Apollo Reef LED's... anyone have them?

[TanksNStuff]

Very well said and you show a strong understanding for what we are doing and have been doing.
ReefAngel contacted me today to acquire the info needed to make their controller compatible with our lights, that info was readily shared and I will beta test and approve as a supported device when they are ready to do so.

Thanks

Joe

That's awesome news Joe! Can't wait to hear if you and Roberto from Reef Angel can make this work. I've seen his dedication to his controller just by the many many personal replies to questions on his forums and based on your reply before the one I quoted... I'd say you guys are 2 peas in a pod so I'm sure this will happen soon.

Thanks again Joe. Looking forward to owning a set of your LED's soon. When will the next batch of dimmables be available on the website?

 

[TanksNStuff]

Well, I'm happy and sad all at the same time. Happy because my pair of Apollo Reef LED Dimmable units arrived yesterday afternoon. Sad because I didn't think they would be shipping that soon and didn't order my Reef Angel controller until 2 days ago.

So now, I have these two fantastic LED fixtures sitting at home and I can't even fire them up until my controller arrives. The worst part is that the controller was on a 2 week backorder so I may not be able to check it out for a couple weeks.

Ah well, my own fault for not ordering it when I ordered the LED's.

As for the quality of the Apollo lights, I must say I'm very happy with them so far. I did take some pics of the way they were safely packaged and shipped and some different angle shots of the units themselves. I even opened the fan side of the case and took some shots of how it was built. I didn't try to figure out how to open the other side to see how the LEDS were mounted to the board/heatsink... mostly because I didn't want to break anything, but I also didn't want to potentially void any warranties before I could even test them out, lol. I didn't get a chance to upload the pics yet to share, but I'll get to that tonight if I can.

A few notes on the interworkings... in case anyone is interested:

1. All the wire connections were shrink wrapped very well and I can't see anything coming apart unless you really pull them apart purposely. Well, I shouldn't have said "all" because some of the connections had snap-in type connections that will make it easy to replace certain hardware if ever needed (like drivers or fans, etc.) It looked very neat and clean and was obviously done carefully.

2. Drivers used were the Meanwell ELN-60-48D. Two were included, so I'm guessing 1 for whites, 1 for blues/violets. I would have preferred the ELN-60-48P, which would have been compatible with my RA controller's PWM signals... but I'm getting a PWM-to-Analog converter with my RA that will fix that.

3. Moonlights are not dimmable (and use a separate driver that I couldn't identify). Instructions stated these were an on/off only switch, which suggested plugging that power cord into a timer. I intend to use the moonlight timer function on my RA to control this though.

4. Each unit has 55 LED's plus 3 moonlight LED's. For the 55, there are 5 rows of 11. Since I was unable to actually turn them on, I'm not entirely sure of the bulb pattern yet. However, from researching the DIY kits for Bridgelux LEDs, I know that the whites all have a yellow looking bulb and the blues/violets all have a clear looking bulb. Therefore, I'm going to guess and say that rows 1, 3, 5 are blues (1 and 5 being the outside rows, 3 being the very middle row) with the 4 violet bulbs mixed in somewhere on the blue rows... and the whites are on rows 2 and 4 (these would be the first rows next over from the middle). That means they should have a 40% white / 60% blue ratio.

That's all I can offer for now. I'll try to get the pics up tonight!

 

[JRWOHLER]

Cool, very excited for you. Call me stupid(you wouldn't be the first) but can't you just plug them in?

Looking forward to the pics, they are certainly on my list if I can get them later this year. Would like to see what the new models look like.

 

[TanksNStuff]

James, that's not a stupid question, but unfortunately it's not that simple. The drivers used accept a 0-10v signal. When no controller/dimmer signal is received, it assumes it is a "0" signal, meaning the lights are supposed to be off. So, without a controller of some sort sending the drivers a signal of 1v or more (well, maybe it's 0.1v or more, I don't know exactly)... the lights don't come on.

One thing that does have me concerned though is that there are only 2 drivers. Each driver has a 24-48v voltage output and a 0-1.3A current output.

If I'm correct above where I stated that there are 60% blues (which also contain 4 total violet bulbs) and they're all on one driver... that means I'd have 33 LEDs on one of those drivers and 22 on the other. Assuming the driver is running at max output, that gives you a total of 62.4 watts (Using 48v and 1.3A on this calculator). 62.4w / 33 LED's = 1.89w each. That's slightly less than 2w each. When the Apollo website said "around 2w each" I thought it would be slightly higher, not lower. The whites (22 LEDs) would end up being around 2.84w each if run at full power. They probably stepped the driver down to a lower power rate by adjusting the SVR2 inside the driver... to give it close to the same per/LED wattage as the blues. I can't say for sure though without investigating further with a meter. I might pick one up just to settle my curiosity, hehe.

Not a big deal though. I've seen how bright these are and if they're running at less than 2w for a 3w rated LED... it should make it last longer than it's designed for at least.

 

[redfishbluefish]

George, I just went Apollo as well. I have the older style non controllable units, and I can tell you that it’s not an all blue on and separate all white. Half the lights come on with one switch, and the other half come on with the other switch. Now one of the switches is all blue. The other is a combo of the remaining blues and whites. (I should correct that one statement…there are a few red looking leds in there as well.)

 

[TanksNStuff]

Paul, that might be the case for units you have but I was assured via email from Joe @ Apollo that the dimmable models have whites on 1 power cord / driver and the blues and violets are on a separate cord / driver. The moonlights are on their own also but those aren't dimmable.

I managed to upload my pics to photobucket but don't have time to link them tonight. Check back tomorrow.

 

[TanksNStuff]

OK, here are the pics I promised. Sorry, I forgot to turn my flash on so some of them are a bit dark. I can retake any shots with better lighting if requested.

First off, the packaging was simple yet perfectly effective. I opened one of the boxes upside down I think since one had a cutout and the other didn't. After taking the one without the cutout out of the box, I realized it had the cutout on the bottom. The cutout is for the 3 green power buttons so they don't make a bump in the styrofoam. They don't protrude all the way through the hole and therefore the buttons are also protected during shipping.

Here's a pic of the contents of everything included in the box for a dimmable fixture. (16" x 8.5" fixture, 3 power cords, hanging kit, and info sheet.) If you look back to the pic above this one, the power cords were stored in the gap to the left and the hanging kit was vertically standing on the thin opening on the right side. Sorry I took the pic after removing them instead of before.

Here's a pic of the info sheet.

Next up, a couple shots of the outside of the fixtures. Again, sorry for the darkness. Not used to my new camera yet.

This one shows the 3 waterproof "rocker" switches. You can also see the 4 studs sticking up, which are where you can connect the hanging kit. I plan to install mine in a canopy, so I may figure out a way to screw on a bracket or something to screw it into the canopy.

Here's the entire bulb pattern view. The 3 small ones to the right of the middle row are the moonlights.

Here's a closeup of one edge.

OK, I opened this puppy up and this is an overview of the insides. On the bottom-right, just above the heatsink is the inside of the ethernet port. As you can see, one set of wires comes from each driver. I'd have to take this thing apart even more to see whether the whites all go to one driver and the blues/violets to the other... but right now I'm taking Joe's word that it works that way. The ethernet port is supposed to connect to an Apex or Profilux controller, where you have 2 dimmable channels (white & blue/violet).

Closeup of a driver (there are two exactly the same models). There is a hole drilled in each at the same spot. I think they did that to access the SVR2 (?), which adjusts the amps/output of the driver.

This appears to be the driver for the moonlights since it's 3 x 1w.

Closeup of the fans used. There are 3 in total.

Lastly, here's a closeup of the snap-in wiring connectors they used. Also, notice the white braided covering that helps protect the wires. Very impressed with the design of these things.

I also took a pic of the heatsink, but I must have missed the upload of that one. It's nothing special, just a typical aluminum heatsink. You can see it partially in the "overview of the insides" pic.

There's one little black box thats above the fans in the "overview of the insides" pic too. I'm not quite sure what that is or what it's for. Anyone have any ideas?

Feel free to post any comments or request any more specific pics. Hope this helps people with details on how they're made.

 

[downbeach]

Very nice George, nicely made fixture. Good luck with them. If they'd had their own controller or worked with he RK's, I would have gone that route myself.

 

[redfishbluefish]

George, very nice and detailed summary. I’m impressed with Apollo. I’ve got the dimless version, and these things push out the light.

As far as your mounting them, that stud end you have is a metric 6 – 1.0 thread. So you could use that stud with a nut to bolt it up some how. With my fixture, I used offset aluminum angle from HD, but still had to cut out to avoid the wire ports. It looks like your switches might be in the way of an entire piece of angle between the two studs. The other option I was considering was replacing those studs with much longer bolts (say 2 inches)(OR threaded rod), and then using a short piece of pipe as a spacer.

Can’t wait to hear your impressions once you fire up your units.

 

[Tazmaniancowboy]

Very nice George, nicely made fixture. Good luck with them. If they'd had their own controller or worked with he RK's, I would have gone that route myself.

+1 With KRE controller, I would consider in the future. Can't wait to see these up and running George

 

[JRWOHLER]

Great details and pics. Thanks for the instruction shot, now I understand hahaha.
I love the simple English....Without the command (1-10V)it does nothing.
I get crap at work from Italians and they try to translate Italian to English and you have to scratch your head trying to figure it out.

 

[TanksNStuff]

Hmm, I could have sworn I replied after Jim's last post. Maybe I just never hit the submit? Ah well, here goes again...

Jim, thanks! (Guess this now applies to Don too ~>) Yea, not coming with it's own controller is the only negative I've found with these so far. I've been needing an excuse to get a controller for over 2 years now anyway, so it seemed like the right time to get one.

I'm considering taking one of my LED's with me to your house for the meeting. That way you and/or anyone else can get a first hand look at them. If by any chance the controller I ordered comes in before then, I'll bring that along too. Who knows, maybe someone there will be able to help me figure out how it all will work?

Paul, I was thinking of maybe replacing the studs with longer bolts or something too... then just attaching to some type of angle bracket. I'm sure my buddy that is helping me build my canopy will think of some genious way to do it. He's great at that stuff.

Also, I was intending on having cutouts in the top of my canopy for the fans. Maybe I'll have cutouts for the 3 switches too? That would solve any clearance issues. Don't worry, whenever I start planning/building my canopy I'll be making posts for that. My ToTT thread has been calling for an update and I'll likely just start that going again.

James, yea, I thought you'd appreciate that. When I started taking the pics, I specifically took that one for you. I agree the straight English instructions are a big plus. The company is in PA and they will service/repair it there for any warranty issues so that's also a big plus with these.

I've spent most of my day researching the Arduino programming language to try to get an idea of how my new controller works. Being able to change the code and the display to what I need it was a big seller for me on the Reef Angel. Likewise, I'll be adding pics and info on that thing as well.

 

[TanksNStuff]

Just got an email with a UPS shipping notification for my Reef Angel Controller. Looks like I'll be able to test them out sooner than I thought... and I'll be able to bring them to the meeting for anyone else to see first hand!

 

[Mike S]

Hi at the reommendation of downbeach I joined the club this weekend. Ill be following along to see how you make out with the appollos and the reef angel. I've had the controller for about a month and am thinking hard about making the switch to leds. The reef angel is pretty cool there's just a bit of a learning curve to get it set up. Thankfully the people on the reef angel forums are very helpfully.

 

[TanksNStuff]

Hello and welcome Mike! I'm glad to hear someone else has some experience with the RA. And yes, the people on their forums are very helpful.

Hope to see you at Jim's house for the meeting. Maybe you can give me some pointers on setting my new RA up.

 

[Mike S]

I'll be at Jim's on Saturday and can try to help you. It will be a little bit of the blind leading the blind lol. Right now I'm using the basic functions and just did a little bit of tweaking to get my ATO and fuge light working. It doesn't really look that hard, I think it just takes a little bit of time to learn the structure and the commands.

 

[Tazmaniancowboy]

Just got an email with a UPS shipping notification for my Reef Angel Controller. Looks like I'll be able to test them out sooner than I thought... and I'll be able to bring them to the meeting for anyone else to see first hand!

That's good news...I'd like to see them

 

[TanksNStuff]

Well, might be some bad news now. I just checked tracking on the controller package and UPS says it just left CA @ 1:30 this morning and the "estimated delivery date" is 1/30/12 (monday after the meeting). Maybe I'll get lucky and it gets here before the meeting, but I'm not as optimistic now.

 

[Mike S]

Hopefully it won't actually take that long. Mine shipped on a Friday and I had it the following Tuesday. If I recall correctly UPS initially said it was going to be a few days longer. Have you figured out how to run it with the Reef Angel yet? I'm 90% sure that I'm going to do a DIY led and need to start reading up on how I can control it.

 

[TanksNStuff]

Yea, I'm hoping it gets here before the 5-7 day estimate they show. It wouldn't be the first time UPS shipped me something earlier.

As for figuring out how to get the Apollo LED's to run with the RA, here's a summary of what I know from info Roberto got from Apollo, and info I got via email from Apollo:

1. The LEDs have 2 channels that are dimmable. One for whites, the other for blues/UV. Moonlights are on/off only and operate via the green switch (that you can leave "on" and plug into a timer).

2. The drivers (ELN-60-48D) use an analog signal to dim. The RA dimming control works on a PWM signal. Therefore, I needed to get PWM-To-Analog Lead Wire (2-pack) to convert the signal from controller to driver. Fortunately, Roberto @ RA threw in one of these with my order since it was a sizable order (along with a free extra temp probe).

3. The connection between the fixture to controller (in terms of dimming) is an ethernet port. To connect them, I also need to get a CAT5 Ethernet cable (not included with the lights nor the controller, but I have a bunch at home). One end plugs into the fixture, the other end gets cut/spliced and wired to the PWM-To-Analog converter, which then gets wired to the PWM module (or directly to the PWM port on the RA relay outlet box.)

3a. I mentioned the PWM expansion module because I intend to have 4 total channels (1 white, 1 blue/UV for each fixture). The main unit only has 2 channels available. I could have run both fixtures "in parallel" and had 1 channel for white, 1 for blue/UV, but with the separate channels I will be able to program the RA for sunrise/sunset, storms, clouds, etc. I won't get into that stuff right away, but I'll have that option to use later on due to dividing the channels to have different effects on each side of the tank at the same time. (Hope that makes sense.)

4. The ethernet port has the following pinout assignment:
Pin1 + (whites)
Pin2 - (whites)


Pin5 + (blues/UV)
Pin6 - (blues/UV)

4a. Note that Pin3 and Pin4 are not used. I'm considering changing out the moonlight drivers to ones that are dimmable, and using those pins. However, I haven't found any drivers that will run a MIN of 3 LED's. Most are MIN of 5. Maybe I could combine moonlights from both fixtures onto one dimmable driver? However, that might not be worth the extra money, work, hassle, etc. On/Off should be plenty of control for moonlights.

5. Each RA channel can source up to 40mA. I believe I read on the forums there that you can run up to 4 dimmable drivers per channel. Therefore, I could just run both of my fixtures in parallel and wire them to the set of channels on the RA main relay box. I'll probably do this originally, just to test that both lights work properly. The "demo code" that comes preloaded with the RA controller will allow me to do this right away without changing any code.

6. As per Roberto, the LED drivers don't need to be plugged into the RA Relay box outlets in order for them to be controlled. That would free up the outlets to control other things like pumps/skimmers/heaters/ato/etc. However, I got an extra box (8 outlets) because my plan is to have the controller energize/de-energize the 6 power cords (3 each fixture) so I don't need 6 separate timers.

This will be especially useful because the fans are "always on" when the blue and/or white LED drivers are plugged in, regardless of whether the lights are on or off (moonlight power plugs are not wired to fans). So, if I plugged them into a regular power strip (without timers) the fans would run 24/7. I'm not interested in having 6 separate timers either because they all need resetting with power outtages and I'm trying to make life simple here. Even if I had 3 timers with 2 plugs each (1 white/1 blue/1 moonlight) that's still more than I have now, and more than I want to reset every time I lose power.

So, my plan is to assign 6 outlets for the LED driver plugs and then program the controller to de-energize the white/blue outlets about 1/2 hour after the LED's dim to 0%... to push out any residual heat from having the lights on all day. Joe from Apollo says that's possible to do that, but not necessary since they barely get warm when running. Still, being in the canopy may make mine slightly hotter and I think I'll do this just in case. Moonlight outlets will be programmed to come on just before the blues go off and off just after the blues come on in the morning. Whites will start later than blues and go off earlier than blues. Not sure of exact timing on these yet because acclimation will come into effect and I'll adjust these as necessary.

That's about all I know about mating these two products. Hopefully it will be enough to get me going. If not, I'm sure I'll get quick replies from either manufacturer because they've proven to be responsive even after making my purchases.

One other note as far as my setup:
I also got a WiFi attachment for the RA controller. This will allow me to not only view the status of all my controlled equipment, but will also allow me to log data and compile reports for things like when ATO runs, how long it ran, avg temps, pH readings, etc. It will also let me remotely control anything via the internet and/or an app for my Droid phone (they have it for iPhones too.) This is something I'm really excited about because I can also get notifications on things like power outtages, high water levels, high/low temps, etc... anything that's critical and needs immediate attention. Notifications can come via emails or MMS text messages (or both). Cool stuff!