DIY LEDs - The write-up

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It really depends on what type of led you are using and if you follow manuf. sugestions. Older types led's wont stand much ambient heat while the new ones will. For example, K2 leds can run on higher temperatures plus they go up to 1500mA. (most ppl have them running at 1000mA). If you look at comercial led lighting; most of them claim to be running "COOL" at 60C. I am one of the guys that installed my led's on thin walled al sheet(big heatsink would not fit in my biocube 8)...and its working great. I posted my build a while ago and its somewhere lost in this forum... Ill post the link to a site that deals just with that (LED cooling.calculations) when i get home on monday. Always go by manuf. specs and requirements and you wont have to worry about what other ppls opinion is. Most of us here use diferent leds with different ratings....
 
Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

I searched for that link by your name and found it. I will start reading it. It will take a while but you have narrowed down what I have to read quite a bit. Thanks again.
 
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Soundwave how did you enclose yours? I can't find the post that discuss that part, I am thinking of enclosing the leds under 1/4 acrylic with the far ends open and the heatsinks will sit on top of 1" aluminum box then mount the fans over the heatsink. Is this enough or do I need to enclose the whole unit with the heatsinks out of the top?
 
I enclosed everything in this box. The bottom of this is a sheet of plexiglass with holes near the far ends to allow air to vent over the LEDs. The ends of the box, itself has large holes to allow warm air from the heatsinks to exit.

enclosure2.jpg
 
Thanks for the pic. Do I need to enclose the whole setupor would it be ok to cover the front where the LEDs are and leave the back open? Or even enlose just leaveing the heatsink fins open?
What I was thinking of is using 1" box to mount the heatsinks to, then is 3/4" angle to create a 1/4" channel on the bottom. Here I would slide in a piece of acrylic for the splash sheild. This way it can be cleaned and put back in.
That would leave the top part open, I was also planning on cutting my hood for clearence of the heatsinks, basically cut 2 big holes in the top and modify the door that opens so I can still have access to the tank but the light wouldn't have to move., The tank has the AGA pine stand and matching canopy, the top hinges open about 2/3 leaveing the frame around the top of the tank.
 
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If you are just doing softies, you don't need optics at all. You will require less LEDs and because of that optics will increase the spotlighting effects. You don't want that.
 
I have a few questions. I am building an LED array for my 30" deep 110 gallon. I am planning to keep sps and clams, ideally on the bottom of the tank. I will be driving the array with 8 Meanwell ELN60-48D drivers so I can have a total of 104 Cree LEDs.

1. Should I use a 1:1 ratio of white:blue LEDs?

2. What type of optics will I need to get the light levels that I need for the clams and SPS?

3. How far apart should I place the LEDS with the optics?

4. Is 104 going to be enough? Is it overkill?
 
indigo: You could get away with maybe two groups of 18 LEDs on each side of the 75. (36 total)

Andy: Your tank is another one of those special cases. If you use optics on all the LEDs, you will absolutely blast the corals at the top of your tank and have possibly too much light. You could use optics on maybe half to one third of the LEDs and you would be fine.... i think.

It's really up to you as far as what color temp you are trying to achieve. 1:1 is very natural looking. You can do more blue, less blue, whatever you want. It might be a good idea to do a dimmable setup so you can fine tune this.
 
I've been reading on LED's all morning. I'm so excited to try a build (after more reading) but for now I have to stop as my eyes are hurting!

Has luxeon rebel star LED's been talked about yet? You can get them with "triple emitters" (3 led's per star) What do you guys think of them? Would they be a good choice as far as LED's go? Or is there a better choice?

Here's a link:

http://www.luxeonstar.com/luxeon-rebel-star-c-29.php
 
Soundwave I have a few questions for you.. I know where you put everything but the power supplies.. I am designing one for a 75 just a little different then yours and I am trying to figure out if you put the power supplies in the canopy or outside of it.. Sorry if its a dumb question and I missed it somewhere. Thanks for the help. Also you think 72 leds dim able on a 75 is overkill? Wanna make this thing so i can have whatever I want...
 
Hello everyone!

Been following this great thread for some time now. I decided (with a little help) that i wanted to go with the Meanwell ELN-60P-27.

I started calling around today trying to find some place that actually has these in stock. has anyone been able to find a place that does in fact have them in stock?
 
Not sure about model you need. I called PowerGate today about ELN-60-48D.
They told that this model is on back order with waiting time about 9 weeks :(
 
Hello,

Need a little advise.

I am having a 50+ gallon "cube" tank made... not a real cube... dimensions are 22" x 22" x 27." Glass thickness is 1/2".

Anyway, am seriously considering DIy'ing my light fixture using LED's. I can order 3W cool white LEDs and 3W Royal Blue LEDs from China or Hongkong.

Around how many pieces will I be needing for this aquarium size? In what particular combination would you all recommend?

Appreciate hearing from the you experts out there. :)

thanks,

nbc
 
Re: better choice

Re: better choice

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15308769#post15308769 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tahiriqbal
Much better choice and cheap too.....

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15943

IMHO, "much better choice" depends strongly on your selection criteria. The Rebel and the XR-E (in their highest available bins, 100 and Q5 respectively) are about the same efficiency, ~90 lumens/watt peak (350mA drive current). They decay about the same, so at the currents we seem bent on running them, 700 - 1000mA, again they are about the same in terms of output.

The obvious difference is package. The Rebel is TINY compared to the XR-E, which means you can fit three on the same small star. If you need to get a ton of light over your tank, or have a weird packaging constraint, the Rebel is a clear choice. And, since the Rebel has a slightly wider viewing angle, three of them mounted on the same star should have similar coverage as three individual XR-E mounted a few inches apart. And, since they are three on a star, that means 2/3 less mounting and soldering work!

Price is a wash, depending on how you buy them. The 3-up Rebels are about $16-$17 from ledsupply.com, or a bit over $5 per emitter. So the same as buying XR-E's from DX.

Of course, the 1-up Rebel stars are expensive, so if you somehow don't want the 3-up version and really want 1-up stars, the XR-E is a better choice.

The Rebels also have a slightly lower forward voltage. If you read through the thread, some people people have been getting nervous about running 6 XR-E's on a buckpuck at higher currents, since that adds up to a fraction of a volt more than you "should" have if you are using a 24v supply. The Rebels are a few tenths of a volt less drop, so you won't hit this problem.

FWIW, I'm using both on my nano build (ledsupply.com order arrived over the weekend!) Just need to get cracking on the drivers. . .
 
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