DIY LED lighting + DIY LED driver + DIY LED Controller

[sanamyan]

Hi all
Just would like to show DIY LED lighting I made recently. This includes DIY led drivers and DIY led controller.

So, first step, 100 Cree Leds from cutter.com.au. I know in some other places these leds are cheaper, but cutter lists actual bins, so I preferred cutter:
50 XPE RoyalBlue
25 XPG CoolWhite
25 XPG NeutralWhite

Rather large heatsinks:

About 50 leds on each…

Assembling together… Note small boards on side wall – controller and two drivers, more on these latter.

One large super-silent fan on each heatsink:

Test run…

And now with optics – very cheap 70 degree lenses from satistronics.com:

On my mixed SPS dominated tank

And another build, on my cold-water tank:

 

[zenpytho]

looks great what kind of drivers and controller r those

 

[reign]

It says DIY drivers and DIY controller as well at top of page

 

[westreef]

Very interested in what your DIY controller for -- manual dimming, auto ramp up, ramp down, etc. ?

 

[shikhyung]

what is the part number for the lense in satistronics?
There Leds looks very cheap price too.

 

[ptr13]

where did you get your LEDs? are they crees 3w? RapidLED or reefledlights or china?

 

[jeffm59]

Listed in the first post --- Cree Leds from cutter.com.au

 

[125G Reefer]

Ok, so very nice on the DIY LED set up on the heat sinks. But....I see no DIY Controller nor do I see a DIY Driver. I see that you purchased them. But where are they from??

 

[sanamyan]

what is the part number for the lense in satistronics?
There Leds looks very cheap price too.

These lenses:
http://www.satistronics.com/50pcs-70-degree-lens-for-cree-ledssscree70-white_p1399.html
I saw tests on RC where these lenses showed very good performance.

 

[125G Reefer]

Upon further review. You can get everything at the lens sight he suggested.
http://www.satistronics.com/
50W LED Driver Input AC90V-260V Fit for All Colors DIY US$16.64
3W High Power LED Pure White 110-130LM US$1.99
for (5) Units

50pcs 70 degree lens for CREE LEDs(SS-CREE-70) White US$13.99

 

[sanamyan]

Ok, now about drivers.

At first I was going to use a led driver based on CAT4101 chip. Driver based on this chip (the schematic was described here, on RC) is easy, cheap… but it has several problems – you need to adjust input voltage, and in the output we have pulsed (constantly turned on and off) current. Not sure if pulsed current is too bad for leds, but I preferred to have a driver with constant (not pulsed) current and the current should be constant in a whole dimming range.

So, after some searching I found another chip, LM3409HV. The parts for a driver based on LM3409HV are not as cheap as CAT4104, but the driver itself is much better: it is not necessary to adjust input voltage - you can connect short strings (say a string of 3 leds only) or long strings (up to 15 leds) of leds to the same driver without almost any loss of efficiency. Moreover, it has analog dimming input and led current is constant (not pulsed) in a whole dimming range.

Schematic:

All parts are designed for surface mount (SMD) – they are small and sometimes too small… but with a little experience SMD components could be easily soldered. Actually now I always prefer SMD component instead of usual ones everywhere where possible.

Next step: printed circuit board (PCB) for this driver. Again, with some experience I had no problem to make my own PCB at home with very simple "Laser iron PCB" technology.
So, a small board for four drivers:

And with components soldered:

I make several such boards, some with four drivers (can handle about 56 leds!!!), and some with two:

 

[125G Reefer]

:hmm3: DO WHAT?? Wholly crap dude, I'm getting a headache just looking at those micros. And I deal with those things everyday. But, WOW, those are some teeny lil bugars.

 

[sanamyan]

And now the most interesting DIY part – The Led Controller.

Key features:

1. Four separate and independent channels for 0…10v dimming interface. You could connect several drivers in parallel to each channel. Any driver with standard 0…10 volt dimming feature could be connected.

2. It is fully programmable via BlueTooth. Sunrise, sunset, changing color temperature and intensity of light during the day and so on – all these things could be programmed via graphic interface – a special software running on PC. Of course the controller operates independently, PC software is used only to change settings and it is not necessary to keep PC turned on whole day

3. Some additional features include control of temperature of leds and control of FAN speed to keep temperature in desired limits.

Schematic may look somewhat complex, but actually is very simple.
The main parts are:
1. ATmega8A Microcontroller (about $2 or a bit more),
2. DS3231 – extremely accurate clock to keep date and time ($8 or less).
3. LM324 - operational amplifiers to generate 0…10Volts for dimming (very cheap)
4. BlueTooth module (from ebay, about $9)

Schematic:

Board from the top:

Board from the bottom:

Test run: Led controller connected to 2-driver board.

Some screenshots of graphic PC interface:

 

[shikhyung]

Can you share with us the gerber files? Thanks

 

[sanamyan]

Can you share with us the gerber files? Thanks

I'm using Sprint-Layout 5.0 software to draw PCB, it has export to Gerber feature, but I'm not sure if it works correctly (have no idea how to check generated gerber files...). So, here is zip with PCB in original Sprint-Layout format (*.lay file), two gerber files, and in another zip - some screenshots

 

[Bryan]

Very nice project. Are you sharing the pc code and micro code?

 

[truebeliever71]

Upon further review. You can get everything at the lens sight he suggested.
http://www.satistronics.com/
50W LED Driver Input AC90V-260V Fit for All Colors DIY US$16.64
3W High Power LED Pure White 110-130LM US$1.99
for (5) Units

50pcs 70 degree lens for CREE LEDs(SS-CREE-70) White US$13.99

Those LEDs look horribly inefficient by today's standards. You would need twice as many to match Cree XR-Es 228lm.

FWIW.. I just purchased a bunch of 3w 18000K 220lm 3.3 to 3.6v LEDs from a company for a $1.29 which more closely match the performance of the XR-E.

 

[LargeAngels]

FWIW.. I just purchased a bunch of 3w 18000K 220lm 3.3 to 3.6v LEDs from a company for a $1.29 which more closely match the performance of the XR-E.

From where?

 

[truebeliever71]

From where?

From www.ledfedy.com. Email sales@ledfedy.com and ask Ava for the 18000K 3W LEDs.

 

[LargeAngels]

From www.ledfedy.com. Email sales@ledfedy.com and ask Ava for the 18000K 3W LEDs.

Thank you.