Another LED build - 60g cube with 36 LEDs

M

MaLi

New member
Greetings,

I can not start my write up without thanking to all LED enthusiasts on this forum. Without their passion and willingness to share nothing would have been possible. So, many thanks dwzm, terahz, widmer, soundwave and all who contributed.

My tank is a 60g cube (24"x24"x24') for which I purchased from rapidled 16 XP-G CoolWhite and 20 XP-E RoyalBlue with the associated 45 and 50 degrees lens.

Heatsink; I was not tickled too much by the massiveness of heatsinkusa products and inspired by terahz I started looking for processor's heatsinks. Found on eBay some 2" 1/4 x 2" 3/8 with a mounting channel and I considered them to be my best choice.

DSC_0074_web.jpg


I went ahead and used the four holes per heatsink and using some 1/4" stripes I made packs of 6 heatsinks using 4x1/2" wood screws.

DSC_0073_web.jpg

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Now the frame; I was obviously concerned about the weight and I made a 3"x16"x16" frame out of 1/2" plywood. From the same material I made two stripes that will hold the ends of heatsink packs (see the picture). The frame has been assembled using 1" nails and some glue.

DSC_0075_web.jpg

DSC_0076_web.jpg


The frame will be held above my tank using 3/4" conduit so I had to design a connection between the frame and the conduit pipe. I ended up with a flat stripe of 2"x10" 3/16" iron sheet on which I have welded a piece of 2.5" pipe (the OD of 3/4" conduit is 0.92" so a pipe with 1" ID will work perfect. A good friend helped me with the fabrication since I don't own a welder.

DSC_0078_web.jpg

DSC_0077_web.jpg


Now, here is the way everything comes together:

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... and drivers (CAT4101, dwzm board design);

DSC_0082_web.jpg


More... hopefully next weekend.

cheers,
MaLi
 
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Very nice. I think your build is kind of representative of the direction DIY LEDs are going now, with people paying more attention to how the finished product will look.
 
BTW in your search for heatsinks, I don't suppose you came across any with an approximate footprint of 3" by 2"? I was going to just buy a few ~6" by 2" heatsinks from heatsinkusa, and then slice those in half...
 
Thanks widmer. Indeed, I need to pay close attention to the aspect factor since the tank doesn't have a traditional canopy, so light will be on plain sight.

No, unfortunately I have not seen anything that came even close to 2"x3". This is a bit too large for any processor/chipset heatsink.

cheers,
MaLi
 
I have hundreds of these, and one to use them with the C channel, but can't think of any good way how to mount them. They come with adhesive pads, but I don't think they will stand with the LED heat.
picture.php
 
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Thanks for your support guys ! I have done a few things since, but been kind of busy with some other projects. I will post a brief update tonight.

cheers,
MaLi :beer:
 
NeveSSL said:
Any updates? :)

How many/which LEDs are you planning on running over your 60g cube?

Brandon
Click to expand...

... plenty. good and bad things happened.

the goods; I finished the electrical part. The light is insane (really). I am driving six strings of six LEDS with a single 24V (6.5A) that I tuned down to 20.6V (the minimum I can get) and you can not look at the light ! It hurts your eyes ! Left it running for many hours (to reach thermal stability) and each individual heatsink gets lukewarm (I could hold my finger on without any problem) but CATs they get hot. Theoretically, they should drop about 1V, but might be more because ... I am mixing Blue and Cool White on strings

Here is the LED distribution I chose:

LEDs.gif


Two pwm pins from Arduino will control the two sections. Section 1, the two full Royal Blue strings will be used for Moon light as well, section two the other four combined strings. From what I sens (based on my experience) I got more light than the current 250W MH I have. I don't have a PAR meter so I can not objectively prove my statement. As far as color temperature, again, subjectively it looks like my Phoenix 14K DD bulb (there is definitely blue inside)

the bads; I spent a lot of time trying to build the cantilevered LED box support using 1/2", 3/4" EMT conduit. Bad choice all the way (learn from me) 1/2" is way too weak, 3/4" is almost there, but for a height of 72" still bows. Neither one will work. Probably 3/4" rigid conduit will work, but it is too expensive (over $20 per pipe). So, I gave up on conduit. I have a different solution in mind and if is gone work I will post some pictures.

cheers,
MaLi
 
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Thanks for the update, MaLi. I'm using 1/4" aluminum plate with heatsinks from small chassis Dell GX620s (fanless) thermally mounted to it. :) Do you have any full tank shots or anything?

shikhyung, XP-Es and XP-Gs do not have the same Vf. XP-Es are 3.4v and XP-Gs are 3.0v.

Brandon
 
Not necessarily, but since it was a new structural build and as mentioned above (mixed XP-E and XP-G LEDs with different Vf) I didn't want to go straight for a finalized box without understanding the thermal management.
The cantilevered pole was a enough of a challenge (read - lost time and frustration :mad2:).

If I get time I will post some pictures today.

I got a few PM to post the code for Arduino. I will do it on reefprojects.com , since there is my small community of Arduino geeks.

cheers,
MaLi
 
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