# MR16 - DC 12 Volt COB LED spot on TC420



## zozo (9 Nov 2016)

After a year dimmin all manualy i decided to go for an automated setup..

Ordered me 5 COB LED spots compatible with DC12 volt, following the specs they should be 12 Watt and +/- 1000 lumen each.. Since they are DC 12 volt compatible they should be smoothly dimmable with a PWM controller. Today i got my TC420 in the mail and got me a DC 12 volt 60 watt LED driver. That would be total 60 watt leds with a total output +/- 5000 lumen.

All tested succesfull, it runs like a charm..



 

Where it all is gona go is here  For now this still runs on 220 VAC GU10 spots and a manual variac dimmer.. Quite a hassle to do this manualy every day in and out.. 5000 lumen seems to be a lot above a low tech, so it probably will never run 100% as of now i have no idea, because the lights will hang pretty high above the tank..




So i have to rewire the whole bunch and fit in the little MR16 lamp base which is quite a bit smaller than the GU10 lamp base inside the spots now. Could have go for GU10/MR16 adapters, but these are no go, because of the lenght of the spot. So i have to make my own addapters to screw in the ceramic lampbase.
Glue would work as well, but i just a nerd who wants to screw everything.. 

The idea is 3 different colors, the far right spot will be 2700k (yellow) Just for the fun of it, the far right also is the east side of the tank.. This spot will function as the sunrise light slowly dimming up from dusk till noon. During this time from right to left spot 2,3 and 4 which are 8000k will slowly come up as well. As from the late afternoon everything will slowly fade away towards spot number 5, which is a 6000k.. This will stay on to  resamble a moonlight.. The fun off it all is, the TC420 LED Timer controller, will do it all automated..

Alreadey gave that all a try manualy and it looks kinda awsome.. It gives a nice shimmer and different colors and falling shades during the light cycle..

I shall try to make a small journal with pictures how it all is build and what materials and tools are used. All stuff will be hardware store materials available to everyone, none of it is from an LFS.

But first i need to dismantle the whole light fixture above the tank and rebuild it.

So stay tuned, to be continued.


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## zozo (10 Nov 2016)

Now here we go ... I kinda try to explain it with as much pictures as i can, which hopefully speak a little for them self as well, at least for the DIY enthousiast.

The first idea i got about this was using regular spotlights to lit an auarium.. And to put them into an array above a tank i looked at studio rigs or rigs they use above theater stages. Only thing is there aint realy a home use decoline in studio light components. It all is to heavy dutty for this kind of use and next to that way to expensive.. So i started looking around at alternative materials which replicate this look as close as possible, have simmular constructional propperties and stay in a somewhat affordable price range..

The first component i found to mount an array of spots was this actualy realy simple 70cm long stainles steel door grip (€ 20).. Here you see it hangin without lights.. 
It could be mounted to the wall or as i did to a shelf above the tank.




Next i bought a set of 5 wall mounted spots at the hardware store.. Also stainless steel and came for a price of € 10 each in a discount.




I took off the wall mount plate and than we will have a spotlight only with that M10 x 1 piece of thread at the end where usualy that nut is to screw it on.

Now had to think of a way to fix such a spot to the doorgrip and make it slight and turn in directions.. Again looked at studio light rigs to find inspiration and replicated and downsized something already existing.




I could have made it from Acrylic, or aluminium, but since there already is a bunch of wood around the tank, i decided to make these little brakets out of wood. Still had a piece of oakwood in the shed, which actualy is hard and solid enough to fix the spots to the rod. So i had to make 5 little blocks like this in minimal size 25 x 25 x 35 mm.. The doorgrips horizontal rod is 12mm.. SO obviously it needs a 12mm hole to slide over the rod, added a little M3 retaining screw to the front to secure it in place.



The only thing special i needed was a M10x1 TAP to get the same thread into the wooded bracket as is on the spot lights.. This is universal btw, all lamp parts with M10 thread are M10 x 1... Regular 10mm thread is M10 x 1.50 so that wouldn't fit. This tap is available from ebay for +/- € 5. Not in a heavy duty quality, but why should it be, don't need  to for soft material use or if not used professionaly..



Even for the regular metric tap and dy sets, for home use on softer materials than steel, buy the cheapest you can find, i found a complete set from M3 to M10 for € 6 in some outlet store. 

Now i had to convert the spotslight lamp holders from GU10 to MR16 lamp base to make the 12 volt spots fit..




As you can see there is quite a sice difference and it's that little washer in the top middle i used to make a mounting plate for the MR16 lamp base..





A dot of heat resistant glue would have done the job as well to just glue the lamp base in place, but i didn't have this glue at hand, found some washers in the shed and this is it. It does the job, not that i'm planning to take it apart again, but if ever needed i can use a screwdriver..

For the rest it is actualy simple and still can use the same wires, so just cut off the cables from GU10 lamp base as short as possible and do the same to the MR16 and solder it back on with the mounting plate on it as well.

Here you see it mounted in the spot, it's one i almost trashed with drilling the holes out of place, had to do this one over again..




Here is the spot essambled again with the 12 watt  MR16 spot in place.. ANd as you can see i was lucky, if the spot was 3 mm longer i wouldn't have fit in.. If these ever burn out i need to order the 9 watt spots, which are 10mm shorter in build.. But it fits..




Next step  Finnish all spots remount them to the door grip which sounds awfully silly.. But as said, door grips can alternatively do more than just open doors.. 

Then wire everyting to the controler.. Wiring is realy very simple, because these spots are made for regular home use and no need to take positive or negative in to consideration.. It is relatively fool proof.. But all about this in the next part..


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## Manisha (10 Nov 2016)

Your wood brackets are a really nice touch Wondered why had to convert your g10 to MR16?



zozo said:


> but i just a nerd who wants to screw everything..



Haha!


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## Dantrasy (11 Nov 2016)

Great DIY!

I have a TC420 too. It took a while to setup and but once its done I haven't touched it for months. Do you have a program on your laptop to set channel ramp up / ramp down percentages?


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## Parablennius (11 Nov 2016)

This is interesting. I too am using a TC420 along with multiple, 1 Amp, 10watt chips using just a redundant PC tower PSU to run it. Bought all the other hardware from that well known Chinese source. A mix of 3,500K and 6,500K whites, some 660Nm reds and 455Nm blues cemented to an aluminium heatsink. It's been running glitch free @ 60% max since June. The ramping is brilliant, although I found the software a bit odd 'till I got used to it. you should get a mini c-d to install the program on your PC.


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## zozo (11 Nov 2016)

Manisha said:


> Your wood brackets are a really nice touch Wondered why had to convert your g10 to MR16?
> 
> 
> 
> Haha!



Thank you Manisha.. 

The GU10 base lamps are VAC 110-220 and all 12 volt spots are MR16 base.. And 220 volt is very difficult and expensive to make it all dim and run automaticaly.. So i needed to convert to spots to fit MR16 lamps.. Now there are addapters available but these take up to much space for the 12 watt version lamps, which are 70 mm in lenght and with addapter that would about 85mm. Then they would be to large to fit in the spotlight holder. So thats why i had to rebuild them to fit the spots.


So it can be done all much simpler with just buying the correct addapter and the right spots just make sure it fits before buying. I didn't know what to expect from the lights, if they would be strong enough, luminous specs in led lights are a still bit vague. So i made the choice to go for the strongest i could find.. Which are the 12 watt versions and have +/-1000 lumen they say.. Could have taken the 9 watt, 5 watt or 3 watt, which are much smaller in lenght and would fit out of the box with an addapter.. But choose the 12 watt to make sure i have the highest output possible and if it is to much i still can dim it. 



Dantrasy said:


> Great DIY!
> 
> I have a TC420 too. It took a while to setup and but once its done I haven't touched it for months. Do you have a program on your laptop to set channel ramp up / ramp down percentages?



Thank you..
Yes we need PLED to make it run, which is available for download too at several places on the internet.. It's indeed a bit searching and playing in the beginning with the timing to make it loop properly.. But once you know how it works it's pretty straight foreward. Kitelight has a new version of it, controlable via WIFI.. And or smart phone.



Parablennius said:


> This is interesting. I too am using a TC420 along with multiple, 1 Amp, 10watt chips using just a redundant PC tower PSU to run it. Bought all the other hardware from that well known Chinese source. A mix of 3,500K and 6,500K whites, some 660Nm reds and 455Nm blues cemented to an aluminium heatsink. It's been running glitch free @ 60% max since June. The ramping is brilliant, although I found the software a bit odd 'till I got used to it. you should get a mini c-d to install the program on your PC.



Thanks..  I also already running a TC420 for the high tech tank, it runs 18 months now and indeed totaly glitch free. Also using ATX power suppply and this is indeed the best way to go.. Best price for the highest output. I paid the same money for a DC 12volt - 60 watt driver as i paid for the 240 watt ATX, that's 180 watt extra for the same price. I also do not understand why a 240 watt led driver is far over €100 and a ATX doing the same cost € 40..


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## Manisha (11 Nov 2016)

Asthetics & practically - I really appreciate you taking the time to explain this ☺ the electrical details are a bit beyond me - but great tips for budding diy enthusiasts  (& and you never know, some day...) ☺


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## zozo (12 Nov 2016)

So all is essambled and hangin again..  and now to the wiring part of a TC420 led time controller..

This is the idea and imo the easiest way to do it.. Take those 5mm PIDG fork connectors and PIDG male/female...


 


As you see there are a bunch of connectors.. The Input V- and V+ are for the power supply.. Which should be depending on the lights DC 24 0r DC 12 volts with enough power in Watt.. In my case i have 12 watt per channel, so that 60 watt consumption so i need a 60 watt power supply..

The Output side you see V+ positive lead and channel 1 to 5 which is the negative lead. Thats where the lights go.. Now you need 5 positive leads to one V+ connector..  Soldered 5 wires together to one fork connector and each cable has a female connector to the other end.. These are the positive leeds to the lights and go on the V+ output.. 

Obviously the male connector fitting in there goes on the positive lead to the lamp. The negative lead of the lamp gets also a fork connector..




Here you see the whole bunch connected. Don't forget to lable the lamps cable, so you know afterwards which lamp is on what channel.. 





Now the fool proof part of the MR16 spots is they do not come with a positive negative lead, doesn't matter how you put them in the lamp base they have an internal PCB with rectifier. Each lamp only has 2 cables and for conveniens just take the colors of positive and negative uniformly into acount. In case you ever want to rebuild to ledstrip using the same wires, then you know what is what.




As for now everything is running 100%, it is daytime and i get a lot off daylight to the tank and a lot of reflection on the glass, which always is distracting to see the artificial light.. I have to test it a while and see wat it does when the sun goes down.. In real time it looks a bit brighter in the tank, this is a camera setting.. For now i'm relatively algae free, they will be my compas for the future intensity of course.. But for now it looks promesing, definitively enough for a low tech, probably a bit to much as well.


 

Next part is the TC420 programming and a little video of what is does with these lights.. For that i need it to be dark and run some tests first.. So i'll be back later with this..


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## Greenfinger2 (12 Nov 2016)

Hi Marcel, Top DIY   Mate  Wonderful scape too


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## zozo (12 Nov 2016)

Thank you Roy.. ... I see if i can get a nice clear video, this evening with a fast forward in the light cycle..


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## zozo (13 Nov 2016)

Not so easy to shoot a propper video with lights dimming up and down and just having a amature camera and most of all worse than amature skills.
Taking a video in the dark, the tank lights cause a massive over exposure while on 100%, so i had to shoot a video in the twilight to make it somewhat acceptable.
Anyway, it's not a contest show off piece but more aimed to show what the whole setup does or can do, depending on how you program it of course. Also left the music out, because youtube will probably block it in sevaral countries if it has any.

Programming a TC420, seems complicated at first, but actualy it is pretty straight foreward once you are used to it and find out what it all does.
It can take up to 49 modes in the left mode list.. And each mode can be programmed with up to 50 timepoints. All very much fun for a christmas tree, but for above a tank we do not need so many steps.

What the video shows is this mode bellow.. Fast foreward test mode, did break the whole cycle down into minutes and 12 steps and played it in 4 times speed on a loop.
End result is a 3 minute loop what actualy in real time takes a 24 hours to complete.






Channel 5 is my 4500k sunrise and channel 1 is my 6500k sunset and moonlight, channel 2,3 and 4 are the 8000k main lights.. Starting at midnight to morning to mid day to midnight again. Gave the midnight a 10% moon to make it show a bit better on video. In real life 10% is still a bit much for moonlight purpose.. This ofcourse also depends on the power of the leds used. I gave it a loop, to minic a daylight cycle as close as possible, starting the sunrise at the left, slowly ramp up to the right and slowly ramp down again from left to right..



This is how it looks shot in the tank only.


In real time the program looks like this.. Called this mode Winter Full Moon.. Where channel 1 starts at midnight with 2% and stays like that the whole night. Resambling a constand very low light shimmer whit lots of shaded spots in the tank. 8 o clock till 9 o clock the sun rises at channel 5 up to 100% and every other light follows in steps to step number 7 at 5 o clock afternoon, where all is 100%.. From there it steps down again from left to right till we reaches 8 o clock in the evening where the 5 % moonlight comes looking again. This will loop on and on every day.. In this case a have about a 12 hours of light, slowly ramping up to a 100% and down again.




Now i created the same mode as Winter No Moon, so i can randomly manualy switch to no moon where channel 1 in step 1 and 2 are 0%...
All done with the step editor as seen bellow.. Here you can add percentage in numbers or use the slider.. At the end you see FADE, if that is sellected each step slowly fades into the other. If you click it you can select JUMP.. Just for the record, but i personaly see no use in the JUMP feature.. We want Fade.. 


 

So as you see, we do not need such a massive amount of steps to create a somewhat natural light cycle.. The other modes are FFtest what is show in the vid and Panic is all 100%, in case i ever need it. All can be sellected on the controller with the menu, enter (mode) up/down, enter to sellect. Or buy the WIFI one, then you can do it from the couch.. 

Hope you liked it, maybe gives you some inspiration and ideas about possibilities.. I'm definitively enjoying this little extra above the tank very much.. The fish seem to love it as well, well hard to say, but they realy don't mind.. Unfortunately how it all looks real time is nearly impossible to show on video.. In real time it looks 10 times better.. 

Over all expenses give or take:
€ 20 for the doorgrip
€ 50 for the spots
€ 25 for the MR16 bulbs
€ 20 for the controller
€ 20 for the power supply
+/- € 15 on small stuff..

So around € 150,- it can be made.. Even cheaper all up to what you want to make out of it..


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## JMorgan (16 Dec 2016)

Marcel - thank you so much for going to the trouble of documenting all these steps - I'm hoping to make something very similar happen. 
Noticing that the power transformer is wired between the 240V mains and the TC420 do I need to purchase what they call a "dimmable" transformer? It seems to me it's just providing 12V DC at a given wattage and the TC420 is what is doing all the power regulation? Its just that some of these transformers are described as "dimmable" and some of them are not.
I've been toying with this idea for a while and now i've stumbled across this marvellous thread I'm very inspired to get cracking!


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## zozo (17 Dec 2016)

Hi JMorgan, thank you..  The TC420 is a programmable Pulse Width Modulation dimmer and only needs a straight foreward regulated DC 12 volt or DC 24 volt led driver. So it all depends on the type of leds you want to control, contact to vendor before purchasing and ask if the units you want to use are dimmable via PWM. If so, than you are ok to go, if for example it needs DC 12 volt and provides 12 watts than you need to multiply the number of light sources. This means you have 5 channels and if you want to control 5 sources of 12 watt = 5 x 12 = 60 watt. Than you need a led driver providing at least 60 watt.

Now the TC420 doesn't say watts it says 20 amp maximum load.. It's a bit distracting, but this is done because of the 2 differnt voltages it can handle.. It means 20 amp total over 5 channels, that is 4 amp per channel.

Depending on the voltage you need to run the led units you can calculate the maximum of watts you can connect per channel.

12 volt x 20 amp = 240 watt total, 240/5= 48 watt per channel.

24 volt x 20 amp = 480 watt total, 480/5 = 96 watt per channel.

Only if you want to control high power leds wich need constant current  instead of regultaed voltage. Than you need to use a dimmable constant current driver. There are several types of constant current powersupplies on the market that are dimmable via PWM.. But this can be a costly sollution if you're not the die hard DIY type. Because you would need 1 dimmable powersupply per channel. And a seperate powersupply for the tc420, so 6 powersupplies total.. The TC420 is designed for driving 12 volt or 24 volt led strips..
Look at this website for possible alternatives, schemes and interesting experiments. 

There are several other ways to get around and still can make it do what it is not designed for.. Even if the vendor says, this MR16 spot isn't dimmable at all. It still can be made dimmable with the correct internal driver. And almost all of them are already provided with this little internal device, which has a PT4115 chip with a PWM dim bus. But in the design it is made in it simply isn't connected. Do you want to make it do something it isn't designed for, you at least need some basic knowledge of electronics, how leds, drivers and pwm functions and a soldering iron.

Anyway, to make a long story short and not more difficult as already is, as explained above it all can be pretty straight foreward and simple if you find a vendor knowing what he's selling and supplying you with the correct MR16 spot lights dimmable via PWM. And as we all know, going cheap with Chinabay etc. One has to take his chances sometimes..


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## JMorgan (18 Dec 2016)

Hi Marcel - thanks for the further detail. I'm pulling together a parts/shopping list for the project, but with Christmas looming, for some strange reason Mrs M insists that the child's Christmas presents take priority . . .  I find it odd, but have been reliably informed that this isn't all that unusual in mothers. Hopefully sanity will once again prevail in the New Year


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## Peter Short (6 Jan 2017)

I really like how the tank looks and appreciate the instructions you have written on how you have made your lighting system. You have inspired me to try the same on my new tank that I'm currently setting up. 

In that vain, are you able to provide a link to the bulbs you have used, I am getting slightly overwhelmed in the searches I have performed.

Cheers, Pete.


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## zozo (6 Jan 2017)

Peter Short said:


> are you able to provide a link to the bulbs you have used



Hi Pete thank you.  

i took my changes and bought everything via ebay. And it still works as expected.  
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ultra-Brigh...Bulbs-6W-9W-12W-/291565848004?var=&hash=item0

Also the MR16 base sockets i used to convert the lampholders.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-MR11-...e-Socket-xc-/221988166789?hash=item33af869c85


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## Peter Short (6 Jan 2017)

Thanks for that, I will start buying stuff soon!


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## Vandal Gardener (11 Jul 2017)

This thread is what gave me the confidence to make my own version with the TC421 (wifi version) and two aquaone 10w Leds. (I think I would give some of you nightmares with my DIY so no pics)

Thank you Marcel, you sir are a legend  

How do you get threads pinned?


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## zozo (11 Jul 2017)

Vandal Gardener said:


> TC421 (wifi version)


Finaly!! Didn't know it was out already, but waiting for it.. 
And thank you for your kind words.
Good luck with your build.


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## Vandal Gardener (12 Jul 2017)

The build's complete and been playing with the settings.  I think it's even simpler than the PLed software as was expecting to have to build a programme, but you click on the boxes to alter voltage percentages.  It took me longer than it should to work that out.  I haven't run it with a phone/tablet but it talks to my laptop showing like a new network and you can make changes in the software provided.

For not having had a controller other than a timer switch I'm chuffed to bits with this.


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## Vandal Gardener (14 Jul 2017)

A wee update on this TC421 - it worked wifi great for a night.  The next day I was playing as one does, and the crux is it keeps crashing the programme in wifi, so essentially I've got a tc420 - which is still great, but tread carefully maybe I've got a dud, I'm not tech savy enough to know why it's crashing and am happy just to get the functionality even if it is wired.

It shows up on my network as Kitelight and I've done some perusing the net but to be honest I feel the tourettes coming on so will ponder for another couple of days as unistalling and reinstalling the mini disc is a proverbial.

Just wanted to let you know Marcel in case you went out and got one.  Mines was from the south american river website from China.


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## zozo (14 Jul 2017)

Vandal Gardener said:


> It shows up on my network as Kitelight


Does it? That is funny, Kitelight is the initial developr of both led timer controlers and also sell them from there webshop.
https://www.kitelight.nl/led-time-controllers/
Also funny  to see is, now the China spinoff is on the market they also reduced the price from €80 to €45, 1 month ago it was still 80.  Likely this spinoff is also an idea of them selfs..

You say it is crashing? You mean it's wifi connection crashes? It loses/drops connection?..


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## zozo (14 Jul 2017)

I red the Dutch Kitlight manual.. It says Wifi problems? Check Firewall.. Shut firewall down and see if it functions.. Than enable and reconfigure firewall.
Same story for Virus scanner if pressent.. Also do not use wired UTP cable and Wifi at the same time.. I guess if that's the case you should give wifi priority access as first network addaper.


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## Vandal Gardener (14 Jul 2017)

As always it's a long story  but think I've did everything that you could wrong! Wired with wifi and couldn't actually get it to accept it to set to the router, but think you've covered that with either or both of the firewall and antivirus.  I hate mucking about with those settings so will no doubt ponder until such a point that it drives me bonkers.

Yeah I'd arrived at kitelight's site too but their controllers look a bit more polished, the website is pain to try and navigate and I've been jumping between German, Dutch, Japanese sites and I can only barely speak English (I'm Scottish so yeah ken  ) I'd seen something on programming the controller on youtube by mistakenly typing in 41 instead of 40 and got a hit then off to the river site and after a week pondering I got it.

If it's a rip off I genuinely didn't know and feel a bit bad as going on Kitelight's website they look small scale oh well every day's a school day.

Atb


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