Diy led

[Blackhawk007]

So I have found a way to do away with fuses all together. I am about to wire it up right now. Its a driver that puts out 700mA and allows 30-60 LED's in series. So only 1 string. If one goes bad it just shuts off. I am wiring it up for my sump right now.

 

[markandkristen]

looking at adding these to my 24 gallon nano was curious what color combination would you guys suggest.. im thinking 20 leds would be enought 10 18k and 10 blue

thanks ill try that

 

[Blackhawk007]

Getting there. Since this is a dimmable driver I have to set that part up also.

 

[brassmonkyballs]

So I have found a way to do away with fuses all together. I am about to wire it up right now. Its a driver that puts out 700mA and allows 30-60 LED's in series. So only 1 string. If one goes bad it just shuts off. I am wiring it up for my sump right now.

is that a TRC driver? 30-60 LED in series is a very dangerous proposition...if all those are in series you are dealing with over 200v.....and voltage is what pushes the current through your heart and stops it. 250mah will do the trick...maybe less. getting over 50v starts getting dangerous. 200 is crazy. I don't know anybody who would so what you're doing. There are other factors such as flashover to be concerned about as well. I assume you know what you're doing.

Good luck.....

 

[Blackhawk007]

is that a TRC driver? 30-60 LED in series is a very dangerous proposition...if all those are in series you are dealing with over 200v.....and voltage is what pushes the current through your heart and stops it. 250mah will do the trick...maybe less. getting over 50v starts getting dangerous. 200 is crazy. I don't know anybody who would so what you're doing. There are other factors such as flashover to be concerned about as well. I assume you know what you're doing.

Good luck.....

You are correct. Its funny you mention stopping hearts. I have done my fair share of defibrillating when I worked in the E.R. This is very dangerous if your not careful.

 

[Blackhawk007]

Life is good, all has gone well. Its nice that this driver dims. I love this driver over the 85w Fedy's that I have. It is also more efficient. But its a bit more expensive. DO NOT get something like this if you are new, or do not FULLY understand any part of a project like this.

 

[Blackhawk007]

They also carry one that does 81 LED's in series. Yes 285VDC!

The odd part is that this new driver does not even get warm. Yet my Fedy drivers are hot to touch.

 

[bigt0706]

They also carry one that does 81 LED's in series. Yes 285VDC!

The odd part is that this new driver does not even get warm. Yet my Fedy drivers are hot to touch.

very nice i see they released them finally or did u find them through a diff website

 

[reefrubble]

I'm having some trouble with my corals loosing color . My 18,000 K LEDs were on from 12:00 PM till 9:00 PM , and my Blue LED were on from 11:00 AM till 10:00 PM .

Now I have the 18,000 K LEDs set to come on at 3:00 PM till 7:00 PM , and the Blues come on at 2:00 PM till 8:00 PM . I hope the color starts to come back soon .

Ted

 

[Blackhawk007]

very nice i see they released them finally or did u find them through a diff website

I'm not sure what your referring to. I picked this driver up locally.

Oh this is not a TRC driver. When I said BMB was correct it was about how dangerous these are if you just slap them together.

 

[bigt0706]

I'm not sure what your referring to. I picked this driver up locally.

Oh this is not a TRC driver. When I said BMB was correct it was about how dangerous these are if you just slap them together.

ah can u pm me info on them

 

[FLGirl]

The odd part is that this new driver does not even get warm. Yet my Fedy drivers are hot to touch.

So will this add to the thermal runaway? Should the drivers be on their own heatsink? I had already ordered my fedy drivers so these will have to do until they need replacing.

Thanks

 

[brassmonkyballs]

I'm having some trouble with my corals loosing color . My 18,000 K LEDs were on from 12:00 PM till 9:00 PM , and my Blue LED were on from 11:00 AM till 10:00 PM .

Now I have the 18,000 K LEDs set to come on at 3:00 PM till 7:00 PM , and the Blues come on at 2:00 PM till 8:00 PM . I hope the color starts to come back soon .

Ted

Could be acclimation....some have problems, some don't. when you say Blue are they Blues or Royal blues? Blues do nothing but add color to the tank. Royal Blues are the beneficial blue and should be used as the main source of blue for the tank. Just curious.

 

[Blackhawk007]

So will this add to the thermal runaway? Should the drivers be on their own heatsink? I had already ordered my fedy drivers so these will have to do until they need replacing.

Thanks

This new driver is constant current. It maintains 700mA. When the LED's get warm and draw more current the driver decreases voltage to maintain 700mA.

My Fedy drivers have to be in open air. I can not place them inside a cabinet or anything like that. I also had to space them out since I am using 7 of them, they can not be right next to each other.

Did you order the water proof Fedy drivers? I did not specify and I got the water proof ones (which I dont need) and they get hot. From what others have said the non-water proof ones are not only 1/2 the price but also 1/2 the heat./

 

[reefrubble]

Could be acclimation....some have problems, some don't. when you say Blue are they Blues or Royal blues? Blues do nothing but add color to the tank. Royal Blues are the beneficial blue and should be used as the main source of blue for the tank. Just curious.

They are the Royal Blue LEDs .

 

[dohc97]

thought i would chime in here, a couple of us in chicago are trying to buy leds and optics from satisled, but our question is about the optics, the leds are 20mm, so does this mean the optics we use have to be 20mm? or can we use the 23 mm versions?

 

[reefrubble]

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!

What am I doing wrong ? I come out with 8 strings of 8 , total of 64 LEDs

 

[Steven M]

What am I doing wrong ? I come out with 8 strings of 8 , total of 64 LEDs

If you have 30volt power like the HLG-185H (the 30V - 6.2A version) and the led forward voltage you want to run is 3.3 volts, take the 30v ÷ 3.3= 9.09. So 9 parallel strings.

 

[calgaryreefer]

hello everyone, so after reading through 27 pages, I saw a few wavelength thrown around for royal blues, i saw 450-455nm and 440-450, then the XR-E 3w are 450-460nm, so which wavelength is actually royal blues and which fedy are regular blues?

another question, with the 18k whites from fedy, what ratio to royals and regular blues yields the best result?

 

[funkman262]

If you have 30volt power like the HLG-185H (the 30V - 6.2A version) and the led forward voltage you want to run is 3.3 volts, take the 30v ÷ 3.3= 9.09. So 9 parallel strings.

Shouldn't it be 9 in series? The number you can run in parallel has to do with the amperage of the power supply. For example, if it's 6.2A and each string uses 1A, you can run a max of 6 strings total on that power supply.