Light Canopy Build. OceanRevive T247 & Bluefish light controller.

[VFX_Reef_Peacekeeper]

Jason0101001

Did you use the bluefish mini or the regular bluefish? The other write ups I’ve seen about daisy chaining fixtures seemed to not work out but they were all using the mini so I wonder if that’s why it worked for you.

Also, did you run wires from each channel on the BF to each fixture, or did you just use channels 1/2 on BF and then continue those same lines to each fixture via aux jack?

I used the standard 6 channel blue Fish. It's working great. I have 4 lights running from it. So the two center lights share a channel and the outer two have a channel each.

 

[wadesims2000]

Jason0101001

Did you use the bluefish mini or the regular bluefish? The other write ups I’ve seen about daisy chaining fixtures seemed to not work out but they were all using the mini so I wonder if that’s why it worked for you.

Also, did you run wires from each channel on the BF to each fixture, or did you just use channels 1/2 on BF and then continue those same lines to each fixture via aux jack?

How’s the project going?

 

[VFX_Reef_Peacekeeper]

How’s the project going?

Hey. Tank is doing ok. Its nearing the end of a fish less period after an awful ich outbreak. So I have two quarantine tanks running with the rest of the fish. The display itself is going really well though. Thanks for asking.

 

[wadesims2000]

Any details on the wiring for the multiple units?

 

[Wukid240]

As for the finish on the canopy I taped off the outside maple and painted the inside with black Flex Seal. Just to limit any sort of moisture warping that may occur.
The outside is a stain from Crystal Dynamics to match the maple stand. Then two coats of ploy sealer.

Where did you bolt the light to? I see you used the legs from the light, did you cut them and drilled a small whole into the wood?

 

[VFX_Reef_Peacekeeper]

Where did you bolt the light to? I see you used the legs from the light, did you cut them and drilled a small whole into the wood?

You are correct. It worked really well.

 

[VFX_Reef_Peacekeeper]

Any details on the wiring for the multiple units?

Yup, the first part of the thread deatails the whole wiring scheme. Using the blue fish controller you dont have to piggy back. If using 3 lights or under. I use 4 lights so I have the center two lights sharing channels 3 and 4.

 

[ihavecrabs]

That is pretty awesome. I have three OR T247's over my display and will likely be doing this soon.

Do you have a video of the cloud and lightning and how that looks with 4 lights?

Were the provided cables long enough for your build or did you have to extend them?

 

[VFX_Reef_Peacekeeper]

That is pretty awesome. I have three OR T247's over my display and will likely be doing this soon.

Do you have a video of the cloud and lightning and how that looks with 4 lights?

Were the provided cables long enough for your build or did you have to extend them?

Hey, thanks. No used all new cables. The canopy has a power board built in so the lights plug in there and the cables added to the lights are new and go directly to the blusfish controller. Then the bluefish has a long cable going into wall to the apex.

 

[ihavecrabs]

Hey, thanks. No used all new cables. The canopy has a power board built in so the lights plug in there and the cables added to the lights are new and go directly to the blusfish controller. Then the bluefish has a long cable going into wall to the apex.

Any 3.5mm jack cable will work I take it?

Thanks for the quick reply.

 

[VFX_Reef_Peacekeeper]

Any 3.5mm jack cable will work I take it?

Thanks for the quick reply.

Exactly. I outline everything I used at the beginning of this thread.

 

[ihavecrabs]

The first thing I did was research the Mod on the OceanRevives. I'm not huge on electrical work but this turned out to be quite simple with some research.
There a few gotchas like reducing the voltage from the bluefish from 10v to 5v.

@oceanrevive

Have you changed the wiring on the new units?

It seems that without the black wire connected, there is no power at all.

Any idea Jason?

I followed the diagram exactly as is. Connected in the channel 1 and 2 headphone cable into the back wires that were cut from the timer. Connected the ground. And I got nothing.

 

[VFX_Reef_Peacekeeper]

@oceanrevive

Have you changed the wiring on the new units?

It seems that without the black wire connected, there is no power at all.

Any idea Jason?

Not sure exactly what you mean. All I did was disconnect the dimmer pots connecting the dimmer wires to the bluefish.

 

[ihavecrabs]

After cutting the black wires on the back of the timer, where did you hook the headphone jack wires to? Maybe this is where I'm getting lost

I understood the diagram as there is no longer a black wire going into the back of the timer. The headphone jack wires then each connect to their respective black wires (i.e. white wire connects to one of the black wires, red connected to the other black wire) that head back to the drivers. Am I correct?

 

[ihavecrabs]

I also should probably note that the colors are not the same in my T247. I have Purple/Blue/Black/Red for one and Yellow/Green/Black/Red for the second channel. Black and red are in the same location as the illustration though,

Another difference I noticed in my unit was the right three connections exist, but the one on the far left does not (the one you have the ground pointing to).

 

[VFX_Reef_Peacekeeper]

After cutting the black wires on the back of the timer, where did you hook the headphone jack wires to? Maybe this is where I'm getting lost

I understood the diagram as there is no longer a black wire going into the back of the timer. The headphone jack wires then each connect to their respective black wires (i.e. white wire connects to one of the black wires, red connected to the other black wire) that head back to the drivers. Am I correct?

Yeah. You're right.
That black wire hooks up to one of the headphone wires. So you have two black wires being cut on the light. One for the white channel one for the blue. Dont forget the ground wire and also dont forget the voltage pin settings I side the bluefish.

 

[ihavecrabs]

Yeah. You're right.
That black wire hooks up to one of the headphone wires. So you have two black wires being cut on the light. One for the white channel one for the blue. Dont forget the ground wire and also dont forget the voltage pin settings I side the bluefish.

Weird. I did all of those things.

I was using the 0-12v setting on the app in the bluefish controller because I cannot select the PWM.. I think that is my issue. Maybe I need to redownload the app.

 

[ihavecrabs]

So I ended up getting two old T247 units and install went smoothy and everything worked! I was so confident after finishing that I decided to give the new lights another go. Turns out they did change the order of the ground, 12v, and pwm so once that was figured out, all went well. The other two went through without a hitch.

Now a new problem.. I have 3 lights on my display and 4 lights set up for control via PWM (i.e. BlueFish). 3 of those lights are the new lights and 1 is the older light.

When I was doing the work, I left the old light in and pulled a new light out to do the install. That repeated until I replaced the old unit with one of the new ones post install. Every time I replaced a new light, I validated the manual adjustments worked on all lights and that the thunderstorm worked.

When I replaced the old light with the newer light (i.e. 3 newer fixtures now) the lights stayed on full 100%. I pulled one out and plugged in the old light, everything worked (for all lights). I did this replacing all the new lights one by one with the old light and everything worked.. Removed the old light so that only the three new ones were connected, Nothing worked!?!

So, the old light got new LED diodes and it is working last night and all is working.. But if this fixture ever dies, I'm going to be stuck switching it all back to factory... Any ideas??

 

[VFX_Reef_Peacekeeper]

So I ended up getting two old T247 units and install went smoothy and everything worked! I was so confident after finishing that I decided to give the new lights another go. Turns out they did change the order of the ground, 12v, and pwm so once that was figured out, all went well. The other two went through without a hitch.

Now a new problem.. I have 3 lights on my display and 4 lights set up for control via PWM (i.e. BlueFish). 3 of those lights are the new lights and 1 is the older light.

When I was doing the work, I left the old light in and pulled a new light out to do the install. That repeated until I replaced the old unit with one of the new ones post install. Every time I replaced a new light, I validated the manual adjustments worked on all lights and that the thunderstorm worked.

When I replaced the old light with the newer light (i.e. 3 newer fixtures now) the lights stayed on full 100%. I pulled one out and plugged in the old light, everything worked (for all lights). I did this replacing all the new lights one by one with the old light and everything worked.. Removed the old light so that only the three new ones were connected, Nothing worked!?!

So, the old light got new LED diodes and it is working last night and all is working.. But if this fixture ever dies, I'm going to be stuck switching it all back to factory... Any ideas??

You sound like you have a better handle on this than I do. Nice work and post pics of your technique here. Love to see your breakdown. Others are going to run into this issue.

 

[ihavecrabs]

You sound like you have a better handle on this than I do. Nice work and post pics of your technique here. Love to see your breakdown. Others are going to run into this issue.

Problem is my only solution involved having a light that was built in 2015 among my new lights ;Facepalm