72" DIY LED build...A Solaris rising from the ashes.

[shackscs]

Well, I took the fixture down and found one of the meanwells was cool to the touch.

I also noticed a slight dim from the whites when just the blues were running so there is obviously a short some where in the string. It was not there before so I have to check the last connections that I fixed to see if I got solder on the base of one of the starboards.

Hopefully I did not fry the driver.

No time to test it now. WIll have to give it a crack tonight or tomorrow after work.

Bummer

 

[Rule69]

bump

 

[shackscs]

Well, everything is ok now. As I suspected it was a broken solder.

I have gone over all of the connections and all is fine now.

 

[Lutefisk]

Great job!

 

[seesquared]

looks like it was a lot of work, but will for sure be worth it in the long run. good luck!

 

[TriNewbie24]

Looking good so far.

 

[Anthonius]

Any new news on the fixtures progress?

 

[nowlan]

The slight dim in the whites is gone?
I notice mine look yellow with only rb on (the die that is).

Where to get the DER boards?

 

[ke6guj]

nice re-use of that Solaris.

 

[shackscs]

Any new news on the fixtures progress?

Been busy with work, but getting my focus back. Should have the new driver wired up to the fixture this weekend. I have everything I need just time.

The slight dim in the whites is gone?
I notice mine look yellow with only rb on (the die that is).

Where to get the DER boards?

It was caused by one of the broken solder joints leaning against the heat sink. I have since solved that problem.

The DER boards I was referring to are from this thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1759758

It is the dual board design that you have to have made from a board house.

I have extras but am holding off until I get all of mine fully up and running.

nice re-use of that Solaris.

Yeah, I could not see just turning it off and tossing it into a corner or closet. It is still pretty heavy.

 

[shackscs]

Ready to begin the next bank of arrays.

I ordered the additional LEDS from Rapidled.com.

These will be wired to the DMZ driver shown here:

Whites:

Blues:

I also have a few loose Luxeon LEDS that I ordered awhile ago and will try mounting them to these stars:

I am also going to shoot for a cleaner look and route wires below the LEDS strips.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

How far are you from Allentown? I'd love to take a gander sometime soon.
I believe my next 'thing to do' is to try building a pendant for my 30x30x24h cube but today is the first day I have done any reading on it.

 

[cman_pogey]

Hey man, great build, tagging along...

 

[shackscs]

How far are you from Allentown? I'd love to take a gander sometime soon.
I believe my next 'thing to do' is to try building a pendant for my 30x30x24h cube but today is the first day I have done any reading on it.

No too far depending on if you enjoy traveling. It is about 40-50 minutes away.

Once I get it all up and running you are more than welcome to swing by.

Good weather has had the "honey, do list" put me outside for a bit. Should have updated pics and progress by the weekend. I am already hoping for rain.

 

[rascole]

Look forward for the completion, looks like this may be my summer project.

 

[shackscs]

Well trying to entertain a 2 year old with iCarly and Sponge Bob is a bad combination when working on LEDS.

Not only did I not pay attention to the orientation of the - and + positions, I also put 5 LEDS instead of 4 on each board.

Such a waste. Now I have to remove the LEDS (and the double sided tape that is holding them down) and glue them down. Bummer!!!

Picture of the boards:

What the boards should have looked like:

The driver I am using calls for 16 LEDS per driver board which is why I went with 4 per board.

 

[slammin]

Hey Shackscs,

work looks great, the crees look much brighter...I also have a solaris, and was wondering if there is any way you can re-use the controller off the solaris to control the cree led's?

 

[shackscs]

If you wire the boards to match the schematic of the Solaris boards you should be ok. If you are running the LEDS at 100%, you are going to have to turn them down. The Crees are sooooo much brighter.

As for an update:

I got the driver board up and runnning with the next two arrays but shorted it out whille manipulating it around and the bottom hit the heatsink and "POP" something died on the board. Going to wire the rest up as soon as possible.

 

[rascole]

Any update on the project? I have 2 48" that have several bad drivers that I need to replace. I am going to sell both and buy new or if yours works I may follow what you did. More pics to if you have them. Keep it up.

 

[shackscs]

Not bad. I have two of the six banks left to complete this weekend if time will permit. I am running the arrays through non-dimmable meanwell drivers connected to my Neptune controller. I have plenty of pics to show my progress, I will put them up first chance I get

Time got tight so I had to bag building the rest of DIY drivers..