DIY LEDs. How inexpensive?

[Capt_Cully]

I see tons of these threads. Personally, I'd be happy with a couple of those 4 bulb Current USA unit, if I could find one....

Just how cheap & easy is it to DIY for a supplemental actinic set up?

Or is this a powder keg of a question?

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Powder keg.

If you have a commercial unit in mind, that you want to copy, lemme know and we can talk specific estimates. Or just a general idea of what you want.

Most typical buids with typical LEDs running at 2-4w each end up around maybe $8-12 per LED. Comparable commercial units are often $20-30 per.

 

[aaronlp]

a good site to check is rapidled.com there prices are pretty decent and its all diy orp lug and play it all depends on what size you need and how many leds you wouldl ike to do. Check rapidled.com and they have all the specs for what you might need. hope i could help!

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Rapidled is OK but there are one or two vendors cheaper, and honestly I am not a fan of the solderless approach.

A typical supplemental build might be done with 12 RB XPE D316 and a driver to run them at 700-1000mA. The LEDs are maybe $3.50 each, so $40 for 12. Driver might be $30. Say $20 for heatsink, hardware, wire, other stuff. So, $90. On a tank as big as yours you might want two of these units for nice strong suplementation. So you're looking at $180 total, plus or minus.

 

[Capt_Cully]

Aaron, I will give it a look see.

Nate, I'm really looking to gain some actinic coloration with some shimmer to enhance the T5s at the back of the tanks. I have th AI Sols up front and I'm very pleased with them. I'd love 2 more units but the board of advisors would never approve such a purchase.

From the front, with halides off, tank looks incredible. From the side there are noticeable lighting zones. I would like to add LEDs to the T5s in the back to soften these lines.

AI SOLs, too expensive.
Reef brights, bordering on too pricey and too much juice. Lack of adjustability is a concern for irritation, but attractive.
PAR38 bulbs, not enough spread.
Stunners, not enough juice.
Current USA power brights, off the market, but look like they'd be a great option.

Give you an idea what I'm thinking?

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Yeah, i think we were posting at the same time. The best thing about DIY is you can build EXACTLY what you need in a given situation. I kinda want to see you DD in person some time so if you'll entertain me stopping by iI can give you an idea of what might work but it'll probably be in the range of what I posted above.

 

[Capt_Cully]

In your proposed solution or solutions, is adjustability, i.e. a dimmer, a possibility?

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Yeah, I would never build or suggest a rig that wasn't at least manually dimmable. If you wanted automated dimming, add on maybe $20-30 for a DIY controller.

 

[rjmayes34]

sounds interesting, i can see why the dimming feature is nice then you can have them as your moon lights also,dimmed down,as well as for more pop during the day turned up.
Still seems expensive for just some supplemental lighting!

 

[rjmayes34]

re-reading your title and sounds like your talking yourself into it-how INexpensive that sounds expensive!!
Whatever helps you sleep at night

 

[NirvanaFan]

sounds interesting, i can see why the dimming feature is nice then you can have them as your moon lights also,dimmed down,as well as for more pop during the day turned up.
Still seems expensive for just some supplemental lighting!

No bulb replacement though. As soon as you have to replace the bulbs in 8 or 10 months, you're at a wash. Add in the electricity savings, and they're really tempting.

I got some LEDs for my birthday, got some for X-mas, and sold my old light fixture. The money from my light fixture will pay for the rest of my supplies, and I'll be paying basically nothing.

 

[eamike261]

LEDs are certainly much cheaper, no doubt about that. For absolutely EVERYTHING, installed and working, for 24 LEDs over our 20 gallon it was about $320. This is with separately dimmable whites and blues so that we can turn the blues on low for some amazing moonlights. Strongly advise getting the dimming option, if we had gotten the constant current we would have burnt our corals to a crisp (without any acclimation).

You might be thinking $320 is expensive, but we really only needed 18 for our tank so we spent a little more than we needed to. Replacing just 2 20" bulbs in the T5 fixture is $100 per year, that adds up really fast. But since the 24 LEDs at full power are roughly as strong as MH, then you're talking at least $180 for the MH fixture with T5s + price of all future bulbs. Btw this was from RapidLED (very good service), and der wille zur macht is claiming there are cheaper sites so it could be done for even less.

Not to mention the health aspect for the corals. When you first buy your new bulbs the corals are loving it, and slowly over the next 6 - 12 months it just gets less and less effective. Plus, if you slack on replacing your bulbs they're going to start to cause unwanted algae growth.

EDIT: Wow I'm sorry, I didn't realize you said supplemental. I guess none of that was helpful haha.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Whether supplemental or primary, most DIY LED rigs have an ROI of maybe 2-3 years compared to other types of lighting.

 

[Capt_Cully]

The panoramas are nice and you could grab 2 of the 12" for about $200. Corals need to acclimate to them. Without dimability, they pose a risk to my corals. The reef brites pose a similar problem. It wound be nice to have them dialed back, and dialed way back for moon lights.

 

[Stusdesktop]

I see tons of these threads. Personally, I'd be happy with a couple of those 4 bulb Current USA unit, if I could find one....

Just how cheap & easy is it to DIY for a supplemental actinic set up?

Or is this a powder keg of a question?

One thing to keep in mind is the spectrum of the LED's you want. True 420nm actinics are more expensive than a royal blue LED. I looked in a lot of places for 3w actinics and had a hard time actually finding them in stock. 1w versions are available via Ebay but I'm not sure how feasible they are.

I just dropped the $300 on a aquastyles.com 90 LED kit, extra driver and 6 of their 3w pinks but also dropped another $60 elsewhere for a dozen true 420nm LEDS as well. Total overkill for the 90g I'm building but we all know the 90 will upgraded eventually and the LEDs can be reused.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

IME the "true" actinic 420nm LEDs aren't better than the typically available 450nm royal blues, which end up giving a look very similar to what most people expect for "actinic" light. Not surprising considering many florescent actinic lamps are actuallt 450.

 

[rodster912000]

quick question i hear people saying they can turn there blues down low for moonlights. just wondering how.....i have rb on a rke and when they dim down for the evening they go from 75 and ramp down but at 10 the led turns off. it never gets low enough to replicate moon lighting. i was told before its the meanwell drivers but have people found a way arround this??

 

[eamike261]

quick question i hear people saying they can turn there blues down low for moonlights. just wondering how.....i have rb on a rke and when they dim down for the evening they go from 75 and ramp down but at 10 the led turns off. it never gets low enough to replicate moon lighting. i was told before its the meanwell drivers but have people found a way arround this??

Turning the blues down to that 10% is what I meant by moonlights. I always just thought moonlights meant dim blue or purple LEDs. The 10% seemed about as strong as my old powerbrite strip (of course its 12 vs 4 LEDs though so its got more power). But I don't know of any way to turn them down lower, I think the meanwells just shut off when the dimming signal drops below 1 volt.

 

[Capt_Cully]

Lemmie throw this out there, is it possible, or advisable to add a dimming unit to a prefab unit like a Panoramic or Reef Brite?

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

quick question i hear people saying they can turn there blues down low for moonlights. just wondering how.....i have rb on a rke and when they dim down for the evening they go from 75 and ramp down but at 10 the led turns off. it never gets low enough to replicate moon lighting. i was told before its the meanwell drivers but have people found a way arround this??

It is the meanwell drivers, specifically the commonly-used ELN series. There is no way around this, it's just the way these drivers work. Meanwell even describe this in the datasheet.

Lemmie throw this out there, is it possible, or advisable to add a dimming unit to a prefab unit like a Panoramic or Reef Brite?

Almost certainly, no. If the unit wasn't designed to be dimmed, you would pretty much have to replace the driver - and at that point you might as well just build from scratch IMHO.