# Anyone got experience of Exo Terra Light Cycle Unit



## JesterJay (Jul 3, 2008)

Hi all,

I'm thinking of buying one of Exo Terra Light Cycle units as I think the dawn and dusk idea is great. Thing is I thought that you couldn't dim flourescent tubes but apparently you can. 

Has anyone got one of these and if so what do you think of it? Would you recommend it?


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## Axel01 (Jun 14, 2008)

Anyone??

I haven't encountered this but it Sounds like a useful bit of kit.


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## JesterJay (Jul 3, 2008)

As an update to this I contacted Exo Terra Uk for further info. They said that it wasn't available yet in the UK but hopefully would be by next summer(09). 
I then noticed that some people were advertising it for sale on the web, but Exo Terra said to be careful as they must be imports and that the voltage etc may not be right. 
So I then asked one of these sellers for further info, inc voltages etc, and they didn't reply but did remove it from their website. If you search for it now you will still find it listed on their website, but going to the page of the listing will take you to Exo Terrra's standard light control unit, not the light cycle unit.
I'm hopefully off to France at some point in the future so am thinking of trying to buy one over there and bring it back. If I do I'll post back on its performance. In the mean time if anyone has used one please post and let us know how good/bad it is. Also does anyone know what the French for Light Cycle Unit is?:lol:


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## fixitsan (Apr 15, 2008)

JesterJay said:


> As an update to this I contacted Exo Terra Uk for further info. They said that it wasn't available yet in the UK but hopefully would be by next summer(09).
> I then noticed that some people were advertising it for sale on the web, but Exo Terra said to be careful as they must be imports and that the voltage etc may not be right.
> So I then asked one of these sellers for further info, inc voltages etc, and they didn't reply but did remove it from their website. If you search for it now you will still find it listed on their website, but going to the page of the listing will take you to Exo Terrra's standard light control unit, not the light cycle unit.
> I'm hopefully off to France at some point in the future so am thinking of trying to buy one over there and bring it back. If I do I'll post back on its performance. In the mean time if anyone has used one please post and let us know how good/bad it is. Also does anyone know what the French for Light Cycle Unit is?:lol:


Be careful with French ! It is a great language, but what passes for a description here can become distressingly difficult to explain, so you are better to use functional/practical explanations of the device. The French verion of the light cycle unit according to translation engine Babelfish is " unité légère de cycle "

You might wish to try instead "illumination regulating device for day and night ", which translates to "dispositif de réglementation d'illumination pour jour et nuit " , you would be giving more of a clue about what it is you want to obtain.

The day and night cycling lights have become popular with marine fish keepers over the past decade or so, and custom light fixtures with hallide lamps and a controller can cost over £1000. I already have one which I made for my daughter's fishtank, but the software is very rudimentary and not designed to be particular user friendly,I anticipated that only I would need to set the settings.

As far as I know you can't dim regular fluorescents properly down below about 40% brightness , but it is possible to dim 'high frequency' tubes, and perhaps they are creating a batch of high frequency tubes for the job.

I succesfully dimmed CCFL, sometimes known as PC mod lights, or neons, and these ar inherently much safer because they are low voltage devices. Not that mains devices are particularly dangerous when given the proper respect.

Now that we're soon to adopt a chameleon I have resurected the project and will be making it more user friendly, and probably releasing it as a public domain opensource project. I buillt the last one for a cost of £12 in electronics, which included the case and power supply, and another £8 on LED's from ebay, and spent a few days wiring it together of course.

It has a simple user interface with an LCD display, and can perform the following.....

Day/Night transitions
You set the time for dawn and the time for dusk, and specify how liong you wish dawn and dusk to last for, and the software slowly dims the daytime lighting and brings up the moonlight, blue led's in my case (with some UVA led's to intensify colours)

Colourburst at sunset/sunrise
By adding a few cheap red and yellow LEDs an intensity increase of the warmer spectrum of colours for sunrise and sunset is created.

Cloud simulation
It will be possible to enter a percentage for maximum cloud cover, and specify how often the clouds should appear, randomly causing a slight dimming and colour shift of the lights in the tank.

UV lamp control
A switched output which can be used to switch AC mains devices through a suitable relay, so if like us you have a UV fluorescent tube you can set it to come on only in conditions of full daylight

Auxillary switch
Another switched output which could be used to switch anything, we will probably use it for a small fan. It will be possible to make it come on up to 9 times each day, for any length of time, which will allow us to do a small air purge and improve ventilation periodically

Lunar cycling
The moonlight will also be subject to the cloud effect, but also it can simulate a 28.5 day lunar cycle. So throughout each 28.5 day cycle there will be a change in intensity of the moonlights between full moon to no moon. This is known to have positive benfits on the breeding habits of several species of animals. (but I am unable to confirm if this includes reptiles at the moment)

Light sensor input
If all this setting of software is too much like hard work, then by adding the light sensor and poutting it on a windowsill the tank will mimick the lighting conditions outside the building the unit is installed in. This has an added benefit that there is also a seasonal change in the periods of day/night

Web connectivity
This is not in the next planned product, and may be added later. But by adding a wireless router ( £30 ? ) the tank can send email alerts and mobile phone SMS messages if there are any problems. Also to be considered is a camera input, to send photographs/video from the viv either at regular intervals or in reply to a received text message or email to the lighting system. Total cost of this alone may come to £50 (if you DIY)

Chris


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