DIY LEDs - The write-up

[TheFishMan65]

stugray,

I am talking about measuring the voltage coming from the wall. Most houses today have a ground plug. Measure from that to each of you wires. Be careful of the loose wires one si live!

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Can someone please be kind enough to guide me to what they would use to run a replacement to (1) 250W MH 15K. Sort of a grocery list.

You'll get a dozen different answers, but here's my short version of the most generically-preferable "how to replace a 14 - 15kk 250w MH with LEDs:"

1) 18 Cree XR-E or XP-E Royal blue LEDs
2) 6 Cree XP-G cool white R5 LEDs
3) Two Meanwell ELN-60-48-D drivers (12 blues on one driver, remainder of blues and whites on the other).
4) A 16" - 18" long chunk of 10" heatsink from heatsinkusa
5) Misc. hardware, wiring, etc.
6) A "wall wart & pot" style dimming control
7) Optics appropriate for your mounting height

Total cost should be around $250 - $300.

If you have specific criteria (a budget, mounting height, enclosure style, weird preference for a certain LED, etc.) that might change some of the above, but I feel this is the most generic approach possible.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

stugray,

I am talking about measuring the voltage coming from the wall. Most houses today have a ground plug. Measure from that to each of you wires. Be careful of the loose wires one si live!

It is indeed good to check, because there are definitely a lot of miswired homes out there. If your house was built after the 50's US it should have either type A (polarized NEMA 1-15 2-prong outlets, neutral is the wider slot) or Type B (NEMA 5-15 3-prong outlets, neutral is the wider slot, and/or to the left of the ground lug assuming the ground lug is down.)

This is another advantage of doing your own wiring for fishtank use. I KNOW the outlets my tank will be running on are correct, because I did them.

 

[Dannyrotorpilot]

Thank you for the speedy response! The lighting setup will be munted about 12"~14" from the surface of the water. What optics do you recommend and also what recommended spacing? 2.5" or so?

Is there anything else with the driver or is the driver wired directly to a 110V source?

Is the dimmer wired into the driver?

Big difference between the XR-E or XP-E for the royal blues?

Anyone have a simple wiring schematic that includes the Meanwell?

Again, thanks for the response!
:fish1:

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Thank you for the speedy response! The lighting setup will be munted about 12"~14" from the surface of the water. What optics do you recommend and also what recommended spacing? 2.5" or so?

medium-wide. Unfortunately if you're going with XP-G there really isn't anything appropriate. Don't get caught up in spacing - get heatsink(s) that cover your tank to within a few inches of each side and space the LEDs evenly over the face. If you have the "correct" number of LEDs for an average configuration this will usually end up meaning ~2 - 3" between LED centers.

Is there anything else with the driver or is the driver wired directly to a 110V source?

The meanwells need 120v AC supply, so you just slap a standard NEMA 1-15 or 5-15 plug on them (i.e. a plain old appliance plug from the hardware store).

Is the dimmer wired into the driver?

Yep. The driver essentially has a signal and ground connection for the dimming circuit, so you wire that to your signal source.

Big difference between the XR-E or XP-E for the royal blues?

Viewing angle. The XP-E has a wider angle. If you're high enough up that you're using optics anyways, there really won't be a difference since the final distribution will be determined by the optic. If you're REAALLLY low down, and/or otherwise want a slightly wider distribution of light (i.e. for a moonlight, etc.) the XP-E has a slight advantage. If you're at an average-low height and not using optics, the XR-E has a slight advantage.

Anyone have a simple wiring schematic that includes the Meanwell?

The datasheet contains everything you need to know:

http://www.meanwell.com/search/eln-60/default.htm

If you have trouble reading it, let us know your specific questions.

 

[hlsooner]

Since people are frequently asking for an easy 1-10V power supply to dim the Meanwells, the link below is a cheap 1-12V adjustable power supply kit that I used. Easy to assemble and gave me a rock solid 1-10V power source which I used for testing purposes. I will also use one of these as the dimmer power supply on a smaller nano LED project.

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=C6724

 

[Manwolf]

awesome work!

 

[skippyreef]

Doing a santoki style led pendent and need to know if a standard DB9 monitor cable can be used to remotely connect driver to pendent.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=C6724

That looks like a good option but it strikes me as needing a big huge fat warning label on it since you're working on mains power with very little protection (the kit doesn't come with a box to put it in, or any sort of isolation!) Accidentally touching that thing while in operation could be deadly. Splashing it with water or having something conductive brush against it while in operation could do some serious damage. IMHO unless you're careful, people might be better off buying a wall wart that puts out low-voltage DC, and just building a variable DC regulator to attach to it. Basically the same overall concept but you're not exposing yourself to the same level of danger because the AC-DC conversion is happening in a safe, off-the-shelf device.

 

[Skeptic_07]

Doing a santoki style led pendent and need to know if a standard DB9 monitor cable can be used to remotely connect driver to pendent.

I looked this up and you can do this! Most standard D-subs are 26 AWG (except for military grade which are 24 AWG). The maximum amperage for 26 AWG is 1.3A so it works out perfectly if you're using eln-60-48's.

If you want to overbuild you can get the military grade ones here.

 

[Santoki]

FWIW,
monitor cables are DB-15s.
That would be great for builds with many multiple strings.
Serial cables are DB-9.
And yes, 26 AWG works well to supply power.
-R

 

[Skeptic_07]

I found a constant current driver for people doing huge builds. They are dimmable, hookup to AC and have a nice outer case like meanwells. The 1050ma model can go up to 95VDC which means you can probably run about 24 XRE or XPE on one driver. The 1400ma version, better suited for XPG, goes up to 71VDC can probably run about 20 XPGs at 1400ma. No prices listed on their site though...

http://www.thomasresearchproducts.com/LEDDatasheets/TRC-100 Dimming Series 09-20-09.pdf

 

[skippyreef]

When I get ready to connect the wires to the DB9 coming from the remote box I just pair them up and have the wires ( + and -) on the other end in the ports that match up.....correct?

How many drivers can be hooked up with one 24AWG cable?

 

[Skeptic_07]

You are looking for the 'ampacity' of the wire. According to the chart @ that link 24AWG maxes out at 2.1A.

 

[Dannyrotorpilot]

Alright, got a bunch of the items. These setups are not cheap. I have a question though. I picked up 3 Meanwell ELN-60-48 but noticed after they shipped out that they are not the 48 D. They are just 48's and not the dimable type. Is that going to be a problem? It doesnt matter to me wether I can dim them or not. Is it an issue about being able to run them at 700Mah?

 

[sammy113]

If you don't care about dimming options, it is not a problem to run them at 700mA. Most people with D or P models turn the SRV2 screw down to lower the mA.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

FWIW there's no such thing as an ELN-60-48 that's NOT dimmable. They are ALL either the D-type or the P-type. If you have an ELN-60-48 it will be dimmable. If you have a meanwell product that was provided by an aquarium LED vendor and it's not dimmable, it's probably an LPC or some other Meanwell product.

 

[akindbro4u]

Alright, got a bunch of the items. These setups are not cheap. I have a question though. I picked up 3 Meanwell ELN-60-48 but noticed after they shipped out that they are not the 48 D. They are just 48's and not the dimable type. Is that going to be a problem? It doesnt matter to me wether I can dim them or not. Is it an issue about being able to run them at 700Mah?

You can set the current manually on the driver. You will be fine.

 

[deral]

Is this will be working?
8 LED 3W;3,7V; 1000 mA with Meanwell ELN-30-27

 

[Neogenocide]

The meanwells give off no discernible heat at all.

Stu

This isn't true. My LPC-35-700 drivers get fairly warm. Hot enough to worry about no....but pretty warm to the touch.

Scott