DIY LEDs - The write-up

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Guys, I have a string of LEDS, 6 leds to be exact, that are not turning on. The LEDS are attached in series to a buckpuck.

These LEDs are all glued via epoxy to the heatsink and the 6 leds are soldered together.

I'm guessing one LED must have blown out, and that's why the whole string is not working.

How do I test each individual LED to see which one got blown out?

Do I just take the + and - of the driver, which is already plugged into a power supply, and test each individual led?

For example: take the + of the Driver to the + of the 1 LED, and the - to the driver to the - of the same LED and see if it lights up?
 
Do you have a multimeter? You should be able to test continuity across each individual LED and if one reads 0.0 then you've found the bad one.
 
If this string ever worked... one has failed open. If you really have a current controller, power up the string and use a jumper wire to short across each individual LED. Just touch both wired-to pads at the same time. Only do it long enough to see the LEDs start to light up.

Alternatively and a little more safely for the LEDs power up the string and using a volt meter, set to voltage, probe across each LED's pads in the same manner. The blown one will give a reading of, about, your power supply voltage.

Again if you really have a current controller once you find the blown(open) LED you can switch your meter to DC amps and again probe across the blown LED. The other LEDS should all come on and your meter will show the current your string is having run thru it. You may see it's too high and the reason the LED has blown.

If you've never seen the string light up ever then you've probably hooked things up wrong.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14997397#post14997397 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Soundwave
FWIW I scored some browned out bonsai acro frags last week to test their ability to grow under my LEDs. I placed them in 3 different spots in varying light conditions. Yesterday, I checked progress and they are already turning purple again and the green polyps are starting to emerge. So far, they seem to love the LEDs. I'm beginning to think that the idea of PAR above 400 to grow sps, specifically Acros, is different with LEDs.
Click to expand...

This is really what I have been waiting for. Real performance. Screw PAR values. How are the rest of your corals doing?


And back to the noob stuff. If I went with a buck and wanted to run both my white and blue off of it would I want the 700ma driver so as not to overdrive the blues?
 
Seems easy, but Just so I'm clear, and I don't screw things up further, here are the things I need to do - let me know if I messed up somewhere

1. Turn on power supply (24V) to the buck puck driving string of blown LEDS
2. Set the multimeter to Volts.
3. Take the + of the multimeter to the + of led #1
4. Take the - of the multimeter to the - of the led #1

Here's where I'm unclear -

5. If I find a faulty led, what should I see on the screen? I have a 24V powersupply btw. Should I see 24 in my screen as kcress said, or 0.0 as reefenabler said.

Thanks again.
 
The rest of my corals are all doing extremely well and coloration is insane. I have eliminated all of my leathers from the tank as they seem to irritate other corals that aren't even close to them. I'm going with more sps and lps because I want to find the limits of my setup. So far... None.
 
when i soldered the wires to the stars, i took 2 AA batteries held together in-line & tested each led to make sure it lit up before wiring them all together....that should work to find the bad one

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14997736#post14997736 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kcress
never seen the string light up ever then you've probably hooked things up wrong.
Click to expand...

mine had never worked, & doing the above, i found one of my chineese knock-offs had the polarity reversed from what the starboard said & that was the reason they never worked
:mad2:
 
Reading this post I finally decided to build something for my 55 gal.

I'd like to understand why one BuckPuck http://ledsupply.com/03023-d-e-700.php can be used only for up to 6 LEDs (3 watt each).

If I will use Cree XR-E Q5 White at 700mA, the driving voltage should be about 3.5V.
The BuckPuck is rated up to 32V.

8 leds * 3.5V = 28V
This leaves 4V for BuckPuck to operate. Am I reading it right?


My current setup is for 6 leds for one BuckPuck. I need 8 pucks that will run 48 leds.

If I can run run 8 leds per puck, that gives me 16 leds more for setup without extra cost of 2+ buckpucks.



Did anyone tried to run 8 leds on one BuckPack?
Is it even possible?

Thank you.
 
Thank you for information, Soundwave.
Your post saved me a lot of time searching for information. And your last post saved me a BuckPuck :)

I searched for 32V power supply. It looks like there is more 24V around and for less money then 32-48V.

Getting ready to order parts.
This is how I'm going to position LEDs over my tank (55 gal L48" x W12")

81917led.jpg


Puck number is on each LED.
I plan to put 4 buckpucks on each powe supply.
I will put puck 1, 3, 5, 7 on one and 2, 6, 4, 8 on second one. This should give me to turn then on/off separatly.

All LEDs will be on 700mA buckpacks (white and blue)
Buckpuck are dimmable for future to try to play with programming.

Parts:

24 - Cree XR-E Q5 White - $124.32
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2394

24 - Cree Royal Blue - $172.32
http://www.ledsupply.com/creexre-rb.php

8 - 3023-D-E-700mA Wired BuckPuck - $127.84
http://www.ledsupply.com/03023-d-e-700.php

2 - Heatsink 18"x7.29" - $76
http://www.heatsinkusa.com/me1fopl.html

2 - 24V @ 6.5A POTRANS POWER SUPPLY - $29.90
http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=16854+PS


I have some fans that I can re-use
Anything to add or change?
 
This is on the Start board - AKA PCB Mounted (printed circuit board mounted ).
Dont worry I just learned that one a week ago.
When you call up you just have to tell ETG you want them mounted, it takes about a week.

Jerome
 
Hi everyone,

I try to make LED lamp project for my new tank.

My pico reef tank has Cree 3 x Q5 white , 3 x blue and 2 x royal blue.
It works excellent.

( movie from tests... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9bY8mjhTew )

Now I'm thinking about new tank 380liters
Dimension: 120cm x 60cm x 55cm ( high )

It will be typical SPS / LPS tank

What do you think, how many led I should use for it ?

I would like to use Cree 3W power leds with 0,95A drivers
(on star PCB mounted od radiators)

30 x Q5 white
30 x Blue
20 x royal blue

It will be enough for this tank ?
 
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