Rewiring lights

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Beamesmar

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Apr 30, 2017
Messages
41
Location
York, PA
Has anyone ever rewired multiple Finnex 24/7 lights so that they work off of one IR receiver?

Each Finnex light has a separate receiver. I'm thinking about combining them all together into one receiver so that they are easier to control with the remote. Perhaps adding a switch for each so that I can control what lights are effected by the remote.

Has anyone accomplished this so far?
 
I wrote a speech but it got lost in the post.
Are you any good at electronics? I'm a novice........
You'll need a DMM and a decent solder station, of course the ability to solder and a basic understanding of circuits.

IR receiver, should have three legs. V+, Gnd, and out.
Split the V+ lead into a switch board (can function however you like, remote control or toggle) breadboard it first then strip board it, then stick it in a project box with ip rating suitable for the job.
You'll need the component number to identify which leg is which (+,Gnd,out).
Having said that, it should be easy to Id, out will only test for V+ when button depressed (or lower than supply to sensor), Gnd will usually have a much larger copper trace on the pcb and will be 0volts.
Usual continuity tests here.....
Be careful of chassis (earth) grounding and floating earth. Get them mixed up, sparks, magic blue smoke and a dead light unit.

My guess, the IR receiver transmits voltage depending on what button you push, so you will need to wire all ir receivers independently.
You should be able to pair the remote to all light units, it doesn't work off a radio crystal (or they don't normally) but assuming it's V controlled, if you split one sensor for all lights, you'll likely get a voltage drop and the buttons maybe will not work as they should. Like a VCO. If it's a VCO circuit on the main board they definitely will not.

(You could do this (one sensor) but you'll need to change the resistance of the V+ lead so you still get (e.g.) 5v at the out side of each wire. Providing the ir receiver can handle the voltages. I doubt it would work?)

I don't understand the exact mechanics of IR but I learned a bit about electronics these last few months.
Synth DIY
DIY stomp boxes
All about electronics

Any of these websites have people with the knowledge of exactly what is involved.
Try and source the schematic or you'll need to reverse engineer parts of the board.
Sorry that doesn't help much at all.
 
I wrote a speech but it got lost in the post.
Are you any good at electronics? I'm a novice........
You'll need a DMM and a decent solder station, of course the ability to solder and a basic understanding of circuits.

IR receiver, should have three legs. V+, Gnd, and out.
Split the V+ lead into a switch board (can function however you like, remote control or toggle) breadboard it first then strip board it, then stick it in a project box with ip rating suitable for the job.
You'll need the component number to identify which leg is which (+,Gnd,out).
Having said that, it should be easy to Id, out will only test for V+ when button depressed (or lower than supply to sensor), Gnd will usually have a much larger copper trace on the pcb and will be 0volts.
Usual continuity tests here.....
Be careful of chassis (earth) grounding and floating earth. Get them mixed up, sparks, magic blue smoke and a dead light unit.

My guess, the IR receiver transmits voltage depending on what button you push, so you will need to wire all ir receivers independently.
You should be able to pair the remote to all light units, it doesn't work off a radio crystal (or they don't normally) but assuming it's V controlled, if you split one sensor for all lights, you'll likely get a voltage drop and the buttons maybe will not work as they should. Like a VCO. If it's a VCO circuit on the main board they definitely will not.

(You could do this (one sensor) but you'll need to change the resistance of the V+ lead so you still get (e.g.) 5v at the out side of each wire. Providing the ir receiver can handle the voltages. I doubt it would work?)

I don't understand the exact mechanics of IR but I learned a bit about electronics these last few months.
Synth DIY
DIY stomp boxes
All about electronics

Any of these websites have people with the knowledge of exactly what is involved.
Try and source the schematic or you'll need to reverse engineer parts of the board.
Sorry that doesn't help much at all.



Got it bro! Should be a piece of cake!!
 
That's the correct attitude!
I actually thought it would put you off!
Once you've figured out the circuit, like which way it needs to be configured, the bits are easy to source.
(Just get a better mind than mine to double check your initial survey)
 
Back
Top Bottom