DIY LEDs - The write-up

[mouse51180]

WOW - This is a lot to take in.

I just came across this posting yesterday and have been reading into it, but there is just sooooooo much information.

Can anyone give a short cliff notes about what everyone has found so far on what works well in a reef tank and how to determine the number of LEDs you would need to swap out a MH/T5 system?

Thanks for any help you can give.
Back to reading...

 

[widmer]

Agreed... What started out as a small thread by Soundwave to serve as a step-by-step guide to making an LED fixture has turned into a monster of a thread about tossing ideas around and random Q&A. I wonder if der_wille wants to put together a cool new guide to making an LED fixture, and maybe get the thread locked so it doesn't get bogged down, because he's been answering most questions here?

Anyways, to answer your question, everyone here seems to be using Cree LED stars. They will be either XR-E or XP-G. Most people will do one LED per 10-20 square inches of water, but it's looking like it's safe to lean toward the lower density end, especially if you buy XP-G because they put out 1.4x the light as XR-E. It would really help if you go back to the very first post by Soundwave which started this thread. He put together an excellent introduction.

 

[stugray]

"Can you or Stu or anyone clue me in on some sort of clue to make it work??"

One trick is to take some solder braid ( for removing solder ) and remove all the solder form the pads. While doing this you rub hard ( abrade ) the pad.

If done right, you will feel the braid "squeak" as you rub it back and forth.
Normally you would need to complete the whole step in ~5 seconds, but with your LEDs mounted to the heatsink, it might take a bit longer.

Then resolder the pad to the wire.

If that fails, then you might need some extra liquid flux.
I use a syringe and place a tiny drop over the solder blob & reflow it.

HTH

Stu

 

[mouse51180]

It would really help if you go back to the very first post by Soundwave which started this thread. He put together an excellent introduction.

Yes I have been reading his instructions 2-3 times, but with that being almost a full year ago since that was written I was wondering what has changed since then.

Im just worried about not getting enough light to the tank because I underestimated my need nor do I want to look like am landing aircrafts in my media room becuase I have gone overboard with the lights.

 

[Santoki]

I'm glad that after almost 10 years, the concept is finally catching on here!
-R

 

[stugray]

"I wonder if der_wille wants to put together a cool new guide to making an LED fixture"

I think that the whole topic of LEDs should get it's very own sub-forum like the R3CA project one at the top of the DIY forum.

It would get rid of a lot of clutter & reduce the number of "how do I make an LED light" threads that pop up daily.

Stu

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Keep your eyes peeled, guys. There are a few things in the works that should address some of the concerns about organizing/summing LED knowledge.

mouse, can you describe the tank you're trying to use LEDs on? Size? Height that the fixture will be above water level? Desired intensity (i.e. high light SPS, or mushrooms)? If you were going to use MH/T5, what would your rig look like?

 

[widmer]

I'm glad that after almost 10 years, the concept is finally catching on here!
-R

:frog: Wouldn't Amano's tank be more synonymous with solar tubes? People have been playing with those for quite a while now... But yea I was wondering why no one has beat me to mounting these LEDs on the ceiling. I was inspired way back with LFP's xenon projector thread, and ever since have been very surprised that no one who actually had money was inspired as well. If I had the cash, I would have done this a year ago...

 

[mouse51180]

mouse, can you describe the tank you're trying to use LEDs on? Size? Height that the fixture will be above water level? Desired intensity (i.e. high light SPS, or mushrooms)? If you were going to use MH/T5, what would your rig look like?

Right now I have a 48" MH/T5 ficture from aqutinics http://www.aquactinics.com/pages/MH-T5.html

Its on an 80gallon bowfront tank. I have had issues with my water reading and have not gotten into to much reef keeping yet, but really want to once I get my water correct. I do have a one rock of mushrooms a friend gave me that is doing suprisingly well, but other then that I know that I want to have a clam or two, deffinatly some zonathids and other SPS, but will probably have a little bit of everything. I dont want to limit myself.

 

[Crazy35111]

Where did everyone get their supplies from? I've found a couple places but not all have all that I need.. also prices vary quite a bit.
Here are a few
deal extreme
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15943

rapid led

lckled

LEDZ

ledsupply.com

Anyone want to add?

How about the ebay chinese buy 10x 3w led?
red led

blue

Nanotuners.com

 

[stealle]

regarding UV LED bulbs...

...
No. And if it did you would be hard pressed to get one due to the high danger it would pose to non-technical users. When low power UV LEDs came out a designer had to sign papers and demonstrate commercial usage.

UV-A falls in the 315nm-400nm spectrum. It is kinda controversial as to the danger of UV-A. Recent studies show that it probably does cause skin cancer but, it is not as strongly linked to DNA damage as UV-B and UV-C. Anyway... I don't want to get into a debate about that. One thing is for sure...

LEDs that fall in the top end of the UV-A spectrum (~375nm - 405nm) are readily available. I just haven't seen them available as an LED mounted on a star. But here is the closest thing I have found: UV-390nm-3W-LED-Bulb, you can find all sorts of flashlights such as this one on Amazon 395nm Flashlight - 3W LEDs

I do not want to use a ton of UV bulbs. Just a few in the front of the tank and running then during dusk and dawn only for a little extra pop (and fun).

These bulbs are also found on some of the newer LED fixtures coming out for marine aquariums. Such as several models from Pacific Sun which uses "4 kinds of LED chip - 420nm, 450nm, 14.000K and additional UVA chip". Found here: Pacific sun

I'm just looking for 3W on star availability.

 

[sbleile]

Just in case someone is looking to get some XR-Es in Cool White, you may want to check out http://www.xmeteorlight.com/index.html . They are $5.00 a piece, but they take up to three weeks to get here from Hong Kong.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

:frog: Wouldn't Amano's tank be more synonymous with solar tubes? People have been playing with those for quite a while now... But yea I was wondering why no one has beat me to mounting these LEDs on the ceiling. I was inspired way back with LFP's xenon projector thread, and ever since have been very surprised that no one who actually had money was inspired as well. If I had the cash, I would have done this a year ago...

If I wasn't doing in-wall, and wasn't building the tank, sump, stand, lighting, controller, etc. from scratch, I woulda done that a year ago, too! Amano's tank is the type of inspiration that keeps me in this hobby.

Right now I have a 48" MH/T5 ficture from aqutinics http://www.aquactinics.com/pages/MH-T5.html

Its on an 80gallon bowfront tank. I have had issues with my water reading and have not gotten into to much reef keeping yet, but really want to once I get my water correct. I do have a one rock of mushrooms a friend gave me that is doing suprisingly well, but other then that I know that I want to have a clam or two, deffinatly some zonathids and other SPS, but will probably have a little bit of everything. I dont want to limit myself.

Soundwave's original fixture was a tank similar to yours in size, he used 48 LEDs which is probably a bit low by "today's standards." You might want to be in the 60 - 70 range, assuming a typical installation - 700mA drive, 50% XR-E cool white Q5, 50% royal blue, 8 - 10" mounting height. If you'll be much higher than that, I'd consider optics.

Just in case someone is looking to get some XR-Es in Cool White, you may want to check out http://www.xmeteorlight.com/index.html . They are $5.00 a piece, but they take up to three weeks to get here from Hong Kong.

Have you ordered from there? In what sort of quantities? That is a good price, but they're mounted on a different MCPCB than we typically get. Also notable for people with nonstandard requirements, they have MC-Es at the best price I've ever seen, in the K bin, which is the one you want.

 

[sbleile]

I have ordered twice from them 57 Cool Whites on one order and 68 on another order... No problems, other then it take a while to get here from Hong Kong... but that's not really a concern if you have the time.

 

[kcress]

stealle; Thanks for that UV LED info I was un-aware.


Wid; Often when you don't have a high enough power iron you end up with a flux mess. A sort of runny pool that prevents any actual soldering to occur. Then you go back and try again and again and it gets worse and worse.

At this point I think the suggestions to abraid the surface is what you need to try. Use sand paper or a jeweler's file to "reach the shine". Then pre-solder like Stu likes to do and then come back with a pre-tinned wire.

What wattage is your iron and what type tip is it?
What solder are you using?

 

[stealle]

It doesn't say anything. I can tell you cause I've ordered 4 times from them now. Heres a pic

These are nicely pre-tinned. That looks like a pretty big blob. I would think that if you had your wires pre-tinned ahead of time, you wouldn't need any additional solder. I would think you could just hold the pre-tinned wire onto the pre-tinned star, place you clean pre-tinned soldering iron on top of the wire and just let them melt together. I'd pay a little extra for these pre-tinned stars.

 

[mdisalvo55]

I just bought 4 additional CREE royal blue LED's I want to glue onto my pendant and wire up, but I am out of glue. So I was wondering what type of glue should I get from the hardware store to use? Do I have to get the glue from rapidled.com?

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

You MUST use something that's thermally conductive. Most epoxies and adhesives aren't very good in that department unless they've been specifically designed as such. A hardware store might not have anything, but a place like Radio Shack might - I know they carry arctic silver brand thermal paste so they may have the epoxy, too.

Of course you could drill and screw them down with a dot of thermal grease instead.

 

[mdisalvo55]

Just got off the phone with someone at the local radioshack, he said they carry thermal heatsink compound for gluing heatsinks to CPU's. Does this sound like it would work?

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Maybe? Is it actually an adhesive? 99% of the time, in a PC, the heatsink is clamped to the CPU with thermal grease between - not glued down. But if it is an adhesive, it'll probably be fine - you could always get the brand and post it here if you want more reassurance.