esacjack Posted August 3, 2013 Author Share Posted August 3, 2013 Been trying to recover from a foot injury, so progress has been slow. Admittedly, I have also been working on my frag tank and stand at the same time. I finished two of the 15pin assemblies last night, then realized I was short on cable, so had to order more. Also finished carving up the lock box and repainting it. Im definitely irritated with the lack of tools for cutting clean small holes in metal. I shattered three tungsten carbide bits, 2 diamond bits, and 6 cut off blades before saying 'screw it' and drilling a bunch of holes as perforation. Someone emailed, asking about how I keep the wiring under control. Well. It's not easy when you're talking about over 60 strands of wire. But I use the old IT method. I make a keystone from foam board, and pull my wires through it. Once I'm done with the keystone, I can either cut it away, or leave it as an insulating layer. In this case, I'm leaving it intact for sanity. The baseboard of delrin and soft non-conductive foam sits between the keystone and the drivers/power supplies. And this is my other distraction.. my zoa frag tank.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted August 11, 2013 Author Share Posted August 11, 2013 tonight i completed preliminary wiring of the power box and the lights. However, after the first test run, and a few electrical shocks, I discovered the headers I purchased from china, are TRASH. So tomorrow I'm heading back to fry's to get some solder cup versions of the headers. The white connectors in the pic are from Fry's, the ones in the previous post are blue and have a right angle, which are from China. As I was shocking myself for the last time, I let out a noise which I've never heard myself make before... My reaction, best represented by this image... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted August 11, 2013 Author Share Posted August 11, 2013 some pics of them powered up. In this image only white is working on fixture A (closes to camera). Fixture B (furthest from camera) has only blue on. They're sitting over the frag tank in my garage as that's where my solder station, etc. is. Wiring behind false wall and the electrifying China-sourced connectors. Front panel and drivers. Tomorrow I'll be heading to Fry's to get some new front connections, then going to spend some time re-grinding the ports (the white connectors are quite a bit bigger and mount from the front, vs behind) After that, hopefully I'll have tracked down the issue causing the lights to misfire, and will have some new pics for everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 Having to resolder suuuucks. Looks good though, the end is near ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted August 11, 2013 Author Share Posted August 11, 2013 great news... Part of my issue wasnt the connectors. Even though I ordered 15P15C VGA cables, I was actually sent 15P10C wire! S.O.B. I'm lucky I didnt make the fixture go pop! For those interested, the difference in wires is that the latter, has a common ground shared betweens pins 6 and 11. So pins 6-11 are the same source. In this case, pins 6 through 11 only controlled Royal Blue and UV. This also explains the shocking experience of touching the case while it was powered on. To verify the cables were incorrect, I used a tone tester/short tester on my fluke, and touched + to the shroud of the wire. From there one by one I hit the neg lead to the pins in order. Surprise surprise surprise... wrong cable... *sigh* I spent a good deal of time early in my IT life as a cable *****, so making some custom cables wont take too long. Fortunately, the design of the solder cups makes for REALLY fast soldering, with no tinning required. I went to fry's, picked up some formula 7 (antec's new bad-*** thermal compound, made of diamonds, silver, and unicorn tears..), some new headers, terminal connectors, shrouds, and some 5e cables. They were sold out of bulk/by the foot 6 conductor wire, or I would have just purchased a bunch of that. Instead I'll be using 5e to make the cables, which will give me some upgrade options down the line (8pins per strand @ 2 strands per fixture). One thing to note about the Lumias, they get CRAZYYYY hot... I'm having serious doubts as to the effectiveness of the included fans, so those may be upgraded sooner, rather than later... For fan connections, I'm using deans nano connectors, it allows me to swap the most foul-prone object in the entire rig, quickly. I should be done by tonight some time. Also just started installing the drain lines, and trying to figure out a support mechanism for the drain flex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted August 11, 2013 Author Share Posted August 11, 2013 I've answered a few emails today regarding 'tooling'. I don't have a full shop, so here are the main tools I've used in this project. cheap-o rotary tool from Harbor Freight, the add-on grinding/cutting package, a dewalt drill and basic bits a weller solder station, radio shack soldering iron (this has been the workhorse of the project), no flux silver solder, flux paste, rosin gel, basic screw drivers, rags, snacks, re-runs and time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted August 11, 2013 Author Share Posted August 11, 2013 oh, and one last warning... without any kind of cover on the typhon, its EASY to shock yourself repeatedly while trying to set the time. I need to figure this out, because that is not an optimal design in my eyes. I know there are people selling typhon casings on the interwebz. so that might happen as well... Jeez, I'm really shooting through my budget quickly... Also, if I could do it all over, I would have taken the time to just order 2 of the 5 LDD PC boards. The ldd's being crooked is driving my OCD brain crazy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 It's almost like someone was telling you repeatedly to order those boards... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted August 11, 2013 Author Share Posted August 11, 2013 ha.. yah no kidding.. but the 5 point one wasn't available, and the one that was available had a dimming issue from what I read... I finished the custom wires today, only to discover I still cant get royal blue to light.. I have no idea why! I'm wondering if I transposed pins inside the fixture. Hwoever, the problem happens in both fixtures, same channel... wtf?! NExt step is to tear down the fixtures connectors and tone/resolder the royal blue channel. I know its not the header, or the cable at this point, as they tone out perfectly now. I'm really hoping its something inside my wiring of the fixtures RB channel... Although I'm not quite sure how I could screw up orange + /orange white - to pins 3 and 4. TWICE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted August 12, 2013 Author Share Posted August 12, 2013 Well I managed to get everything figured out last night, and had both channels working great, except some minor glitches with RB on fixture 2. I'll sort that out tonight. I am noticing that some of the drivers get -VERY- hot and the power supplies get insane hot! Cooling fan I installed, isnt going to cut it. Hopefully I can figure out a cure, as I really dont want to dismantle the entire thing to put into another enclosure... Also, the heatsinks are still getting extremely hot, hot enough to keep me searching for a better cooling solution. Also, my typhon stopped working this morning, so Im working with boost on exchanging it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted August 13, 2013 Author Share Posted August 13, 2013 Milad and Ben at LedGroupBuy are assisting with the diagnosis of my power issues. Seems as though one PS is cranking out too much power. Noticed this morning that the acrylic splash guards melted. So tonight Im pulling the rig apart to fluke out each lead one by one. Not looking forward to it, but in the long run its necessary to figure out whats causing the issue. Also, BoostLed has been rather unhelpful(read:unresponsive) to any of my inquiries, so I'm going to assume they've washed their hands of the situation. I'll go ahead and re-order the typhon from StevesLEDS and chuck this one into the spare parts bin.... Later I'll bring it into the service lab here in my office, and replace whatever is burnt up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted August 14, 2013 Author Share Posted August 14, 2013 i think the problem may be bad drivers. One of the LDD's that was constantly getting scalding hot just went up in smoke. To verify, I'm going to run some burn-in tests on my secondary channel to try and find the cooler running drivers. I'll swap them in place of the currently deceased driver, and if all is well, I'll just buy some replacement drivers. LDD's are cheap thankfully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted August 14, 2013 Author Share Posted August 14, 2013 of course theyd release this retail after the fact... screw it.. buying them anyway... http://coralux.net/?wpsc-product=ldd-5-driver-board Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted August 14, 2013 Share Posted August 14, 2013 of course theyd release this retail after the fact... screw it.. buying them anyway... http://coralux.net/?wpsc-product=ldd-5-driver-board i keep reading along and all i all ever get is "man, i have no idea what he is talking about, but it sure sounds like it sucks". so i think it is time i offer you "sorry man, good luck". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted August 14, 2013 Author Share Posted August 14, 2013 well, I was waiting for a proven 5up board for my drivers since I have 10 of them, and that means I have over 50 wires just for the driver. Using the 5up board as Vic has repeatedly told me to do, would have eliminated half of my soldering and mounting woes.. Although, it wouldnt have solved the failed driver. Apparently its impossible to kill an LDD, so if they pop, they were going to pop anyway... Today I'm going to figure out if I want to scrap my current LDD setup and buy all new drivers and 5 up boards, or just fix what I already have... I might err on the side of sexy though.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted August 14, 2013 Share Posted August 14, 2013 ALWAYS err on the side of sexy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted August 14, 2013 Share Posted August 14, 2013 ALWAYS err on the side of sexy. i thought we agreed you wouldn't put me online! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted August 14, 2013 Share Posted August 14, 2013 jack, yeah, that sucks. keep calm and reef on, man. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted August 14, 2013 Share Posted August 14, 2013 of course theyd release this retail after the fact... screw it.. buying them anyway... http://coralux.net/?wpsc-product=ldd-5-driver-board i keep reading along and all i all ever get is "man, i have no idea what he is talking about, but it sure sounds like it sucks". so i think it is time i offer you "sorry man, good luck". That's funny, me too. I try to follow along but I have no clue what's going on, lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted August 14, 2013 Share Posted August 14, 2013 he burnt up one of the drivers that controls one of the channels for his LEDs. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted August 14, 2013 Share Posted August 14, 2013 of course theyd release this retail after the fact... screw it.. buying them anyway... http://coralux.net/?wpsc-product=ldd-5-driver-board i keep reading along and all i all ever get is "man, i have no idea what he is talking about, but it sure sounds like it sucks". so i think it is time i offer you "sorry man, good luck". That's funny, me too. I try to follow along but I have no clue what's going on, lol! see it something like the POS LDD controls the LED that burns up PDQ when T goes to high because the VIR is not controled by the CPU and so jack is just SOL on the contraption unless he ponies up more $s to get stuff that works. oh and, my god the wires. he seems to be inching towards FTW and chunking the whole DIY to get some lights designed by a PE before he gets shocked and has to EVAC to catch a ride from an EMT to an LVN ASAP. clear now? don't quote me on that, some of that may have just been POA. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted August 14, 2013 Share Posted August 14, 2013 I'll have two of whatever that gentleman is having. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted August 14, 2013 Author Share Posted August 14, 2013 well after some rather frustrating moments of unsoldering, cutting, splicing, soldering.. I was able to verify the LDD driver that went belly up, was the culprit behind my heat issues. Ive already ordered 10 more drivers, just in case I need to just start over. I may start over anyway, to utilize the 5-Up boards I just ordered. The power supplies get a little hotter than I expected, and keeping them in a sealed enclosure is just asking to have problems. I may examine the possibility of building a cabinet to house my ATO and lighting gear, and build a fan shroud into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted August 14, 2013 Author Share Posted August 14, 2013 he burnt up one of the drivers that controls one of the channels for his LEDs. Thanks, sometimes I forget to slow my geek roll... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 well after some rather frustrating moments of unsoldering, cutting, splicing, soldering.. I was able to verify the LDD driver that went belly up, was the culprit behind my heat issues. Ive already ordered 10 more drivers, just in case I need to just start over. I may start over anyway, to utilize the 5-Up boards I just ordered. The power supplies get a little hotter than I expected, and keeping them in a sealed enclosure is just asking to have problems. I may examine the possibility of building a cabinet to house my ATO and lighting gear, and build a fan shroud into it. suddenly it feels like building a prebuilt manufactured LED light is a lot less of a head ache and might be cheaper i the end... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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