theresa Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Hey Everybody, first if I have not said it lately I am saying it now. THANK YOU for all the wonderful help you all have given me with my tanks. ARC folks ROCK. I am getting a "buildmyled" for my 14 gallon biocube. I am so excited, Tim is helping as well. This is what I want to do and where I need help getting what I want, without spending a lot of money on a small tank. With the LED I want the dimming controller to allow me to do sun up/sun down program on the tank automaticall turn on turn off. Nick told me to get a 0-10v dimming controller. I thought that was simple and googled for 0-10v dimming controller....holy molly...I have no clue as to which one. I would like to be able to run my second tank on the controller as well so that it would be sun up/sun down as well. I am so confused. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 I'd use an Apex with a EB8 you can dim both tanks, and hook up the power cords ffor the BML fixture, and then have 6 more ports to control for more automation in the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 did they ever get the driver issue ironed out chris? If not, I'd stay away from the aftermarket LED dimmers, because the signal that BMLED uses to tell the fixture to turn off is different than virtually all other fixtures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuildMyLED Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Hi guys. Our drivers do not have a signal to turn the fixture off. Our drivers use the 0-10V dimming standard, which is a globally recognized dimming protocol. As a dimming control, our fixtures dim from 10%-100% via the 0-10V signals. If you want to turn the drivers completely off, you need to add a relay to the power line (i.e. timer outlet, ES8 from Apex, etc.). After working with the guys at Neptune, our fixtures now work seamlessly with Apex controllers. Nick 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Right, but you can't put it at 0% and turn off via the voltage (to preserve an outlet), you have to manually remove power from the driver. Is this correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Right, but you can't put it at 0% and turn off via the voltage (to preserve an outlet), you have to manually remove power from the driver. Is this correct? Correct. It's not like our meanwells. They were looking into it to find a solution, dunno if they had one or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 did they ever get the driver issue ironed out chris? If not, I'd stay away from the aftermarket LED dimmers, because the signal that BMLED uses to tell the fixture to turn off is different than virtually all other fixtures. Ya don't just get a dimmer cause you'll still need to unplug or put an outlet on a timer. I'd get an apex, but still not find of losing my outlet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Yeah, that's what I was getting at. Theresa, if you do choose to go the typhon route (or any of the other 0-10v controllers) instead of apex, what you're going to have to do is use the dimmer to achieve the sunrise/sunset, AND have a manual timer that cuts off when you want the lights to go off. As it stands right now, you can only dim down to 10%, but you can't "dim" them off, so you have to have an old school timer turn the things off manually. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Yeah, that's what I was getting at. Theresa, if you do choose to go the typhon route (or any of the other 0-10v controllers) instead of apex, what you're going to have to do is use the dimmer to achieve the sunrise/sunset, AND have a manual timer that cuts off when you want the lights to go off. As it stands right now, you can only dim down to 10%, but you can't "dim" them off, so you have to have an old school timer turn the things off manually. go crazy like me and splice in a meanwell if it really bugs you. its what I might do to my BML fixture. Then I plan to try and buy just the light for my next ones if they will sell me it without the drivers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 sounds like a pretty sweet option. keep us posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Yes, you have to use a plug on the EB8 to do it. May I suggest what I did on my Apex. I have these: $5 at Wal-Mart Any equipment that I would run on the same schedule, I wire to the same outlet with a 3 way splitter. I have 14 items plugged into 1 EB8 and am only using 6 amps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Ok, forgive my ignorance. what happens when you just run the variable voltage down to say 8% on their drivers? Wont it just dim the diode down so low its not putting out any light? If so, couldnt you just leave them this way? I had a DIY kit with meanwells and an apex and below 10% the LED would just not illuminate. I never turned off my drivers. If I did, I'd get the 'flash bang" effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Yeah, that's precisely what we're talking about. You can't dim below 10% on most drivers, and if you do it just shuts the fixture off. However on the BMLED fixture, when you're at 0% it actually ramps up to 100% if I understand this correctly. This is so that people who don't want to dim have the ability to run their fixtures at full clip and just adjust brightness via increasing height from the tank surface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 going to 0 doesnt go to 100% going to 0 goes to 10% unplugging the signal wire from apex takes it back to 100% Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 Yes, you have to use a plug on the EB8 to do it. May I suggest what I did on my Apex. I have these: $5 at Wal-Mart Any equipment that I would run on the same schedule, I wire to the same outlet with a 3 way splitter. I have 14 items plugged into 1 EB8 and am only using 6 amps. while this does allow more items into the apex. It doesnt solve that I have to program more parts and put more points of failure into my system. Something I'm not fond of doing when I paid a pretty penny for the apex, rather save more ports and control it all by dimming signal. Call me stubborn but I have it already in a DIY form so I want it in manufactured form also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 I agree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theresa Posted November 28, 2012 Author Share Posted November 28, 2012 OH MY HEAD HURTS....many thanks to all. Lets see if I got this right.... The light can be turned on and off by plugging/unplugging or timer outlet, ES8, etc…I get the on/off… I have timers that is not a problem. I will need a 0-10v controller Why do I need the 0-10v controller? To get the sunrise/sunset will need to get a dimmer, and by using the timer outlet, ES8 I can get the automatic on/off and sunrise/sunset. Right? If I get the APEX EB8 (don’t like the price, but oh well) I will also need to get plugs to get with it as well as a 3 way splitter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 I use the 3 way splitter so I can plug multiple things into the same outlet if they are on the same schedule. Like I have all 3 of my LED fixtures white's on the same outlet. same for Blues. The Dimmer is totally separate from actually powering the unit. It would be much easier to be able to just use the dimmer but when set to off, the Build My LED will be at 10% and not 0%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 For the apex you don't *need* to get a splitter. What juiceman was talking about was if you want to conserve outlets on the apex EB8, and they all have the same on/off sequence, you can use one EB8 outlet split 3 ways instead of using 3 redundant outlets on the EB8 that you could be using for other timed purposes. As for everything else, you've got a handle on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 If your going to get an EB8, then just get the APEX. You wont need a dimming controller or timer any longer, the apex will do it all. However, it would be much cheaper to get an old cheap timer for the "on/off" part of the lighting and then a dimming controller to "ramp" them up or down and simulate the sunset/sunrise/midday stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 The EB8 is the energy bar for the apex, can't use the eb8 without the apex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuildMyLED Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 The Apex system (made by Neptune) has two pieces of hardware that are used with our lighting systems. The EB8 (Energy Bar with 8 plugs) is where you get the power for our drivers. You simply insert the 3-prong power cord into an open slot, and then you can tell the Apex software to turn this slot on/off to control the flow of electricity into our driver. This is a relay switch, which simply turns the light on or off. The AquaController is the other piece of hardware from Neptune, and this unit plugs into the CAT5 dongle on our drivers with a CAT5 patch cable. The AquaController is responsible for sending the 0-10V dimming signal to our drivers, and you set this schedule through the software portal. If you send 10V to our fixtures, the output will be at 100%. By sending lower voltage signals, the analog dimming circuitry will start to lower the output current of the driver. Hence, the fixtures will start to dim. Our systems dim from 10-100%, so a 0V signal from the AquaController will generate a ~10% light level from the fixture. If you want to go to 0% light, you tell the software to turn the EB8 port (where you plugged in the power cord) off. This allows you to control our fixtures without the use of old school timers. We are fully integrated with the Apex controller, but some customers are asking us to find a way to eliminate the need to occupy an EB8 port to turn the fixtures completely off. The would allow them to use the EB8 port with another piece of hardware. The specified Mean Well driver uses an internal relay in the dimming circuitry, but most 0-10V drivers don't use this design. We are discussing this with our OEM manufacturers, and it will be considered on future product releases. Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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