Full Spectrum DIY guide

[bhazard451]

^ I'm with him on this one. I don't use optics on any of my builds. I don't think there necessary unless your going more than 24". You would have to hang a unit with 60* optics very far up to avoid cooking your stuff, and to get good coverage.

I use optics because of the wide angle of Crees. At 6-10" high off my open tank, the light shoots all over the room and practically blinds me without them.

 

[Blayz77]

do the phillips rebel have wide angles as well? i was considering using them. its kinda anoying that they dont have tv though

 

[bhazard451]

do the phillips rebel have wide angles as well? i was considering using them. its kinda anoying that they dont have tv though

The Semileds true violets on stevesled can be used with rebels at 630mah. They're awesome. I run them on the same string as my luxeons in my fixture. The angle is 120 degrees and still wide on all of them.

 

[Blayz77]

ahh i see that they do have violet at steves led thats great. lol i never looked under the generic tab. so i guess it just comes down to which ones i wanna use philips or cree lol hmmm

 

[Blayz77]

well since i think i can run the philips ocw 3ups at 700m and the violets i get at steves at 700m it seems i can put them on the same driver which is nice

 

[Blayz77]

lol i just noticed that the inventronics 75w driver has like a death warning but the 40w,50,120w do not.. is there a specific reason for that or did they just get lazy and not post it under each one?

 

[Blayz77]

nm i just realized that its because the 75w driver puts out a lot more voltage. i do have a question though when a driver says you can hook up 2 parralel stings, does each string have to be even? for instance do i need 2 strings of 6? or can i do 1 string of 5 and 1 string of 6?

 

[Blayz77]

ok so ive been working out a sketch for my clusters. ill see if i can post a pic of them. tell me what you think.

1 cluster is using 3 ups and the other is using single leds. which one would you pick? the colors kinda remind me of easter lmao!

 

[Blayz77]

hmm apparently the pictures didnt load let me trya again.

 

[Nanofreak79]

nm i just realized that its because the 75w driver puts out a lot more voltage. i do have a question though when a driver says you can hook up 2 parralel stings, does each string have to be even? for instance do i need 2 strings of 6? or can i do 1 string of 5 and 1 string of 6?

Each string must have the same amount of LEDs. Oh, and don't kill yourself trying to wire them!:blown:J/K look into running parralel strings, there is a little more involved IMO, compared to wiring in series.

 

[Nanofreak79]

hmm apparently the pictures didnt load let me trya again.

Having trouble viewing?

 

[Blayz77]

yeah im gonna try again i dunno what happened. i remember posting photos a long time ago i think from my pc, this time i tried pc and photobucket and cant seem to get it.

 

[Blayz77]

ok here is goes again see if it works lol. which cluster do you like better?

 

[Nanofreak79]

Sorry, I've been sick......but the first pic looks better. I also don't have too much longer before I start my build. I need to get the makers heatsink, as well as a few drivers and I'll be set to start posting the build:dance:

 

[Blayz77]

awsome, cant wait. i noticed recently that oceans motions started producing 4 way units again. so i decided to divert funds and get it so i can finish up my 120 setup. im still set on doing diy led but it may take me a bit longer to get started.

 

[Saratj1]

I bought a couple of these the other, I still have not received them yet. They are 50w cree multi chips.

What do you guys think about these? Are they the best of both worlds? The quality and efficiency of cree with the multi chip design of lesser brands? Something worth checking out I thought.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/50W-Cree-XP...280?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ec25c8690

I couldn't find the RB one that I bought, but here's a 7000k white.

I also bought this multi chip and its up and running, it's nice a little more white color than I prefer something like 10,000k to 14,000k, I was expecting more like 20,000k like the 10w I have bought before.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/50W-Bright-...991?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c2c7cb2a7