DIY LEDs - The write-up - (split again)

[fyrfytr]

Guys not for nothen but, this thread has been split three times it's so big. A guy named Soundwave brought the LED fixtures to light and it took off ...like a ROCKET. There are alot of newbish and redundant posts BUT, if you have patience, sit down with a cup of coffey or something and just read from the beginning.....it may take you a LONG time to do so but i have to tell you just the info in THIS thread alone immence. There are several other large threads as well. You simply HAVE to do this. I did. I knew NOTHING about doing a DIY led fixture. A year and a half later...and i'm a VERY happy camper with a very cool fixture i built myself minus the drivers . It was interesting and exciting. You really must do the reading though!

a year and a half....wow...you sure know how to nurse a cup of coffee :spin1::lmao:

 

[S2minute]

Leds

Leds

I couldn't agree more. This thread is where it all happened in the aquarium DIY LED lighting world. It all sprung from here.

The reason some of the recent posts haven't been answered is because its all been answered in here about 6 times. Every question - answered 6 times.

Then when it comes to LED placements, there is no right and wrong way. You give it your best shot at homogenizing the layout and you'll likely be pretty satisfied.

Good to see you post again Kcress! How have ya been? I just upgraded my skimmer man! BTW peeps, Kcress was one of the HUGE contributors to this thread!!

 

[S2minute]

a year and a half....wow...you sure know how to nurse a cup of coffee :spin1::lmao:

LOL....it was more like POTS of it :hmm3:

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

the beauty of having a thread that has split so many times is to have the ones that follow it religiously regurgitate some of the information that was left back in the early pages. unfortunately a lot of people that aren't interested in all aspects of Leds aren't going to sit down and take the time to read through thousands of posts to hopefully find an answer to a question that someone can answer in a few seconds. I personally get upset when someone asks a question and the response is, "read through and you'll find it". to me those type of posts are a waste, instead all that person had to do is answer the question or not post at all and allow someone who knows or willing to answer reply with an answer. I mean, that's what forums and threads are all about.

 

[hobbzz]

the beauty of having a thread that has split so many times is to have the ones that follow it religiously regurgitate some of the information that was left back in the early pages. unfortunately a lot of people that aren't interested in all aspects of Leds aren't going to sit down and take the time to read through thousands of posts to hopefully find an answer to a question that someone can answer in a few seconds. I personally get upset when someone asks a question and the response is, "read through and you'll find it". to me those type of posts are a waste, instead all that person had to do is answer the question or not post at all and allow someone who knows or willing to answer reply with an answer. I mean, that's what forums and threads are all about.

I couldn't agree more. If you're going to spend the time to post, answer the question. If you want to go the extra step and tell them about searching, great. To expect somone to read 1000+ posts In hopes of finding the answer to one specific, and possibly obscure, question is unreasonable. Not all questions are common. I don't have time to read the whole thread. Partly because ive been reading other led threads that are more specific in nature. So instead I searched this thread. I had layout questions, so I searched for "layout" and read every post that had the word layout in it. My tank has the footprint of a 120, so I seareched for "120", "120g" and a couple other variants and couldn't find the answers. I also tried using Google to search RC.

And then there's new info coming out all the time. With a subject like leds, the info at the begining of a two year old thread might very well be obsolete. Because of that fact I've started reading large threads backwards. I've read all of JP's thread, and all of the Emperors thread. And when UPS stops being lazy gets me an undamaged heat sink from Rapidled and I actually start my build, I'm sure Ill be reading JP's again.

On the over hand I also agree that you should search first. If the term you're trying to search for is too short for the RC search engine, use Google. More often than not I use Google first, then RC. Like so... "90 gallon site:reefcentral.com".

 

[S2minute]

You have to think about it from the standpoint of the ones that have to answers and then take the time to write the lengthly posts in answer. They are constantly asked the same questions over and over by wave after wave of noobs that just don't want to do their homework, so to speek. They have also then added condenced summary after summary making it easy to obtain all that information. I can see where they would loose patience with people that want to take the easy way out reguardless of the efforts the vets made. Yeah there are by now alot of posts but, ...many of them can be skipped over. It's the learning that you gain from the progress of reading it all. It's like reading a good book and it gives you an excellent prospective on the topic as it progresses. The only thing that actually gets outdated is the type of LED or driver and that goes just like anything else. If you've not done an LED build before the knowlege you gain, which will be in every aspect of it is immence. You know that as a reef hobbiest the main thing to have is what?.....PATIENCE SO....get to it!

 

[S2minute]

btw....when this was in full swing their was about 40-50 noobs picken the brains of thoses few vets including me. They bent over backwards to provide us with all the answers but they stressed that we go back and read too and we did. All of it. It wasn't bad. I felt good about attempting my build beacuse of what i learned from all of that. I'm telling ya this because to be honest i don't think we'll be hearing from them to much now on this thread. I believe they are pretty well burned out..... from US heh.

 

[brassmonkyballs]

Yea but they don't have the splash shield like rapid LED. I could always anodize it later, but I like the lip for the splash shield.

FWIW....I believe the splash guard will not allow optics on that heatsink....but ask them.

 

[brassmonkyballs]

You have to think about it from the standpoint of the ones that have to answers and then take the time to write the lengthly posts in answer. They are constantly asked the same questions over and over by wave after wave of noobs that just don't want to do their homework, so to speek. They have also then added condenced summary after summary making it easy to obtain all that information. I can see where they would loose patience with people that want to take the easy way out reguardless of the efforts the vets made. Yeah there are by now alot of posts but, ...many of them can be skipped over. It's the learning that you gain from the progress of reading it all. It's like reading a good book and it gives you an excellent prospective on the topic as it progresses. The only thing that actually gets outdated is the type of LED or driver and that goes just like anything else. If you've not done an LED build before the knowlege you gain, which will be in every aspect of it is immence. You know that as a reef hobbiest the main thing to have is what?.....PATIENCE SO....get to it!

pretty accurate S2...i had 1 person PM me and ask me to send them blue prints, bill of material, and wiring diagrams. I replied that he should search

When this thread was active a bunch of people spent alot of time answering questions and sharing information. To post a complaint that those of us who posted should have the decency to at answer questions is absurd. The forum is to share and indeed answer questions but its nobody;s 1st responsibility to log in and see if anybody needs help....geez....

Anyhoo....I have posted here in ages.....how y'all been?

 

[hobbzz]

To post a complaint that those of us who posted should have the decency to at answer questions is absurd.

Your words not mine. I never said anyone was indecent. I was trying to make a point that instead of berating people, just do what I do when I see someone ask a question I know the answer to...answer it. Even if it's been asked a million times before. Maybe I'm absurd but it's what I do. Sometimes I tell them about the search feature, more often than not I don't. Sometimes I just mention it, sometimes I do a search and post a link to a good read. This is a forum. Not an online encyclopedia where people only look up information. This site is built on dialogue. Some people want a new perspective, or fresh look, if you will. Maybe their question was asked two pages ago...maybe two years ago. Maybe there are new techniques or products out that they don't know about, and haven't yet made it into the thread they're posting in.

Yes a lot of people don't search before posting. But a lot of them don't know enough about the subject to know what to even search for. And again, I don't condone not researching yourself, I just don't think they, or myself are all lazy and not willing to put in the effort. I guess I just give people the benefit of the doubt.

I also happen to agree with S2minute in post #347. Not sure how the multi quotes work, but don't worry I won't ask.

 

[swbyers]

I pretty much asked my question and put up my info mid build, I respect all of you on here for the help givin to building my fixture, so with out further ado my build (don't really see the point of my own thread that this point), 192 Led's 180gallons. 60RB, 12B, 36CW, 36NW, 24 UV, 12R, 12G. Laid out from the previous page, Power comming from 3 185-42B from rapid, also 3 eln-60-48's. 6 stings of 12 for blue, and 4 stings of 9 for each of the whites, (My 185's art not adjustable at all, totally potted inside. Interestingly enough they also go to full power if nothing is connected to the dimming leads) 2 stings of 12 for UV's on an eln, and the R and G on their own Elns. So total 6 divers for 192 bulbs. Connectors are Anderson Power poles. Here are some pics again thanks to everyone who helped put this together so I had lots of ideas on where to go with this.

Finished

Note the above shot is with B, CW at 40%, NW 20%, V 20%

 

[kcress]

Very nice! Thanks for the pics!

BTW all the HLG drivers go full ON when no brightness voltage is available.

 

[S2minute]

Leds

Leds

pretty accurate S2...i had 1 person PM me and ask me to send them blue prints, bill of material, and wiring diagrams. I replied that he should search

When this thread was active a bunch of people spent alot of time answering questions and sharing information. To post a complaint that those of us who posted should have the decency to at answer questions is absurd. The forum is to share and indeed answer questions but its nobody;s 1st responsibility to log in and see if anybody needs help....geez....

Anyhoo....I have posted here in ages.....how y'all been?

Yo Monky whus up!? :wave: just chillen here...kinda. Now that the "big build" is over, i'm back to my other "big build"...which is my house that i'm living in heh. However, i did do one more thing before that :artist:. I upgraded skimmers from my old ETSS 600 powered by a Iwaki 55 RLT to a ETSS 1500 powered by a Iwaki 100 RLT :spin3:. Boy you should see that baby GO!. As for the LED fixture....couldn't be more happy. It's like the SUN. Thanks eternally to you guys for all the crap you been through with us :thumbsup: Even though i knew NOTHING about this type of DIY build, i read from post #1 and then asked along the way when i needed to. Between that and the effort from you guys it was like a dream come true. Now, if i only had a good cam corder . What's up with you man??? Any new projects going on?

 

[S2minute]

SWBYERS NICE JOB MAN!! post some more tank shots plz!!

 

[hobbzz]

Looks great! Glad it all worked out without a hitch. Colors look really good.

 

[brassmonkyballs]

Yo Monky whus up!? :wave: just chillen here...kinda. Now that the "big build" is over, i'm back to my other "big build"...which is my house that i'm living in heh. However, i did do one more thing before that :artist:. I upgraded skimmers from my old ETSS 600 powered by a Iwaki 55 RLT to a ETSS 1500 powered by a Iwaki 100 RLT :spin3:. Boy you should see that baby GO!. As for the LED fixture....couldn't be more happy. It's like the SUN. Thanks eternally to you guys for all the crap you been through with us :thumbsup: Even though i knew NOTHING about this type of DIY build, i read from post #1 and then asked along the way when i needed to. Between that and the effort from you guys it was like a dream come true. Now, if i only had a good cam corder . What's up with you man??? Any new projects going on?

glad its working out so well S2! There's always a project...its a matter of which one 1st I'll have to shoot some pics of my 57g rimless with JBJ like fixtures on goosenecks.....the latest personal project. I too put in a new skimmer! DIY....well almost....Avast sells a kit for a cone skimmer that has identical dimensions to the Reef Octopus 225 Diablo cone skimmer. its cheap so long as you like DIY which I do! Works like a beast too.

 

[rdlisby]

Hello,

I’m a little Leary of posting this question, so don’t smack to hard. I have read on and off again for a while (Like Years), as I recently moved to San Diego I'm ready to really commit to this LED build. Especially since I’m doing a total re-build. I should have listened and just given all my livestock away, really depressing. When I start reading all the older posts I second guess the information because as stated many time this are changing so fast.

So I have a standard 180 72x24x24, I want to stock it with SPS. It has two braces across the top separating the tank into 2foot squares. I have an APEX controller that I want to use to Dim the LEDs. There are not really any limitations on high to hang the fixtures, although I would imagine the closer they are the more effective the lights would be.

So do I really need 48 LEDs per fixture? RapidLED sales a whole kit with 108LEDs but that doesn’t seem to be enough? What optics would be best, what heat sinks would be best, and what drivers would be best. Maybe High Voltage Drivers? Are XP-G LEDs really the way to go these days? Oh ya and I have been running XM 20K HQI bulbs and I like the blue of that look, in fact I would like it a little bluer maybe 24K? So what would be the best combination of colors?

I have worked myself around in circles trying to read everything, I realize the color thing is somewhat personal preference, but any help would be appreciated.

 

[kcress]

72x24/16=108 LEDs

2/3 RB
1/3 NW
Other colors don't count.
That's at 700mA.

If you spread them around use U-channel for the heatsinking.
If you want them all in little squares for the two openings use finned heatsinks.

Include a splash shield in your design.

 

[hobbzz]

Got everything wired up for the first driver and the two strings were only 4ma apart! Didn't even have to check the vf of each led. Maybe I'll get lucky enough with the other driver. Thanks for the help of everyone here! I couldn't have done it without all these thread, a wealth of information.

 

[dwolson2]

FWIW....I believe the splash guard will not allow optics on that heatsink....but ask them.

I have the rapid led heatsink already, I just want one thats wider. I can always throw my current one over a frag tank. They fit with optics no problem.