or something else the phone is choosing a shutter speed for the 45 that just isn't going to cut it and I'm going to have to use manual settings. That's no big deal and I'd rather deal with that than have a light with issues.
As to the bluish cast I'm wondering if I didn't have a bunch of small particulate matter floating around that was reflecting blue light? The tank is a fresh fill only running a couple of days and I blew rocks off the first day which clouded the water. The water does appear to be a bit clearer this morning.
Either way im going to file this as user error along with improper camera settings and get back to finishing this project. I'll report back if anything changes.
Thanks to all who replied and special credit to @oreo54 who called it from the start.

From a minute ago with manual WB and SS settings

 

[fish_collector]

Give your tank the ol’ reef snow treatment to remove all of the floaters. You’ll be amazed how clear it is afterwards.

 

[exnisstech]

Give your tank the ol’ reef snow treatment to remove all of the floaters. You’ll be amazed how clear it is afterwards.

That's funny I did that last night and it's probably why it looked clearer this morning.

 

[exnisstech]

This is getting annoying so I'm going to reach out the reefbreeders. I can't even record video. I can change shutter speed when taking stills but don't have the option whenever shooting video. The fact the 11 doesn't have this issues tells me something is going on. Now that the tank is clear there is still a bluish cast to the light that the 11 doesn't have running the same program. I'll update when I find something out.

 

[Troylee]

Weird.. never seen that and I have several meridians

 

[exnisstech]

Reefbreeders got back to me. I'll just paste the reply below. The flickering is an inconvenience but not a huge deal. I guess if I was a video content creator it could be a bigger concern.

Your newer Meridian 45 uses a different driver timing profile than the older Meridian 11, and certain camera sensors can detect that timing throughout the schedule even though the light appears steady to the eye. We have already identified a refinement that should significantly improve camera compatibility, and it is being prepared for implementation in an upcoming update. In the meantime, there are camera settings that can reduce the effect, but this is not something you should need to permanently work around.

 

[oreo54]

Reefbreeders got back to me. I'll just paste the reply below. The flickering is an inconvenience but not a huge deal. I guess if I was a video content creator it could be a bigger concern.

Your newer Meridian 45 uses a different driver timing profile than the older Meridian 11, and certain camera sensors can detect that timing throughout the schedule even though the light appears steady to the eye. We have already identified a refinement that should significantly improve camera compatibility, and it is being prepared for implementation in an upcoming update. In the meantime, there are camera settings that can reduce the effect, but this is not something you should need to permanently work around.

Just for fun.. an example ..There are tradeoffs between speed, bit depth, and hardware.
A lot of old lights were lucky to be higher than 500Hz for the pwm frequency.

To achieve a completely flicker-free LED setup on an ESP32, use the built-in LEDC (LED Control) peripheral configured to 25,000 Hz (25 kHz) with an 11-bit resolution. [1, 2, 3]
The ESP32 features dedicated hardware timers specifically designed to maintain exact PWM frequencies without lagging or consuming CPU power. [1, 2]

Optimal ESP32 LEDC Settings
The ESP32 imposes a strict hardware math limit: as your PWM frequency goes up, your maximum available bit resolution goes down. The following configurations balance this tradeoff: [1, 2]

• Ultimate Choice (Camera-Safe & Silent): Set to 25,000 Hz at 11-bit resolution (0 to 2047 steps). This completely avoids camera banding, eliminates audible capacitor whine, and provides smooth dimming steps.
• Maximum Smoothness (Slight Videography Risk): Set to 5,000 Hz at 13-bit resolution (0 to 8191 steps). This provides incredibly precise, cinematic dimming fades, but may cause light banding on ultra-high-speed camera shutters.
• The Hardware Limit: The absolute highest frequency you can reach on the ESP32 while maintaining a usable 8-bit dimming resolution (0 to 255 steps) is 312.5 kHz

Low Duty Cycle Limitation: Even at high frequencies, setting a PWM duty cycle below 5% can still cause flickering and erratic dimming behavior. [1]