DIY LEDs - The write-up

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Kinda makes me feel good to have started this. I'm happy to see that those of you that have tried this are seeing positive results.

Fernando: my thoughts are the same as yours. Something with the royal blue cree LEDs just makes everything change into the most fantastic colors.
 
Do I have this wiring diagram correct. I'm sorry it's a bit fuzzy. The two squares at the right should read 40mm Fans And the four squares withing the lights are the buck pucks. I should need 4 pucks and two fans and one 24V DC Power supply.

Thanks for taking the time to review this.

whateverAaronwasworkingon-1.jpg


Thanks
Aaron
 
Looks fine to me dogstar74. Just make sure your polarities are all correctly organized. Looks like you may be on the ragged edge depending on the LED's voltage drop. What is it? Is it going to leave the required 2V for the BP?
 
Also, perhaps this is painfully obvious, but hopefully those are 24v fans? Most 40mm fans are 12v. If it turns out that yours are, you could just put them in series.

Also, of course that power supply needs to be pretty beefy in terms of current capacity; if you're running the LEDs at 700mA or 1A, I'd go for a 6A supply.
 
Thanks for the input guys, I was thinking a 6A supply, as these will be 1000mA Buck pucks with an adjustable Pot.

I only recently remembered that the Power supply needed to be 24 V thus I have the fans on the diagram wires parallel. But I will put them in series when I wire the fixture. Thank you for pointing that out.

I don't think the voltage drop will be too bad, I mean isn't this what the popular consensus is, running 6 LEDs/string?

Thanks for the input.
Aaron
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15183065#post15183065 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dogstar74
Would this be a good power supply?

http://www.lcdpayless.com/productpage.php?productId=4281

24V 7.5A for an LCD Television.

Thanks
Aaron
Click to expand...

i would think you would be looking for something perhaps like his one...and at half the price..
24V 10A

it looks a tonne easier to wire...cutting the plug off a 85$ device makes me a little nervous...i am sure they have lower voltage ones...though as a newbie to LED wiring i am not even sure the extra voltage potential even matters...to me i would think you can just expand to more lights later...
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15181754#post15181754 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dogstar74
Do I have this wiring diagram correct. I'm sorry it's a bit fuzzy. The two squares at the right should read 40mm Fans And the four squares withing the lights are the buck pucks. I should need 4 pucks and two fans and one 24V DC Power supply.

Thanks for taking the time to review this.

whateverAaronwasworkingon-1.jpg


Thanks
Aaron
Click to expand...

This made it super easy to figure out what i need thanks
 
Also is that enough to light up a 24" deep tank that i plan to grow sps under?

Thanks for your time

We have them on a tank 36" deep and they working great...
 
I'm sorry if this was already covered, but does anybody know exactly how much less power a DIY LED (with a guess on the higher side on how many LED's would be needed) for a 48" x 24" tank would be than if it ran 2-250w MH? For say 8hrs a day.


On another note has anybody tried running T-5 or something for supplements? I only ask because many of the LED lit tanks I have seen look like they have some shady spots, ecspecially on the sides. Where a MH light the whole tank and then some. I was wondering if anybody tried running T-5 or something to try to make the tank "look" a bit brighter all around? Thanks.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15183295#post15183295 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NanoReefWanabe
i would think you would be looking for something perhaps like his one...and at half the price..
24V 10A

it looks a tonne easier to wire...cutting the plug off a 85$ device makes me a little nervous...i am sure they have lower voltage ones...though as a newbie to LED wiring i am not even sure the extra voltage potential even matters...to me i would think you can just expand to more lights later...
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot, that is a much better bargain, and with 10A there's no problem with power running out.

Iwishihadgills

Don't forget that most people want to use larger fans, I need the 40mm fans for a fixture I'm building. (Shhhh top secret) and in my diagram, they are wired as though they are 24 volt fans. If you use regular 12V fans, then you need to wire them in series.

Thanks,
Aaron
 
will running a 1000mA power source to a 700mA buck blow any thing up/ hurt the LED's at all? moreover will 700mA white LED's handle 1000mA?
 
No it won't hurt. Just because you have a lot of power available, your BP won't use more than it needs. You just don't want to use too little.
 
Thanks apt220, I was about to post and say whooa look at those, this is also the site soundwave ordered his from and many people on nano reef.
If you are just starting make sure you read the first dozen or so posts on the original thread they outline the project and parts well.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15183959#post15183959 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by luther1200
I'm sorry if this was already covered, but does anybody know exactly how much less power a DIY LED (with a guess on the higher side on how many LED's would be needed) for a 48" x 24" tank would be than if it ran 2-250w MH? For say 8hrs a day.


On another note has anybody tried running T-5 or something for supplements? I only ask because many of the LED lit tanks I have seen look like they have some shady spots, ecspecially on the sides. Where a MH light the whole tank and then some. I was wondering if anybody tried running T-5 or something to try to make the tank "look" a bit brighter all around? Thanks.
Click to expand...


I just last week switched from 2x250w MHs to T5s and LEDs (for shimmer) on my 90g (48"x18"x24"high), so not exactly what you're asking about, but I did the power consumption math. Maybe this will help.

When I was using MHs, I was using M80 Magnetic Ballasts which typically use more power than the bulbs they drive. For example, my ballasts were actually consuming 328w each. I was also supplementing my MHs with 2x54w actinic T5s. So total, my MH setup was consuming 764w. Note that an Electronic Ballast will usually pull closer to the rated wattage of the bulbs it's driving - they are much more efficient than Magnetic Ballasts.

For LEDs, just as a ballpark figure, you can estimate 3w per LED. And say you use 48 LEDs like Soundwave did in his 4-ft tank, that would total up to a whopping 144w :-). And just doing the math a different way, it would take ~255 LEDs to equal the amount of power consumed by 2x250w MHs on magnetic ballasts and 2x54w actinic T5s.

So 764w with MHs versus 144w with LEDs. A huge savings in power!
 
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