06-28-2018, 07:41 PM
Okay so I had trouble uploading photos last night when I wrote up this walkthrough and my experience. I have since made the files shareable and public in my Google Drive, so I am inserting links to the photos here.
First off, Rob, for the connectors they appear to be a standard 4-pin water resistant screw lock connector. From my research it is a standard connector type, however the size is somewhat debated, so I cannot provide an exact description / link to a matching set. Below is an image which sort of highlights the way they are built. Please note - this was an early rendition of the PWM signal reversing board that I built (which I wired completely backwards, so please disregard the board in this one). I actually decided to stay away from this board arrangement because I thought that my new setup looked cleaner and offers some potential expandability for the future in the event I decide to add more functionality inside of this module.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19l8JnaL...sp=sharing
Next is my pre-wiring on the back of the breadboard. This is the ground wiring and the power wiring as seen from the bottom of the finished project. The bottom of the image would be the power IN side, while the top would be the power OUT side. From left to right my wires would be connected to +24V light 1, Ground light 1, +24V light 2, ground light 2. The black junction wires at the top of the image are to connect the Emitter of each transistor. You will notice that I kept the two light plugs electrically independent of each other so that if one power brick dies it does not risk overheating/overdrawing the other light.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ucj0Jlh...sp=sharing
This is the top of the board with the transistors soldered on to the top and the pins for ground at the Emitter terminals soldered to the wiring. I did leave about a quarter inch of transistor electrode terminal above the board when I soldered them so I could bend the transistors over to maintain a low profile on the board.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bHUYAp4...sp=sharing
I then soldered my input and output plugs onto the board and also soldered on my power signal wires from the Robo-Tank to the light control interface. As a reminder: RED is for the white light channel, BLACK is for the moonlight channel.
For the control circuits, I used standard CAT5e cable. I soldered the orange/orangewhite and brown/brownwhite circuits to each independent light circuit ground, and then soldered the blue to light 1 WHITE, bluewhite to light 1 MOON, green to light 2 WHITE, greenwhite to light 2 MOON.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XbOG3ZE...sp=sharing
Fully mounted in the original Fluval Pro Wifi controller case the plug ends hold the circuit board in snugly without any additional fastening. The case snaps back together, but for the sake of showing the fully assembled and functioning board in the case I have this photo with the case open.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bhbNjPt...sp=sharing
The entire board / lighting setup has been running for 24 hours now and the light controller board operates at room temperature, which is alone a massive improvement over the original Wifi module which got too warm for comfort, especially if it sits on carpet / other potentially combustible materials.
I hope this helps others and I will continue to share other projects that I tackle along the way.
First off, Rob, for the connectors they appear to be a standard 4-pin water resistant screw lock connector. From my research it is a standard connector type, however the size is somewhat debated, so I cannot provide an exact description / link to a matching set. Below is an image which sort of highlights the way they are built. Please note - this was an early rendition of the PWM signal reversing board that I built (which I wired completely backwards, so please disregard the board in this one). I actually decided to stay away from this board arrangement because I thought that my new setup looked cleaner and offers some potential expandability for the future in the event I decide to add more functionality inside of this module.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19l8JnaL...sp=sharing
Next is my pre-wiring on the back of the breadboard. This is the ground wiring and the power wiring as seen from the bottom of the finished project. The bottom of the image would be the power IN side, while the top would be the power OUT side. From left to right my wires would be connected to +24V light 1, Ground light 1, +24V light 2, ground light 2. The black junction wires at the top of the image are to connect the Emitter of each transistor. You will notice that I kept the two light plugs electrically independent of each other so that if one power brick dies it does not risk overheating/overdrawing the other light.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ucj0Jlh...sp=sharing
This is the top of the board with the transistors soldered on to the top and the pins for ground at the Emitter terminals soldered to the wiring. I did leave about a quarter inch of transistor electrode terminal above the board when I soldered them so I could bend the transistors over to maintain a low profile on the board.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bHUYAp4...sp=sharing
I then soldered my input and output plugs onto the board and also soldered on my power signal wires from the Robo-Tank to the light control interface. As a reminder: RED is for the white light channel, BLACK is for the moonlight channel.
For the control circuits, I used standard CAT5e cable. I soldered the orange/orangewhite and brown/brownwhite circuits to each independent light circuit ground, and then soldered the blue to light 1 WHITE, bluewhite to light 1 MOON, green to light 2 WHITE, greenwhite to light 2 MOON.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XbOG3ZE...sp=sharing
Fully mounted in the original Fluval Pro Wifi controller case the plug ends hold the circuit board in snugly without any additional fastening. The case snaps back together, but for the sake of showing the fully assembled and functioning board in the case I have this photo with the case open.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bhbNjPt...sp=sharing
The entire board / lighting setup has been running for 24 hours now and the light controller board operates at room temperature, which is alone a massive improvement over the original Wifi module which got too warm for comfort, especially if it sits on carpet / other potentially combustible materials.
I hope this helps others and I will continue to share other projects that I tackle along the way.
