DIY LEDs - The write-up

[indigobluetc]

Cant edit my other post so here is another.. Its the 2 heatsink one but with fan controller input on front pannel.. by the way the top is olnly clear for showing what it underneath. wont be in real life.

What do you guys think?

 

[dtech]

james I'm looking for a couple of gang pots for mine and can't find the right ones or so it seems. I folllwed the link but it asks some questions I'm not sure of about switch angle and K in the quote request. Got any ideas?

 

[jimnrose]

Thanks guys for the BuckPuck external pot data (5Kohm). Jim

 

[big400g]

indigobluetc
My opinion is the dual fan options, these LED's get very hot, they wear out faster at higher heat and lose power with heat, if you ran them ice cold you would have more light... Also with the amount of LED's you are going with, why not make the space between the heatsinks close to zero so there is no dark area in the middle of the tank?

 

[james3370]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15333398#post15333398 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dtech
james I'm looking for a couple of gang pots for mine and can't find the right ones or so it seems. I folllwed the link but it asks some questions I'm not sure of about switch angle and K in the quote request. Got any ideas?

not really....i had planned on calling them to figure it once i got to that point

i know enough about this stuff to just be dangerous LOL

 

[indigobluetc]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15333998#post15333998 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by big400g
indigobluetc
My opinion is the dual fan options, these LED's get very hot, they wear out faster at higher heat and lose power with heat, if you ran them ice cold you would have more light... Also with the amount of LED's you are going with, why not make the space between the heatsinks close to zero so there is no dark area in the middle of the tank?

I Did think about that but if you look at soundwave's orig design its kinda like mine just smaller heatsinks..Didnt see much or any dark spot at all.. the prob I run in to is the center brace of the 75gallon. If you put them close together they you will deff have a dark spot due to the brace. if you look at the pics below the red part is the center brace, if they were together they would have some light blocked

 

[big400g]

You are correct that there was no visible line in his tank... I have acrylic braces so I forgot about the issue you had to overcome. I would still think that running the led's closer to the brace on either side would overcome the issue... I do not have a line in my 72 (has the black braces) with Actinics and halides... not sure. You could use a wider angle lens for the ones closer to the brace you would cast the light out from both sides and effectively erase any dark line. But who knows if it matters. Your design looks great, just like Sounwaves time tested method, love the drawings, it looks all professional.

Good luck on yours, sounds like you have thought it out and figured it out well.

 

[indigobluetc]

I pretty much have the lights start 3" from each side and about 3" from the middle. So they are are prob in the best place possible to cover everything. I am also not using reflectors on any of the lights just like soundwaves and may others. I think with 72 flippin lights it should light up everything and be able to keep anything I want in there. Also with the option to dim them as needed that should be a big plus until I can finish my auto dimmer design.

 

[big400g]

Cool, cant wait to see your tank all lit up, bet it will keep the neighbors across the street awake with all that light... guess you will turn them off at night but it sounded good.

Sounds like you have a solid plan.

 

[indigobluetc]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15334462#post15334462 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by big400g
Cool, cant wait to see your tank all lit up, bet it will keep the neighbors across the street awake with all that light... guess you will turn them off at night but it sounded good.

Sounds like you have a solid plan.

unless they make me mad.. then I will point it at them at night. lol Maybe then I would use the reflectors! just kidding.. And once again the design changes. But its gonna be hush hush till its designed!

 

[kcress]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15332425#post15332425 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JoshuaG
So I am practicing soldering and can't get it at all I am trying to leave a blob on the leftover pieces that the LED's were attached too, they are the same material as the pads. I tin the gun, press it to the pad, wait about 10 sec or so and try to add solder, it just won't melt! It's a 45W solder gun.

The only way I can get it to melt is by touching the solder to the gun, which obviously makes it stick to the gun and not the pad.

Any advice?

YES! Stop! Or you will damage your LEDS!!

You need enough heat or you just roast the integrated circuits.

Stars are made specifically to conduct away the heat. You have them mounted? Supposedly your mounting method was to maximize the heat leaving the stars. Now you show up with too weak a soldering iron, or one with too low a tip temperature, and you cannot get the pads up to proper temperature.

What soldering iron are you using? Got a link? What tip? Is there a temp setting? If so, what temp?

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15332425#post15332425 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JoshuaG
So I am practicing soldering and can't get it at all I am trying to leave a blob on the leftover pieces that the LED's were attached too, they are the same material as the pads

Can you please tell us *exactly* what you mean by this? Are you soldering to the stars that the LEDs are on, or the scrap sprues they shipped on? If the sprues, that may be your problem. The connection points (pads) on the actual stars are (usually!) pre-tinned which makes soldering far easier. The sprues are probably aluminum and might or might not be "easy" to solder to.

Or maybe I'm completely misinterpreting your post. . .

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15333398#post15333398 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dtech
james I'm looking for a couple of gang pots for mine and can't find the right ones or so it seems. I folllwed the link but it asks some questions I'm not sure of about switch angle and K in the quote request. Got any ideas?

You and James should read the fine print on that site - minimum order for parts not currently in stock is 200 - 300 units, depending on features. I checked when you posted that link, and they don't currently have ANY gang pots in stock.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15332938#post15332938 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by indigobluetc
Cant edit my other post so here is another.. Its the 2 heatsink one but with fan controller input on front pannel.. by the way the top is olnly clear for showing what it underneath. wont be in real life.

What do you guys think?

If you are going to have multiple fans per heatsink, I would put them in a front-back orientation, not a side to side orientation. The way you have it now, when their output hits the sinks, it'll get "channeled" by the fins such that the air from both fans just runs across the middle few rows of fins. However, if you were to put them front-back (i.e. both in the middle of the sink, one in front of the other) then the air from each fan would cover a separate set of fins on the sink, and you'd get more even cooling. Make sense? I'd do my own sketchup to show you but I haven't had any coffee yet today. :lol:

 

[JoshuaG]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15334601#post15334601 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kcress
YES! Stop! Or you will damage your LEDS!!

You need enough heat or you just roast the integrated circuits.

Stars are made specifically to conduct away the heat. You have them mounted? Supposedly your mounting method was to maximize the heat leaving the stars. Now you show up with too weak a soldering iron, or one with too low a tip temperature, and you cannot get the pads up to proper temperature.

What soldering iron are you using? Got a link? What tip? Is there a temp setting? If so, what temp?

Thanks Kcress, I wasn't actually practicing on the LED's, just the scraps parts that came with them that they were mounted too. I figured out my problem was I wasn't getting a small blob on the tip before I touched it down, so it wasn't heating up the area I needed quick enough. Once I did that, I was able to get it.

My first row still looks horrible though, once I got onto my 2nd and 3rd I was getting the hang of it

 

[JoshuaG]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15334864#post15334864 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by der_wille_zur_macht
Can you please tell us *exactly* what you mean by this? Are you soldering to the stars that the LEDs are on, or the scrap sprues they shipped on? If the sprues, that may be your problem. The connection points (pads) on the actual stars are (usually!) pre-tinned which makes soldering far easier. The sprues are probably aluminum and might or might not be "easy" to solder to.

Or maybe I'm completely misinterpreting your post. . .

Nope, you had it right, and it was prob part of the problem! Once I switched and practiced on something else, I finally got it to work, along with my tip problem!

I tested two rows with my meanwell drivers last night, I was shocked when they actually lit up!! My wife said I am going to blind the fish, I told her they just better not look up:mixed:

 

[apt220]

Just for anyone who is wondering what color ratio to use. I have half cool white and half royal blue cree. When I first fired it up, it looked like a 10KK MH. Now, 3.5 weeks later, it's starting to look like a 12KK maybe a 14KK MH. I'm running all my LEDS at full 1000A. Has anyone noticed their tank becoming more bluer with time? Maybe the cool white just need a little break in...

 

[Soundwave]

apt220: I havent noticed this. I would like to score the PAR meter again to see if anything has changed. I'll see if I can do that.

 

[big400g]

I love technology and how it has advanced since I started! Meanwell has a supply that seems to power up to 24 leds, the ELN-60-24, and one that takes a voltage input to dim the lights. With the Apex controller from Neptune sys it has the output I need to control the Meanwell... no longer need to engineer anything, just wire and go! Oh I can not wait to put this together!

Hey soundave, how is your light holding up, and how are the corals?

Apt 220, I think I heard something about them breaking in then settling out the spectrum...

As for the fan layout, I had planned to put them at the ends of hte heat sink, one blowing and one sucking so the air blows across then instead of down, then I saw your plan to direct down like CPU coolers. Maybe at a slight down angle to the fins to direct the air down on them. Just a thought. I suspect that you are going to have thermocouplers or temp controll on the heat sink to increase fan speed as needed to keep at a optimal temp? Save the energy when not needed and keep down evap and heating costs on the tank.
I just had a crazy idea, what if you ran your topoff RODI water through the heatsink to suck out the heat as well as the fans. My tap water is about 54 degrees...

 

[kecked]

heat sinks

heat sinks

With the 24 cree xr-e q5 on a 8.5x18" heatsink, I needed a single small fan to draw the heat away and have the heatsink never rise above room temperature. Using four fans or even two is not needed. I even got away with a 2" fan. So long as you have a steady breeze there is no heating. These heatsinks are massive overkill for the load.

 

[big400g]

Kecked, thank you for bringing us back to reality, without that feedback I would use many more fnas than needed... or maybe even try out my excessive watercooling. So you just saved me some cash!

 

[james3370]

i have a spare 180mm fan laying around that is dead silent....probably gonna use it to cover the whole width of the heatsink i'll be using