DIY LEDs - The write-up

[HndMafia]

I need a little input for ordering heatsinks for my led build. I have a 210 aga (72x24x27) subtracting for cross bracing and overflows, my three openings for light are 16 x 22. I was thinking of ordering 3 pcs of 8.460 x 15 from heatsinksusa and mounting sixty leds per heatsink for a total of 180 leds. Your expert guidance is appreciated

 

[kgk]

>$800 online for 84 LEDs and 14 Dimmable Buckpucks. Wow. Where are you guys buying your LEDs and drivers? I could use Meanwell drivers as well, but cost/LED is worse then if the prices on RapidLED are to be believed.

 

[laverda]

>$800 online for 84 LEDs and 14 Dimmable Buckpucks. Wow. Where are you guys buying your LEDs and drivers? I could use Meanwell drivers as well, but cost/LED is worse then if the prices on RapidLED are to be believed.

84 LEDs and 7 dimable Meanwells would have only been $643.00 shipped on the nano-reef group buy. Hopefully there will be another one soon and prices should be coming down.

 

[captstinky]

Searching for the meanwell drivers is proving to be a little tricky. Some places for $60, some places for $20- wouldn't you knwo the $20 won't sell retail.

Any leads on reputable vendors? My royal blue LEDS arrived, still waiting on the white...

Doing a small setup, 24 LEDS, so two MW seem the way to go...

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I need a little input for ordering heatsinks for my led build. I have a 210 aga (72x24x27) subtracting for cross bracing and overflows, my three openings for light are 16 x 22. I was thinking of ordering 3 pcs of 8.460 x 15 from heatsinksusa and mounting sixty leds per heatsink for a total of 180 leds. Your expert guidance is appreciated

Will you be using optics? What mounting height? If you'll have optics and/or the fixture will be close to the water, I'd go wider to get better spread. Assuming you want it.

wouldn't you knwo the $20 won't sell retail.

Surely, Captstinky Manufacturing Inc. is in the prototyping stage for a new lighting product and needs to buy a small number of drivers for evaluation purposes.

 

[HndMafia]

Will you be using optics? What mounting height? If you'll have optics and/or the fixture will be close to the water, I'd go wider to get better spread. Assuming you want it.

I was going to mount atop my canopy, which is 12" tall and use 80 deg optics. Should I use 3 pcs of 10" stock mounted parallel to the front of the tank or should I use 6pcs of the 5" stock and run them perpendicular to the front of the tank?

 

[shackscs]

Has a working prototype board been made available yet?

I have been reading along but can't seem to recall a working board yet.

If there is, will it be made available to download in Eagle or one of the other CAD formats to be sent off and a PCB made?

I ask because my last original PS for my Solaris has died. I will make a new DIY cable and use an off the shelve PS as I have done in the past, but I want to start working away from the Solaris LED Boards and this setup.

Thanks,

Posted in the wrong forum. Too many LED threads to follow.

I was referring to your DIY driver board DER.

 

[timmmysli]

Thought I might share this cree update I recieved in the mail:

Cree's tests confirmed that the LED produced 208 lumens of light output and achieved 208 lumens per watt efficacy at a correlated color temperature of 4579 K. The tests were conducted under standard LED test conditions at a drive current of 350 mA at room temperature.

"œWe have now broken the elusive 200-lumen-per-watt efficacy barrier for a single white power LED," said John Edmond, Cree co-founder and director of advanced optoelectronics. "œThis is a result of improvements in blue optical output power, lower operating voltage and higher conversion efficiency. We continue to push the envelope in white LED technology to enable the highest efficiency white lighting products in the marketplace."

200 Lm @ 1 watt thats getting better and thier K is slowly rising which is good to see.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I was going to mount atop my canopy, which is 12" tall and use 80 deg optics. Should I use 3 pcs of 10" stock mounted parallel to the front of the tank or should I use 6pcs of the 5" stock and run them perpendicular to the front of the tank?

Honestly either would probably work fine. Three of the bigger pieces would probably be my choice.

I was referring to your DIY driver board DER.

Replied in that thread.

200 Lm @ 1 watt thats getting better and thier K is slowly rising which is good to see.

It's wicked good to see. And if you've followed any of their other LED R&D efforts, it's been common that the efficacy gets better as color gets cooler. So by the time that LED is made in a color we want, it might be even better still.

 

[widmer]

That even blows high pressure sodium lamps away in terms of efficiency. The HPS lamps can't do any better than 150 lumens/watt as far as I know. So if Cree can keep increasing the affordability, I bet they could replace all the street/highway lamps in the US etc etc etc. Imagine how profitable that could be for Cree, they could be the next google....

 

[chuckstyl5]

on a 72 bow front measuring 48" x 18" x 22"H how many LEDs would you guys use ...
XR-E's would be used cw and rb ... meanwell drivers and reefkeeper controller ... i was thinking 54 total

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I bet they could replace all the street/highway lamps in the US etc etc etc.

It's already happening. I left my prior employer this fall - right around that time, they'd begun replacing street lamps on their ~500 acre campus with LED units. They provided a similar output in terms of light reaching the ground in a useful manner, but ran at a lower power, and had a MUCH longer projected lifetime. Plus, no lamp replacement on regular intervals (which costs a lot institutionally, since you're probably paying a licensed electrician to go out there and change the lamps!) Familiar story, huh?

 

[nitjt]

Ok so I am ready to get started with my build 100 LEDs of my 135 gal bow front 48" long, 24" wide in the center and 29" deep. I think I will go with 42 XPG Cool white, and 48 XPE royal blue driven by 7 Meanwell eln 60-48D drivers. Three to drive the XPGs and the 4 to drive the Royal blue. I will have five heat sinks 8.5 inches wide two 13 inches long two 15 inches and one in the center 17 inches long, set up to follow the contour of the bow front tank. Not sure if I will use optics, but I do have 60% SPS and clams on the sand bed. I have the ability to move the array anywhere from a few inches two a couple feet off the suface of the water. I will be replacing two 250W de fixtures over driven by dimmable Lumentek ballasts and 4 X 54W t5 for actinic. What do you guys think your input will helpfull.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

29" is pretty deep. I'd probably use medium optics (40's or 60's) and mount the fixture ~10 - 12" above the water.

With 42 XP-G CWs and 48 XP-E RBs you'll probably find the color a hair yellow unless you run the blues hotter than the whites.

 

[skippyreef]

Ok getting ready here as well to start an LED build.

Tank is 72*36 but 6" is under the inwall section (on the length).

I figured it as 2376 Sq inches and tank is 24" deep.

Planning on using optics (toying with a mix of 40 and 60 degrees) over an SPS tank. Using meanwell 60-48D drivers, Cree XRE Q5, and Cree XRE RB. I still have more LED's to get and will be buying the XPG's for the rest.

Want it on the 20K side as well (currently use radiums).


Suggestions on the mix ratio of RB:W and number of LEDS?

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

You mention XR-E and XP-G for the whites. What drive current will you use? How many of each will you have?

It's hard to suggest a total count and ratio of the two colors if you're blending two different cool whites unless we know what numbers you're locked in to (sounds like you already have some of the XR-E cool whites?)

 

[skippyreef]

Here is what I have so far

48 XR-E Q5's
48 XR-E RB


ANd 6 Meanwell 60-48D drivers.

The rest of the LEDS I buy will be XPg Whites and RB with a heavier emphasis on RB side.

I was going to build this with the Meanwell driving 13 LED's each.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I'd spring for another 48-ish LEDs, probably 12 XP-G and 36 RB XR-E or XP-E.

Since the XP-G are much brighter AND commonly a little bit yellower (check what color bin your vendor provides), AND you want to be bluer than most, IMHO you need to really heavily stack on the RBs to compensate.

 

[skippyreef]

I respect you're opinion. I was going to order from CUtter. What XPG bin is less yellow????

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

For the R5 brightness bin, Cutter has 1A, 1B, and 1C color bins. 1A is right on the BBL and farthest to the blue end, so it'll be the least yellow.

Though, 1B will also be just as much "not yellow" but having a really small blue-green tint instead of pure blue. 1C is going to be a little yellower and a little greener, so it's probably not worth considering.

For the R4 brightness bin, they have OD which is also right on the BBL but one step bluer than the 1A bin available with R5 brightness.

So, if you were on a budget, I'd get the R4 OD, because it's fairly blue, and almost as efficient as an R5. If you want the best, I'd get the R5 1A, since it's almost as blue, but brighter.

In the end, the variations in color between their bins are all fairly small.