DIY LEDs - The write-up

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If I went ahead with fewer LED's than what I think I'll want for the long haul then I will create some way to make it modular. Don't have any idea yet how that would be but it's gotta be doable. Then I can just add "modules" of LED's as I go along. Therefore I won't have to change anything with what's already there, just move the modules closer together to accomodate more.

I guess to boil it all down...If i were starting this tank with just T5's and wanted fowlr, or some very easy corals, how many would you guys suggest? And then extrapolate that answer out to how many LED's give that same amount of light with the same coverage. When I have that answer then I will know if I can afford to do it all at once, or not, or find another option.

And so you know where I'm coming from, this is my first tank of any kind in 30 years so I have NO idea how much of any type of light I need. (Ok, I have some idea, I've been researching for a couple of years) but I'd just like to be told "start here with _____". and have somebody fill in the blank. I thought I had filled in that blank with T5's. Well now LED's have come into the picture and my life got complicated again. lol

Maybe I need to wait for the LED world to catch up. As has been pointed out in this thread a number of times, in a few years it will be amazing to see the options available.

Thanks guys!
 
widmer - Great job. This is what I have been going after for a while now. Have you had any luck finding a PAR meter?

I am looking at creating a lighting set up light Amano's personal tank. Small spotlights over the course of the entire tank. I know I will need more LED's but I am looking at this. Of course I will not have a tank NEARLY his size!

6' from the surface of the water.
6 - 6 LED Pendants with the following heatsinks ( http://www.ledcoolers.com/round-pin-fin-led-heatsinks/ )
3 XR-E RB/3 XP-G on each pendant
8 Degree optics.
Dimmable Buckpuck's - Not sure on 700 or 1000mA
40mm for each pendant
Custom Box for the entire set up.

I think this will give the true rimless look like widmers.

-Dave
 
I've seen mention of MC-E optics as tight as 5 degrees. The MC-E is basically four XR-E emitters on a single chip. That would be like pointing the Death Star at your tank. One of you "ceiling mount" types should try those out. :D
 
ok i think i have my answer. i was just on the "Tanks and Corals under LED Lighting" thread http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1639666 and found menthol's 135 gal, post #29. He replaced 8 T5's with 72 LED's and from the pics the tank is only better lit. SO, now the easy part, designing and building it. For me the first step is always the most confusing, putting it together is much simpler. I just needed to know I where I was headed. and for the "modules" idea, it's exactly how widmer did his. His two are on opposing sides, but you could take the same concept, narrow but long heat sinks. do a few across.

thanks again guys. this will be cool.
 
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DFason said:
widmer - Great job. This is what I have been going after for a while now. Have you had any luck finding a PAR meter?

I am looking at creating a lighting set up light Amano's personal tank. Small spotlights over the course of the entire tank. I know I will need more LED's but I am looking at this. Of course I will not have a tank NEARLY his size!

6' from the surface of the water.
6 - 6 LED Pendants with the following heatsinks ( http://www.ledcoolers.com/round-pin-fin-led-heatsinks/ )
3 XR-E RB/3 XP-G on each pendant
8 Degree optics.
Dimmable Buckpuck's - Not sure on 700 or 1000mA
40mm for each pendant
Custom Box for the entire set up.

I think this will give the true rimless look like widmers.

-Dave
Click to expand...

Dave,

Does LEDCoolers sell to individuals? Any idea regarding prices? Neat heatsinks!

Bob
 
Bob,
I am trying to get a few to try out. They are asking a TON of questions even though I've told them it is for a personal project. If they do not come through I have found a few others with pin heatsinks.

I really want to try them out, maybe we wont need fans!

-Dave

P.S - I want the Death Star look ;)
 
DFason said:
widmer - Great job. This is what I have been going after for a while now. Have you had any luck finding a PAR meter?

I am looking at creating a lighting set up light Amano's personal tank. Small spotlights over the course of the entire tank. I know I will need more LED's but I am looking at this. Of course I will not have a tank NEARLY his size!

6' from the surface of the water.
6 - 6 LED Pendants with the following heatsinks ( http://www.ledcoolers.com/round-pin-fin-led-heatsinks/ )
3 XR-E RB/3 XP-G on each pendant
8 Degree optics.
Dimmable Buckpuck's - Not sure on 700 or 1000mA
40mm for each pendant
Custom Box for the entire set up.

I think this will give the true rimless look like widmers.

-Dave
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comments :) I was just PMd by a local guy who's got one, so hopefully we will be able to schedule something. Go with the 1000 mA buck pucks for sure, IMO it's nice to know that you can reach the upper limit of your LEDs' intensity, and it's quite possible that you may want to keep them at that level. Not sure what your plan is, but you are definitely going to want blues and whites on separate buck pucks so that you can tune the blueness to your preferred level.
 
I've been experimenting with some different heatsinks and thought I'd share.
Here's a shot of the front with it running. Had to put a lens on the LED, as it was blinding me and I couldn't see anything.

4294158221_12aebd44b7_o.jpg




Here's the back of it running. Fan is actually spinning. I turned the fan all the way down to 5V and it's completely silent, but still pushes enough air to keep it cool.

4294158247_81c21c1cdb_o.jpg




And here's the temp. I was touching it and couldn't feel any heat anywhere on it. The hottest spot I could find with the IR thermometer was 86F

4294158285_2b9cccaa45_o.jpg




And lastly, the amps. Ran it at .934 amps for several minutes and saw no rise in temp.

4294901386_c959833e7b_o.jpg


The heatsinks have a very easy mounting bracket. Just run two parallel pieces of angle aluminum and attach them to it. Then mount it anywhere you want.
Here is where I bought them from: Heatsink Link
I actually inquired about wholesale pricing and for qty 300 (enough to cover my tank), they want just over $1 each with free shipping. That's way less than the cost of something from heatsinkusa big enough to cover my entire tank. The fan is drawing 1/4W at 5V, so that would be an extra 70W just for the cooling fans. But it may be worth it considering how much lighter and manageable the unit would be...
 
hmmm. Not sure that makes sense. 70 fans is way beyond ridiculous. With the general cr@p quality of those style fans you'd probably have to be changing one out each day.

That heat sink looks way able to run without any fan. That is far more heatsink than a lot of commercial LED PAR fixtures have and they have no fans.
 
jma1978-

It's a fun idea, but the thought of linking 300 of those together, and spending $300 on them as well....maybe not. For so many LEDs you're much better off using the standard heat sinks everyone has been from www.heatsinkusa.com. If it's a matter of covering a lot of square footage, just get a few smaller heat sinks (like four, not three hundred :))

Another way to look at it as well, is if you were to feed 70 watts of electricity into a different fan....Like this standard 120 mm case fan: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Thermaltake...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item255865b57d

It consumes 5.4 watts and pushes 78 cfm. Say you had ten of them @ 54 watts you could get 780 cfm. That's a lot of air moving... I don't really know where I'm going with this so let's just say that there's much more efficient options out there :lolspin:

However, one of the heat sinks you have pictured would be great for a fish bowl. No joke, it's something I've been thinking about doing for a long time.
 
This is for a 450G tank and the aread I'd be covering is 10ft X 3ft. A heat sink from heatsinkusa of that dimensions is going to be more than $300, and very heavy. That is why I was exploring different options. Maybe I'll see how the heatsinks do without the fan running...
 
All the research I've been doing suggests that groupings of 1 watt LEDS outperform the 3 watt arrays. The new Pacific Sun lights from Poland are getting awesome reviews (even from SPS keepers) and they employ the 1 watt LEDS. I also have a friend in NY who builds 1 watt setups and he actually burned some acans (not bleached, there were spots on them that looked like toast) using a 90 watt spot he built.
 
jma1978 said:
This is for a 450G tank and the aread I'd be covering is 10ft X 3ft. A heat sink from heatsinkusa of that dimensions is going to be more than $300, and very heavy. That is why I was exploring different options. Maybe I'll see how the heatsinks do without the fan running...
Click to expand...

Channel Aluminum! Cheaper than heatsinksusa, without the "trouble" of dealing with 300 distinct parts. This is likely the route I'll go on my 360g (also a plywood tank BTW). With U channel or square tube, you could point a cooling fan down each bar and get plenty of cooling.


Haxer said:
Has anybody tried the 4 up led's from Cutter ? Looks like the same ones on the new AI fixture.

http://www.cutter.com.au/products.php?cat=Cree+XPG
Click to expand...

Interesting. The 4-ups are actually more expensive than buying the individual LEDs, but the 7-up version, with 4 XP-G CW and 3 XP-E RB is not a bad price. Though I wish the ratio was the other way around, and 7 LEDs on a single star is going to be a TON of light/heat from a single point.
 
While we're on the subject, I know this has come up a few times, but can we get feedback from people who have ordered from cutter and had things shipped to the US? I inquired a few months ago and got a not-so-satisfactory response that the best they could do was "the slow boat" (several weeks in transit) with no insurance and no tracking. Which is unfortunate, because their selection and pricing on some products is just awesome.
 
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