Nanobox build question

Cflow · Feb 25, 2018

I have a duo nanobox retrofit kit that I had for my 6 bulb sunpower. I sold the 6 bulb and upgraded to an 8 bulb. I kept my dou kit of course. Now I want to make the 8 bulb into a nanobox quad retrofit. My question is what do I need to do this using my existing kit? I believe the power supply will support two more v3 arrays. The fans will be wired into the sunpower power so all fans go on at once. So, I shouldn't need an scw. I think I'm oversimplifying this, but shouldn't I jusy need a driver board and 4 ldd drivers and just wire them into the existing channels of the bluefish controller? I think I need some help.

Cflow · Feb 25, 2018

I guess my question is can I daisy chain multiple driver boards together assuming I can an adequate power supply?

Water Dog · Feb 27, 2018

Your existing 6-up driver board from your original dual puck retro will support 2 more arrays. Also the power supply that came with your large retro will also be able to support two additional arrays. All you need to order from Dave is 2 additional arrays and the proper sized heatsink to match your fixture length. Here are detailed instructions to DIY Nanobox LED arrays into an ATI Sunpower fixture.

https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/to...line-nanobox-sunpower-hybrid-pricing-install/

Cflow · Feb 28, 2018

Ok, I just wasn't sure if my drivers could handle the two extra pucks. Is it ok that my white channel is a LDD 300H? The rest are 500 besides the moonlight.

Water Dog · Feb 28, 2018

I have a 2 array Nanobox Large retro for my Biocube 29. I purchased a couple of spare arrays along the way. Down the road, I plan on adding the two additional arrays to my Biocube to make a tricked out SPS frag tank. When I asked Dave about this, he said that each 6-up driver board can handle a max of 4 arrays and that the power supply for the Large retro will also suffice for powering the 4 arrays. As far as the LDD 300H board for the white channel, it is my understanding that he underdrives the white channels on purpose.

Cflow · Feb 28, 2018

Got it. I don't know much about ldd drivers. I just thought that the white channel uses 5 leds and the drivers are capable of running 1-16 leds so 4 pucks means 20 leds per that one driver. I also emailed Dave a while back and he told me I would need a whole other large retro kit. I basically stopped looking into it when that happened because that seemed way to expensive. I thought I was oversimplifying. I guess I was wrong.

Water Dog · Feb 28, 2018

Wait... how many channels of LED control do you have for your retro?

Water Dog · Feb 28, 2018

I have 4 channels of control, royal blue, white/lime, cyan and violet... so each channel will have the required under 16 LEDs. If you only have 2 channels of color control, white and blue, then Dave is right and you’d need another 2 arrays and driver board, as you’d exceed the 16 diode limit per channel.

Cflow · Feb 28, 2018

I have 4 channels plus a separate moonlight. Maybe he thought I have a two channel. I'll have to give it a try. If for some reason doesn't work out as expected can I just daisy chain an extra driver board to my existing one?

Water Dog · Feb 28, 2018

Do you have a picture of your 6up driver board? I just took a look at Dave’s new arrays (I have the older V3 arrays) and you may have to split the white channels across two LDD boards because as you stated before, the white channel has 5 LEDs, 2 warm white, 1 neutral white and 2 mint channels. In fact, I actually believe in his quad fixtures, the white channel is actually split between 2 different channels. The other channels, moonlight, cyan, royal blue and violet will be fine with the addition of the 2 extra arrays. It’s a 6up board so you should have room for an additional channel... unless you also have an SCWD driver for fan control.

Water Dog · Feb 28, 2018

So I’m looking at the driver board for my 2 array large retro... The 2 LDD-300H drivers on the 6-up board power the moonlight channel and the white channel. So in order to hook up the white channels of all 4 arrays, keep 2 of the arrays linked up to the original LDD-300H board (leaving it as is). Then ditch the moonlight LED. Now wire up the second set of whites, from the 2 additional arrays, to the freed up LDD-300H driver, originally meant for the moonlight channel.

Cflow · Feb 28, 2018

Ok, but what if I want to keep the moonlight? I do have an scw taking up space for a fan. I can't just get another meanwell driver board and daisy chain it?

Water Dog · Mar 1, 2018

I dunno if daisy chaining would work, I’m not that technically inclined. ;) Is there a way to undo the soldering on the SCWD driver with an iron and solder sucker tool and solder in another LDD-300H driver onto the 6-up board?