brassmonkyballs
BMB
+1...and think about the result of a fan stalling....
Diy led
- Thread starter flworkd
- Start date
+1...and think about the result of a fan stalling....
justiceprevails
New member
Yes, but not with the length of wires you are using. If you use a few thousand feet maybe. The resistance of the wiring is minescule at these lengths.
Great thread!! I'm trying to wrap my head around all the facts and formulas presented here - particularly in the driver department. I think I've got most of it, but just to make sure I'm not making a mistake I'd like to ask the experts about a MeanWell driver. The HLG-185H (the 30V - 6.2A version). Here's a link: http://www.meanwell.com/search/hlg-185h/default.htm
That I'd like to know is:
1. am I correct that this unit would drive 9 parallel strings of 8 FEDY LEDs?
2. would the built in 0-10V control work with my Apex?
3. MeanWell makes both a HLG-185 and a HLG-185H model - what's the difference?
4. am I way of base with this driver or would it do what we need for these Chinese LEDs?
Thanks!
That I'd like to know is:
1. am I correct that this unit would drive 9 parallel strings of 8 FEDY LEDs?
2. would the built in 0-10V control work with my Apex?
3. MeanWell makes both a HLG-185 and a HLG-185H model - what's the difference?
4. am I way of base with this driver or would it do what we need for these Chinese LEDs?
Thanks!
brassmonkyballs
BMB
1) Yes, Correct on counts
2) Yes, Type B is the version you want when ordering...handles both PWM and Analog
3) Get the other one...only difference I have ever been able to find is the H handles up to 305V AC and cost a couple bucks more.
4) You're on base.
I fired up 28 last night and am very pleased by these Chinese LED...very impressive though need need some blue supplement. Adding RBs today.
Will post up some pics and the build later today or tomorrow.
2) Yes, Type B is the version you want when ordering...handles both PWM and Analog
3) Get the other one...only difference I have ever been able to find is the H handles up to 305V AC and cost a couple bucks more.
4) You're on base.
I fired up 28 last night and am very pleased by these Chinese LED...very impressive though need need some blue supplement. Adding RBs today.
Will post up some pics and the build later today or tomorrow.
brassmonkyballs
BMB
I tossed the baggies the other day but I got them at radio shack. Theres a bin full of drawers with all sorts of fuses and holders, and another one full of resistors. I used regular old glass fuses, fast blow 1.5A (though I will be changing to 1A....not sure what I was thinking). in the next drawer there are holders for them. I used a 1 ohm 10w resistor also from Radio Shack but with this style fuse its not needed of you have a meter that has a 10A function on it. You can just pop the fuse and complete the circuit with the meter and alligator clips. I tuned my Meanwell with both methods and they match. I am in fact able to get 700ma out of each string. The meanwell is very nice indeed. The 2 strings are running within 20ma of each other and each LED is pushing 3.4V.
brassmonkyballs
BMB
FEDY and Cree Build for 29g BioCube
FEDY and Cree Build for 29g BioCube
Finally got everything together and built. I posted this at my home forum but I'll copy it over as well so it continues on the FEDY thread.
Here's my latest build I'm working on. It will be replacing the 150W MH on my 29g cube. I will be adding Cree Royal Blues to supplement and for actinic. I am calculating I need twice as many FEDYs than if I used all Crees so this build will have 28 18,000k FEDYs and 6 Cree Royal Blues. I am awaiting for the Crees to arrive but thought I would share progress to date.
The 28 FEDYs will be driven by 1 Meanwell ELN-60-48D driver wired in 2 parallel strings with 14 LEDs in each string. To each string I add a 1 Ohm 10W resistor which will be used to measure the current and between that and the driver I have a 1A fast blow fuse to protect the setup should something go wrong in a string. When the Crees arrive they will get their own driver, a Meanwell ELN-30-27D.
Here's some pics and description
Here's the heatsink which you will see already drilled. My method is to layout where I want each LED with a straight edge and pencil with a cross-hair representing the center of each LED. Then I use an actual LED as a sort of jig and center it over the cross-hair. Then I use a spring loaded center punch...there in the picture just above the heatsink. I punch every hole location using the LED held in location with one hand and operate the punch with the other. Took me about 5 minutes for all 68 (34 LEDs X2). Then I took it to my drill press and drilled them all.
The 4 larger counter-sunk holes are to mount it in the hood. For the LED holes I used a #41 drill bit. I found that a #4 3/8 sheet metal screw easily taps into the aluminum with this size bit. I used #4 nylon washers to isolate the screw head from the pads on the LED. Here you can see the heatsink with the LEDs mounted. A very thin film of Arctic Silver Thermal Paste is applied to the back of the LED star before screwing them in place on the heatsink. You can see the spaces reserved for the royal blue Cree when they arrive
Wiring of the LEDs. So each string is connected in series. This setup has 14 in series times 2. Then you connect them in parallel which halves the current to each string which is needed for these FEDYs. In this pic I have the setup already mounted in the hood but no drivers yet. The left side is the negative end and the right side positive. If you look above top right (left of the fan) you can see a pair of resistors and fuses I mentioned earlier. These then terminate on a terminal block. The driver power will connect to the other side of the taps. The 2 empty places are reserved for the Cree RBs. You will note there is no fuse and no resistor and this is because it will be 1 series string of 6 LEDs and I will be running them at 1A off their own driver.
Wired up the 28 Fedy 18,000k portion last night to my driver. The 2 strings are running within 20ma of each other. The meanwell came factory set around 1000ma so I opened it up to adjust the output to get 700ma on each string. One is now running at 700ma and the other at 720ma. I didn't take pics of that process but it's as described prior. I didn't realize the Cree RBs came in yesterday until a few minutes ago but I was already playing around with the fixture on the tank to take a couple pics. So here's a couple pics prior to installing the Crees.
I have to admit I'm seriously impressed with these low cost LEDs. Color is not bad at all but it needs the blues I feel. 2 pics attached. 1st is the FEDYs on the tank, the 2nd is the 150W 20,000k MH fixture I've been running on it. Same camera settings zero editing on these 2 pics....and pardon the lack of total focus please...these was a quick shot for comparison plus I woke up the inhabitants early for these shots so they're not real happy at the moment.. Let me know what you think.
28 FEDY LEDs Powered UP
150W 20,000k MH
Added the Crees and wired it all up
ready to go
Full on Fedys and Cree - mind boggling in person. Again, forget the focus and check out the color. Same camera settings and no editing...same as earlier photos
Actinic only - 6 Cree XPEs running at 1.1A
FEDY and Cree Build for 29g BioCube
Finally got everything together and built. I posted this at my home forum but I'll copy it over as well so it continues on the FEDY thread.
Here's my latest build I'm working on. It will be replacing the 150W MH on my 29g cube. I will be adding Cree Royal Blues to supplement and for actinic. I am calculating I need twice as many FEDYs than if I used all Crees so this build will have 28 18,000k FEDYs and 6 Cree Royal Blues. I am awaiting for the Crees to arrive but thought I would share progress to date.
The 28 FEDYs will be driven by 1 Meanwell ELN-60-48D driver wired in 2 parallel strings with 14 LEDs in each string. To each string I add a 1 Ohm 10W resistor which will be used to measure the current and between that and the driver I have a 1A fast blow fuse to protect the setup should something go wrong in a string. When the Crees arrive they will get their own driver, a Meanwell ELN-30-27D.
Here's some pics and description
Here's the heatsink which you will see already drilled. My method is to layout where I want each LED with a straight edge and pencil with a cross-hair representing the center of each LED. Then I use an actual LED as a sort of jig and center it over the cross-hair. Then I use a spring loaded center punch...there in the picture just above the heatsink. I punch every hole location using the LED held in location with one hand and operate the punch with the other. Took me about 5 minutes for all 68 (34 LEDs X2). Then I took it to my drill press and drilled them all.
The 4 larger counter-sunk holes are to mount it in the hood. For the LED holes I used a #41 drill bit. I found that a #4 3/8 sheet metal screw easily taps into the aluminum with this size bit. I used #4 nylon washers to isolate the screw head from the pads on the LED. Here you can see the heatsink with the LEDs mounted. A very thin film of Arctic Silver Thermal Paste is applied to the back of the LED star before screwing them in place on the heatsink. You can see the spaces reserved for the royal blue Cree when they arrive
Wiring of the LEDs. So each string is connected in series. This setup has 14 in series times 2. Then you connect them in parallel which halves the current to each string which is needed for these FEDYs. In this pic I have the setup already mounted in the hood but no drivers yet. The left side is the negative end and the right side positive. If you look above top right (left of the fan) you can see a pair of resistors and fuses I mentioned earlier. These then terminate on a terminal block. The driver power will connect to the other side of the taps. The 2 empty places are reserved for the Cree RBs. You will note there is no fuse and no resistor and this is because it will be 1 series string of 6 LEDs and I will be running them at 1A off their own driver.
Wired up the 28 Fedy 18,000k portion last night to my driver. The 2 strings are running within 20ma of each other. The meanwell came factory set around 1000ma so I opened it up to adjust the output to get 700ma on each string. One is now running at 700ma and the other at 720ma. I didn't take pics of that process but it's as described prior. I didn't realize the Cree RBs came in yesterday until a few minutes ago but I was already playing around with the fixture on the tank to take a couple pics. So here's a couple pics prior to installing the Crees.
I have to admit I'm seriously impressed with these low cost LEDs. Color is not bad at all but it needs the blues I feel. 2 pics attached. 1st is the FEDYs on the tank, the 2nd is the 150W 20,000k MH fixture I've been running on it. Same camera settings zero editing on these 2 pics....and pardon the lack of total focus please...these was a quick shot for comparison plus I woke up the inhabitants early for these shots so they're not real happy at the moment.. Let me know what you think.
28 FEDY LEDs Powered UP
150W 20,000k MH
Added the Crees and wired it all up
ready to go
Full on Fedys and Cree - mind boggling in person. Again, forget the focus and check out the color. Same camera settings and no editing...same as earlier photos
Actinic only - 6 Cree XPEs running at 1.1A
Sorry,
I just went threw this thread. I noticed there are a few sources of the LEDs and other supplies..
Im wondering where you guys purchaed these 18k Leds also the royal blues and whites?
Id love to order them..
Also where did you guys purchace the powersupplies and the Dimmable drivers..
Thanks.
I just went threw this thread. I noticed there are a few sources of the LEDs and other supplies..
Im wondering where you guys purchaed these 18k Leds also the royal blues and whites?
Id love to order them..
Also where did you guys purchace the powersupplies and the Dimmable drivers..
Thanks.
That's awesome BMB…very pro.
I don't have any pics of mine (mostly because it looks like crap
), but I thought I'd add my experiences.
All this may be obvious to those electrically savvy, but I thought it best to share anyway. In addition, this is my testing only with with 200w Fedy driver!
Background, I got 170 Fedy LEDs (125white & 45royal blue) and planned on running 120white and 40rb with 2 of the 200w Fedy drivers described as 36w 5.6A. The extra LEDs were spares and in case there were any bad ones in the mix. Thus far I am impressed with the quality of the LEDs. I put them through some abuse, and so far everyone I received is working. My initial plan was to run 10 in series 8 in parallel, thus running the LEDs at their rating, 3.6v 700mA.
With that said, the drivers scare me. I fried one driver and up to this point I have a multimeter inline testing the second one, and here's what I've found with this driver.
1. The output of the driver will increase beyond 5.6A if the LEDs are not kept cool. I watched the output increase until I put some fans on the LEDs and the output started to decrease. This was with running 10 in series 8 in parallel, and each series was running at 680mA to 750mA and increasing with heat. I ran this setup for quite awhile last night (with loud annoying fans cooling the LEDs), and the driver heated up, oozing the synthetic rubber it was packet in around the seams. I am sure this heat build up/output increase is what killed the first driver, although I wasn't testing it at the time it died.
2. The next thing I tried was to under drive the LEDs in hopes of running everything cooler. Adding an additional series of 10 LEDs (so, 10x9) increased the output of the driver well beyond 6A on start up. I didn't test this setup long because I didn't want to toast any LEDs or my last driver. I'm positive the driver would have gone first. I also tried removing one series of LEDs (so 10X7), and the output of the driver decreased to 4.9A, and each string was still running at ~700mA. To me this seems to indicate the driver was trying to keep up with demand.
3. So, in my quest to under drive the LEDs and keep everything cooler, I added one more LED to each series (so, 11x8). This cut the output almost in half. The driver is outputting 3.2A, and each series is running at around 420mA. Also, without any active cooling, the output continued to increase, but at a much slower pace. I'm not sure where it would have stopped though.
4. Cooling. I tried cooling my fixture (2 - 72"x2"x1" channel aluminum) several different ways. First of all, it's laying on top of my open hood 8" above the water surface, so the results may not be the same with other arrangements. I tried running three 2" fans blowing the same direction down each piece of aluminum (6 fans total). This was loud and mostly affective. Next, I tired two opposing fans at opposite ends of the channel (4 total), and this was quieter and just as affective. I tried a couple more options, but in the end, I'm running two (total) 4" fans straddling the two pieces channel aluminum, two foot in on each side, blowing down, and this is by far the most affective and quiet.
At the moment, I'm running 88 LEDs (11x8) off the 200W driver with active cooling, and I'm comfortable that the driver and LEDs will be ok even if both fans die. So, I'm left with, which driver to I choose for the rest of my LEDs (82). I'm going with Meanwell most likely dimming capable.
I do have one question, though, should the driver output the same regardless of heat, or will increased heat cause increased output from the driver and eventually failure?
I don't have any pics of mine (mostly because it looks like crap
), but I thought I'd add my experiences.All this may be obvious to those electrically savvy, but I thought it best to share anyway. In addition, this is my testing only with with 200w Fedy driver!
Background, I got 170 Fedy LEDs (125white & 45royal blue) and planned on running 120white and 40rb with 2 of the 200w Fedy drivers described as 36w 5.6A. The extra LEDs were spares and in case there were any bad ones in the mix. Thus far I am impressed with the quality of the LEDs. I put them through some abuse, and so far everyone I received is working. My initial plan was to run 10 in series 8 in parallel, thus running the LEDs at their rating, 3.6v 700mA.
With that said, the drivers scare me. I fried one driver and up to this point I have a multimeter inline testing the second one, and here's what I've found with this driver.
1. The output of the driver will increase beyond 5.6A if the LEDs are not kept cool. I watched the output increase until I put some fans on the LEDs and the output started to decrease. This was with running 10 in series 8 in parallel, and each series was running at 680mA to 750mA and increasing with heat. I ran this setup for quite awhile last night (with loud annoying fans cooling the LEDs), and the driver heated up, oozing the synthetic rubber it was packet in around the seams. I am sure this heat build up/output increase is what killed the first driver, although I wasn't testing it at the time it died.
2. The next thing I tried was to under drive the LEDs in hopes of running everything cooler. Adding an additional series of 10 LEDs (so, 10x9) increased the output of the driver well beyond 6A on start up. I didn't test this setup long because I didn't want to toast any LEDs or my last driver. I'm positive the driver would have gone first. I also tried removing one series of LEDs (so 10X7), and the output of the driver decreased to 4.9A, and each string was still running at ~700mA. To me this seems to indicate the driver was trying to keep up with demand.
3. So, in my quest to under drive the LEDs and keep everything cooler, I added one more LED to each series (so, 11x8). This cut the output almost in half. The driver is outputting 3.2A, and each series is running at around 420mA. Also, without any active cooling, the output continued to increase, but at a much slower pace. I'm not sure where it would have stopped though.
4. Cooling. I tried cooling my fixture (2 - 72"x2"x1" channel aluminum) several different ways. First of all, it's laying on top of my open hood 8" above the water surface, so the results may not be the same with other arrangements. I tried running three 2" fans blowing the same direction down each piece of aluminum (6 fans total). This was loud and mostly affective. Next, I tired two opposing fans at opposite ends of the channel (4 total), and this was quieter and just as affective. I tried a couple more options, but in the end, I'm running two (total) 4" fans straddling the two pieces channel aluminum, two foot in on each side, blowing down, and this is by far the most affective and quiet.
At the moment, I'm running 88 LEDs (11x8) off the 200W driver with active cooling, and I'm comfortable that the driver and LEDs will be ok even if both fans die. So, I'm left with, which driver to I choose for the rest of my LEDs (82). I'm going with Meanwell most likely dimming capable.
I do have one question, though, should the driver output the same regardless of heat, or will increased heat cause increased output from the driver and eventually failure?
bucks sorry to hear you lost a power supply. Do you know which mean well driver you are going with? Hopefully my lights go up today if all goes as planned.:lolspin:After re-reading this I realized this wasn't clear. I know the Fedy drivers are undocumented. I'm asking about the Meanwell drivers. Will the output of the Meanwell drivers remain the same regardless of heat build up in the LEDs?
brassmonkyballs
BMB
Yes...until it get too hot and then it starts to shut down. Scroll all the way to the bottom of this link and look at the de-rating curve. Over voltage and over current protection are built in and it has a 2 year warranty.
westreef
Lost as usual
bcobra,
I have my DIY led for 1.5 months and still trying to ramp to full intensity. Majority of my sps are doing fine, two of them are bleached. I think it was because of too high of intensity. For a few days already, I have reduced the photo period and one of the bleached ones is coming around. It is still too early to say my corals are happy with it.
For really good examples of nice sps responding to led you can take a look at
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1929512.
and
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1991180&page=2
Good luck.
I have my DIY led for 1.5 months and still trying to ramp to full intensity. Majority of my sps are doing fine, two of them are bleached. I think it was because of too high of intensity. For a few days already, I have reduced the photo period and one of the bleached ones is coming around. It is still too early to say my corals are happy with it.
For really good examples of nice sps responding to led you can take a look at
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1929512.
and
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1991180&page=2
Good luck.
Last edited:
brassmonkyballs
BMB
Correct...2 pots. dimmed individually.....so far though i have removed 8 FEDY's and added 4 Cree RB's. So its 2 FEDY's for 1 Cree RB for a total 30. To me the FEDY's are nowhere near 18000k driven at 700ma. My tank was really purple until i added more blue and removed the whites. Right now I'm happy but will probably experiment further with mixing
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