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Apollo Reef LED's... anyone have them?
- Thread starter TanksNStuff
- Start date
Unfortunately it's the latter. I check the tracking about every 15 minutes and the sad news is that it hasn't updated at all since 1/24/12 @ 1:48 AM when it left San Pablo, CA. 
So it's been floating around on some truck(s) for about 3-4 days now and I have no idea where it might be at this point. All it says is "In Transit : On Time" with estimated delivery date of 1/30/12 end of day.
I would think that if I was going to get it today that there would have been an "Out for delivery" update... so I'm not expecting it today. I'm thinking about calling them to see if they can give me a better clue as to where it might be NOW.
So it's been floating around on some truck(s) for about 3-4 days now and I have no idea where it might be at this point. All it says is "In Transit : On Time" with estimated delivery date of 1/30/12 end of day.
I would think that if I was going to get it today that there would have been an "Out for delivery" update... so I'm not expecting it today. I'm thinking about calling them to see if they can give me a better clue as to where it might be NOW.
Beat... I'm sure you'll get it soon enough. I wouldnt hold my breath on being able to get anymore info out of ups. I worked for them for a few years while I finished up college. They see the same info that you do. You will probably see an update when it hits Newark or belmawr and once it does it should go out for delivery that day.
I'd bring mine tomorrow so you could see it but then I'd have to figure out how to keep my tank running lol.
I'd bring mine tomorrow so you could see it but then I'd have to figure out how to keep my tank running lol.
Yea, I ordered enough stuff that got shipped by UPS to know how they work. And I live close to Bellmawr/Lawnside so that will likely be the "Destination Scan".
Don't even think of breaking yours down to bring to the meeting. You live near Jim, so maybe I could follow you to your place after the meeting and check yours out in action? If that's not a good time, maybe another day?
If nothing else, I'll probably just bend your ear a bit to talk about things I'll need to do when setting mine up.
Don't even think of breaking yours down to bring to the meeting. You live near Jim, so maybe I could follow you to your place after the meeting and check yours out in action? If that's not a good time, maybe another day?
If nothing else, I'll probably just bend your ear a bit to talk about things I'll need to do when setting mine up.
I'm only about 5 minutes from Jim unfortunately my social director informed me that I'm required at my sister in laws for dinner. Its looking like I'll have to leave them meeting early. I'm around Sunday though and you are more than welcome to stop by. I could always use some help getting ideas with corals and placement.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
That might work Mike. We'll discuss it further at the meeting.
George nice meeting you yesterday. You definitely got my interested perked in the lights. Its kind of hard to justify going the DIY route with the price of them. Question for you. I was reading over on the RA forum a post you had about the lead wires from the dimmers. In one of the posts it looks like you were thinking that there were lead wires for the moonlight driver. I think this was before you had them. Is that the case? I guessing no since you were able to fire them up yesterday. I'm just checking because if it is the case I'd probably need the expansion module.
Another thought on firing them up if you'd like to see how they look. I think you could connect a 9v battery to the lead. In essence I think this is all the RA controller is going to do. Reading some of the DIY threads it appears that is how people test to make sure the channels are working. Of course I'd read up on it more before I'd try it. I'm not an electrical engineer and don't want to be responsible for your lights getting fried lol.
Apollo is running a deal for $20 off each till tomorrow.... very tempting. I wonder if there are any sponsor discounts that I'd could take advantage of?
Another thought on firing them up if you'd like to see how they look. I think you could connect a 9v battery to the lead. In essence I think this is all the RA controller is going to do. Reading some of the DIY threads it appears that is how people test to make sure the channels are working. Of course I'd read up on it more before I'd try it. I'm not an electrical engineer and don't want to be responsible for your lights getting fried lol.
Apollo is running a deal for $20 off each till tomorrow.... very tempting. I wonder if there are any sponsor discounts that I'd could take advantage of?
Nice meeting you yesterday too Mike. I called to leave you a message that I won't be able to stop by today. Will have to take a rain check on that.
As for your questions:
1. The moonlights do not require a PWM to Analog lead wire since they are not wired to the ethernet port anyway. When their plug is energized (plugged into an outlet) the only thing that controls them is the green rocker switch on the fixture. My plan is to just leave the switches in the "on" position, plug the moonlight power cords into the RA relay box outlets, and then use the controller to specify when those outlets get powered up and for how long.
2. In theory, you don't really need the PWM expansion module. You can run up to 4 drivers in parallel per channel, so you could easily hook up 2 fixtures to the original 2 PWM channels that come with the main controller/relay package. You will need one set of PWM to Analog lead wires to convert the signal though. The only drawback with not having the PWM expansion module is that you won't be able to dim them individually since they'd both be on the same channel. Not a big deal really and if I'd thought of that before I may not have bought the PWM expansion module. When I did, I thought the moonlights needed to be on their own channel but found out afterwards they don't need a channel at all.
3. Yea, I could probably hook them up to a 9v battery to test them. Not sure I have time today to get into that though and since my controller should be here tomorrow I probably won't need to.
4. Not sure of any group buys but yes, they have a $20 off per fixture discount going on til end of the month. Use coupon code REEF20 in your cart. That will cover the shipping costs and a bit more, so good deal IMO.
If you order them, we'll get together and figure out the best ways to control them with the RA.
As for your questions:
1. The moonlights do not require a PWM to Analog lead wire since they are not wired to the ethernet port anyway. When their plug is energized (plugged into an outlet) the only thing that controls them is the green rocker switch on the fixture. My plan is to just leave the switches in the "on" position, plug the moonlight power cords into the RA relay box outlets, and then use the controller to specify when those outlets get powered up and for how long.
2. In theory, you don't really need the PWM expansion module. You can run up to 4 drivers in parallel per channel, so you could easily hook up 2 fixtures to the original 2 PWM channels that come with the main controller/relay package. You will need one set of PWM to Analog lead wires to convert the signal though. The only drawback with not having the PWM expansion module is that you won't be able to dim them individually since they'd both be on the same channel. Not a big deal really and if I'd thought of that before I may not have bought the PWM expansion module. When I did, I thought the moonlights needed to be on their own channel but found out afterwards they don't need a channel at all.
3. Yea, I could probably hook them up to a 9v battery to test them. Not sure I have time today to get into that though and since my controller should be here tomorrow I probably won't need to.
4. Not sure of any group buys but yes, they have a $20 off per fixture discount going on til end of the month. Use coupon code REEF20 in your cart. That will cover the shipping costs and a bit more, so good deal IMO.
If you order them, we'll get together and figure out the best ways to control them with the RA.
After weighing my options I pulled the trigger on a pair of Apollo dimables today. With a 3 and 5 year old and plenty of other projects to get done around the house the small savings going DIY didn't make much sense. It would just be another project cluttering up my workbench lol. Now the fun part will be figuring out how to get them to work with the reef angel. We will definitely have to compare notes. Ultimately I'd like to have a custom menu to tweak the lights up and down especially early on when trying to dial in the color and aclimate the few corals I have in my tank.
Awesome! My controller is on a UPS truck and scheduled for delivery today. Unfortunately, I have something to do after work today so other than open the box and drool I won't be able to do much tonight.
Tomorrow will likely be my big test/experimentation day.
I think another thing to add to my todo list is figure out how/where I'm going to mount all the RA equipment I ordered, lol. There isn't much room under my stand as it is.
Tomorrow will likely be my big test/experimentation day.
I think another thing to add to my todo list is figure out how/where I'm going to mount all the RA equipment I ordered, lol. There isn't much room under my stand as it is.
I hear a sick day coming on <cough, cough>
My wife just texted me that my RA package arrived. How do I make time speed up to about 8 o'clock? 
I hear a sick day coming on <cough, cough>
I wish. Unfortunately, I have to deliver a bid for work tomorrow so if I took off I'd probably get fired. I might be able to get home earlier than normal though.
Somebody probably isn't going to get much sleep tonight.
Now its my turn to wait impatiently for ups.
Is the hanging hardware that comes with the lights half decent? I'm trying to figure out how I will suspend mine. Right now my mh fixture hangs from two l brackets on my wall. They probably wouldn't line up correctly so that I could hang one from each bracket. I'm thinking that ill either make a frame out of aluminum, bolt the lights to it and then hang the frame to both brackets or bolt an aluminum bar to the brackets and hang the lights from the bar using the supplied hanger.
Now its my turn to wait impatiently for ups.
Is the hanging hardware that comes with the lights half decent? I'm trying to figure out how I will suspend mine. Right now my mh fixture hangs from two l brackets on my wall. They probably wouldn't line up correctly so that I could hang one from each bracket. I'm thinking that ill either make a frame out of aluminum, bolt the lights to it and then hang the frame to both brackets or bolt an aluminum bar to the brackets and hang the lights from the bar using the supplied hanger.
Mike, if yours are coming from their PA facility, and they are not back-ordered, they should be there in two days. That’s how long mine took….and Apollo exclusively uses FedEx.
The hanging hardware is the typical adjustable cable system that attaches to your fixtures with 6mm stud ends on the fixture.
The hanging hardware is the typical adjustable cable system that attaches to your fixtures with 6mm stud ends on the fixture.
Those studs are easily removed by opening the case and taking off the 10mm nut. This can be replaced by a longer bolt (either metric (6mm) or “American” ¼ inch) and then use a spacer. Here’s an example with a carriage bolt (FYI, I wouldn’t use a carriage bolt…just for example), and a short piece of ½ cpvc. This way the switches don’t come into play.
