LED Fixtures

[Ztkirkpatric]

Are there any programmable fixtures that are affordable? Ill probably need 4 fixtures so can't do $500 a pop..

I'd like them to do sunrise and sunset... Ect

 

[Bear85]

I run aqua illumination and absoulty love it.... i know i paid close to 400$ for a brick of six, then 100 for the programmer but i would of paid double.. the shimmer in the water and the the colour if the blue and royal blue can't be beat.

 

[huma-huma]

Id honestly look into taotronics 120w dimmable leds. Then buy a controller with decent lighting control

 

[Ztkirkpatric]

Is it possible to hook a controller up to those?

 

[huma-huma]

The taos? Yes. And most controllers have dimming capabilities. The apex can do it if i remember correctly. As can the reef angel

 

[huma-huma]

And nvm about the space saver skimmers... Its early morning here and im lacking sleep. I thought it was an altered cone body but its not, the pumps are under the skimmer, which is the exact style im putting in my tank

 

[Ztkirkpatric]

And nvm about the space saver skimmers... Its early morning here and im lacking sleep. I thought it was an altered cone body but its not, the pumps are under the skimmer, which is the exact style im putting in my tank

It's time to wake up!! Lol

 

[huma-huma]

Clearly lol.

 

[Ztkirkpatric]

If the Taotronics have dimmer knobs on them how can u hook them to a controller?

 

[huma-huma]

The controller has a built in surge protected outlet box. The controller can control the ligjts through the outlet by varying the signal intensity. Therefore giving you complete control of your lights through the controller. Its the setup im doing on my tank

 

[blert]

The controller has a built in surge protected outlet box. The controller can control the ligjts through the outlet by varying the signal intensity. Therefore giving you complete control of your lights through the controller. Its the setup im doing on my tank

What controller can do this? I know the ReefAngel can't and pretty sure the Apex can't either. The outlet boxes are for on/off and you need to be able to hook the fixture to the dimming capabilities of the controller. The ReefAngel has two ports in the outlet box that control dimming by supplying a 10Vdc signal (analog or PWM depending on the model) but they are independent of the outlets themselves. You can hack those fixtures to work but I can nearly guarantee that it won't be "plug-n-play" unless the fixtures come with dimming ports to bypass the pots?

 

[Trueerfan]

I'm happy with the Acan Lights. I know people on here say the don't have much wattage but they do well for my tank. You program the light itself with seven different times. Gets brighter as the day goes on and slowly dims out.

 

[huma-huma]

Im not sure as to how plug and play it is, but the reef angel can do it (its open sourced arduino) and the apex can as well with some tweaking. Keep in mind that Neptune is coming out with a whole new lighting control system for their apex line that prob will better help with dimming capabilities and tuning lights

 

[blert]

Im not sure as to how plug and play it is, but the reef angel can do it (its open sourced arduino) and the apex can as well with some tweaking. Keep in mind that Neptune is coming out with a whole new lighting control system for their apex line that prob will better help with dimming capabilities and tuning lights

Oh yes, I know that they can control LED fixtures, just not sure (from your previous post) that you are understanding how it is done. Neither can control a TaoTronics (or same fixture by some other name) without modifying the fixture itself. The power is not controlled at the electrical outlet on any reef controller (that I know of). It is controlled via a signal from a dimming port "communicating" with the LED driver. The ReefAngel does 0-10Vdc analog or PWM dimming from the two ports (not the outlets themselves) on the outlet box and can also do a 0-5Vdc PWM signal from the ATO HIGH port. It can also control the newer Radions via the RF expansion. To date, it can control Kessil, AI and Apollo lights with the purchase of a separate cable (or mod one yourself). Not saying it can't be done, but it will take a bit of electrical work on your part to make a TaoTronics fixture work on a ReefAngel.
The Apex also does not control directly from the outlets. You still need to have the dimmable drivers hooked up to the dimming ports.

 

[huma-huma]

See, i knew both sides of it, but couldnt quite wrap my head around the entire thing. Correct me if im wrong but shouldnt the taos drivers have a pwm wire on them?? If so wouldnt simply running that wire to the correct port on the controller should do the trick, of course unless im still missing something in between

 

[blert]

See, i knew both sides of it, but couldnt quite wrap my head around the entire thing. Correct me if im wrong but shouldnt the taos drivers have a pwm wire on them?? If so wouldnt simply running that wire to the correct port on the controller should do the trick, of course unless im still missing something in between

Sent you a PM.