(2) Fully controllable 100w Leds on the Cheap.

[eznet2u]

isnt the ceramic adhesive a thermal insulator? i am pretty sure you wanted the arctic silver thermal adhesive it is listed at 12 dollars and change..

for my 2watters i used arctic alumina adhesive, but for the big boys you have i am sure the silver is a better route...just make sure the ceramic isnt going to insulate the die from the heatsink...

I ordered Arctic Silver 5 Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound Paste 3.5g. It is a thermal adhesive.
Please read the following page. It will point out the advantages of the Artic Silver 5 - http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm .

 

[propeine]

I'm sorry...but they cannot even come close to the performance of the Meanwells. Yes, they have their application, but not in this project.


Remember, being Frugal does not mean the cheapest route sometimes. :thumbsup:

I'm afraid I don't understand although I agree frugal does not mean being cheap. Performance is rated on: must put out constant current, must have voltage range sufficient to keep that current, must have minimal ripple (which I suspect is the area that you are questioning).

This is not a knockoff power supply that was shoddily put together IE Cheap power supplies exposed but a genuine kodak power supply for a printer that is no longer manufactured. Look at the cost of replacement of most laptop power supplies...equal to or exceeding a meanwell. Some of that is branding (same as Meanwell) but a lot is due to good quality control.

I'm not disagreeing the meanwells are better for some people but I don't see the value added compared to this other than warranty. Now I haven't put a scope on the meanwell or the kodak either. Transistors should control current very well as long as you check your resistances very carefully or order +-1% resistors, kodak power supply is just there to move from 120AC to 36V DC which is the most expensive part if you roll your own.

Sorry for being semi off topic and if you'd prefer to take it to PM that is ok with me but I'm curious as to what performance you're seeing that I'm not.

BTW I'm using the same LEDs from the same seller although I paid 33ea, the same heatsink and the same paste. Just our drivers are different so I have vested interest in following you anyways and wanted to say thank you for posting your process.

 

[A_CoupleClowns]

Im very interested to see how this turns out!

 

[eznet2u]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/member.php?u=277880Propeine, the Instructables driver may or may not be as stable as the Meanwells, I just don't know. I do know that the Meanwells have a very good 5 year warranty, and are dimmable 3 ways. This gives me a lot of options now, and in the future.
The Dimmable part was the major draw for me.

A_CoupleClowns, it may turn out to be a Stop, Drop and Roll situation...but if it does, I promise to get pictures.

 

[propeine]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/member.php?u=277880Propeine, the Instructables driver may or may not be as stable as the Meanwells, I just don't know. I do know that the Meanwells have a very good 5 year warranty, and are dimmable 3 ways. This gives me a lot of options now, and in the future.

Fair enough. TBH the meanwells probably have a very similar circuit to the instructables one internally. Hard to say without cracking it open. The 5 year warranty I definitely cannot argue against though. Good luck and keep the updates coming! Especially if you figure out what lense/base you're going to use as I didn't purchase them yet either.

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

My mistake. I had to go back to the invoice and make sure I didn't order the grease.
I looked at the grease before deciding to go with the adhesive.
I have looked at so many places/products, I forgot what I ordered.
Good catch Trevenator. :wave:http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/member.php?u=35709

I actually order the [FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica][SIZE=-1]"Arctic Alumina, Ceramic Thermal Adhesive, 5g". It was $7.99.
Here's the link - [/SIZE][/FONT]http://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Alumina-Ceramic-Thermal-Adhesive/dp/B001O7ARUQ

[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica][SIZE=-1]Total should be - $244.26


[/SIZE][/FONT]

I ordered Arctic Silver 5 Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound Paste 3.5g. It is a thermal adhesive.
Please read the following page. It will point out the advantages of the Artic Silver 5 - http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm .

based on what you posted above i was under the impression you ordered the ceramic compound...i am aware of the advantages of the arctic silver thermal adhesive...and still not sure you have ordered the right stuff as the post above now points toward a paste again which has no adhesive properties...i am sure you are quite aware of what your doing though, it is just typos and semantics here..lol

cant wait to follow the build...

 

[Chicago]

Interested in this DIY. Following.

 

[eznet2u]

it is just typos and semantics here..lol

1 day off in the last 80-90 days...(I can't remember) Please forgive the typos. :twitch:

 

[eznet2u]

Interested in this DIY. Following.

Thanks, I really like your music.

 

[DaveMorris]

I'm following too. I am setting up my 96"L x 24"W x 30"D 300g tank and want to use LED's. Not very interested in building something with hundreds of diodes to connect though. I would think using a more single point setup like these would give more shimmer to the tank as well.

 

[eznet2u]

 

[eznet2u]

I should have built one of these first.

 

[eznet2u]

I received my LEDs today. I took several photos, but I am havibg trouble uploading them for some reason...
They are both lapped to a mirror finish, and ready to go...but so am I. I have to work in a little bit, so the rest will wait until tomorrow.

I'll try to get the photos up before I leave for work.

 

[eznet2u]

 

[eznet2u]

:bigeyes:

 

[ferissp]

I don't post much on here but I came across your post after ordering similar equipment for a similar fixture. silly me thinking I had some great novel idea. I'm having some problems with the heat sink and hope you can shed some light...

This is my second DIY LED fixture (the first being a Cree array).

I am into over clocking computers so I've read a fair amount about heatsinks (I ended up with water cooled for my computer). I ordered the same heatsink you did for my led chip. I'm not entirely impressed with how it benchmarked out on a processor at 150w ( vs the 100w LED, the closest comparison I can think of). However, since it has holes drilled in the top for a 140mm fan they could be used to easily mount it vs the coolermaster 612 or 212 which are better performers.

In the end I ordered the coolermaster 612 plus an extra fan (I think I can hang the fixture from the holes in the two fans) as well as the geminii s524. Ill return whichever I don't use.

To get to my question....how confident are you that the geminii will be sufficient and/or are you only planning on running the light at 75% or the fan at 100% all the time?

Thanks!!

 

[eznet2u]

Wow Ferrisp, I feel honored that you used your first post in a year on my thread. Thanks.

Welcome to ReefCentral.

I planned on running the light @ 90% and the fan @ 100%.

The fixture I am going to make "Should" increase the efficiency enough to compensate for the fan.
But more on that later.

Are you planning on Lapping the heatsink and the LEDs? I found a bunch of data on Lapping in some of the Overclocking forums.
Like I said before, It is either the greatest thing you can do, or Meh...

 

[tommer725]

So 1 100 watt driver will do 2 100 watt LEDs ?

 

[Chicago]

Tagging

 

[ferissp]

I'm using a pot to control the driver, not PWM. The same goes for the fan (fan controller from rapidled). I'll suspend the heatsink above the tank with a wire hanging kit. Pretty basic (is for a frag tank). The only fancy thing I'm using is a fan with temp LED built into the blades.

Now that I think about it, a pwm typhon controller (arduino) would have been useful here to control the light and fan(s) but I was trying to go simple and cheap.

I've seen the heatsinks for 100w LEDs and they actually look far less impressive than the coolermaster geminii but I'm still not convinced it will do the job with the LED at 100% power. I also worry about the fan dying and the heatsink burning up instantly.

I will lap the heatsink and LED yes. There is a point of diminishing return but if mine are as rough as yours it will be worthwhile.