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DIY LEDs - The write-up
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Qdaddy
New member
Are there any pictures or build threads relating to this. It would be very helpful for us electronically challenged people. Also maybe a summary of what's changed from the beginning instructions, if anything has. There's been so much discussion back and forth, that its hard to tell if there was a consensus change from the original post.
khanb31
SLim Jim
make it work!
make it work!
Oye oye,
WHAT a thread! My eyes are hurting but wow that was totally worth the read. Great job Soundwave! I wouldnt mind making a road trip to your place to see your setup (im in chicago).
While reading through this thread I saw a few small problems with the way people are perceiving the way lights should go above the tank. I really dont think that the way to advance with these lights and make them really effective is to keep on working with the conventional methods of hanging lights.
Alright, so here are my 2 cents on this project that I plan to incorporate into my next tank (175gal 72"x30"x18" LWH). Most people are worried about the cost prohibitive-ness of the LED's over a large tank (pretty much anything that is larger than a 40 breeder..). But why? Lets look at some of the "requirements" that people are limiting themselves by when it comes to these large display tank systems.
In order to get large amounts of Par into the tank to grow SPS (even at the bottom of the tank), you should use optics. Well, theres a problem with that because you get the spotlight effect. So, you move the LED's closer together, darn....now only 1/5th of the tank is lit. Oh, lets lift up the LED's 4 feet! You look up and theres 5 inches of room to work with. Maybe a different optic will work? nah, then I decrease the par and im back at square one. And in five minutes youve painted yourself into a corner because in order to light the whole tank, you need 5 billion LED's.....plus your pockets are empty enough from this hobby.
Well this is where we need to start thinking outside the box. Lets look at a few familiar pictures from this thread that will illustrate my idea better.
A few pages earlier, Stugray posted a pic of only 6 total watts of LED's lit up his nice big tank for viewing.
Using a few of these guys.
Pretty simple no? But how does that solve the problem? well, they seem to be doing a great job with lighting up the tank to where you can enjoy it during the day. That cant be good for the corals though.....so lets bring in the LED spotlights with Optics on them. This seems to be the best combination thus far that will give the right amount of PAR, can be made by the average DIY'er, and wont cost you half of your years salary (if your doing a 12 gallon nano...).
SO I went and turned on the ol saw mill on my shoulders and thought.......So how about moving the light instead of adding more?
I got the idea from this thread.DIY Light Rail
This is where things can get interesting.
Just make a single "pendant" of LED"s that have optics over the width of the tank. you could put the LED's into a standard batwing reflector pattern to help ease corals into the spot light of the LED's. Also, many people are familiar with using moonlights the same way that stugray used his viewing lights. You get 3-4 blue led's and then you strap them over your tank at nice intervals and plug them in. vwalla. moonlights.
So how about we take THAT even a step further. Lets take a standard 240 gallon (8ftx2ftx2ft) that has 4 sections across the length of the tank..
Like this one...
In each one of these sections, you have a string of BLUE and WHITE LED's just like Soundwave has in his hood. This would equate to 1/4 of his entire LED Array. You would put three whites and three blues on each side of the tank over each section of the tank. This would equal all of soundwaves LED hood over the length of the tank. That could mean that you would have the ability to turn on each section of the tank in any configuration.
Now couple that with a nice spot light LED pendant that puts out the equivalent of maybe a 400 Watt MH (that would be my goal) that can slowly creep along the length of the tank. And there you have a good possibility of creating a pretty good sunrise and sunset with no crazy electronics as well as decently priced. The only downside is the ease at which you can make this setup.
Everyone catch my drift?
I will be making a build thread for this when I start getting my tank together......Im excited to implement this idea.
make it work!
Oye oye,
WHAT a thread! My eyes are hurting but wow that was totally worth the read. Great job Soundwave! I wouldnt mind making a road trip to your place to see your setup (im in chicago).
While reading through this thread I saw a few small problems with the way people are perceiving the way lights should go above the tank. I really dont think that the way to advance with these lights and make them really effective is to keep on working with the conventional methods of hanging lights.
Alright, so here are my 2 cents on this project that I plan to incorporate into my next tank (175gal 72"x30"x18" LWH). Most people are worried about the cost prohibitive-ness of the LED's over a large tank (pretty much anything that is larger than a 40 breeder..). But why? Lets look at some of the "requirements" that people are limiting themselves by when it comes to these large display tank systems.
In order to get large amounts of Par into the tank to grow SPS (even at the bottom of the tank), you should use optics. Well, theres a problem with that because you get the spotlight effect. So, you move the LED's closer together, darn....now only 1/5th of the tank is lit. Oh, lets lift up the LED's 4 feet! You look up and theres 5 inches of room to work with. Maybe a different optic will work? nah, then I decrease the par and im back at square one. And in five minutes youve painted yourself into a corner because in order to light the whole tank, you need 5 billion LED's.....plus your pockets are empty enough from this hobby.
Well this is where we need to start thinking outside the box. Lets look at a few familiar pictures from this thread that will illustrate my idea better.
A few pages earlier, Stugray posted a pic of only 6 total watts of LED's lit up his nice big tank for viewing.
Using a few of these guys.
Pretty simple no? But how does that solve the problem? well, they seem to be doing a great job with lighting up the tank to where you can enjoy it during the day. That cant be good for the corals though.....so lets bring in the LED spotlights with Optics on them. This seems to be the best combination thus far that will give the right amount of PAR, can be made by the average DIY'er, and wont cost you half of your years salary (if your doing a 12 gallon nano...).
SO I went and turned on the ol saw mill on my shoulders and thought.......So how about moving the light instead of adding more?
I got the idea from this thread.DIY Light Rail
This is where things can get interesting.
Just make a single "pendant" of LED"s that have optics over the width of the tank. you could put the LED's into a standard batwing reflector pattern to help ease corals into the spot light of the LED's. Also, many people are familiar with using moonlights the same way that stugray used his viewing lights. You get 3-4 blue led's and then you strap them over your tank at nice intervals and plug them in. vwalla. moonlights.
So how about we take THAT even a step further. Lets take a standard 240 gallon (8ftx2ftx2ft) that has 4 sections across the length of the tank..
Like this one...
In each one of these sections, you have a string of BLUE and WHITE LED's just like Soundwave has in his hood. This would equate to 1/4 of his entire LED Array. You would put three whites and three blues on each side of the tank over each section of the tank. This would equal all of soundwaves LED hood over the length of the tank. That could mean that you would have the ability to turn on each section of the tank in any configuration.
Now couple that with a nice spot light LED pendant that puts out the equivalent of maybe a 400 Watt MH (that would be my goal) that can slowly creep along the length of the tank. And there you have a good possibility of creating a pretty good sunrise and sunset with no crazy electronics as well as decently priced. The only downside is the ease at which you can make this setup.
Everyone catch my drift?
I will be making a build thread for this when I start getting my tank together......Im excited to implement this idea.
fernandokng
New member
I have a question on Potentiometers.
I have the 700ma buckpuck driver with the potentiometer. http://www.leddynamics.com/LuxDrive/datasheets/3021-BuckPuck.pdf
I was doing some wiring, but one of the wires to the POT snapped, but there's no way for me to tie it back because it made the split right between the edges of the POT.
So imagine in the POT, there's 3 connections, (L)eft (M)iddle (R)ight.
1. (L) and (M) came attached to the driver.
2. (L) snapped off and I cant reconnect it to the driver.
3. (R) is free for me to use.
I'm not too sure on how (L) (M) (R) all relate to each other.
Can I just take the snapped wire from (L) and plug it into (R)?
So the end configuration is (M) (R)? Thanks guys.
I have the 700ma buckpuck driver with the potentiometer. http://www.leddynamics.com/LuxDrive/datasheets/3021-BuckPuck.pdf
I was doing some wiring, but one of the wires to the POT snapped, but there's no way for me to tie it back because it made the split right between the edges of the POT.
So imagine in the POT, there's 3 connections, (L)eft (M)iddle (R)ight.
1. (L) and (M) came attached to the driver.
2. (L) snapped off and I cant reconnect it to the driver.
3. (R) is free for me to use.
I'm not too sure on how (L) (M) (R) all relate to each other.
Can I just take the snapped wire from (L) and plug it into (R)?
So the end configuration is (M) (R)? Thanks guys.
ReefEnabler
Premium Member
Just wanted to post I finally got all 6 series of LEDs wired up and all the buckpucks are wired up to DC input jacks. I've hooked them up to an ammeter and each puck is doing ~640ma (out of 700ma). That is on the 32v HP Printer power supply.
Still getting the optics mounted. I'm sure that collimator style optics would be alot brighter but the widest I can find is 45 degrees.
Still getting the optics mounted. I'm sure that collimator style optics would be alot brighter but the widest I can find is 45 degrees.
kcress
New member
That's coming around very nicely!
Questions, questions:
Strange looking heatsinks but they look dang near perfect for your task. What did you savage for them?
Why are you only running 5 stars per Puck? Isn't that only about 16V for the string? Wouldn't a 24V supply have been closer?
Did you end up with that monster linear supply or is the 'HP' something else?
Are those stars actually mounted? They look like they're sort of hovering above the heatsink.
You really feel you need more than 45 degree optics?
Suggestion: You seriously need to strain relieve those oversized supply wires coming from the connectors before your stars are damaged.
Questions, questions:
Strange looking heatsinks but they look dang near perfect for your task. What did you savage for them?
Why are you only running 5 stars per Puck? Isn't that only about 16V for the string? Wouldn't a 24V supply have been closer?
Did you end up with that monster linear supply or is the 'HP' something else?
Are those stars actually mounted? They look like they're sort of hovering above the heatsink.
You really feel you need more than 45 degree optics?
Suggestion: You seriously need to strain relieve those oversized supply wires coming from the connectors before your stars are damaged.
ReefEnabler
Premium Member
Thanks
They're just the regular heatsinks that soundwave used only I cut them lengthwise on the table saw (I'm trying to fit all these in the front of my canopy without much space). The stars are mounted with the artic alumina thermal epoxy. The floating look is probably just an illusion from the lighting causing a small shadow.
There's about 28v per string. They are a mix of Luxeon 3s and 5s, and the 5's take alot of voltage, 6.8vf each. The endor star is 9.45vf.
I mocked up this design in a 3d package and the 45 degrees didnt get quite the coverage I need, hitting both my sandbed and rockwork from one side of the tank.
For now I am going to try out the printer supplies if they dont work out the search continues (HP = hewlet packard printer)
The wires leaving the LEDs are zip tied to the heatsink fins so if the wires move it doesn't stress the solder connection.
But I have a feeling you meant something else by strain relieving?? Heating the wires up or something???
They're just the regular heatsinks that soundwave used only I cut them lengthwise on the table saw (I'm trying to fit all these in the front of my canopy without much space). The stars are mounted with the artic alumina thermal epoxy. The floating look is probably just an illusion from the lighting causing a small shadow.
There's about 28v per string. They are a mix of Luxeon 3s and 5s, and the 5's take alot of voltage, 6.8vf each. The endor star is 9.45vf.
I mocked up this design in a 3d package and the 45 degrees didnt get quite the coverage I need, hitting both my sandbed and rockwork from one side of the tank.
For now I am going to try out the printer supplies if they dont work out the search continues (HP = hewlet packard printer)
The wires leaving the LEDs are zip tied to the heatsink fins so if the wires move it doesn't stress the solder connection.
But I have a feeling you meant something else by strain relieving?? Heating the wires up or something???
ReefEnabler
Those LED banks do look good.
Great idea with cutting on your table saw. I know that carbide tipped blades can cut non ferrous metals with out too much issue. Are you using any type of special blade? If not, did it dull your blade much? I have cut some small brass tubes on my TS in the past, but nothing quite as "beefy" as one of these heat sinks.
I cut the corners off of mine with my bandsaw and an old blade so it would fit further forward in my Mini Bow canopy and was thinking of cutting off the excess heat sink material with my table saw, but I was not that brave yet.
Thanks!
Those LED banks do look good.
Great idea with cutting on your table saw. I know that carbide tipped blades can cut non ferrous metals with out too much issue. Are you using any type of special blade? If not, did it dull your blade much? I have cut some small brass tubes on my TS in the past, but nothing quite as "beefy" as one of these heat sinks.
I cut the corners off of mine with my bandsaw and an old blade so it would fit further forward in my Mini Bow canopy and was thinking of cutting off the excess heat sink material with my table saw, but I was not that brave yet.
Thanks!
ReefEnabler
Premium Member
I did use a carbide tipped blade, something from Irwin. Not sure the exact blade I used, but no it did not seem to dull much. You definitely have to use extra caution and go extra slow when cutting thicker metal. Wouldn't want something that beefy to bind the blade. I've never cut any metal besides aluminum and this was the thickest aluminum I've cut.
I dont know if a tile wet-saw would be better or not. Hopefully somebody who has tried one on aluminum will know. Be careful either way.
I dont know if a tile wet-saw would be better or not. Hopefully somebody who has tried one on aluminum will know. Be careful either way.
I would also add two words EYE PROTECTION.
I think I will give it a shot tonight. Might be time for a new blade anyhow, but I think I have an old blade laying around that I would not mind to dull a little bit. I would hate to ruin my good blade or at the very least send it out to get sharpened.
stugray
Premium Member
khanb31,
"A few pages earlier, Stugray posted a pic of only 6 total watts of LED's lit up his nice big tank for viewing. "
I was wondering when someone would catch that comment ;-)
It truly IS only 6 Watts, but the pic was taken with my 12 MP digital camera on a tripod in manual mode.
The exposure was slightly over 1 second so it was cheating.
Here is a more representative pic of what the tank looks like to the human eye at night.
Stu
"A few pages earlier, Stugray posted a pic of only 6 total watts of LED's lit up his nice big tank for viewing. "
I was wondering when someone would catch that comment ;-)
It truly IS only 6 Watts, but the pic was taken with my 12 MP digital camera on a tripod in manual mode.
The exposure was slightly over 1 second so it was cheating.
Here is a more representative pic of what the tank looks like to the human eye at night.
Stu
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