Walk through for modified Chinese black box for running on Apex

[Swope2bc]

Ok guys, I'm going to post a quick write up on converting the Chinese black box to operate with the Neptune Apex.



Opening up your black box will look similar to this inside.




Disconnect the power and over temp sensors from the LED board to allow easier work.



Your dimmer board will resemble this, in the next photo you will see the back side of this board. Be sure to look closely at this so you know which white feeds your power and switch and which two are your 0-10v and ground. My two dimmers were reversed, meaning that the symbols on the wires cannot be trusted.





The apex uses pin 3/4 and 7/8 on a standard network cable. 3&7 being grounds. Depending on the connector you use be sure your pins line up.




The power from your LED power supplies is being jumped together creating a constant ON, but your APEX will turn it on and off.


(Conclusion in next post)

[Swope2bc]

(Continuation)









Here it all is installed. I need one more connector to get this to my APEX and I'll let you all know how it goes.

[skibums]

Following

[Swope2bc]

Well, I've got it coming on from the apex, but I've not mastered the dimming yet.. I'm not sure why but they seem to come on full bright. This does not mean anything yet though as I've only tested one cycle.

Anyone else who has attempted this, please chime in

[Swope2bc]

I believe there is something about the Chinese drivers that is not allowing the apex to dim them. I've seen a video mod that includes wiring it up to new dimmer pods before going to the apex but I cannot seem to find what those pods are...

Anyone out there with knowledge in this department?

[Swope2bc]

Ok, problem understood. These drivers are digital PWM, the apex sends an analog 0-10v signal which works for many LEDs but not these. Simple $30 fix though, I've ordered an analog to PWM converter from stevesled and should have things running smooth by next week.

[wbwhale]

I'm juuuust starting to learn electronics for lighting (oh, the hobbies this hobby will give you) and I think the Arduino sends a digital PWM signal, right? Do you know? I love the idea of the black box lights as I think they're more affordable than me soldering together a bunch of LEDs.

[Swope2bc]

I don't know much about the arduino setups I'm afraid. Yes, lots of hobbies within the hobby lol. As for building your own, if you have time, patience, and knowledge you can build a nice unit yourself. But I have found these to work out quite well none the less

[Reefer PT]

SO if I understand you correctly, you jumped the On/OFF and +12V wires? And one driver is on pin 3+4 and the other driver is on pin 7+8? Are you able to control both drivers off one PWM converter? Do you think you can control multiple fixtures with one converter? (i understand they will not be independently controllable set up like this)I have 3 evergrows and would love to control them on the APEX.
Thanks for doing this!
Dave

[Reefer PT]

Just looked up the interface, I see that if I get the 4 channel for $45 I can control 2 of the LEDs and get the 2 channel for the other LED. Not bad, full control for $75, less then the upgrade cost of the units with built in controllers!

[Jlentz]

Thanks for the write up Swope2bc! I've been pondering this lately. I didn't think anyone made a 0-10v > pwm converter.

FYI, arduino does do pwm. It might do 0-10 as well.

[Swope2bc]

Originally Posted by Reefer PT

Just looked up the interface, I see that if I get the 4 channel for $45 I can control 2 of the LEDs and get the 2 channel for the other LED. Not bad, full control for $75, less then the upgrade cost of the units with built in controllers!

I've been told that the apex can control more than one unit off of the same variable speed port so, if I'm not mistaken, you can run the whites on both units off of one channel and the blues of bot units off of the other. I may be wrong on this though...

[Reefer PT]

That would be nice. It would save having to get a VDM as I have one port tied up with pumps.

[Swope2bc]

Go onto the Neptune forum, a guy who goes by the name zombie has helped me a ton and would know

[Reefer PT]

Checked out the thread, great info! Do you mind me asking what brand of black box is this? Is it the typical evergrow/reefbreeders value fixture?

[Swope2bc]

The brand on mine is global star but they are all pretty much the same thing.

[Reefer PT]

Any updates?

[Swope2bc]

Originally Posted by Reefer PT

Any updates?

Yes actually, I have the controller from StevesLEDs and it's all hooked up, the lights will come on and off but no dimming yet.. I will be consulting with Jeff from Stevesled support next week.

[Reefer PT]

Ever get it working?

[Swope2bc]

Originally Posted by Reefer PT

Ever get it working?

Yes, sorry for the lack of update on this. Once I got the wires hooked up correctly it's working perfectly. The diagrams provided by Steve's only showed 3 wires but my drivers have 4, the 12v power has to return to the unit so I had to link the in/out wire to force the driver to receive a constant on signal with the 0-10v signal telling it when to actually come on.

[Reefer PT]

Do you have pictures/diagrams of the final mod?

[Swope2bc]

I didn't take a picture of the final, but I'll work up a diagram and post it pretty soon

[s2nhle]

wow, great. Tagging along.

[bapicella]

awesome write up Swope2bc!

[Swope2bc]

Ok guys, here are 3 images with information on how to wire it up. If you have a question just let me know