cet98's DIY AquaStyle LED Build Project: A Photo Essay

[cet98]

well"¦ here it is, yet another DIY AquaStyleOnline.com LED build
after reading an endless amount of DIY LED builds over the years, I had made the decision to give it a try.

FWIW, my desire to switch to LEDs was more based on "œcan I do it" as opposed to "œI need to do it" so I decided to attempt this build with an attempt to keep my costs low in the event I didn't like to finished product.

It should also be known that I am lighting a softy tank dominated by mushroom corals with a couple of BTAs and a few small frags of medium light requiring encrusting montipora . This LED fixture would be replacing a 4x24W Sun Blaze T5 fixture. In fact, this fixture would be gutted and the LED fixture would be retro fitted inside it's housing"¦

So here it is"¦

First, list of components:
24" Sun Blaze T fixture - Gutted
(26) Bridgelux 3W Royal Blues
(10) Bridgelux 3W 4500K Whites
(4) Bridgelux 3W 6500K Whites
(4) Bridgelux 3W 10000K Whites
(36) 80 degree optics (diffused face)
(8) 90 degree optics (clear face)
(3) Meanwell ELN 60-48D drivers
(1) 18cm X 2.2cm X 40cm (7.1"X0.9"X15.8") Black Anodized Aluminum Heatsink with hanging kit
(3) 10K ohm potentiometers
(1) 1.75g tube Arctic Alumina Premium Ceramic Polysynthetic Thermal Compound
45 ft. 18 AWG black stranded wire
(100) 3/8" 4-40 stainless steel machine screws
(100) #4 nylon washers
2.5 oz. 60/40 Rosin Core solder
(1) Radio Shack 8-Position European-Style Terminal Strip
(1) Radio Shack Size M Panel-mount Coaxial DC Power Jack
(1) Radio Shack Size M Coaxial DC Power Plug (2 pack)
(4) NTE In-line 5x20mm fuse holders
(4) 1.0A 250V 5x20mm Fast-Acting glass fuses
(1) 140mm Deep Cool Ultra Silent DC fan
(1) AC/DC 12V 1A adaptor
(1) Enercell 9V/300mA AC Adapter
18 ft. 18-2 insulated power cord
(1) 10"L x 2.5"H x 8"W Christmas cookie tin
(1) aerosol can Krylon Fusion Satin Black paint
1/8" thick Clear Acrylic shield 9"W x 23"L
Miscellaneous (rubber grommets, machine screws, nuts, washers, zip ties, adhesive tie mounting pads, mini adhesive wire clips)

Second, list of building tools/equipment used:
Bench top 10" Drill press
General Tools Automatic Center Punch
Craftsman 14.4V Cordless hand drill
Velleman 25W Soldering Iron
Velleman Helping Hands with Magnifying glass
8oz. can WD-40 Lubricant
#4 Tap and Ridgid Cobalt Drill bit
Craftsman Adjustable Circle cutter
Vermont American T-Handle Tap Wrench #0 - 1/4"
Gardner Bender 19 Range/7Function Digital Multimeter

So now, on to the build"¦

I ordered my AquaStyleOnline.com kit with Ray via emails and PayPal due to customizing my kit. A pleasant few email communications turned to an order which shipped and delivered from Hong Kong to IL in 4 days
Everything was packaged nicely and no damage occured.
(FYI, there are some items that came with the kit that I chose to not use, such as the fan and the power cords from his kit)

After finalizing my LED and wiring diagram I decided to go all out and drill and tap my heatsink. With that, I printed out my LED star drilling pattern and tapped it down like a "œglove" on the face of the heatsink and proceeded to "œpunch" my drilling holes in preparation of drilling.

 

[cet98]

Drilled and tapped the heatsink"¦timely and tedious, but IMO, well worth it

Pre-tinned my LEDs and the wire strands I cut to size based on my layout

 

[cet98]

Applied thermal compound and screwed stars in place"¦

Began soldering the wiring beginning with two parallel strings of 13 RBs"¦

 

[cet98]

Then a string of ten 4500K Neutral Whites"¦

And finished with the final string that included four 6500K and four 10000K Cool Whites

Adjusted the driver for the RB LEDs to 1300mA as both strings in parallel will be running at 650mA each

Then adjusted each of the drivers for the Whites to 700mA

Now came time for the retro fitting of the heatsink and LEDs into the gutted Sun Blaze fixture. This involved gutting of course (LOL) and then drilling holes for mounting screws designed to install the fan, heatsink and acrylic shield. As well as the hole for the 140mm fan itself"¦

 

[cet98]

Mounted the fan in place first, followed by the heatsink. Next came the final wiring of the fixture to the drivers. I cut the Radio Shack 8-Position European-Style Terminal Strip in half and mounted each half using double sided foam tape, one on the front side and the other on the rear side of the fixture. This enabled me to have two smaller runs of wiring along the sides and kept the wiring less cluttered. I then re-wired the in-line fuses using 18AWG stranded wire so that there were no unnecessary splices in the wiring runs.
I used the adhesive clips and tie-down pads to hold the wiring neatly in place and along the sides of the enclosure and away from the heatsink.
Installed some grommets into some of the existing holes to eliminate any chance of fraying the power cords.

Then came the "œdriver box""¦Came across a cheap ($4) Christmas cookie tin at Target and began the task of painting, drilling holes for power cords and pots. Then came the fun part"¦wiring everything in a small box is a bit more challenging than I hoped for"¦
FWIW, I will NEVER use a tin again"¦way too thin and flimsy but never the less, I used it cause I bought it and was spending way too much time and energy looking for something the right size without being overly monstrous"¦.

 

[cet98]

Finished the driver box off with grommets for the power cords. Soldered up, wired and installed the power jack and attached the power plug to the Enercell 9V AC adaptor and installed the pot and attached the knobs.

Drilled the four mounting bolt holes for the acrylic shield and installed it"¦

Then"¦time to fire it up....and"¦.wah lah!!!!

Then I attached the heatsink hanging kit that AquaStyle supplied and it worked perfectly for my needs

So there it is"¦My first time DIY LED build. I must admit that I am very pleased with the overall outcome and feel a huge sense of accomplishment

Now I have the pleasure of playing with the overall color spectrum"¦not an easy task as I know it will take time for the corals to adjust to the light and I know their coloring will alter as well"¦

Thanks for lookin'

C

 

[Rybren]

Nice work!

 

[cet98]

Nice work!

why thank you!
I must admit that being the OCD person that I am, the amount of "road trips" to the hardware store(s) had gotten to point of being ridiculous with all the "mental revisions" that had taken place throughout this build...but all in all I am really happy how it came out in the end :thumbsup:

 

[radicaltimes]

Nice build, but how about a shot of the aquarium so we can see what the lighting looks like.

 

[Misenplace101]

Looking good buddy. I'll be contacting you after the year for suggestions and ideas.

 

[cet98]

Nice build, but how about a shot of the aquarium so we can see what the lighting looks like.

will do...I'll take some pix tomorrow but as we all know taking pix of lighting is nothing short of "lacking" with regards to what it actually looks like...

Looking good buddy. I'll be contacting you after the year for suggestions and ideas.

you gots my number my friend....your call is always welcomed .... talk "next year" :lol:

 

[00Warpig00]

Very Nice

Nick

 

[skunkmere]

Congrats on the Pro build. it looks super clean. can you make the shield sit inside the fixture? or is that to let more air in?

 

[dohc97]

Nice build, much better than anything i would come up with, im not into details as much

By the way i like your avatar, did your kids have something to do with that?

 

[dohc97]

Congrats on the Pro build. it looks super clean. can you make the shield sit inside the fixture? or is that to let more air in?

Abel you should not have said that, now Craig is not going to sleep until he figures out a way to make it flush, puts it in a wind tunnel and tweaks to have a Drag coefficient of .26 :hmm5:

 

[cet98]

Very Nice

Nick

thank you sir....remember ur always welcomed to stop by

Congrats on the Pro build. it looks super clean. can you make the shield sit inside the fixture? or is that to let more air in?

thanks skunk...could not have done this one without you...you're the tru rockstar on this build...Shield is within 1/4" of the optics so closer is not an option....with that said, the open sides DOES greatly aid in airflow...

Abel you should not have said that, now Craig is not going to sleep until he figures out a way to make it flush, puts it in a wind tunnel and tweaks to have a Drag coefficient of .26 :hmm5:

LMAO...!!!!! you know me OH TOO WELL!!!.....huge thanks to you too bud...you too helped me get this baby up and running :thumbsup:...next up, your LED actinics

 

[cet98]

By the way i like your avatar, did your kids have something to do with that?

no...my wife

 

[nemosworld]

Fantastic build, very clean, Love it!

 

[pwreef]

I see 26 RBs wired in series with one mis-wired.

 

[cet98]

Fantastic build, very clean, Love it!

thank you my good man

I see 26 RBs wired in series with one mis-wired.

actually I believe your seeing an incomplete wiring photo...my apologies...
this is what the final wiring looked like when I completed the build:

Hope that clarifies it more...unless of course you are referring to something else that I am not picking up on and in that case, please LMK...thank you