Troutt's Reef-Pi Build

[Bigtrout]

Sounds like a solid plan, try concept with one output and driver

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

Sounds like a solid plan, try concept with one output and driver

Yip just tried it driver is not turning on I tried it with a separate 12v source and tried it with the 12v from the driver. Didn’t work either way....... I’m bout ready to just get some solid state relays and call it a day

 

[Bigtrout]

Yip just tried it driver is not turning on I tried it with a separate 12v source and tried it with the 12v from the driver. Didn’t work either way....... I’m bout ready to just get some solid state relays and call it a day

Just some troubleshooting to pinpoint the problem. Are u getting 3.3v on your gpio pin? If so, what voltages are you reading on the test point when you toggle it off and on?

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

yes i am getting 3.3v on the GPIO.

off is 0.690v
on is 12.11v

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

aaaaahhhhhhh hahahahaha.... figured it out

I think I need to step away for a minute I’ve been working on this for 6 hours straight so far. Im sitting here just totally confused. Telling my self this should be working dangit. Well it’s was working i unplugged the power to the light so I could use the bathroom. Didn’t want kids to come in and start touching things......

 

[Bigtrout]

Sometimes its the simple things...glad i could help!

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

Sometimes its the simple things...glad i could help!

Thank you very much you have been a lot of help. This is what I am going to do to solve the 4 resistors things. Going to orient the resistors differently though on the board just showing what I am using

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

@Ranjib @Diamond1

hey guys so when it comes to setting this thing up i got some questions about timers.
So since I am controlling 4 different drivers for my lights Right now what I did was create 8 different timers. 2 timers to turn blue drivers on at 8:00 and 2 more to turn them off at 22:00. Then 2 timers to turns white drivers on at 10:00 and off at 20:00

I left an * in day of month.....

Is this the correct way of doing this?

 

[Diamond1]

That's how I do mine.

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

That's how I do mine.

awesome man thanks just double checking you know!!

 

[Bigtrout]

@Ranjib @Diamond1

hey guys so when it comes to setting this thing up i got some questions about timers.
So since I am controlling 4 different drivers for my lights Right now what I did was create 8 different timers. 2 timers to turn blue drivers on at 8:00 and 2 more to turn them off at 22:00. Then 2 timers to turns white drivers on at 10:00 and off at 20:00

I left an * in day of month.....

Is this the correct way of doing this?

I take it that everything is now working with all 4 lights?? If so, great job!

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

I take it that everything is now working with all 4 lights?? If so, great job!

Yes sir everything is working as expected.

 

[Diamond1]

Are you able to dim your lights all the way down to zero?
The OR drivers only dim down to 10% then the relay shuts them off.

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

Are you able to dim your lights all the way down to zero?
The OR drivers only dim down to 10% then the relay shuts them off.

No I am not able to dim to 0. That is why I wanted the ability to turn the drivers on and off.

Now that being said I am Able to set the minimum brightness of the channels from within the drivers.

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

Alrighty guys have a question about moonlighting. How bright should it be. I am adding moonlights to my fixtures controlled by reef pi of course. The picture is what I have currently.

@Bigtrout

Hey man got a question for you. I am using a section of 12v led strip to serve as my moonlight. The section I have draws about 130mA. Does the resistor that is added between 12v and output of darlington effect the draw of those diodes.

I don’t think it does because it is there to stop a short. But figured better safe than sorry.

I am thinking about adding another strip to bring the brightness of a bit. Need opinions. Wow it’s not that bright in person ......lol

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

Oh excuse the light bleed from the sump. I was working behind the tank a few days ago and totally messed things up. Waiting on a delivery to fix it....lol looks horrible.

 

[Bigtrout]

Alrighty guys have a question about moonlighting. How bright should it be. I am adding moonlights to my fixtures controlled by reef pi of course. The picture is what I have currently.

@Bigtrout

Hey man got a question for you. I am using a section of 12v led strip to serve as my moonlight. The section I have draws about 130mA. Does the resistor that is added between 12v and output of darlington effect the draw of those diodes.

I don’t think it does because it is there to stop a short. But figured better safe than sorry.

I am thinking about adding another strip to bring the brightness of a bit. Need opinions. Wow it’s not that bright in person ......lol

How are u feeding the diodes? If they are directly fed off the on/off switch point in a circuit like in my drawing the resistor may affect them. If they are fed from a driver and the 12v signal is just an on off the brightness shouldnt be affected.
What type of led strip is it? Is it 5730 led strip? And how many leds are running for the pic? 5730 led are 150ma max so the 130 ma is a good running current. So if thats the case you may need to add more to get brighter.

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

How are u feeding the diodes? If they are directly fed off the on/off switch point in a circuit like in my drawing the resistor may affect them. If they are fed from a driver and the 12v signal is just an on off the brightness shouldnt be affected.
What type of led strip is it? Is it 5730 led strip? And how many leds are running for the pic? 5730 led are 150ma max so the 130 ma is a good running current. So if thats the case you may need to add more to get brighter.

Yes they are 5730’s I’m pretty sure at least. And they are fed directly from the switch (ulq20003a). If I remember correctly. Each section of the strip has 3 diodes and I used 3 sections so should be 9 leds.

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

@Ranjib @Diamond1

Hey will you guys take a look at my timers and make sure I have them set up right. The drivers did not turn on this morning.

 

[Diamond1]

@Ranjib @Diamond1

Hey will you guys take a look at my timers and make sure I have them set up right. The drivers did not turn on this morning.

The timer looks good to me. The only difference I see in mine is I have the minute set to any (*).