# My display terrarium



## krillin (Jul 20, 2010)

Well time to make my contribution here.

This is my setup at home. The top half is occupied by two chinese dragons. I got these for almost 8 years now.

The bottem half is occupied by Dendrobates Azureus.

Both terrariums are iluminated by LED Lights and is controlled with a computer (sunrise, sunset, fans, rain simulation etc) on the side is a touchscreen panel to bypass certain settings or start demo's.
































































Here are some youtube links to the sunrise/thunder simulation. They are old though because i changed the lightbulbs setup and positions.


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## BR5 (Dec 7, 2009)

That's one awesome setup. As I scrolled over to see where you were from my thought was you had to be over seas based on the look and use of technology.
Nice!
Brian


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## DendroRachel (Jun 21, 2011)

niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice


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## dclarke2 (Apr 26, 2010)

That is a really nice setup, I want a computer controller now.


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## InHoc1855 (Apr 28, 2011)

That is an insanely clean looking setupe. Especially with the climate readouts on the monitor.

Incredible.


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## HaltIAmReptar (Sep 30, 2011)

I think I've seen those videos on youtube before, is that possible?

Awesome set up and amazing special effects!


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## krillin (Jul 20, 2010)

HaltIAmReptar said:


> I think I've seen those videos on youtube before, is that possible?
> 
> Awesome set up and amazing special effects!


That is correct. I have this setup for 1.5 year now but the youtube movies show the first testruns with this setup. However i changed the location of some lightbulbs to get a better effect and changed the normal daylights to LED lights.


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## B-NICE (Jul 15, 2011)

Thats a great set up bro.


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## Gnarly (Mar 3, 2011)

That is AWESOME! Seriously super cool.


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## krillin (Jul 20, 2010)

Tnx all .

I will try to make a new and better quality movie in the next days.


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## Coppertop (Aug 13, 2011)

amazing! I love the light effects; how does one go about setting that up?


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## JaysPDF (Dec 29, 2010)

Amazing, Beautiful setup you have there.


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## BethInAK (Jul 12, 2011)

this is just stunning and amazing. I hope I can build something like that someday.


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## Armson (Sep 8, 2008)

What type of controller are you using? 


-B


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## eos (Dec 6, 2008)

Awesome setups... thumbs up


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## krillin (Jul 20, 2010)

Coppertop said:


> amazing! I love the light effects; how does one go about setting that up?


Here is a picture after i removed the T5 lights with the Led lights.










In the bottem Left and right end you will see 60Watt normal light bulbs. These i use for the lightning effect. The advantage of the normal lightbulbs is that they are fast enough (the computer will randomly flash between 150 and 400 mseconds).

The two "orange" lightbulbs are used in combination with the center 150Watt halogen lightbulb to create the sunrise/sunset effect. The orange lightbulbs will start first to "create" an orange glow then the 150Watt will start to create the normal white effect. Sunset is the same only reverse.

The lightbulb next to the 150Watts is a darkblue light to create a "moonlight" effect.

Furthermore you will see 3x2Watt (16 leds, 2700K) LED. 4x3Watt powerleds (4000K). And 1x 19Watt Arcadia Eco-Aqua Ledstrip (8000K).

The smaller dart-frog terrarium has almost the same setup as the bigger one.


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## krillin (Jul 20, 2010)

Armson said:


> What type of controller are you using?
> 
> 
> -B


I'm using a small Pentium3 desktop computer with a National Instruments PCI DA card. This computer is also used to check my webcams in my outdoor terrarium (other topic).

This card has:
8x 0 OR 5V Digital outputs 
8x 0 OR 5V Digital inputs
2x 0-5V Analog outputs
8x 0-10V Analog Inputs.

The Analog outputs are used to create the sunrise/sunset effect.
The Analog inputs for temperature control
Digital outputs for fans/moonlight/heating/rain etc.

The program is written in Labview (also National Instruments) and it took me about a month to write it.

The advantage of using a computer in comparison to for example a plc is that you can easely add sound. And you always have inet connection. So i get an e-mail when the temperatures are to low/high. Also i can use a remote desktop (at work or through my mobile phone) to enter the pc if needed


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## BethInAK (Jul 12, 2011)

my fantasy that i can do this someday was dashed by your electrical skills. Thats a heck of a hood.


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## Armson (Sep 8, 2008)

Wow that is quite amazing. 

I am not quite there with my coding skills. How ever I am going to seriously look into this. 

My plan had been to get a proflux III and then just add new modules as needed.


Which took longer to build the terrarium or the program? 



-B




krillin said:


> I'm using a small Pentium3 desktop computer with a National Instruments PCI DA card. This computer is also used to check my webcams in my outdoor terrarium (other topic).
> 
> This card has:
> 8x 0 OR 5V Digital outputs
> ...


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## BethInAK (Jul 12, 2011)

armson, I can code if you can wire?


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## Armson (Sep 8, 2008)

Thats a DEAL!


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## krillin (Jul 20, 2010)

Armson said:


> Wow that is quite amazing.
> 
> I am not quite there with my coding skills. How ever I am going to seriously look into this.
> 
> ...


The program by far. I have some coding skills but not in Labview. So it was my first time coding in this program. However it's rather simple and on the internet are more then enough examples to get it mastered easely.

The wiring of the hood is easy. However you need to do some electronics to get it all to work. 

You need relais to convert the 0 or 5 Volt Digital output to your needed 110V to switch things on/off.
And DC controlled dimmers like this one: Velleman nv To create the sunrise/sunset. OR if you already have EVSA with a 0-10V input you can control your tube's directly.
And last you need Temperature/Humidity sensors with a DC output.

I have looked at the Profilux system for a while now and while they have a great system the price is what hold me back. for example they have a touchscreen these days but it's just 4,3" and for 375$. While my touchscreen is 8" for 170$ on ebay.

I already had a spare pc and i could buy the PCI DA card fairly cheap second hand that made me decide to do it myself.


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## krillin (Jul 20, 2010)

As promised i made two new videos of the setup. The sound is a little flaky, guess i put the audio a little to hard . Both video's are in HD.

Along the way i made some alterations to the "lightning" effect so it should like to be more natural.


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## Zimer (Sep 20, 2008)

krillin said:


> The program by far. I have some coding skills but not in Labview. So it was my first time coding in this program. However it's rather simple and on the internet are more then enough examples to get it mastered easely.
> 
> The wiring of the hood is easy. However you need to do some electronics to get it all to work.
> 
> ...


very nice project!
i am intersted more on the hardware and programing side.
can you supply some more details abut the code, sensors etc?
thanks


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## diggenem (Sep 2, 2011)

Ok I'm jealous. Awesome setup.


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## krillin (Jul 20, 2010)

Zimer said:


> very nice project!
> i am intersted more on the hardware and programing side.
> can you supply some more details abut the code, sensors etc?
> thanks


Ok i'll try

I have a basic Pentium3 computer With a National Instruments PCI-MIO-16E-1 card installed. This is a expensive card however you can also use this usb device. It is a lot cheaper but it is a little less accurate.

NI USB 6009


8 analog inputs (14-bit, 48 kS/s) 
2 analog outputs (12-bit, 150 S/s); 12 digital I/O; 32-bit counter 
Bus-powered for high mobility; built-in signal connectivity 
OEM version available 
Compatible with LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, and Measurement Studio for Visual Studio .NET 
NI-DAQmx driver software and NI LabVIEW SignalExpress LE interactive data-logging software

For my temperatures i use a selfbuild amplifier that generates a 0-5Volt signal (connected to my input)
The two Outputs (0 to 10V) are connected to two 220 dimmers to simulate the sunrise/sunset.
Fans/pump/heating etc are connected to my digital I/O wich generates a TTL signal (0 OR 5Volt) wich is fed into a relay 5V-->220V. 

Programming is done in labview and looks like this










I never programmed in Labview before so it took me about a month to program it. There are a lot of examples on the inet though and once you get the hang of it it will be rather easy.

There is an alternative though. 

arduino

This a real cheap microcontroller wich also have some options to do fun stuff. It has inputs (for temperatures) IO's for switching things On/Off and has PWM's (wich you can use to dim high power rgb leds). I recently have one but i do not have enough experience to say if it will be a good replacement.

see example


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## TWA (Apr 3, 2011)

Man that's amazing. Way too technical for me and my price range though.


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## JakkBauer (Jul 11, 2011)

Hold up like WOAH!!!

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk


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## Happy_Frogger (Oct 19, 2011)

Thanks for making me jealous lol


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## krillin (Jul 20, 2010)

Well i have been testing the arduino microcontroller and decided to build up a new version of my setup. I'm going to replace the normal lightbulbs and normal high power leds to dimmable high power RGBW leds. I already made the hardware interface build into a 19" rack. Also i'm going to rewrite most of the software so that will take a few weeks before it's done. So for now i'm going to leave some pics of the hardware interface.

















































Temperature and humidity interface


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## krillin (Jul 20, 2010)

Well been busy the last few months rewriting almost all of the code. But it became a nice program to work with.

The main screen now looks like this










There is a downloadable demo version (no hardware required) wich you can find here: Terra-Lux

I'm still busy working on the hardware of my own setup. But after finishing my first active cooled High Power LED i finally could try a demo (see vid).









Led holder with connectors and fan









Same holder with RGBW LED and lens installed.


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## mordoria (Jan 28, 2011)

love that s#*t


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## josh_r (Feb 4, 2005)

BR5 said:


> That's one awesome setup. As I scrolled over to see where you were from my thought was you had to be over seas based on the look and use of technology.
> Nice!
> Brian


Thats the first thing I did as well. Super cool design!


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## steven2213 (Jan 28, 2012)

Nice setup. Thumbs up


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## krillin (Jul 20, 2010)

Well almost done with the hardware.

Wiring 14 Ledholders and 30 cables is a daunting task. But with some background music it's even fun to do.










The website and software are done, so if you have questions about the build then you can look over there.

There are still a few cables to make. And after that i need to run it 24/7 for a week to see if there any errors i made but then i can finnally build inside the hoods.

Made two short movies yesterday. The fist is the same as above only this time with 14 high powerleds. The second one is a thunderstorm simulation where the daylight leds will dim to 6% and the blue will rise to 3% (to give it a more dark atmosphere). There is a small lamp at the bottem-center wich represents the rainmachine (is this a good english word???)











If i got some time left i will make some videos of the sunrise and clouds simulation.


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## EvilLost (Jan 10, 2011)

Love the setup...there is another thread on Arduino builds going around the boards too, I'm very interested in attempting this as "phase 2" of my current build (alllllllllllmost done with the actual build :x )


question though...why the individual LED holders? and what kind of fans in there? specific reason you used this over a larger heatsink with multiple leds on it?

also, what is that round 3-prong connector you are using?


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## TimsViv (Feb 16, 2004)

Krillin,

I see that you are in the Netherlands, but who is the manufacture of this vivarium or is it custom built?

I wish vivariums like this were available here in the US!

Tim


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## krillin (Jul 20, 2010)

EvilLost said:


> Love the setup...there is another thread on Arduino builds going around the boards too, I'm very interested in attempting this as "phase 2" of my current build (alllllllllllmost done with the actual build :x )
> 
> 
> question though...why the individual LED holders? and what kind of fans in there? specific reason you used this over a larger heatsink with multiple leds on it?
> ...


I'm using the led holders for several reasons.

The shape of my top terrarium is a little akward so placing one large aluminium plate as a heatsink is not that easy.
Also using ledholders makes it more easy to position the leds (to light out specific spots).
Because using the connectors it's easy to replace a ledholder if a led burns out without removing the whole setup.
Easy transfer if i get a new terrarium with another shape.
More fail-safe. If i should use one large heatsink i still should use fans to cool the large heatsink (my setup is enclosed, so no airflow). If the fans stops for whatever reason all the leds will burn out, and now if one fan stops working just one led will burn out.

I'm using these Fans Titan 3 draads systeem ventilator 50 x 50 x 10mm magnetisch - online kopen - Display.nl
I tested several fans and these ones are cheap and run real [email protected] Volts.

The connectors are called CB connectors. They are mainly used in 27mc. The advantage is that they are solid and are specified to 35V/5A. CB plug male, 3 polig - online kopen - Display.nl

All the websites are dutch, but you get the idea


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## krillin (Jul 20, 2010)

TimsViv said:


> Krillin,
> 
> I see that you are in the Netherlands, but who is the manufacture of this vivarium or is it custom built?
> 
> ...


I wanted a specific size for the top vivarium so it's custom build Home (just the vivarium, the interior i did myself). 

The exterior (MDF enclosure) i did myself. All the panels are removable to create an easy access. The panels are kept in place with the use of strong magnets.


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## krillin (Jul 20, 2010)

Well everything is build in and had some time yesterday to make some video's of the result. Glued it together to make a demo movie. It's a little flashy so you have to look past that .

The lights in the video are all a little brighter then in reality also they are more soft then in the video.

For now i'm done with this project. The hardware seams to function fine. The software still needs some tweaking here and there.


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## ClintonJ (May 11, 2009)

This is an amazing setup. I've messed around with arduino before but this stuff is awesome! Nice build.


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## krillin (Jul 20, 2010)

strangly enough i cannot edit my post (or i don't know how).

Made a another video wich looks a little better, although not everyone will appreciate the music.


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

SIIIIICK! Fantastic control system you've got! Someday I hope to have something half as nice


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## alivetheycried (Feb 22, 2012)

that musk of been a fun build and expensive


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## krillin (Jul 20, 2010)

Making and testing the hardware was fun . Except for the wiring of the 14 ledholders .

Software was meh, not so fun. If was fun at first but it took to long.

As for prices. Yes it is expensive. I made some calculations on all the components i used and came to a grand total of just below 1000Euro (that's about 1300$).

If you only use the required components (no connectors, 19" rack etc) it will be around 450Euro (about 600$) including 14 Leds.

To bad i didn't make any pictures building the leds into the top, only one where it was ready


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## VivariumWorks (Feb 27, 2008)

Is the background made by "Back to Nature"? The rockwork seems very familiar.


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## krillin (Jul 20, 2010)

hmm no. I bought it from a dutch website. I can give you the link but they don't deliver abroad.


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## krillin (Jul 20, 2010)

Found a nice App to view the status of my setup. It's called Data dashboard and is available for iOs and Android. If you point it to control.terra-lux.com you can see the current Temp/Hum, switch status etc.









Data dashboard for IPad

To bad it's only showing indicators so control is not possible (for now).

Also added pressure to the program. Using a tiny analog pressure tranducer i can measure the ambient pressure (very accurate). So i have added the possibilty to determine the chance the rainstorm will occur. If the pressure is high (sunny day) there will be little chance for a rainstorm. If the pressure drops the chance will get higher.


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## stevenhman (Feb 19, 2008)

Very nice setup! I wish I was half as technically skilled as you are. Now you should link up the pressure readings to trigger your misting/thunder and lightning


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## jwmeeker (Dec 29, 2006)

That is really neat. I wasn't aware that anyone was working on anything that advanced. Amazingly put together. Thanks for sharing.


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## krillin (Jul 20, 2010)

stevenhman said:


> Very nice setup! I wish I was half as technically skilled as you are. Now you should link up the pressure readings to trigger your misting/thunder and lightning


That is already done (see my last post)


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## stevenhman (Feb 19, 2008)

> So i have added the possibilty to determine the chance the rainstorm will occur. If the pressure is high (sunny day) there will be little chance for a rainstorm. If the pressure drops the chance will get higher.


Haha, oops. Very awesome.


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## krillin (Jul 20, 2010)

It's been a while now. 

The program had some updates because i had some issues with the stability of the program. On frequent occasions the program lost it's connection to the arduino.

After re-examining the code i found some stupid memory hooks wich never where removed after they have been used.

The latest version is stable and up and running 24/7 for three months now, so yeehh finally done.


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## yumyow (Apr 28, 2012)

This is awesome. Very jealous. Congrats on a great setup!


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