DIY LEDs - The write-up

[DFason]

I figure I would finally post my work. I have been working on these for two months now and with the help of this thread and der_wille_zur_macht I have almost finished everything.

I am working on two units 12 and 18 LED fixture. I have a separate controller I am working on too for them. The units will be using XR-E RB and XP-G R5 for whites. Slim heatsink and fan for active cooling. The fixtures should only be around 9"x3x1.67 and 9"x4.25x1.70.

I am looking to run my new nano system long term with ONLY LED's.

Anyways here are some teasers

HeatSink

Old 12 LED housing ( first one made, it is much thicker than the new one I have).

24 LED ( For my shallow tank ) I do not have pictures of the 18 LED yet.

Tanks the Light's will go over.

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Hope you enjoy!

-Dave

 

[TheFishMan65]

wesley,

Where in Maryland are you? I am in Manassas VA. I can not remember your specifics. Sound like a 75 gallon with 48 LEDs (25 RB, 24 W). Any lenses that could be why you are burning the coral. Of course it is cheaper (less electricity) to turn them down then remove lenses (or raise the lights) if you have the lighting you want.

 

[dnahas]

HeneryH,

I kind of thought people kept missing that which is why I redrew it.....

I know one of us still is, but I know its my ignorance of electrical schematics.


DFason - I like that housing.

 

[TheFishMan65]

dnahas,

Where are you lost I will be happy to try and explain? Other are probably also lost.

 

[HeneryH]

dnahas, note that the strings are not totally isolated. There is a connection between strings at each node. This is the nuance I missed. I originally thought they were each independent strings.

 

[Skeptic_07]

OK. Now I see what you were talking about fishman. I even see it now in the diagram that henry posted, can't believe i didn't notice that before. My next question is, is that completely necessary? what would happen if, in the diagram from henry's post, you removed all the vertical lines except for the lines on the far right and left? very bad things?

DFason: that is great work!

 

[dnahas]

I am lost inside the matrix, sorry Pun fully intended. its connecting the the strings where I think I need to go down a level of dumbness and need more colors !!

Thanks guys!

 

[HeneryH]

Skeptik, Now that you see that connection go back and reread post 1930. It makes more sense now. It did for me.

 

[Reef_Matrix29]

wesley,

Where in Maryland are you? I am in Manassas VA. I can not remember your specifics. Sound like a 75 gallon with 48 LEDs (25 RB, 24 W). Any lenses that could be why you are burning the coral. Of course it is cheaper (less electricity) to turn them down then remove lenses (or raise the lights) if you have the lighting you want.

I'm near BWI airport, about 20 minutes from D.C. up 295/97. Yeah, originally I had 36x2 1:1 ration, but downgraded to 24x2 1:1, no optics and 12" raise from water. SPS seem fine for the moment, but the softies seem a little stressed from the white LEDs for the 5 hours they are on. I have 40 degree optics that I purchased, but I see that they aren't needed at the height I have at all...so once my PAR meter gets here Friday or so, I think that dimming might get me in range. Speaking of which, what is a good PAR range?

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Speaking of which, what is a good PAR range?

Very tough question, but anecdotally, Sanjay Joshi of metal halide fame has occasionally remarked that he feels 400 PAR near the top and 100 PAR near the bottom is suitable for a typical reef tank.

 

[HeneryH]

dnahas, many of us thought the drawing I posted had totally separate serial strings. That would have been horzontal connecting wire for each of the two strings in your drawing.

Upon clarification from FishMan we notice that there is a tie between strings at each LED.

 

[dnahas]

So it would look like this?

 

[TheFishMan65]

dnahas,

That is two string in parallel. So depending on what you are trying to draw yes.

 

[TheFishMan65]

The extra connection just make balancing less of a problem. Each column get balanced and differences in LED are not added up. Still don't know why the resistor.

 

[HeneryH]

dnahas,
Here is the alt that is being discussed...

[/img]

 

[Reef_Matrix29]

Very tough question, but anecdotally, Sanjay Joshi of metal halide fame has occasionally remarked that he feels 400 PAR near the top and 100 PAR near the bottom is suitable for a typical reef tank.

Okay, that sounds like a good range, but with us using whites and blues, that's 400 top - 100 bottom with just whites or lighting in full "ON" mode?

:reading:

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

His comments were about general lighting requirements in tanks, so consider it the goal "everything on" range.

 

[ReefEnabler]

I got in an order of XP-Gs and a small sample of all the Carclo Optics for the MC-E and XP-G, including plain narrow, frosted narrow, rippe medium, frosted medium, ripple tight, frosted tight. (didn't get elliptical).

Going to see if I can't compare these optics on the XP-G and MC-E.

I will also throw some of the XR-E optics onto the XP-G and see how it differs. Right now I'm using XR-E wide optics on my MC-Es because they throw a wider flood than the Carclo Ripple Wide made for MC-E and XP-G.
I'm going to try and see how much brightness is being lost by doing that. Of course I'm curious to see how the Frosted Wide MC-E optic looks compared to the Ripple Wide... supposed to be about 10 degrees wider...

 

[Skeptic_07]

thanks ryan. I'll be eagerly waiting to see your findings and beam shots. I was actually planning on experimenting with those exact optics down the road.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

I am thinking of trying self tapping screws for mounting LEDs. Anyone have any experience with them? Also what size screws work best?

Thanks