Hacking a Reef Brite

[jimsflies]

I recently got two of these Reef Brite mini fixtures. I would like to retrofit them to dim and control the dimming with an apex if possible. I also want to consolidate from two power adapters to one plug for both fixtures. I assume this is possible? What would I need to make it happen?










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[cherrycorals]

Does the Apex have any low voltage control modules?

[jimsflies]

Yes, I think it's built in.

[evilc66]

Reefbrites have typically been dimmable from the power supply, which is variable voltage. I'm sure the Mini's use a similar driver, so it might be simple if the Apex can support something like that. Another option would be to see what is driving the LEDs in each unit, and see if the driver is dimmable from an outside signal.

[jimsflies]

The power supply appears to be a fixed voltage ac/dc power adapter. Sounds like maybe taking one apart and posting more info/pics would be helpful?

[evilc66]

Wouldn't hurt. If you can give me a good hi-res shot of the driver board, I might be able to tell you how to tweak it for dimming.

[jimsflies]

I finally got around to looking at this again the other day. I opened the case rand what I found looks like just two leds that seemed to have silicone holding them and the reflector in place. (The leds were mounted to small boards...but there wasn't anything else inside the case.) Each of my reef brites has two leds which appear to be wired in series.

I'm guessing that the two reef brights could be wired externally into some sort of dimmer(?) and then wired to a single power supply?

[evilc66]

Not quite. If there is no driver internal to the fixture (the ones I have seen did, but they may have been prototypes), then you will need to use an LED driver to run them. For the small 2 LED units, you could use something as simple as a 700mA dimmable Buckpuck and a small 12v power supply and run the two units in parallel off the driver.

[jimsflies]

I'm not sure what a driver looks like...but all I see are what looks like the circuit board with leds mounted to it and glued to the metal reflector. Do all LEDs require a driver?

Where is a good place to get the dimmable buck puck? I assume I could use one of the existing 12v power adaptors to power it? Then it has a lead that would plug into the variable output connection on the apex?

[XSiVE]

Where is a good place to get the dimmable buck puck? I assume I could use one of the existing 12v power adaptors to power it? Then it has a lead that would plug into the variable output connection on the apex?

http://ledsupply.com/03023-d-e-500.php

The buckpuck accepts 0-5v as a dimming source, but it's inverted, so 0v=full blast, 5v=off, you would have to program around that little speedbump with the apex by essentially setting it up backward