Diy led

[GUILLO1]

Well my friend finally got all my LEDs to turn on. He spent a long time here yesterday trouble shooting the LEDs. It was mainly a learning curve and we learned alot from this.

Let me give you guys some pointers so you won't go through the same problems we had. If your going to use C-channel aloy and are going to drill holes like me drill them a little bigger. I went with the smallest size where the 20 gage wire would barely fit. Make sure you clean up the holes because if they are rough and sharp it will cut throug the wire plastic and cause a short. The last thing is to make sure you use good wire. I followed Jae recommendation and bought the 2 twisted wire from homedepot and the insulation plastic is too thin. If your not going to drill holes and you won't be bending it like me this wire is fine. If you are going to drill holes get wire with thicker stronger wire.

picture with office light off

office lights on

 

[westreef]

+1
The resistors I got were wire-wound for 5 W. Even that, it felt hot to the touch. One more thing, even though it labeled as 1 ohm, when I measured it, it turned out to be 1.2 ohms. So use the ohm's law I=V/R to get accurate current through the led strings.

 

[bucks448]

Just to confirm, the fuse and resistor should be wired in series before the first LED in the series?

 

[brassmonkyballs]

Just to confirm, the fuse and resistor should be wired in series before the first LED in the series?

yes...should go from driver to fuse to resistor to LED. Repeat for each string.

 

[FLGirl]

I went to joseph's house to see what the lights looked like in person. I have never been there before and his fish were very happy. They were out and about and not hiding at all, in fact they were checking me out. I am not the authority but i would say definately not stressed

 

[josephv]

Why would you think led lighting would stress thwe fish out?

 

[GUILLO1]

here it is with all the lenses on

mounted on my tank

 

[bcobra]

Question for the people that are using the Fedy power supplies 85w and 200w. Wanted to know what your milli amp readings are? Im only getting 52 on 6 strings of 10 using the 200w fedy power supply.

 

[brassmonkyballs]

Question for the people that are using the Fedy power supplies 85w and 200w. Wanted to know what your milli amp readings are? Im only getting 52 on 6 strings of 10 using the 200w fedy power supply.

How are you measuring it? Assuming they are lit up, there would be an error in how you're measuring.

 

[brassmonkyballs]

here it is with all the lenses on

mounted on my tank
]

Natural sunlight tubed in?

How does it look at night with just the LEDs?

 

[bcobra]

BMB I take out a connection between two of the leds and use the meter to complete the circuit and have someone plug in the power. Meter is set on 10A. Is this correct?

 

[brassmonkyballs]

BMB I take out a connection between two of the leds and use the meter to complete the circuit and have someone plug in the power. Meter is set on 10A. Is this correct?

Thats correct so long as you moved the Red lead from the meter to the 10A jack. The meter usually has a 3rd jack(plug) above the normally used positive one or off to the side. Its clearly labeled 10A normally.

 

[bcobra]

Yep thats the way I have the meter setup with the red led in the 10A jack. And I am getting 0.52 which =520 ma correct?

 

[brassmonkyballs]

Yep thats the way I have the meter setup with the red led in the 10A jack. And I am getting 0.52 which =520 ma correct?

thats correct. can you check the other strings?...replace the wire from the other one 1st though.

 

[bcobra]

Will do that this evening. But would still like to hear from the guys that did the build with Jay. To see if they took readings and if so what were they? Just curious.

 

[bcobra]

BMB tested one complete circuit this is what I got.
570 600 550
+ ---------- ---------- ----------
590 550 590
_ ---------- ---------- ----------

200w power supply 60 led's 10 in each series and 6 in parallel go figure.

 

[brassmonkyballs]

BMB tested one complete circuit this is what I got.
570 600 550
+ ---------- ---------- ----------
590 550 590
_ ---------- ---------- ----------

200w power supply 60 led's 10 in each series and 6 in parallel go figure.

Can't say I'm surprised. That driver is only putting out 4.8A max....supposed to be 5.6V by 36V if it were 200W but its not. And supposed to run 80 off it in 8 strings. With the 6 you ran it should be over driving them around 930ma.

Only thing I can say is go with meanwells if you want to run these up near 700ma. The LEDs seem decent but I would avoid these drivers if you want to know what you're getting. You're clearly under driving you LEDs...which is ok if you the brightness works for you.

 

[Doug864]

After all these different test results I will definately go with the meanwells. I had a feeling the china stuff was too good too be true.
Regards,
Doug

 

[Jimmy54]

3W 700mA $ 1.27 or few cent less..
18000-20000k 220lm 3.2v 60 degree

Seems like there are a few choices at Fedy's for this LED, I'm a little curious; which brand did you choose?

 

[josephv]

Can't say I'm surprised. That driver is only putting out 4.8A max....supposed to be 5.6V by 36V if it were 200W but its not. And supposed to run 80 off it in 8 strings. With the 6 you ran it should be over driving them around 930ma.

Only thing I can say is go with meanwells if you want to run these up near 700ma. The LEDs seem decent but I would avoid these drivers if you want to know what you're getting. You're clearly under driving you LEDs...which is ok if you the brightness works for you.

Please help me understand a little better. If the brightness in the tank is fine then wouldn't under driving the LEDs be better for them? Will that cause them to last longer and have less color temperature change over a longer span of time. Or does it not work that way?