DIY LEDs - The write-up

[kcress]

Hey Kcress,

Interesting that I'd want 24 gauge. Isn't that smaller than 18? I also assumed I wanted the 18 gauge because that's what comes with the kits from rapidled. Also, the wire I showed you is rated to 600V which I think is higher than 300. I'm really not sure because I'm an electrical IDIOT!

Thanks,
Ben

Just because stuff comes in a kit doesn't mean it's the best stuff for a job.

Yes! You have it. You need smaller. MUCH smaller than 18AWG. Your LED strings are only getting about 1A. 24AWG is good for about 5A or so. Thicker wire is stiffer wire. This puts strain on the star pads. Strain that cycles every time your fixture heats up and cools off. Larger wire also means you take longer to solder it to the stars - another risk multiplier. 18 costs more. 18 is heavier.


The only case you might want 18 but more likely 20 would be if you were running parallel strings and you needed to deliver higher currents to, say, a terminal block where it would be distributed to the strings. But most of the time that larger gauge is already there coming from the driver.

The 300V insulation is more than adequate for our fixtures but the 600 is not a problem.

 

[TheFishMan65]

I have read that a black heat sink will actually radiate the heat better. IIRC don't paint where the stars go. And you may need a special paint or it may act as an insulator.

In summary you can paint, but do some research.

 

[Obi-dad]

Why does everyone make there arrays in banks with spaces that cause light and dark 'strips'? eg; 6x4 space 6x4 space 6x4. Would it not be more natural to equispace the leds along the length and breadth of the tank, giving equal light throughout?

Not all of us are using the massive heatsink approach. Terahz uses individual mini heatsinks on each LED, some are using LEDs on channel or bar aluminum. I am using a hybrid of those two approaches, LEDs on a bar with mini-heatsinks on the back, all in a plastic tube with mini fans on each end. The light is evenly distributed, very little weight, no splash shield needed, very easy to keep clean.

 

[GEORGEDOPE]

Controller

Controller

Is anyone out there using a Profilux Light II to control there led's?
I have no experiance with any kind of controller and am trying to decide on what to get. I only want to control the sunrise, sunset and moon cycle.
Besides the Profilux there's the Reefkeeper lite with the AlC and MLC or the Apex Lite. Any feed back would be helpfull.

 

[CJO]

Is anyone out there using a Profilux Light II to control there led's?
I have no experiance with any kind of controller and am trying to decide on what to get. I only want to control the sunrise, sunset and moon cycle.
Besides the Profilux there's the Reefkeeper lite with the AlC and MLC or the Apex Lite. Any feed back would be helpfull.

Just wanted to comment that, if you went the Apex route (and assuming you wanted the ability to dim the LEDs), you would probably want the full unit, not just the Lite version. The Lite version does not have variable outputs. Optionally, you could order the Lite version and also order a VDM to add the variable outputs, but I think that would be more expensive.

CJ

 

[TheFishMan65]

George, If you did your own LEDs have you consider DIYing a Hydra or Typhoon.

 

[GEORGEDOPE]

Fishman, I don't think I want to tackle a DIY controller now. It's taken a long time for me to get my mind rapped around the LED lights. Which I finally have. It's as clear as the sky. It will be 3 boxes each with 60 LED's. Each box will have 2 HLG-120-42B. 1 for blue 1 for white. Each driver will have 3 stings of 10 LED's. The Profilux Light II looks the simplist way to dim and control. About $300.00. But I'm not sure if it will do what I want it to do. There web site does not have all the answers. I've found out the GHL form enough to know that the unit has enough current to run 3 dimming functions on the HLG's. I've ask other questions with no response. The Reefkeeper would need a ALC and MLC if I wanted to do moon cycle. About the same price. The Apex about $500.00.

Any body out there have a Profilux Light II?

 

[TheFishMan65]

Sounds like the LEDs aren't up yet. How about just buying a 10V regulated supply and get the LEDs up. Then decide which way you want to go. Sorry I can't help you with controllers.

 

[bdare]

Just because stuff comes in a kit doesn't mean it's the best stuff for a job.

Yes! You have it. You need smaller. MUCH smaller than 18AWG. Your LED strings are only getting about 1A. 24AWG is good for about 5A or so. Thicker wire is stiffer wire. This puts strain on the star pads. Strain that cycles every time your fixture heats up and cools off. Larger wire also means you take longer to solder it to the stars - another risk multiplier. 18 costs more. 18 is heavier.


The only case you might want 18 but more likely 20 would be if you were running parallel strings and you needed to deliver higher currents to, say, a terminal block where it would be distributed to the strings. But most of the time that larger gauge is already there coming from the driver.

The 300V insulation is more than adequate for our fixtures but the 600 is not a problem.

AHHHH!!! I always assumed bigger was better! Thanks for the heads up. I"ll definitely get the thinner wire. My plan is to get one color for each strand in case I have issues I'm hoping it will make it easier to troubleshoot.

 

[Milad]

Fishman, I don't think I want to tackle a DIY controller now. It's taken a long time for me to get my mind rapped around the LED lights. Which I finally have. It's as clear as the sky. It will be 3 boxes each with 60 LED's. Each box will have 2 HLG-120-42B. 1 for blue 1 for white. Each driver will have 3 stings of 10 LED's. The Profilux Light II looks the simplist way to dim and control. About $300.00. But I'm not sure if it will do what I want it to do. There web site does not have all the answers. I've found out the GHL form enough to know that the unit has enough current to run 3 dimming functions on the HLG's. I've ask other questions with no response. The Reefkeeper would need a ALC and MLC if I wanted to do moon cycle. About the same price. The Apex about $500.00.

Any body out there have a Profilux Light II?

i have the apex controller (full unit) + a break out box. probably one of the best purchases I made. really good customer services too (lcd unit died on me once)

dont think of it as just controlling your LEDs, you can control all kinds of stuff. Ive gotten calls from home asking me to turn on the lights when im on the other side of the city and a quick push of a button on my iphone and lights are on, or xxx pump turns off, xx pump turns on etc etc.

mind you i havent setup my LED lights but I already have the wiring ready to connect to the apex controller.

 

[RCBrooke]

Kcress, I pulled up a chart on the internet the listed 24awg wire for panel (?) amperage and power amperage. The Power amperage was less then one amp. Guess you used the other number or it was bad info. Could you give appropriate amps for 24, 22, 20 ,18? I'm going to guess there's no need to think lower even for parallel set-up's.

Thanks.

 

[widmer]

I'm going to place my guess here: The charts you're looking at are assuming household voltage @ the amps they are listing. This would cause lots more (like more than twice as much) power to be traveling through the wire at the given amp rating. IE 120v household x 1 amp = 120 watts transmitted through the wire while 48v meanwell x 1 amp = 48 watts transmitted through the wire. This is my guess, electronics is definitely not my field :lolspin:

 

[TheFishMan65]

NO, I deals with the resistance of the wire I beleive. There are so many ohms per foot. If you are transmitting over a long distance you have a loss of IIR (current * current * resistance). You need the larger guage to keep this resistance down.

There is also about skin affect, but I think that only deal swith AC.

I am sure kcress will be along to crrect me if I am wrong.

 

[TheFishMan65]

OOPS the IR in that equation also is the voltage drop of the transmission so there is a risk that you can have an awful lot of voltage drop with thin wire and large currents.

 

[wld1783]

Fishman, I don't think I want to tackle a DIY controller now. It's taken a long time for me to get my mind rapped around the LED lights. Which I finally have. It's as clear as the sky. It will be 3 boxes each with 60 LED's. Each box will have 2 HLG-120-42B. 1 for blue 1 for white. Each driver will have 3 stings of 10 LED's. The Profilux Light II looks the simplist way to dim and control. About $300.00. But I'm not sure if it will do what I want it to do. There web site does not have all the answers. I've found out the GHL form enough to know that the unit has enough current to run 3 dimming functions on the HLG's. I've ask other questions with no response. The Reefkeeper would need a ALC and MLC if I wanted to do moon cycle. About the same price. The Apex about $500.00.

Any body out there have a Profilux Light II?

Nice choice on the HLG -B

Personally I'm a fan of the APEX as they have great CS and you can add numerous modules. Programming for sunrise and sunset was a pain but once done works quite well and a couple of online sources on how to.

For a moonlight I plan on adding 12 Royal Blue and 12 Blue with an ELN 60-48D 6 each on two parallel strings dialed down...My Tank is 10 foot long.
You might want to use less with the ELN 30-27D

Bill

 

[PurpleMonster]

Hi guys, so im looking at the layout of LED's and i just cant seem to figure out how i want to wire it.... I have

28 XRE Royal Blues
20 XPG Cool Whites

Heatsink is 23X8.5

The color of the LED's on here is not the same as i have obviously. This would be if i had a 50/50 mix. I got the sketch from google library,

2 Drivers are dimable and 2 are not, and im thinking of running a blue string on a dim and 1 string of whites on the dim. Turn the other two on once everything is ramped up to 100% with the APEX. One of the drivers(non dim) will have 4 XRE blues, and 8 XPG whites.

Thanks

 

[kcress]

Kcress, I pulled up a chart on the internet the listed 24awg wire for panel (?) amperage and power amperage. The Power amperage was less then one amp. Guess you used the other number or it was bad info. Could you give appropriate amps for 24, 22, 20 ,18? I'm going to guess there's no need to think lower even for parallel set-up's.

Thanks.

The panel value is the one we're interested in. Hence the higher current value.

In the panel situation the wires are so short that the voltage drop isn't an issue, which it would be if the wire was running many feet or hundreds of feet. All wires have heat coming off of them from the I squared R losses and in long runs bundled wire can have issues actually overheating. This isn't usually an issue inside a panel with lots of point to point exposed wire - like our LED luminaries.

 

[kcress]

You'll be fine. The rush is just to charge the input capacitor. They give it only because certain applications really care and also if you plan on using a bunch in one system you'd need to start being concerned about it. BTW that's a low inrush.

 

[laverda]

Fishman, I don't think I want to tackle a DIY controller now. It's taken a long time for me to get my mind rapped around the LED lights. Which I finally have. It's as clear as the sky. It will be 3 boxes each with 60 LED's. Each box will have 2 HLG-120-42B. 1 for blue 1 for white. Each driver will have 3 stings of 10 LED's. The Profilux Light II looks the simplist way to dim and control. About $300.00. But I'm not sure if it will do what I want it to do. There web site does not have all the answers. I've found out the GHL form enough to know that the unit has enough current to run 3 dimming functions on the HLG's. I've ask other questions with no response. The Reefkeeper would need a ALC and MLC if I wanted to do moon cycle. About the same price. The Apex about $500.00.

Any body out there have a Profilux Light II?

FYI the Aquacontroller 3 and 3 Pro can also control/dim your LEDs if you get the Aqua Surf module. The Aquacontrollers are super realiable. I have 3 of the older ones and love them.

 

[juldelf]

where do you guys find the 65° optics on cutter website ?
I only found the 45° Frosted Wide Carclo optics