controllable black box LED?

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burningbaal

burningbaal

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Anyone know of a black box LED that is controllable? I want to get a few black box LEDs for my future 180g, but want to be able to ramp each unit (expecting 3-6 of them, depending on wattage) up individually, and to control an actinic type apart from the daylight. two channels would be fine for me, I just want to control the brightness of each of the two channels individually so I can get a white sunrise, then bring in the blues, then ramp the whites down for dusk and run a little blues until my bedtime.
I'm planning to build my own module for the reef-pi so I can control them from a raspberry-pi controller.

tldr: I want a decent black box light with at least two controllable channels (blues & whites). more channels ok
 
WWC
www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com
AFAICT all cheap bb's are 2 channel..
All those w/ dimmer knobs can be programmed a bit. One thing though.. is due to the drivers most dimming cuts out at like 10%.. in other words no "dim to zero" smoothly..

You may find it easier to build your own (really not that difficult or costly..w/ caviets..) esp if you want to dim down to zero and make pi to BB... err.. more convenient (use native PWM 2 ch on board or an added module for multiple PWM outs)..

Second suggestion would be to build a 2 ch unit w/ your own drivers and these boards..Still can't dim to zero due to driver restrictions (it's a channel voltage thing..sort of)
https://sbreeflights.com/sbox-replacement-parts/6-sbox-replacement-pcb-board.html

Just out of the box thing..
 
Chewy.com
Nutramar Foods
burningbaal said:
That sbreef idea is interesting, but it looks like it's just one channel? I can make a plastic box for it to live in and buy a couple drivers, that's easy enough.
Click to expand...

I suggest you avoid SB reef, it's not worth the extra dollars. I've seen no difference between their lights and any other black box. I purchased 42 units from them, 35 were defective and they acknowledged they were defective and would warranty them. After 9 months I've stilled not received a single part or anything. After 6 months of emailing and calling and speaking with the owner I gave up. I ended up buying the parts from a third party and fixing it myself.

Sorry for being off topic, I just don't like people spending money when they don't have to.
 
WWC
burningbaal said:
I don't see any indication these can be controlled by anything except their dongle...
Click to expand...

It's not compatible with a third party controller but you can set your own lighting schedule on it with the supplied remote. Even with it having it's own remote, once you set it up, the only time you would probably mess with it is to adjust the clock for Spring and Fall.

It's an amazingly powerful light. I have the 48" version and found that it uses the same exact types of LED chips as the AI Hydras. You can set each of the six channels up independently with as long as a ramp up and ramp down as you wish. I currently have mine set with a 1 hour ramp up, an 8 hour burn at 65% on the blues, 15% on the whites, 9% on red and 0% greens. I then have it ramp down over three hours to where it's just the atinics for end of the day viewing. After about 3 hours of darkness the red and green are kicked on at 1% for 2 hours of simulated moon light. The light is mounted 12" above the tank and am easily getting 300-325 PAR at the top of the rock work that is just above the 1/2 way mark of my 75G. This light also produces a very even par distribution across the tank. This is likely due to how the LED's are spaced out and the use of 100 degree lenses. I get 125 PAR across the entire sand bed only dropping to 95 in the front corners, and 85 in the back corners with the back glass painted black. Color blending is very good with nice shimmer and minimal hot spotting when the light is at 12". When I had it at 8" there was some disco effects and color hot spotting, but raising it up resolved that. It will easily support all types of corals as I have a full mixed reef tank and all of my corals have very good coloration and impressive growth in the past year it's been online. I got mine second hand and Logan at Reef Breeders has been extremely helpful with the couple minor things that I needed for it. Sent me a replacement set of mounting screws, as well as advice on dialing the light in.
 
SB Reef and Reef Angel
 
WWC
Porpoise Hork said:
It's not compatible with a third party controller but you can set your own lighting schedule on it with the supplied remote. Even with it having it's own remote, once you set it up, the only time you would probably mess with it is to adjust the clock for Spring and Fall.

It's an amazingly powerful light. I have the 48" version and found that it uses the same exact types of LED chips as the AI Hydras. You can set each of the six channels up independently with as long as a ramp up and ramp down as you wish. I currently have mine set with a 1 hour ramp up, an 8 hour burn at 65% on the blues, 15% on the whites, 9% on red and 0% greens. I then have it ramp down over three hours to where it's just the atinics for end of the day viewing. After about 3 hours of darkness the red and green are kicked on at 1% for 2 hours of simulated moon light. The light is mounted 12" above the tank and am easily getting 300-325 PAR at the top of the rock work that is just above the 1/2 way mark of my 75G. This light also produces a very even par distribution across the tank. This is likely due to how the LED's are spaced out and the use of 100 degree lenses. I get 125 PAR across the entire sand bed only dropping to 95 in the front corners, and 85 in the back corners with the back glass painted black. Color blending is very good with nice shimmer and minimal hot spotting when the light is at 12". When I had it at 8" there was some disco effects and color hot spotting, but raising it up resolved that. It will easily support all types of corals as I have a full mixed reef tank and all of my corals have very good coloration and impressive growth in the past year it's been online. I got mine second hand and Logan at Reef Breeders has been extremely helpful with the couple minor things that I needed for it. Sent me a replacement set of mounting screws, as well as advice on dialing the light in.
Click to expand...
great review for the light, but it's not what I was asking about in this thread. I'm not interested in having a controller for the lights, a controller for each of three different powerheads, another controller each for redundant return pumps...you get the idea. Anything that's programmable/controllable will be through my reef-pi.

I'm glad you like the light; it sounds like a good one...it just isn't what I'm looking for
 
burningbaal said:
great review for the light, but it's not what I was asking about in this thread. I'm not interested in having a controller for the lights, a controller for each of three different powerheads, another controller each for redundant return pumps...you get the idea. Anything that's programmable/controllable will be through my reef-pi.

I'm glad you like the light; it sounds like a good one...it just isn't what I'm looking for
Click to expand...

How about going semi-diy??
blueacro.com

blueAcro - ReefVolt Control

Custom and open source hardware aquarium and reef control products, Designed in California.
blueacro.com blueacro.com
AcroStar Mega4Z 20k Pro Blue
 
Deltec
His dual drivers are current adj.. Nice feature.
 

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