Shelly RGBW2 as cheap reef LED controller

[Rimsky]

Hi.

I saw this little gadget from Shelly:
https://www.shelly.com/en/products/shop/shelly-rgbw2

I wonder if this can function as an economic, WiFi controller for aquarium LED lights.

I have some Nanobox Reef LED lights sitting around that work with Bluefish controller, but now the Bluefish developer is charging a subscription, so I would love to switch to something else.

Would this Shelly product work? I see that it has 4 dimmable channels, 12-24V. Would this work as programmable drivers?

Thanks for your feedback.

 

[oreo54]

Hi.

I saw this little gadget from Shelly:
https://www.shelly.com/en/products/shop/shelly-rgbw2

I wonder if this can function as an economic, WiFi controller for aquarium LED lights.

I have some Nanobox Reef LED lights sitting around that work with Bluefish controller, but now the Bluefish developer is charging a subscription, so I would love to switch to something else.

Would this Shelly product work? I see that it has 4 dimmable channels, 12-24V. Would this work as programmable drivers?

Thanks for your feedback.

Would work only for constant voltage arrays.

There are options to the Nanobox/bluefish combo but this isn't it.
Storm X , Hurricane, TC-420(1)(modified)
ect...
example:

Unfortunately most are not the networky types..
The TC-421 does use a phone app though but needs to be modified for this (nanobox) use.
420 and 421 are pretty much identical except the 421 has wifi. The 420 needs a windows box for programming. Neither are exactly easy to use but not horrible (opinion).

How to use TC-420 to control Ldd drivers

www.plantedtank.net

 

[Rimsky]

Would work only for constant voltage arrays.

Thanks for the reply. The specs of the Shelly state that they are dimmable. Wouldn’t that work with variable voltages?

 

[oreo54]

Thanks for the reply. The specs of the Shelly state that they are dimmable. Wouldn’t that work with variable voltages?

No.....

Now that said it is "possible" to crack it open and make it use-able..
Same concept as the tc-420 modification.

Constant voltage vs constant current arrays are very different.

The easiest explanation is the device "chops" up the power supply voltage feeding your led array using a MOSFET switch inside.
That MOSFET is turned on/off via a logic level signal (most likely) from the micro-controller inside (ESP32 or like).
That "pulses" the 12 v or 24 v power supply feeding the leds
This signal is to the gate of the MOSFET. THAT is the place one would feed to the LDD dim circuit.
It is likely either 5V PWM or 3.3V pwm and like 490-900-ish Hz. Could be higher but most don't bother changing the default frequency.

Lot of guessing above but the concept is pretty broadly spread across the Chinese controllers.

 

[Rimsky]

Perhaps this Shelly in conjunction with the nanobox LDDs?