Ocean Revive LED retrofit for 0-10v control, Neptune Apex compatibility

[andrejk]

I bought a used tank that came with three Ocean Revive LED lights... lights look nice but the programming and control was annoying. I build a retrofit controller board that works with Neptune Apex's 0-10v VDM connection. Here's what I have working today in a prototype:

- 2-channel control: VDM channel 1 is blue, 2 is white
- Full dimming control, settable off-point (I have it configured to 5%, so that anything <0.5v is off, then dimming scales from 0.5v-10v to 0-100%
- Exponential signal scaling to make the LED output seem more linear
- 5000hz PWM dimming on the LEDs (may tune this, but seems to work well)
- Replaces built-in LED controller board, uses the same connectors
- Control board is way overkill (ESP32 C3: dual-core, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth) (it's what I had on-hand at the time and honestly a tiny part of the price so who cares)

This is working very well for me, with full control of the lights with my Apex. Also I freed up a power jack since the controls are all via VDM, so I just plugged the lights into a 'dumb' outlet.

Next steps:
- Self-contained, mount in place of the old board, jacks where the screens were, powered by the LED drivers (right now the control board is external (or alternative below)
- Config UI (Wifi or maybe a small screen?)
- Fine tuning on/off (add hysteresis to eliminate some blinking during on/off transitions)
- Add VDM through jack to support daisy-chaining lights
- Add calibration to precisely set and sync levels across lights

Right now have a small connector jack inside of each light and running the internal control lines to a splitter, so one controller is controlling all the lights. This made for easy debugging and minimal costs, but has more pieces + parts. I think a self-contained, controller-per-light approach is better, even if it's more expensive.

Over Christmas break I'll make a finished version of this using a custom PC board, durable jacks, Acrylic cover/trim/lens.

Would this be interesting for anyone else? I don't have a price point yet, but my guess is between $30-$60, per light (in the self-contained configuration). It's not a lot more work to make a few dozen than to make one, and the cost goes down at scale.

 

[blaxsun]

Bump.

 

[Hamada]

I'd love to control my 2 ocean revive lights via my apex. Is there a how to video or step by step guide?

 

[outhouse]

I'd love to control my 2 ocean revive lights via my apex. Is there a how to video or step by step guide?

No

 

[outhouse]

I bought 2 reefbreeders uv light bars that have sunrise and sunset built in. I have the come on and go off 45 min before and after ocean revives so now I have pretty cool looking set up. UV lights up all the coral till it glows.

 

[andrejk]

I'd love to control my 2 ocean revive lights via my apex. Is there a how to video or step by step guide?

It's not quite a step-by-step thing.. I replaced the controller board in the light with one of my own. I took on a different project over the holiday break so I'm still running the prototype setup for my three Ocean Revives. It works very well other than an annoying flickering during the transition from off to 1%. (This just needs a software update to fix.). I'll share what I have and how it works... technical details.. skip to "what does this mean for you" if you don't care about how it works.

The Ocean Revive lights each have two LED drivers that control the output level of each channel (blue+white). These drivers are each controlled by an off signal and a dimming PWM (pulse-width modulation) signal. This is common for LEDs -- most of them dim by turning on/off very quickly and varying the ratio of on/off. The ORs do this.

The on-board controller normally drives these two signals into both channels. That's the board behind the digital/clock display on the side.

On my prototype setup, removed this controller board and replaced it with a small circuit board that sends these signals onto an RJ-45 network jack (wired network cable). Then these run into one controller board that drives all three the exact same way. That controller board has an input jack (also RJ-45) from the Apex with two 0-10v signals. The controller board reads these signals and drives the on/off + PWM signals. In reality this is a bit more complicated to get right, so there are functions to remap the levels to make the dimming more natural and even. Also the signals can be noisy so there is smoothing and tuning to avoid flicker.

What does this mean for you:
I still haven't placed my production order to make this controller fit inside of the Ocean Revive where the original was. It's easy for me and shares some costs if more people are interested. My next window of opportunity to build these out is the March timeframe. I'll make a few extras but if you're interested, drop me a DM with the number of lights you need and I'll get back in touch when I know timing and price. I'm not looking to make money on this, just to make this cheaper/easier for everyone (including myself).

Questions welcome! Honestly, I haven't thought much about it for a while since it just works every day and I only make tweaks in the Apex part -- the controller board doesn't need to change.

 

[outhouse]

You have done the best so far, the other that have been successful can only be turned down to 10% at shut off. I run my blues at 8% so that eliminates the ramp up or down. Whites I run at 1% so same boat.