Dimming Multiple Channels From a Single 0-10V Port

[bob115]

So I've got a DIY LED fixture that has 5 drivers that take 0-5V PWM signals to control duty cycle. Base Apex only has 4 0-10V ports. I don't particularly want to spend $100 on a VDM to get a single extra control port or gane two channels together, so I though if I'm going to gang them together, why not just use a single port?

Since I need to convert the analog signal from the apex to a PWM signal for the drivers I was going to place a microcontroller in between with voltage dividers. Current idea is to have a very simple bit banged serial connection. A single port from the Apex hooked up to the uC and each time a channel is updated to have the Apex send the voltage for a single channel then go to 0, then to the next channel, and so on for all 5. The uC would record each of these delineated by the 0v and then generate the 5 PWM waveforms for the drivers.

I just got my Apex so I really haven't had too much time to look through the more advanced programming yet so if anyone could tell me if this would be possible that would be great. By the same token is it possible to create sliders or input fields in the Apex interface that would allow me to change the channels manually? If not I suppose I'm back to hard programming the duty cycle to the uC.

[davidewen]

So I've got a DIY LED fixture that has 5 drivers that take 0-5V PWM signals to control duty cycle. Base Apex only has 4 0-10V ports. I don't particularly want to spend $100 on a VDM to get a single extra control port or gane two channels together, so I though if I'm going to gang them together, why not just use a single port?

Since I need to convert the analog signal from the apex to a PWM signal for the drivers I was going to place a microcontroller in between with voltage dividers. Current idea is to have a very simple bit banged serial connection. A single port from the Apex hooked up to the uC and each time a channel is updated to have the Apex send the voltage for a single channel then go to 0, then to the next channel, and so on for all 5. The uC would record each of these delineated by the 0v and then generate the 5 PWM waveforms for the drivers.

I just got my Apex so I really haven't had too much time to look through the more advanced programming yet so if anyone could tell me if this would be possible that would be great. By the same token is it possible to create sliders or input fields in the Apex interface that would allow me to change the channels manually? If not I suppose I'm back to hard programming the duty cycle to the uC.

Bob,
I have a DYI LED light system as well. Eight channels. I use these interfaces from Steve's LEDs directly from 2 VDM modules via the 2 channel dimming cable. I know you said you didn't want to spend the extra $100 for a VDM, so you could run 2 LED channels on 1 VDM port. That would give you 4 channels of VDM control directly from you Apex (assuming you have the new 2016 model).

http://www.stevesleds.com/Aquarium-C...ess_p_183.html

https://forum.neptunesystems.com/sho...e-amp-DIY-LEDs


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bob115]

Edit: So doing some digging apparently there's a unified LED configuration wizard, which is said to be compatible with DIY LEDs, but I cannot seem to figure out how to actually access it. I can see a similar wizard on the configuration for the variable speed ports, though its certainly not the unified page. This I think would be great as the user interface.

In addition, I think I can make my basic serial bit banging scheme work with some virtual outlet mumbo jumbo in the background.

So basically my question now is, is it possible to set up the unified LED configuration to control virtual outlets? And if so how do I actually go about doing that?

[davidewen]

Edit: So doing some digging apparently there's a unified LED configuration wizard, which is said to be compatible with DIY LEDs, but I cannot seem to figure out how to actually access it. I can see a similar wizard on the configuration for the variable speed ports, though its certainly not the unified page. This I think would be great as the user interface.

In addition, I think I can make my basic serial bit banging scheme work with some virtual outlet mumbo jumbo in the background.

So basically my question now is, is it possible to set up the unified LED configuration to control virtual outlets? And if so how do I actually go about doing that?

Bob,
Where did you find this "unified LED config wizard"? I'm interested in investigating it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bob115]

Bob,
Where did you find this "unified LED config wizard"? I'm interested in investigating it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14_c2BEgLZM

Eeeeexcept literally no mention anywhere else. I found a dead link to a page about it in the getting started guide, however. I suppose the little wizard for each VDM port might be what's available to DIY users, but that is hardly as nice as what is shown in the video, and really should be child's play to allow a user to assign VDM ports to the sliders and give the slider a name and bam, it now works for DIY guys.

I'm really getting frustrated with the documentation. The getting started guide is simply that, a getting started guide. The actual manual was last updated in 2014, which is really strange considering they've released an all new model (the one I have). Especially because even if you have the model described in the manual from what I can tell the user interface is extremely different anyway.

It basically seems like they rely on the community for the documentation.

[davidewen]

I've searched everywhere in Fusion and I can not find the "unified LED config wizard".
Where in Fusion is it?

[RussM]

There is no "unified" wizard per se. What that "unified" means is that all outlet types which support dimmable lightning or advances variable speed pumps have a graphical scheduler AKA wizard with a uniform look and feel. The wizard for each applicable outlet type is, by necessity, different due to the different capabilities of each type of controlled device. For example, the wizards for Radions and Hydra, while overall are very similar, are slightly different in order to accommodate the specific capabilities of those different LED fixtures.

[bob115]

There is no "unified" wizard per se. What that "unified" means is that all outlet types which support dimmable lightning or advances variable speed pumps have a graphical scheduler AKA wizard with a uniform look and feel. The wizard for each applicable outlet type is, by necessity, different due to the different capabilities of each type of controlled device. For example, the wizards for Radions and Hydra, while overall are very similar, are slightly different in order to accommodate the specific capabilities of those different LED fixtures.

Right. Except as I said before, it would be valuable to have a single wizard page for DIY or dimmable T5 stuff like the radion and hydra pages. And it would really easy to implement in the software as they already have all the pieces they need. All it would take is a little button to add sliders, tell it which vdm port it should control, and have you put a name on it.

Can you fully configure a light with each vdm port’s wizard? Of course. Can you even overlay the graphs, yeah. But man would it be a lot nicer to have all of your light channels on a single unified page.

[bpiermat]

Wow this would be great! One page with both colors! I am waiting for Apex Santa to come and deliver this!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[bpiermat]

Wow no one else wants this?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[fetta]

I could definitely use this with an upcoming build

pmasi.com

[davidewen]

Right. Except as I said before, it would be valuable to have a single wizard page for DIY or dimmable T5 stuff like the radion and hydra pages. And it would really easy to implement in the software as they already have all the pieces they need. All it would take is a little button to add sliders, tell it which vdm port it should control, and have you put a name on it.

Can you fully configure a light with each vdm port’s wizard? Of course. Can you even overlay the graphs, yeah. But man would it be a lot nicer to have all of your light channels on a single unified page.

Bob,
Did you ever figure this out?