(Another) DIY LED Build - Linear Design

The mix linear strip will be the deciding factor. If you want more blue then replace the whites with more blue.... If you want more white then vice versa. You get the idea.

so the arrangement from front to back will be...

RB
WHITE
RB
MIXED
WHITE
RB

all in all, 6 linear strips.

You might need to add extra LEDs for the swapping of the mix one.
 
My Tank size is 48x26x24 (LxBxH)

So 72 LEDs means 6 x 12 linear strip? Yes
So you will have 3 x 12 solid blue? Yes
and you will have 2 x 12 solid white?Yes
and 1 x 12 mixed white and blue.... Maybe 6 blue + 6 white? Sounds good :)!

I think i now get what you are trying tell me ... Will go ahead and order my stuff..

Thank you so much again Ceasar for your patience and guidance.
 
hello i am currently building my 50 gallon mixed reef tank. The dimensions are 36'' long by 18'' wide and 18'' deep. I want to build and led fixture. I want to hold sps, lps, zoas, and softy corals. i would want to know if this heat sink with cree 3 watt leds is enough light for the reef tank. http://www.rapidled.com/drilled-tapp...num-heat-sink/
I would also like to know what degree optics to use. Also where is the cheapest cree led available. i would like to put blue,red,green,12k or 14k leds.
All the advise would be greatly appreciated thanks.
 
f your running 700 ma drivers and XP-E Colors and XP-G for your whites you will have no problem mixing them on on one driver.

What I would actualy do is have the first driver all Blues or/or Royal Blues for a pre dawn effect.

The second driver probably 8 blues/royal blues and 4 whites for a dawn to dusk

Then the other driver coming on one at a time to reach mid day with the balancing ratio of blues/royal blues to whites.

This would start you out with a pre dawn very blue effect that slowly brightened up and got whiter as it progressed to full on.
 
Ok so here is my idea on the ratio of my led light i plan to build.(3) CREE XP-E Green 3W LED, (3) Osram 660nm 3W Red LED, (9) CREE XP-E Royal Blue 3W LED, (8) CREE XP-E Blue 3W LED, (13) CREE XP-G R5 Cool White 3W LED. Is this combination good for a 36'' long by 20'' wide and 18'' deep mixed reef with sps,lps,polyps,soft corals? If so how many drivers should i get and which types? Another question is how would I wire these so i have a dawn to dusk effect.Also what kind of degree optics should i use. Thank You for all the help.
 
@ 29mixedreef

Thats a lot of colors you have there, very cool. I cannot comment on that since i never tried it, but i want too also, in fact I already have the LEDs, just havent have time to do it... I say go for it, and tell us if you like the color or not.

36 leds in total, with 3 drivers?

Driver 1. (12) XP-G Cool White.

Driver 2. (1) XP-G Cool White,
(3) CREE XP-E Green 3W LED,
(3) Osram 660nm 3W Red LED,
(1) CREE XP-E Royal Blue 3W LED,
(4) CREE XP-E Blue 3W LED,

Driver 3. (4) CREE XP-E Blue 3W LED,
(8) CREE XP-E Royal Blue 3W LED,

Or solid RB on Driver 3 and the rest goes to Driver 2. Optics on Driver 2 & 3. No optics on Driver 2.

Hope this helps.
 
Hi Dennis, Ceasar,

here is the driver that am going to use six of them "Mean Well ELN-60-27P dimmable driver".

for the dimming i was thinking if getting this "DDC-01 PWM Controller" from rapidled.
do you think its a good option for me .. instead of Audrino

Thanks again for all your inputs.
 
Why six drivers? no issues with cost? How many channels for the ddc-01 controller? you have 6 drivers, I assume you want 6 channels too? to independently control each drivers?
 
ohh i thought 12 LED's for each driver ..

I was planning to get two 36 LED's kit from rapidled which comes with 3 drivers each...

I am missing something again.... ddc-01 controller can handle upto 7 or 8 drivers ...

save me again !!!
 
swf. do you think you can do a diy arduino? are you up to it? i think it would be better to do arduino so you can keep upgarding your skills in DIY?

you know, you can run these drivers without controller for a while. Just simple mechanical timers for instant on and off. And put potentiometer for dimming or adjusting intensity...

Not sure if you saw this already.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1987110

or this one, for cleaner, concised one.
https://sites.google.com/site/caddnima/myreeftank/led_controller

Hope this helps.
 
Hi Dennis, Ceasar,

here is the driver that am going to use six of them "Mean Well ELN-60-27P dimmable driver".

for the dimming i was thinking if getting this "DDC-01 PWM Controller" from rapidled.
do you think its a good option for me .. instead of Audrino

Thanks again for all your inputs.

With the Rapid DDC-01 there are some issues that people mentioned which they were not real happy with. It is a simple controler device however if you want to start modifing some seetings it is very limited. I believe it also needs a timer to turn it on after which point it will go through its cysle. To reset it and restart the cycle powere must be turned on and off again.

The Audrino set up I assure you will cost more than the $20.00 to $30.00 someone mentioned. It also requires considerable programing knowledge. Personaly I have worked on controlers since the only working language was machine code on mc6800, and 8080 chips. I would be skeptical on the Audrino tackling a project like this myself. I would consider it though if I could find a used Rockwell or Seimens controler which I'm familuar with.


The drivers you mentiond are set up to run up to 8 XM-L LED's 27 volts at 2.3 Amps. These are great for running the XM-L at 2.3 Amps and roughly 3.2 volts or 7 Watts. However for your XP-E or even XT-E you will probably be branching these onto three strings to bring the 2.3 Amps down to the proper range for these LED's (1 amp or less) so you end up running your LED's at 766 ma. Since they will draw slightly over 3 volts each and your limited to 27 volts you can run a max of 8 LEDs on each leg for a total of 24 LED's. But do you feel skilled enough to do this balancing?

Personaly I would use the 60-48 and internaly adjust the pot so the max driver output would be 1 Amp and you could then run 14 LED's easily on this for your Blues and Royal Blues.
 
Hi Ceasar, Dennis,

Thank you so much for your inputs.

I will go with the "Mean Well ELN-60-28P dimmable driver"... six of them.

I am not sure if i would be able to do the audrino at this moment ... hence i thought
i will go with the DDC-01 for now and later on switch to a audrino whenever i felt
comfortable..

I understand DDC-01 would need a timer to switch ON and off.. is it really that bad not to get .. should i stick to potentiometer's for dimming purposes?

Thanks again,
 
SWF. Are you sure its 60-28P? and not 60-48P? There is a 60-27 though.

Ok here is the scenario just to be clear.

1) You build your LED setup using 60-48P x 6 drivers.
2) This will be divide into 3 channels. (previous post) White, Blue and Mixed.

When youre done building it. You will then need....

1) 1 pc of 10volt ac adapter. Similar to this one.
2) You will then need 3 pcs of 5k potentiometers. This is to control 3 channels.
3) You will also need 3 mechanical timers to turn the drivers on and off at certain time.

In effect this will become your temporary setup while you are doing your arduino controller.

What to expect...

1) This temporary setup will be an "instant on" and "instant off" setup. No automatic dimming will happen.
2) This temporary setup will give you the ability to manually dim all 3 channels individually.
  • This will help you fine tune the color you want.
  • This will also help you acclimatize your lights to your corals, example start with 50% intensity and gradually go up per week or month.
  • This will not give you automatic ramp up ramp down. Once you setup the pots, thats it, until you want to adjust the intensity afterwards.
  • That this setup will not be a waste since, when youre ready to incorporate your arduino, then everything stays except for the mechanical timers. You wont need the mechanical timers since arduino will take care of it automatically.
3) Savings because you wont need to buy DDC-01 instead save it for the Arduino project or the Boostled arduino mentioned above.

Hope this helps.
 
Hi Ceasar,

the driver that am going to pick is 60-48P .... sorry for my typo above.

This is exactly what i am planning to do :
1) You build your LED setup using 60-48P x 6 drivers.
2) This will be divide into 3 channels. (previous post) White, Blue and Mixed.

I think i will go with the boostled arduino .. at this moment i dont think i am
comfortable enough to think of attempting a DIY Aurdino...

I think the boostled arduino is exactly what i need at this moment

I think its time for me to book my led's now and i will keep pestering
everyone with my questions going forward ..

Thanks again for all your help and answer's ... without which
i wouldnt even dare to make this attempt..

Best Regards,
SWF
 
Good plan SWF.
Boostled has 4 channels. 3 channels you will use. The 4th channel, if you get creative, can be your moonlight, or fuge light.

Good luck.
 
Hi Ceasar, Fishman65, Dennis,

Just wanted to thank you guys for helping me with all the questions.
I orderd my LED's. 2 sets of 36 dimmable kits from rapidled and they are with me now.
I also have the boostled control with....
I have to start looking around for the aluminium C channels and other stuffs needed...

Can you list out all the miscillenous things and tools that i should get my hands on so before
i start my build. so that i dont miss out on anything.. Please :)!

Thank you so much again... you guys gave me the confidence to go LED's ...

Special thanks to you Ceasar .. for your inspiring thread !!

Best Regards,
SWF
 
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