DIY LEDs - The write-up

[HeneryH]

Well, I will be "Captain Obvious" here for a moment and say...

Got my Cutter LEDs yesterday and, Wow, these are SMALL. I got the 10mm sq because they could accept the cheaper $1.00 optics. You can be a wise-guy and say "of course they are small, they are 10mm" but until you see them you may not get a good sense for what you are dealing with.

Here is the pic of the 10mm sq LEDs and optics:

They don't look so small do they? Until you put in a frame of reference:

Wish me luck soldering them all, it has been many years since my engineering Co-op days

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Good luck soldering them all. :lol:

Honestly I don't think it'll be MUCH different than other stars. Tin the pads you want to use before they go on a heatsink.

What are those pads tinned with? It almost looks gold in color. Please report back in as much detail as you care regarding how easy it is to solder/assemble them, how well the optics fit, what the optic pattern looks like, etc. - I don't think we've got the dirt on that exact combo yet.

 

[SWINGRRRR]

Wow, these are SMALL.

Jeez. I thought my 20MM stars were small. I couldn't imagine 10mm!!!!

 

[skippyreef]

The tank is 72-36-24. Mostly acropoda. The rest of the pendents will have fewer led's on them. I plan on spacing then at 2" apart on most of the other pendents. I want to wire this one up and hang it so I can get a good idea of spread and par readings. I may put some 60 degree optics
on this first one too if the par levels are too crazy.

 

[TheFishMan65]

I think the 7 ups will work fine with a 24 volt source such as the buck pucks (or 2 in series for a meanwell). At 350 ma don't the XPG have a drop of around 3 and the XR-E about 3.5. This gives a total drop of 22.5. This is probably why the picked this distribution.

You could do it and add a string or two of only RB.

 

[kcress]

Of course those are small they're 10mm!! and.. WOW those are !&*$#&%# small!!

I'd love to see how those optics perform at 4 or 5 feet. Can you light one and show us? Please, please, pretty please.

 

[adova]

THANKS!!!!!

Got my first of six fixtures running and they seem to be working as expected. I have yet to put them over a tank, but soon!

Can anyone tell me how to pick a POT to work with the ELN-60-48d? I was just going to get something from radio shack, but I am not sure what specs I need to consider...

Thanks again!

Shawn

 

[laverda]

Nanotunners sells screw in style bulbs with appropiate LED's fo this purpose. If I remember you can change the optics on them or order them with specific optics.

So i read through 'almost' all of the posts since the beginning in search of this question but out of all that i read, didnt see it...
For simplicity reasons, would it be acceptable to use a couple of the pre-made bulb led that screw into a standard light bulb socket. I feel that if it is somewhat comparable (only slightly less lumen output per watt) it would be TONS easier to make a fixture out of these.
Heres a link to a bulb http://www.divinelighting.com/par-3...4.html?zenid=cde0d515b347e48a5d2609a2543acd3e
and as im sure you all know, nanocustoms has been marketing similar lights for a few months now.

 

[jiriki]

I'm sure this has been posted already... but... where are you guys getting meanwell drivers with 0-10v dimmers?

I see them at cutters.. but at $45 a pop and a long shipping time.. is there some place cheaper and have them in stock?

 

[Neogenocide]

I'm sure this has been posted already... but... where are you guys getting meanwell drivers with 0-10v dimmers?

I see them at cutters.. but at $45 a pop and a long shipping time.. is there some place cheaper and have them in stock?

www.rapidled.com

 

[Reef_Matrix29]

Are those standard size emitters, just on smaller boards or smaller overall?

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Are those standard size emitters, just on smaller boards or smaller overall?

Both. :lol:

They're XP-series LEDs (maybe Henry can tell us which ones, but I'd guess XP-G and XP-E) on 10mm boards. The XP is much smaller than an XR so it fits on smaller boards if desired.

 

[Reef_Matrix29]

Does lumens produced diminish also or is it retained despite the physical form factor? Do we think that more will be needed to cover the same spread as the more "common" ones we are using? This stuff is changing about the same rate as computer chips, memory and hard drives...where is the price drop, lol

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

XP-Es are about the same as XR-Es in terms of efficiency and output. XP-Gs are about 30% better.

As far as coverage, the only real difference is that the XP-packaged LEDs have a slightly wider viewing angle.

The actual physical dimensions of the LED's package don't really play into it otherwise.

Regarding price drop - the XP-G was up around $7 - $8 each in quantities to do a large tank just a few months ago when it debuted; it's now down around $6.

 

[NCNBilly]

Just finished my test build - thanks to everyone that's posted in here! Current setup is for a 20L frag tank replacing a 175MH.

I have:

3 XR-E CW and 3 XR RBs from Dealextreme
6 XP-G Q5 and 6 XR-E RBs from Rapidled

1 700mA Buckpuck
1 1000mA Dimmable Buckpuck

2.1A 24v powersupply
1 Meanwell 48-60P

My build is going to incorporate the 3 XR-E CWs, 3 XP-G CWs 3 XR RBs, and 3 XR-E RBs. I got 60 degree optics for the XR/XR-Es and have about 48" of height available to play with. The whites will be on the dimmable buck, and the blues on the non-dimmable, thinking I'm going to have them dialed back by about half.

This leaves me 6 leds and the meanwell to play with making a PWM controller for the build to replace my main tanks MHs.


Any recommendations on a matrix for the 20L - I have 6 stars mounted on a piece of u-channel at 2" spacing right now, so the easiest thing would be to make another 6 in line, then use optics and height to get the coverage I want. This is the frag tank, so depth is only 10".

 

[adova]

Can someone tell me how to pick a POT from radioshack, etc for the dimming on a ELN-60-48D - thanks...

 

[HeneryH]

I'm sure this has been posted already... but... where are you guys getting meanwell drivers with 0-10v dimmers?

I see them at cutters.. but at $45 a pop and a long shipping time.. is there some place cheaper and have them in stock?

cdiweb.com was about $27 when I got mine.

 

[akindbro4u]

cdiweb.com was about $27 when I got mine.

FWIW they are on backorder until at least may 16. I placed an order three weeks ago, and it's still on back order.

 

[EleganceMan]

Sorry for jumping in here without reading the entire thread......but its pretty long!

Can someone please tell me what the best LED Stars are??? I see at the beginning of this you are using the cree single bulb ones..... but is there a better one out now...how about the cree's with three bulbs for twice the price?? would they require different other parts, like power supply and such? trying to plan out my build and i want it to be the baddest LED setup ever made for a 210gallon 6' tank.
thank you

 

[Jay1982]

Ugh, alright so I'm asking a question I KNOW is already answered but I spent about 30 minutes trying to find the answer on my note pad from reading the whole thread.

So I have 24 XPG and 48 XRE RB. I'm looking at wiring it where I want the XPGs spaced out so that there isn't a spotlight effect. Is there any special way to wire the XPGs so that they are hooked up to the same meanwells but are far apart?

Here is an example

XPG-XRE-XRE-XRE-XPG-XRE-XRE-XRE-XPG
XRE-XPG-XRE-XRE-XRE-XPG-XRE-XRE-XRE
XRE-XRE-XRE-XPG-XRE-XRE-XRE-XPG-XRE

This isn't my actual setup but lets say it was. Is there a way of wiring it so that I get my XPGs all together on the same driver so that I can dim them independantly from the Royal Blues?

Or, is it ok to run XPGs and XREs on the same meanwells, and does it affect either of the XREs or XPGs negatively?