raptorbasher
New Member
Hi Everyone,
I have completed my project to build a multi channel lighting timer/dimmer for a new marine aquarium that I hope to set up soon. The commercial items are quite expensive so I thought I would have a go myself.
I have three independant channels, with separate on and off trigger times, an adjustable fade time and a temperature display added for an accurate water temp.
I bought a second hand all in one tank that had been converted to LED lighting ( albeit in a crude fashion but there was no controller or timer...) so there is an 'aquabeam' tile that has 10 x 3 watt leds, ( 7 ultra white, 3 blue ) on channel 1, driven at 700mA. to help with even lighting I have added another 4 x 1 watt whites on channel 2 at 350mA and 4 x 1 watt blues on channel 3 also at 350mA. The third channel has a minimum level that leaves the moonlight shining at night.
I am using a salvaged LCD 2 x 20 display, a picaxe sheild kit with 28x2 on board, the LCD serial module and a few LED drivers. I fitted the RTC and backup batt onthe protosheild that came in the kit. Fitted it in a maplin project box, milled out the front and back panels with my homebrew CNC mill. The power supply is a donated Dell laptop supply so it is a safe consumer grade item, with more than enough current for all LED's on full power at 19.5 volts. I have DC barrel connectors on the back for the channel outputs, 3.5mm jacks for programming the sheild and the LCD driver and a 3.5 mm jack for the remote temp sensor ( potted in a small test tube ) a small switched mode PSU module regulates the supply down to suit the picaxe bits. Finally I printed out a front panel using OHP films for inkjet and using two layers back to back its a deep black with text showing through. The LCD shines through and looks okay.
Here is the code if anyone is interested, probably a billion better ways to do it but it works and I really enjoyed the process!
Things I would like to improve or add...
Timing of button inputs...It works as is but could be better.
adjustment of moonlight level via menu ( ran out of variables )
a nice blue display!
animated characters always look nice to me so hell why not
use the temp sensor to control the ventilation fan over the water...
Thanks for looking.
Tim
I have completed my project to build a multi channel lighting timer/dimmer for a new marine aquarium that I hope to set up soon. The commercial items are quite expensive so I thought I would have a go myself.
I have three independant channels, with separate on and off trigger times, an adjustable fade time and a temperature display added for an accurate water temp.
I bought a second hand all in one tank that had been converted to LED lighting ( albeit in a crude fashion but there was no controller or timer...) so there is an 'aquabeam' tile that has 10 x 3 watt leds, ( 7 ultra white, 3 blue ) on channel 1, driven at 700mA. to help with even lighting I have added another 4 x 1 watt whites on channel 2 at 350mA and 4 x 1 watt blues on channel 3 also at 350mA. The third channel has a minimum level that leaves the moonlight shining at night.
I am using a salvaged LCD 2 x 20 display, a picaxe sheild kit with 28x2 on board, the LCD serial module and a few LED drivers. I fitted the RTC and backup batt onthe protosheild that came in the kit. Fitted it in a maplin project box, milled out the front and back panels with my homebrew CNC mill. The power supply is a donated Dell laptop supply so it is a safe consumer grade item, with more than enough current for all LED's on full power at 19.5 volts. I have DC barrel connectors on the back for the channel outputs, 3.5mm jacks for programming the sheild and the LCD driver and a 3.5 mm jack for the remote temp sensor ( potted in a small test tube ) a small switched mode PSU module regulates the supply down to suit the picaxe bits. Finally I printed out a front panel using OHP films for inkjet and using two layers back to back its a deep black with text showing through. The LCD shines through and looks okay.
Here is the code if anyone is interested, probably a billion better ways to do it but it works and I really enjoyed the process!
Things I would like to improve or add...
Timing of button inputs...It works as is but could be better.
adjustment of moonlight level via menu ( ran out of variables )
a nice blue display!
animated characters always look nice to me so hell why not
use the temp sensor to control the ventilation fan over the water...
Thanks for looking.
Tim
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