DIY LEDs - The write-up

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I guess I'm next :dance:
I'm putting together a 24x18x12 nano this summer and was planning on using the kits from rapidled. 12 doesn't seem like enough but 24 seems like too many on such a shallow tank. Which would be a better fit? I also planned on a 2:1 split of RB and NW (possible a 50/50 split of NW and CW for the whites). I was also thinking that optics would probably not be that big of an issue on such a shallow tank.
 
brassmonkyballs,

Nicely done. Do you find the 10" width of your heat sink to be wide enough to provide sufficient light to cover the 2' width of your tank? I have a 180 (6x2x2') and was curious if you get enough light from front to back. Thanks.
 
Rhodes19 said:
brassmonkyballs,

Nicely done. Do you find the 10" width of your heat sink to be wide enough to provide sufficient light to cover the 2' width of your tank? I have a 180 (6x2x2') and was curious if you get enough light from front to back. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Absolutely....without optics the spread is very wide. In my case when I built the canopy I left a 2" opening is the back to pull power cords through. the light from the fixture escapes and lights the wall behind the tank quite nicely. My experience is that 6" on each end and the sides of the fixture lights a tank pretty evenly. Hence 36" long fixture on a 48" long tank. The 10" width does make that 7" rather than 6" but it seems pretty good to me.
 
brassmonkyballs said:
Absolutely....without optics the spread is very wide. In my case when I built the canopy I left a 2" opening is the back to pull power cords through. the light from the fixture escapes and lights the wall behind the tank quite nicely. My experience is that 6" on each end and the sides of the fixture lights a tank pretty evenly. Hence 36" long fixture on a 48" long tank. The 10" width does make that 7" rather than 6" but it seems pretty good to me.
Click to expand...

Cool beans. Thanks brassmonkyballs for the feed back. That will make planing a little easier. :)
 
Can anyone help me out with the advantages/ disadvantages of using xml vs xpg? I belive xml will put out about 2x the limens of xpg when run at 2a compared to the xpg at 1a. Is it safe to assume I can use 1 xml at 2000ma instead of 2 xpg at 1000ma?
 
XMLs have a few drawbacks.

1) We don't quit know yet what to tell you about ratios when you mix them. Like the 66:33 RB:W WPE:XPG ratio a lot of people like is XPE??:XML?? since we don't know.

2) You will still pay more for them for the same amount of light that XPGs dish out because the XMLs are still top dog (leading edge).

3) You will have a harder time finding optics and choice of optics if you need optics.

4) It can be harder to match them up with drivers. Like, what driver are you going to use to get 2000mA? If your build is small enough and you are using ELNs then you only have 1300mA available.

5) Yes you can run them at 2000mA but you better be on your 'A' game with regards to heat sinking.

6) Sometimes you can have a spot lighting issue with them since you tend to have fewer of them you're trying to mix in with XPE RBs.
 
Its amazing what you guys have done here.

2 years ago I embarked on my own LED DIY in an effort to properly light my 50g corner tank.

I ended up designing my own circuit board with 24 CREE LEDS, half blue, half white. Here's a quick shot of the board.

leds.JPG


Its got holes spaced for optics.
Its got 4 buck pucks (installed from the other side)
2 Banks of CREE XRE white
2 Banks of CREE Royal Blue

The circuitry is a small micro for serial communication and the ability to address each bank so you can dim them all independently. There is also a controller circuit board which I was going to use to setup the timing and dimming profiles.

I used 4 buck pucks in this design and the micro controller has the ability to dim the 4 strings independently so you can dial in whatever color/power you want.

Based on what I've read, I think I would have fried any corals I put under this bank! :eek1:

Reading this post made me jump out of bed and go rummaging through the garage to see if I could find my DIY LEDS!
 
Pretty cool. Thanks for showing that.

Only comment: seems the power traces to the LEDs are a little small. Do they get warm?
 
Since I used 2oz copper I was able to shrink the traces by half so I think they're around 15mil or so. Never had an issue with them getting warm. The aluminum and heatsink on the other side, that is another story. I really wanted to use metal core pcbs like the stars, but I couldn't manage to route my circuitry on a single side of the pcb. The 2oz copper performs almost as well as the metal core.

About the time I finished this design I lost my job and had to tear down the tank because of a move, so I never got a chance to thoroughly test them out. I had 3 of these hanging over my 55g corner tank.
 
Sorry about your job..

Did you price the aluminum boards? Last I did it was $2k minimum even if you wanted just one board. ARGH!
 
I priced them but there were no $2k minimums.

If I remember correctly they were about the price of these boards. $80 per board in low qty. 6" x 6". 2 layer. 2oz copper.

I actually have 2 designs. One with the controller and one with just the buck pucks.

I need to do some more research, but are the buck pucks still cost effective or is this meanwell dimmer much cheaper?
 
I used advance circuits (4pcb.com). They couldn't do them directly,but they have a supplier who can do it. I'll try to dig up my old quotes tonight and see if I can find some more price and contact info.
 
!! I've had many jobs done there. I see it's a choice on the quote thingy. :lmao: It dumps out Call for Price.

I'll give them a call. Thanks again.
 
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