DIY LEDs - The write-up

[brassmonkyballs]

that sure is strange. Have you tested the POTs values across the range? You said when open it puts out full so its very strange...and you said your other driver works fine with the same testing? So maybe its a 240 thing and you need to contact Meanwell. can't think of anything everybody else has suggested.

 

[bmwaaron]

bmwarron, Still trying to figure out light levels also, but yeah turn them down IMHO.

Well I turned off the T5s and setup the LED's to run the tank 100%. I think I am a little light on number of LED's but as far as par goes Im right around BMB's numbers.
With 80 LEDs on my 200 gallon My PAR readings are 320 at the top about 250 in the middle and 150 at the bottom of the tank.
This is with 60 Royal blues and 20 Neutral whites.
I switched it up so that the Royal blues are running 12 hours and the NW are running 8 hours, both go to 100% at there peek but are controled by a profilux. I am running 55 degree optics on blues and 80 on whites.
I am considering adding some more LED's. Was thinking 20 Blues, 10 or so Greens and maybe 3 UV's.
Any other sugestions?

 

[brassmonkyballs]

Fwiw I can get over 500 on top and 200 on that sand bed when fully cranked. I'm dimmed back to 250 and 100. Fixture is 8 or 9" from water

Coverage is definitely the more important thing IMO.

 

[widmer]

In case anyone's interested, here are a few more shots of the fixture I'm working on:

Shot of everything all wired up:

The shroud roughly fitted on:

Can anyone name that material I used for the shroud? :lol:

The barndoor shades aren't attached yet (think theater lighting). Also, please note my high-tech soldering station in the first pic :lolspin:

BTW here are a couple posts with other pics from earlier in the thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=19209081&postcount=7441

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=19225845&postcount=7471

 

[ghellin]

Looks like guttering lol.

Awesome build what optics are you using?

 

[widmer]

Correct it's 4"x3" downspout tube. Yes, the shroud used $4 worth of material. I think it's all going to come together well when I attach the ends and shades. Optics are ~12 degrees Carlco from LEDSupply.com. Carlco makes excellent optics btw.

 

[kcress]

Nice widdy. I want to see how you put the barn doors on without it looking tacky.

 

[jkopp36]

Update on HLG-240 dimming issues:

I did some quick troubleshooting this morning. The array strings operate perfectly both individually and as an array using a ELN-60-48D with the 1.5vdc-10vdc dimming circuit. I am at a loss as to what is going on with these 240's and sent an email to Mean Well. Not sure if they'll bother to respond or not. I have four extra ELN's around so I may just run the RBs with 3 of those instead - 2 strings of 14 per ELN. I do not feel like shelling out any more $$$ on drivers.

Anybody want to "play" with one of these 240s? I will be going out of town next Saturday and do not plan on installing the LED setup on our tank before then - don't want the wife to have to try to deal with any issues. :thumbsup:

 

[widmer]

Don't worry kcress I'll try not to disappoint you :lol:.

The "barndoors" are going to be really cool actually. Each LED won't be getting its own barndoors, but rather just the two strips will. They will still be fully adjustable. I'm using ~1.5" flat aluminum channel, painting it white on the outside/black on the inside, and rounding out the corners to match the shroud.

 

[ryan115]

So I have the ok from the wife:debi: and I am about ready to pull the trigger on my purchases, but I wanted one last overlook from the group. The fixture is for a standard 180g (72x24x24) LPS dominant. Plans are as follows.

U-channel aluminum for heat sink ~4" between rows and ~3" between leds (not countin over dividers)
Planning on mounting ~9"-12" above the water
-50 XP-E RB - 5 strings of 10 running on a HLG-150H-36B
-24 XP-G CW - 2 strings of 12 running on a LPF-90D-42
-12 XP-G NW - 1 string on a LPF-60D-42
I am still thinking about which optics, if any, I am going to use. I am not that worried about extremely high par being an LPS dominant tank. Would I need any, and if so what degree? I was thinking 80deg.
My layout plan looks like this...

Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[brassmonkyballs]

Update on HLG-240 dimming issues:

I did some quick troubleshooting this morning. The array strings operate perfectly both individually and as an array using a ELN-60-48D with the 1.5vdc-10vdc dimming circuit. I am at a loss as to what is going on with these 240's and sent an email to Mean Well. Not sure if they'll bother to respond or not. I have four extra ELN's around so I may just run the RBs with 3 of those instead - 2 strings of 14 per ELN. I do not feel like shelling out any more $$$ on drivers.

Anybody want to "play" with one of these 240s? I will be going out of town next Saturday and do not plan on installing the LED setup on our tank before then - don't want the wife to have to try to deal with any issues. :thumbsup:

Hopefully they will respond....something strange is going on.

 

[brassmonkyballs]

So I have the ok from the wife:debi: and I am about ready to pull the trigger on my purchases, but I wanted one last overlook from the group. The fixture is for a standard 180g (72x24x24) LPS dominant. Plans are as follows.

U-channel aluminum for heat sink ~4" between rows and ~3" between leds (not countin over dividers)
Planning on mounting ~9"-12" above the water
-50 XP-E RB - 5 strings of 10 running on a HLG-150H-36B
-24 XP-G CW - 2 strings of 12 running on a LPF-90D-42
-12 XP-G NW - 1 string on a LPF-60D-42
I am still thinking about which optics, if any, I am going to use. I am not that worried about extremely high par being an LPS dominant tank. Would I need any, and if so what degree? I was thinking 80deg.
My layout plan looks like this...

Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

I would consider going up to 96 total LEDs just from a coverage perspective. I know you're not worried about PAR but you can always dim them and you don't want any spot lighting if they are spread far apart. This can also be further affected by use of optics.

How high the fixture will be above the water really determines what optic to use.

Are those LPF drivers available?

 

[rysher]

Update on HLG-240 dimming issues:

I did some quick troubleshooting this morning. The array strings operate perfectly both individually and as an array using a ELN-60-48D with the 1.5vdc-10vdc dimming circuit. I am at a loss as to what is going on with these 240's and sent an email to Mean Well. Not sure if they'll bother to respond or not. I have four extra ELN's around so I may just run the RBs with 3 of those instead - 2 strings of 14 per ELN. I do not feel like shelling out any more $$$ on drivers.

Anybody want to "play" with one of these 240s? I will be going out of town next Saturday and do not plan on installing the LED setup on our tank before then - don't want the wife to have to try to deal with any issues. :thumbsup:

it is better if you call them, they have pretty good phone tech support.
i called them with a driver issue a couple weeks back.


BMB, are you renting your par meter? is it the meter that can be attached to the multimeter like you told me?

 

[ryan115]

Brass, I know I am currently on the low side for coverage, however may rock work is set in 2 islands that run down the middle of the tank at least 4 inches from both front and back glass, and with the linear design it wont be too much if I need to add more leds later on. So I am figuring out the coverage for each area to be about 20"x22" which I think would put me just about right. Would you expect to see spotlighting with the spacing I am looking at and the fixture 9"-12" above the water? What about with 80deg optics?

I do have a vendor with the LPFs in stock, however they only have a couple of each, so I will divulge that information once I place my order just to be on the safe side.
Thanks

 

[jkopp36]

Hopefully they will respond....something strange is going on.

I agree. I went ahead and did some quick rewiring to get three strings of 12 instead of 6 of 6 on the XPG CWs and tried the 240 on the array. Does the same thing and the ELN again works fine on it.

it is better if you call them, they have pretty good phone tech support.
i called them with a driver issue a couple weeks back.

Good to know. I'll try to call them tomorrow.

 

[rysher]

I do have a vendor with the LPFs in stock, however they only have a couple of each, so I will divulge that information once I place my order just to be on the safe side.
Thanks

if the vendor is the same vendor i am thinking, they have limited supply, like 4-5 each on hand. there's a new one coming out in 4-6 weeks, the LPF 90D.

 

[ryan115]

if the vendor is the same vendor i am thinking, they have limited supply, like 4-5 each on hand. there's a new one coming out in 4-6 weeks, the LPF 90D.

That sounds about right.
A couple of weeks ago they said they had some of the 90D on order.

 

[brassmonkyballs]

That sounds about right.
A couple of weeks ago they said they had some of the 90D on order.

Whats the pricing going to be on this line? Nice to see some more options.

Rysher...we can hook up to take some readings of your tank. Ping me over on BARS

 

[ryan115]

60d $40.69
90d $54.44
the main thing I like on these are being able to dim with just a 100Kohm resistor

 

[brassmonkyballs]

60d $40.69
90d $54.44
the main thing I like on these are being able to dim with just a 100Kohm resistor

Nice pricing...PFC front end....and yes the dimming is nice. I'm using the 100k ohm resister on my HLGs and its nice...although I'm putting a purpose built controller on them very soon....another benefit of the 3 in 1 dimming