DIY LEDs - The write-up

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Guys n gals....do what we all did ok. During your free time, grab a cup of Coffey or drink and sit down. Read all you can from the beginning. Yeah, it`s alot and yeah, you`ll see alot of redundant questions that you can just skip over. It will take you a couple of weeks to do this BUT, by bookmarking, printing and reading, you become informed on the topic. I`ve been at this for months now and i`m just getting used to it. There`s ALOT to learn. Do your homework...THEN ask questions. It`s a reef hobby, don`t be inpatient :)
 
And so did I.

Still reading, Coffy making (cause you're not gonna make it with just one cup) learning all about electricity, doing some math, looking for the best price/quality, and finaly ordering and collecting stuf from all over the world.
And that's great fun to do, everytime I push the button which says 'confirm payment' I get a verry strange feeling in my stomach.
A Soldering station - wires and other soldering stuf from my home country, 3 Meanwells and 48 XM-Ls from China, 70 Royal Blues -3 controllers and 140 optics from the US, 20 7"x 4" heatsinks from Germany and a rapidly deminishing bank-account :debi:
'Welcom to the DIY LED part of Reef Central'
 
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I would suggest starting with the summary and understanding that. Then as you read you can fill in the blanks. Please let me know where those blanks are and I will correct the summary.
 
'Short' question:
So I have been trying to balance my 4 parallel strings of 12 LEDs, and during one of the balancing process something weird seemed to happen and I just want to make sure it is normal 'short' behavior.

Like I said, I have 4 parallel strings of 12, somewhere in one of the first LEDs in each string, there is a short.

--(1)--()--()--etc.
--(2)--()--()--etc.
--(3)--()--()--etc.
--(4)--()--()--etc.

When I short test the FIRST (and only first) LED on strings 1,2,3, & 4, the first LED on 4 lights up. If I disconnect the lead into string 4 and use it as one side of a diode test on the first LEDs of strings 1,2, & 3, they light up (first LED on strings 1,2,& 3). All soldering looks good, I have redone them a couple times (will probably do them all again).

I am thinking that the short is in the string 4 first LED, but what is throwing me is the using the string 4 lead in line and lighting the other LEDs with it.

Any thoughts? If this is unclear just ask and I will try to clarify. Thanks.
 
sammy113 said:
188eccb5.jpg

e2b8e162.jpg

I was testing my new lamp for temp hoping I can use it without fans (just for a cleaner exposed heatsink look) and I used a piece of electrical tape next to the LED's and the IR thermometer is reading ~125F how does that sound? the fins are about ~100F

Any suggestion?
Click to expand...

Sammy,

Do you have any updated pics of this?
 
chris023 said:
'Short' question:
So I have been trying to balance my 4 parallel strings of 12 LEDs, and during one of the balancing process something weird seemed to happen and I just want to make sure it is normal 'short' behavior.

Like I said, I have 4 parallel strings of 12, somewhere in one of the first LEDs in each string, there is a short.

--(1)--()--()--etc.
--(2)--()--()--etc.
--(3)--()--()--etc.
--(4)--()--()--etc.

When I short test the FIRST (and only first) LED on strings 1,2,3, & 4, the first LED on 4 lights up. If I disconnect the lead into string 4 and use it as one side of a diode test on the first LEDs of strings 1,2, & 3, they light up (first LED on strings 1,2,& 3). All soldering looks good, I have redone them a couple times (will probably do them all again).

I am thinking that the short is in the string 4 first LED, but what is throwing me is the using the string 4 lead in line and lighting the other LEDs with it.

Any thoughts? If this is unclear just ask and I will try to clarify. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Okay... looks like it did have a screw touching something on the first LED of string 4. Fixed that.

I do still have the ability to touch a negative pad on any of the first LEDs in a string and touch the positive pad of another first LED in another string and have it light up. This is only on the first LEDs of the strings. Everything lights up fine. Is this normal?
 
Acclimate to New LEDs Lights

Acclimate to New LEDs Lights

ok so I finish my DIY LEDs Fixture it is a 48" by 10" Over a 90 gal 15-17" above the water tank is 20" deep i have 56 whites and 56 royal blues with dimeable mean well drivers 14 leds per driver controlled by apex blue and white leds on different drivers
WHAT IS THE BEST PROCESS TO ACCLIMATE THE CORAL I HAVE A MIX SPS LPS AND ZOAS
I used to have 2 250 MH Light
Thanks
 
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Want to mount my (2) ELN-60-48Ds in my cabinet and run the wires (2 parallel strings of 12 XP-E RB LEDs and 2 Parallel strings of 12 XP-G CW LEDs) about 7 feet to my DIY LED fixture.

Can I do it and what effect will it have on the LEDs performance?

What guage wire should I use from the fuse/resistor blocks to the first LED?
 
LEDs

LEDs

jrizo1 said:
ok so I finish my DIY LEDs Fixture it is a 48" by 10" Over a 90 gal 15-17" above the water tank is 20" deep i have 56 whites and 56 royal blues with dimeable mean well drivers 14 leds per driver controlled by apex blue and white leds on different drivers
WHAT IS THE BEST PROCESS TO ACCLIMATE THE CORAL I HAVE A MIX SPS LPS AND ZOAS
I used to have 2 250 MH Light
Thanks
Click to expand...

Some folks think they are acclimating their corals slowly to this new type of light. Only to find out it`s not long enough. Are you ready to do the right thing? I`m working on my new LED fixture atm. If i`m going through all this effort to do this, i`d better be willing to do the right thing for my animals....right? You ready? Start at the dimmest setting. If you have to, use dark colored fiberglass window screen and layer it to give you more flexibility.
Then, RESIGN YOURSELF TO WAIT. Wait a year...or more, to finally have your LEDs at the level you want. I`m not going to make a powerful LED fixture only to burn the crap out of my corals. I`m also going to buy a PAR sensor and make regular readings,(thanks to Fishmans advice). Can you handle that much patience? :thumbsup:
 
S2minute said:
Some folks think they are acclimating their corals slowly to this new type of light. Only to find out it`s not long enough. Are you ready to do the right thing? I`m working on my new LED fixture atm. If i`m going through all this effort to do this, i`d better be willing to do the right thing for my animals....right? You ready? Start at the dimmest setting. If you have to, use dark colored fiberglass window screen and layer it to give you more flexibility.
Then, RESIGN YOURSELF TO WAIT. Wait a year...or more, to finally have your LEDs at the level you want. I`m not going to make a powerful LED fixture only to burn the crap out of my corals. I`m also going to buy a PAR sensor and make regular readings,(thanks to Fishmans advice). Can you handle that much patience? :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

One thing I don't understand and i want to hear the argument to is: If you're running metal halides or T5's and getting X PAR.....why does everyone think you have to acclimate (re-acclimate) your corals if your LED fixture puts out the same X PAR? To me you do more harm dimming to the lowest setting after they have spent years at X PAR. I agree that if you suddenly blast it with 2x the PAR level you're going to bleach some stuff but I don't buy the acclimate at the lowest setting for months or a year. And lets face it, there's no reason to have 2X PAR...nothing you keep needs it if you already use halides or a nice T5 fixture. Plus in my opinion color temp is just as important in coral coloration.

I don't see anybody acclimating when they upgrade standard lighting for example. Same thing when you buy a new coral...you don't keep it in the dark. Sure you might place it at the bottom of the tank initially and then move it up over time but for all intents and purposes its going from one lighting system to yours....and most aquaculturists are running pretty intense lighting and trying to maximize growth.

If we did a survey I wonder how many people just go all out and never lose anything? For me..... I have built 3 fixtures over the last year, I set it to the mix and brightness I liked and did no acclimation. In that time I lost no corals. One piece, a tri-color acro, lost the purple color on its tips until I took out the 50/50 CW/RB mix and went to 60/40 RB/CW. But even when the purple washed out the polyps were fully extended and the piece was growing.

Anyhow thats just my 2 cents.....which means just that...what I do/have done works for me....mileage may vary with different folks and systems.
 
Leds

Leds

Well alright :), glad to hear it! I also hear many cases where peoples corals DO bleach...or die. Have to admit you have alot of Brassmonkyballs doing it your way. :hmm6:
 
So per recommendation on reef central I will be probably going with cree xpg's for cw and xre for blues. I've got a 125 with 2 braces. Now, my question is how many leds could I get away with for each section of the 125? My only aquascaping will be 3 rock towers, one in each section of the tank. Could i use 24 leads per section only lighting the rock towers or will that leave me with shadowing on the sides? Or should I go with say, 36 leds per heat sink and have them evenly spaced out over each section of the tank? Also, what is the most common ratio people use with these leds? I would imagine 2:1?
 
That's one awesome looking DIY fixture. Good job.

I was thinking about doing the same, with separate holes for each lens using a black acrylic splash screen.
 
S2minute said:
Reefkush, use RB XPEs not XREs. XPEs are next gen leds for RB. Look for D4 16 inXPE RB.
Click to expand...

What's the difference between XP-E and XR-E besides XP is a next generation LED.
Comparing data sheets doesn't give an answer, looks the same to me.
Except for the XR and XP at the beginning even the ordercodes are the same; XPEROY-L1-0000-00A01 and XREROY-L1-0000-00A01.
Also D4 or D5 applies to both LEDs
I'm just curious, I have ordered 70 XR-Es and they're on their way, so I can't go back anymore.

Edit: and at RapidLed the XR-Es are even more expensive than the XP-Es, maybe that's the reason to go with XP-E?
 
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Jimmy54 said:
What's the difference between XP-E and XR-E besides XP is a next generation LED.
Comparing data sheets doesn't give an answer, looks the same to me.
Except for the XR and XP at the beginning even the ordercodes are the same; XPEROY-L1-0000-00A01 and XREROY-L1-0000-00A01 .
I'm just curious, I have ordered 70 XR-Es and they're on their way, so I can't go back anymore.
Click to expand...

I don't see a difference other than smaller package and possibly less optics options. A great thing I like is that the lenses are smaller so it makes possible to do lower profile lamps. If you don't use any optics the viewing angle is wider than XR-E but in most cases you'll want to use optics.
 
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