California Lightworks 550 control

Kevin the Great

Kevin the Great

Well-Known Member
Anyone else have one of these? I was pretty skeptical at first but the advanced scheduling that can be programmed is awesome.
I have 6 steps (20 possible) throughout the 12 hour period that (I hope) closely resembles what my girls want to see.
Does anyone have a spectrum recipe for these yet?
What does your advanced schedule look like?
 
CobKits

CobKits

Well-Known Member
yeah my spectrum is run em full tilt 100% of the time and i turned down red to 60-80% at beginning and end
 
Kevin the Great

Kevin the Great

Well-Known Member
Im in a 30x36 area, 7.5 square feet. So, i need it to be turned down.
I have step 1 40/50/60
step 2 45 minutes later 60/70/70
step 3 2 hours later 99/60/50
step 4 3 hours later 70/70/70
step 5 an hour and 45 minutes later 60/70/80
step 6 3 and a half hours later 55/60/90 and fade to nothing an hour later.
I had tried to mimic sunrise and sunset with multiple banks of lights and separate timers before but this makes it totally streamlined. Running at 99/99/99 doesn't really give you much room for spectrum experiments...
Are you at least using the ramp up timer or just zero to 100?
 
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CobKits

CobKits

Well-Known Member
zero to 100. my temps are lower and co2 just starts going in the "morning" and both naturally peak mid to late "day"

works for me. those things throw down. in a 30 x 36 id never go over 75% unless you have a solid 24"+ below them
 
Kevin the Great

Kevin the Great

Well-Known Member
The total is never over like 72% or so and hangs around 70% for the whole schedule. Just varying the spectrum intensities in an effort to mimic the Sun.
 
CobKits

CobKits

Well-Known Member
your girls will tell you!

interesting on step 6. i plan on measuring the spectrum of each band if its got siginifcant 730nm, heavy red at the end might be a thing
 
BM9AGS

BM9AGS

Well-Known Member
Kevin the Great said:
Im in a 30x36 area, 7.5 square feet. So, i need it to be turned down.
I have step 1 40/50/60
step 2 45 minutes later 60/70/70
step 3 2 hours later 99/60/50
step 4 3 hours later 70/70/70
step 5 an hour and 45 minutes later 60/70/80
step 6 3 and a half hours later 55/60/90 and fade to nothing an hour later.
I had tried to mimic sunrise and sunset with multiple banks of lights and separate timers before but this makes it totally streamlined. Running at 99/99/99 doesn't really give you much room for spectrum experiments...
Are you at least using the ramp up timer or just zero to 100?
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Pretty cool! ill send this to my friend and see if he wants to try something like this later. I just figured more photons= mo better but again my grow space is larger.....

i was only thinking to do a slow red wake up and go to sleep but now just full intensity wake the fuck up and lights out
 
Kevin the Great

Kevin the Great

Well-Known Member
BM9AGS said:
Pretty cool! ill send this to my friend and see if he wants to try something like this later. I just figured more photons= mo better but again my grow space is larger.....

i was only thinking to do a slow red wake up and go to sleep but now just full intensity wake the fuck up and lights out
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I am under the impression that there is more red around noonish and more blues in the morning and evening.
I just guessed the numbers, not like i have a daily spectrum graph broken down into 15 minute segments.
 
MrTwist1

MrTwist1

Well-Known Member
I'm looking for a cheap controller to do something like this... basically just want to ramp a few different channels of DIY LEDs throughout the daylight cycle. Have been waiting on a member here designing an arduino system, but I sometimes doubt whether that will ever be finished (no disrespect intended).

So what are the options currently available? Coralux/Typhon/Storm/Solarsystem? Does the Solarsystem mentioned here only function with California Lightworks LEDs? any others around? Does anyone know which are the best for our application? Cheapest? Any info appreciated thanks.
 
Kevin the Great

Kevin the Great

Well-Known Member
MrTwist1 said:
I'm looking for a cheap controller to do something like this... basically just want to ramp a few different channels of DIY LEDs throughout the daylight cycle. Have been waiting on a member here designing an arduino system, but I sometimes doubt whether that will ever be finished (no disrespect intended).

So what are the options currently available? Coralux/Typhon/Storm/Solarsystem? Does the Solarsystem mentioned here only function with California Lightworks LEDs? any others around? Does anyone know which are the best for our application? Cheapest? Any info appreciated thanks.
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As far as i know its only for the CLW lights. Hooks up to them with a phone line, so, id assume only for CLW.
I wouldnt exactly call the 550 cheap, but it is extremely high quality. I was pleasantly surprised by the heft, very well built.
 
MrTwist1

MrTwist1

Well-Known Member
Kevin the Great said:
As far as i know its only for the CLW lights. Hooks up to them with a phone line, so, id assume only for CLW.
I wouldnt exactly call the 550 cheap, but it is extremely high quality. I was pleasantly surprised by the heft, very well built.
Click to expand...
Yeah I saw the RJ-11 connector on there and guessed that might be a problem.

I like the fact it can be programmed for weeks and months to allow a seasonal shift!
 
MrTwist1

MrTwist1

Well-Known Member
...thinking about it now, it seems like it should be possible to cheaply build a breakout cable that has RJ-11 on one end and bare wires on the other end so that this unit could be used to control HLGs for example.
 
Kevin the Great

Kevin the Great

Well-Known Member
MrTwist1 said:
...thinking about it now, it seems like it should be possible to cheaply build a breakout cable that has RJ-11 on one end and bare wires on the other end so that this unit could be used to control HLGs for example.
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That would depend on the output voltages of the CLW controller matching the 0-10v or 100k ohm or whatever the driver reads. Its still in testing and as far as I know is not in its finished state yet.
 
MrTwist1

MrTwist1

Well-Known Member
Kevin the Great said:
That would depend on the output voltages of the CLW controller matching the 0-10v or 100k ohm or whatever the driver reads. Its still in testing and as far as I know is not in its finished state yet.
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Good point. I think it's possible to step up/down whatever voltage this thing outputs, but I honestly don't know how simple that is. I love that it has a touchscreen with plenty of screen real estate and a backup battery!
 
Kevin the Great

Kevin the Great

Well-Known Member
By the time its done being modified to work and everything as said and done, might be cheaper to just by the 550 and be done with it...
Originally i postulated that my COBs (CXB3590, Vero 29, V22, etc...) would be better and i would send the 550 back. Yeah, i dont think thats happening anymore. Once the controller is sorted out this thing should rock.
 
MrTwist1

MrTwist1

Well-Known Member
Kevin the Great said:
By the time its done being modified to work and everything as said and done, might be cheaper to just by the 550 and be done with it...
Originally i postulated that my COBs (CXB3590, Vero 29, V22, etc...) would be better and i would send the 550 back. Yeah, i dont think thats happening anymore. Once the controller is sorted out this thing should rock.
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I hear what you're saying but that is not an option for me. Anything valued at over $200 (inc shipping) costs me so much in import tax that it's not even worth it. I am sticking with the DIY COBs whether I like it or not lol.
 
Kevin the Great

Kevin the Great

Well-Known Member
MrTwist1 said:
I hear what you're saying but that is not an option for me. Anything valued at over $200 (inc shipping) costs me so much in import tax that it's not even worth it. I am sticking with the DIY COBs whether I like it or not lol.
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Have it sent to someone in the states and then have them send it to you with a declared value of like 20 bucks. Problem solved.
I have crated and shipped $6,500 ATVs to Europe as tax exempt farm equipment. Im sure you can figure out how to get a light.
 
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