Nicrew lights setup guidance

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Enigma79

New member
Hello,

I am looking for some guidance to setup the Nicrew hyper reef 50 lights and control them via Robo Tank. I am unable to find clear instructions.

Thank you,
R
 
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Enigma79 said:
Hello,

I am looking for some guidance to setup the Nicrew hyper reef 50 lights and control them via Robo Tank. I am unable to find clear instructions.

Thank you,
R
Click to expand...
Hi @Enigma79 that light should have a 3.5mm socket on it, you can use a standard 3.5mm stereo patch cable to connect it to the equipment extension for v3 controller, it has four 3.5mm sockets. If you have the v1 controller here is how you wire it, it's the same as the Kessil light.

You'll need to set the dip switches for the ports you connect to to 0-10v Analog.

kessil.JPG
 
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Enigma79 said:
Hello @Rob F,

I just realized that I have misplaced the terminal block connectors for the V1 controller. Can you provide me a link to the connectors on Amazon.

Thanks,
Ramana
Click to expand...
Hi Ramana, yeah no problem, here's some links. You should be able to use two 2 pin connectors for the 4 pin.


 
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Hi @Rob,

I was able to connect the lights and manually control them by moving the slider. Two things that I need help with are:

1. The lights are flickering.
2. The lights remain ON even when the slider is at zero.

Please advise.

Thanks

Ramana
 
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Enigma79 said:
Hi @Rob,

I was able to connect the lights and manually control them by moving the slider. Two things that I need help with are:

1. The lights are flickering.
2. The lights remain ON even when the slider is at zero.

Please advise.

Thanks

Ramana
Click to expand...
Hi Ramana, sorry for the trouble, unfortunately you might not be able to use them with my app at this time, they lights are flickering due to the frequency of the outputs and you can't change that yet, you'll have to use reef-pi if you want to use them.

When you move the slider the output is updated live and sometimes when you stop moving the slider it doesn't see where it stopped. Try moving the slider a little to see if it updates.
 
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Hey @Rob,

Thank you for the quick response. I am happy to try the reef-pi software, before I do that I have a few questions:

1. I will be sure to use a different SD card so the current install is intact.
2. Are there any issues with using the RoboTank V1 board with Reef-pi?
3. Do you have any instructions for making reef-pi work with your controller?
4. Do I need additional hardware. Currently I use the PH, temp, ATO.

Thanks,
Ramana
 
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Enigma79 said:
Hey @Rob,

Thank you for the quick response. I am happy to try the reef-pi software, before I do that I have a few questions:

1. I will be sure to use a different SD card so the current install is intact.
2. Are there any issues with using the RoboTank V1 board with Reef-pi?
3. Do you have any instructions for making reef-pi work with your controller?
4. Do I need additional hardware. Currently I use the PH, temp, ATO.

Thanks,
Ramana
Click to expand...
Hi Ramana, great, the lights won't be a problem with reef-pi, the various modes are much better too.

It is a good idea to use another SD card, once I have an update finished if you want you can plug in that card and update.

Everything is the same, here's a manual with an install script, it'll setup the drivers and connectors in reef-pi, during the install it'll ask which version controller you have. You will need to still use Bullseye OS.

docs.google.com

Software Installation Manual - Windows.docx

Raspberry Pi OS and reef-pi Software Installation Manual Using Windows - Robo-Tank Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 1. Install Raspberry Pi OS (Raspbian) 3 2. Access Raspberry Pi via SSH 10 3. Install reef-pi 12 4. Other Manuals 13 1. Install Raspbe...
docs.google.com docs.google.com
 
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@Rob F , I followed the instructions and was able to install Reef-Pi and get it setup. I noticed that the version is at 5.3 and I am unable to upgrade the version.

I setup the lights and they continue to flicker for both PWM and Analog. I went back to the other SSD with Robo-Tank software and tried both Analog and PWM and the lights are still flickering. Do you think the issue is with the board?

I tried the Nicrew controller and all four of the lights are working ok.

Let me know if there is anything else I can do to get these lights working with the RoboTank controller.
 
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Enigma79 said:
@Rob F , I followed the instructions and was able to install Reef-Pi and get it setup. I noticed that the version is at 5.3 and I am unable to upgrade the version.

I setup the lights and they continue to flicker for both PWM and Analog. I went back to the other SSD with Robo-Tank software and tried both Analog and PWM and the lights are still flickering. Do you think the issue is with the board?

I tried the Nicrew controller and all four of the lights are working ok.

Let me know if there is anything else I can do to get these lights working with the RoboTank controller.
Click to expand...
To fix the lights flickering go to the "configuration" tab and then the "drivers" sub tab. Edit the driver for pca9685 which should be called "Extra Ports". Change the frequency to 1500 and save it. Then go to the "Admin" tab and press the "reload" button. That should fix it. It's possible you might have to reboot after doing these steps. You will want the jumpers set to Analog.

I have the install script installing 5.3 as there was an issue in 6.0 but I can't remember off hand what that was. You should be able to update through the UI by typing in 6.0 and hitting update button. It will appear nothing is happening and you'll lose connection but it should be updating. Once it comes back online press CTRL + SHIFT + R on the keyboard a few times to clear the browser cache.
 
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Changing the frequency to 1500 worked and I was able to version 6.0. I am still seeing slight flickering for the third and fourth lights. Do you think I should connect them as additional lights from another two channels. Do you think it is because of daisy chaining them that they are having this issue?
 
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Enigma79 said:
I let the lights run all day today and lights are still flickering and flickering increases at lower intensity. see the attached video
Click to expand...
That's surprising, did you try different channels on the controller? It might also be worth trying one light per channel although daisy chaining them shouldn't be an issue.
 
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