The Modified Black Box Thread

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

my first time. Was a pretty simple process minus the hiccup. Thanks again for the direction.

Could you post a pic when you have it back up over the tank?

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

Good call on the multimeter. I ran to Home Depot picked one up. One of the red diodes was bad. Replaced and presto. Thanks again.

Awesome, glad it worked out.

 

[rmiles54]

Could you post a pic when you have it back up over the tank?

It was currently not in service but I’ll be messing around with it some this evening. If I like the look of it, I may do the others and see how it turns out. But I’ll definitely share.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

It was currently not in service but I’ll be messing around with it some this evening. If I like the look of it, I may do the others and see how it turns out. But I’ll definitely share.

Cheers, can't wait.i have the viparspectra over mine for 3.5 years now and was looking to tinker with changing some of the leds on that, but not sure of it's worth the effort for an old light.

 

[Heabel7]

I wonder if you can splice a couple of these in to get sunrise and sunset features on a black box. Would be GREAT $20 upgrade 1 for each channel.

 

[JCOLE]

I wonder if you can splice a couple of these in to get sunrise and sunset features on a black box. Would be GREAT $20 upgrade 1 for each channel.

If the output is 0-10v then I don't see why not.

 

[oreo54]

If the output is 0-10v then I don't see why not.

It's not....................
you could get 10V PWM out of it ..probably.
Usual ratings for these types is 12-24V "in"..but some work fine down to 9V...

They use power MOSFETS to "blink" DC voltage applied to constant voltage led arrays. Usually on the neg side. Common is +

you can use them w/ modifications and/or an add on converter "if" the led driver is 10V analog.

 

[Heabel7]

It's not....................
you could get 10V PWM out of it ..probably.
Usual ratings for these types is 12-24V "in"..but some work fine down to 9V...

They use power MOSFETS to "blink" DC voltage applied to constant voltage led arrays. Usually on the neg side. Common is +

you can use them w/ modifications and/or an add on converter "if" the led driver is 10V analog.

Sounds like a lot of maybe/yes if you are good with low voltage components and circuitry. Wish their was a DIY thread on one of these. Would make black boxes for the DIY crowd 200% more valuable. I love the ramping availability on other fixtures and even on my WiFi black box before the app became obsolete. Just can’t find another fixture in my budget that gets it done. ReefBreeders is on the list but still a bit high compared to the price performance of a BB.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

Sounds like a lot of maybe/yes if you are good with low voltage components and circuitry. Wish their was a DIY thread on one of these. Would make black boxes for the DIY crowd 200% more valuable. I love the ramping availability on other fixtures and even on my WiFi black box before the app became obsolete. Just can’t find another fixture in my budget that gets it done. ReefBreeders is on the list but still a bit high compared to the price performance of a BB.

I'm ramping my viparspectra lights down/up on a schedule using reef pi. If I didn't have that ability, I probably wouldn't be running a black box, though now there are multiple wifi options that offer ramping up/down but it's obviously more expensive.

 

[oreo54]

Sounds like a lot of maybe/yes if you are good with low voltage components and circuitry. Wish their was a DIY thread on one of these. Would make black boxes for the DIY crowd 200% more valuable. I love the ramping availability on other fixtures and even on my WiFi black box before the app became obsolete. Just can’t find another fixture in my budget that gets it done. ReefBreeders is on the list but still a bit high compared to the price performance of a BB.

There are soooooooooooooo many hacks to the dimming of these black boxes but ONE THING I'm not sure of.
Some drivers actually can use both 10V PWM and 0-10v analog sooooooo how do BB drivers respond to it?

The 2 types are relatively similar and in a time sense .. identical.
50% 10V PWM over at time frame is an AVERAGE voltage of 5V not much different than 5V DC.. Though very different to an oscilloscope..

I'm wondering if something like this woudn't work rather than the added expense of a secondary board to convert PWM to DC.

SMOOTHING the 10V PWM.

Couple of caveats though.. Not sure the 10V in is = to 10V PWM out..though it def is pulsed at less than 100%.
One can get 5V PWM out of the tc-420 by an internal wire tap off the MOSFET.

Regardless though.. Bottom line a "5V PWM tapped" TC-420 output to one of these:

PWM To Voltage Converter Module 0%-100% to 0-10V for Digital to Analog Signal | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for PWM To Voltage Converter Module 0%-100% to 0-10V for Digital to Analog Signal at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

TC420 TC421 time programmable 5 CH output led strip light controller F aquarium | eBay

Like: you can set 6:00 brightness-0%. note: If your set 6:00 @ 0% to 6:30 @ 100%, it will keep 0% from 6:00-6:29, then fade 0%-100% at the last min 6:29-6:30, or jump to 100% at 6:30 directly options.

www.ebay.com

$27 to program one..
Need a Windows computer to set up a program though.

 

[rmiles54]

Cheers, can't wait.i have the viparspectra over mine for 3.5 years now and was looking to tinker with changing some of the leds on that, but not sure of it's worth the effort for an old light.

So I had OR T247 lights for awhile now. Previously I ran these Wifi boxes. Colors just weren’t great for my liking. I ordered some diodes from eBay and made the changes. Only hiccups were not having the Multi meter to figure out where my issue was when a row wouldn’t light. Ended up being a bad diode. This was really a simple process, I have no experience and managed well. It was actually kinda fun! I went ahead modded the other 2 boxes I had. Here’s the pics I promised. Pretty pleased with the visual and time will tell if my corals like it. Pics are at peak settings, 60% blue channel, 35% white channel. I did arrange so some blue are now on white channel as well as violets and UV on blue channel. No filters just iPhone 11.
Some of the changes I made were adding 2 cyan, 20k and 14k whites, violets, & UV. I also swapped all the blue for new 450nm diodes. Was a difference in color to the eye versus original blues. Hope this helps.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

So I had OR T247 lights for awhile now. Previously I ran these Wifi boxes. Colors just weren’t great for my liking. I ordered some diodes from eBay and made the changes. Only hiccups were not having the Multi meter to figure out where my issue was when a row wouldn’t light. Ended up being a bad diode. This was really a simple process, I have no experience and managed well. It was actually kinda fun! I went ahead modded the other 2 boxes I had. Here’s the pics I promised. Pretty pleased with the visual and time will tell if my corals like it. Pics are at peak settings, 60% blue channel, 35% white channel. I did arrange so some blue are now on white channel as well as violets and UV on blue channel. No filters just iPhone 11.
Some of the changes I made were adding 2 cyan, 20k and 14k whites, violets, & UV. I also swapped all the blue for new 450nm diodes. Was a difference in color to the eye versus original blues. Hope this helps.

How many whites did you replace on the white channel? What did you replace them with?

Got my 3rd (spare) viparspectra coming in a week going to play with replacing half the white channel LEDs with RB, some cyan and maybe some violets/uv.

 

[rmiles54]

How many whites did you replace on the white channel? What did you replace them with?

Got my 3rd (spare) viparspectra coming in a week going to play with replacing half the white channel LEDs with RB, some cyan and maybe some violets/uv.

The fixtures are Evergrow 165w WiFi boxes. Very generic wifi control but it does ramp and for what I paid I can’t complain. Here’s the factory layout all with 90

Here’s the updated layout.

Chan. 1(white)
2- Red
2- Green
2- Cyan
2- 3500k Warm White
4- 450nm Blue
4- Violet
6- 14000k White
6- 20000k White

Chan. 2(blues)
1- Violet
2- UV
2- 470nm Blue
20- 450nm Blue

Chan. 3 (moon)
2- Violet looking moonlights

I hope this is helpful. I will say after day 1, I’m excited and looking forward to seeing how everything reacts. Side note, the numbers under the colors are lenses. I’d like to switch some of the 90’s to 120’s but don’t have them yet. Have to order those.
Share yours after you do it.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

So I had OR T247 lights for awhile now. Previously I ran these Wifi boxes. Colors just weren’t great for my liking. I ordered some diodes from eBay and made the changes. Only hiccups were not having the Multi meter to figure out where my issue was when a row wouldn’t light. Ended up being a bad diode. This was really a simple process, I have no experience and managed well. It was actually kinda fun! I went ahead modded the other 2 boxes I had. Here’s the pics I promised. Pretty pleased with the visual and time will tell if my corals like it. Pics are at peak settings, 60% blue channel, 35% white channel. I did arrange so some blue are now on white channel as well as violets and UV on blue channel. No filters just iPhone 11.
Some of the changes I made were adding 2 cyan, 20k and 14k whites, violets, & UV. I also swapped all the blue for new 450nm diodes. Was a difference in color to the eye versus original blues. Hope this helps.

Thanks, for that it definitely looks alot bluer. I'm liking the addition of the blues on the white channel, I also was thinking of adding violets, and swapping warmer whites for the 14k and 20k. I may bire the bullet and order some leds soon.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

The fixtures are Evergrow 165w WiFi boxes. Very generic wifi control but it does ramp and for what I paid I can’t complain. Here’s the factory layout all with 90

Here’s the updated layout.

Chan. 1(white)
2- Red
2- Green
2- Cyan
2- 3500k Warm White
4- 450nm Blue
4- Violet
6- 14000k White
6- 20000k White

Chan. 2(blues)
1- Violet
2- UV
2- 470nm Blue
20- 450nm Blue

Chan. 3 (moon)
2- Violet looking moonlights

I hope this is helpful. I will say after day 1, I’m excited and looking forward to seeing how everything reacts. Side note, the numbers under the colors are lenses. I’d like to switch some of the 90’s to 120’s but don’t have them yet. Have to order those.
Share yours after you do it.

Good deal!

Stock viparspectra lights had more favorable layout than those wifi boxes, only 2x2 RxG LEDs and whites are a mix of 6500 and 14k....but that is still a lot of white. I replaced 6 whites with 20k, I think I did 3 of each to 20k but it's hard to tell which whites were which I did bets I could with using my camera to fight through the blinding light haha. On the blue channel I added 3x395s.

On the next run I'd like to replace probably 75% of the whites with a combination of blue, RB, 395/420, cyan. Probably won't be adding 20k whites.

 

[rmiles54]

Good deal!

Stock viparspectra lights had more favorable layout than those wifi boxes, only 2x2 RxG LEDs and whites are a mix of 6500 and 14k....but that is still a lot of white. I replaced 6 whites with 20k, I think I did 3 of each to 20k but it's hard to tell which whites were which I did bets I could with using my camera to fight through the blinding light haha. On the blue channel I added 3x395s.

On the next run I'd like to replace probably 75% of the whites with a combination of blue, RB, 395/420, cyan. Probably won't be adding 20k whites.

One thing that I noticed when pulling the 3 different whites from the original setup versus what I thought looked brighter on my camera pics. The white chips with the darkest yellow color when are the warms. The yellow color got brighter as the white got brighter. The bright whites were almost a pastel looking yellow color when the power was off of course. if that makes any sense, definitely some temporary blindness

 

[Chrisanthellae]

Has anyone tried using the 5w chips instead of the 3w ones? I know they would be limited by the output of the drivers. My guess is, though, that they would last longer before burning out. Thoughts?

 

[mrlavalamp]

Has anyone tried using the 5w chips instead of the 3w ones? I know they would be limited by the output of the drivers. My guess is, though, that they would last longer before burning out. Thoughts?

I don't have an answer, asking the same question myself actually, but for comparison I was looking at this table from a popular ebay listing:

 

[Heabel7]

Looks like you would not put enough volts into them, this causing less light output and par.

 

[Chrisanthellae]

Looks like you would not put enough volts into them, this causing less light output and par.

Looks like you're right. I found this thread that was quite helpful: https://www.electronicspoint.com/forums/threads/running-led-bulb-on-lower-voltage.275364/

TLDR: LED brightness does not scale linearly with voltage as is common with incandescents. A small change in voltage can make a huge difference in how much current the LED draws, thus having a huge impact on brightness. So running these 5W LEDs at around half their rated voltage would result in them being barely visible, if at all.