Full Spectrum LED Build-MakersLED-Meanwell LDD-Apex Control

chrishet

chrishet

Member
I am still in the process of designing my LED fixture and would appreciate some feedback on this design"¦

My tank is a 40x22x18 70 gal rimless by Reef Savvy, with a goal of mainly SPS corals. I am not that good when it comes to electronics stuff so bare with me"¦Thx!

I currently own a 36 inch MakersLED heatsink that I am having anodized. This array has 111 LED's total using:

40 Royal Blue "“ 3 Up
20 Neutral White - 3 Up
20 Hyper Violet
11 Turquoise - OCW
11 Blue = OCW
11 Deep Red - OCW

My original thought was to use Inventronics Drivers but I've been reading on another thread about Meanwell LDD drivers. The OP posted these are dimmable to 0% using a PWM controller; they are quite reasonably priced, and would save me about $220. They are also quite small and could fit in my fixture easily. I am calculating a max of 7 LED's per driver, using 24v as the driver voltage and 3.2v as the LED voltage

http://www.meanwell.com/search/ldd-h/default.htm

Original Thread
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2222702

I currently have an Apex Controller and would like to use it to control my LED fixture. I found this driver harness on the net and it appears from the specs that it would work between an Apex VDM and the LDD drivers. One question I have is, will one of these support all 15 LDD drivers? i.e. can one channel control multiple LDD drivers?

http://shop.stevesleds.com/Aquarium-Controller-Interface-Harness-for-Steves-LEDs-Drivers-harness.htm

He also has a Power Supply that should support my 111 LED array. I added the total wattage of my LED's (3w per LED) and it comes in under 400w...Did I calculate this correctly? I am assuming I will connect the LDD's in parallel to this ps.

http://shop.stevesleds.com/Switching-Power-Supply-400w-24V-165A-S-360-Switching-Power-Supply.htm

Below is my current LED design:

LED%20Build1.jpg
 
...checking the Aquarium Controller Interface Harness manual it appears that I can control a number of drivers per controller, "tested up to 12". I would have 15 in this config so I will have to test this to be sure, and may need to break out into another controller....
 
I can't help yopu with the Apex control, but I'd suggest a higher voltage power supply than the 24V ones that Steve's has so that you can put more LEDs per string and cut down on the number of drivers.
The LDDs can take up to 52V IIRC and will put out up to 48V (Vin needs to be about 3 volts more than Vout). I found a used Mean Well SP-48-200 for a great price and can run up to 14 LEDs per string. You could use a similar power supply and be down to 11 strings (4x10 RB, 2x10 each for NW and Vi and one each for the OCWs. Just thought I'd throw the idea out there.
I used mostly Luxeons, 3.1Vf, and my strings are all 10-12 LEDs.
 
Last edited:
one clownfish said:
The apex is 0-10volt dc and the MW-LDD drivers are PWM. I know there's a way to convert it but I have no idea how. I'll be watching how/if you can do it because I could put a few of those LDD's to use too.

http://www.marinedepot.com/Neptune_...ories-Neptune_Systems-NS3339-FITEMOAC-vi.html
Click to expand...

Hi one clown....check out the link on my op. there are solutions out there to convert a dc signal to a freq modulated signal. Assuming my overall design is acceptable I'll be ordering parts this week.
 
My build that I'm working on consists of almost the same things, except I'm using an arduino to dim. I have an Apex, but the arduino I'm using will have 7 channels and a touch screen GUI.

I'm using a 400w power supply with these for around 120 leds. You can find 350w-400w 48v power supplies for a great price on ebay.
 
I didn't see that and THANK YOU for pointing it out to me. I'm sick of balancing parallel led strings, drilling and tapping heatsinks, moving the LEDs to get them right . All of my strings work fine for now but this is a much better/faster way to build a fixture. Thermal adhesive, parallel the LDD's and that's about it. Thanks again.
 
one clownfish said:
I didn't see that and THANK YOU for pointing it out to me. I'm sick of balancing parallel led strings, drilling and tapping heatsinks, moving the LEDs to get them right . All of my strings work fine for now but this is a much better/faster way to build a fixture. Thermal adhesive, parallel the LDD's and that's about it. Thanks again.
Click to expand...

Why run parallel at all for $5 a driver? It seems like a waste to do so.

You can buy 350, 600, and 700mah versions of this driver, and they handle up to 52v. Much easier to just buy the appropriate driver and wire in series.
 
bhazard451 said:
Why run parallel at all for $5 a driver? It seems like a waste to do so.

You can buy 350, 600, and 700mah versions of this driver, and they handle up to 52v. Much easier to just buy the appropriate driver and wire in series.
Click to expand...

Sorry to side track your thread. I know all the leds will be in series but Maybe I'm missing something. Lets say you have a power source that puts out 48volts at 5 amp. and I have (5) LDD-1000 drivers. Isn't the only way for me to get 48 volts and 1amp to all the LDD's is to run them in parallel?
 
NP....I 'think' BH thought you were suggesting running the LED strings in parallel....

I too am worried about new tech-rebuilding-adding LED's-changing LED's....etc....I bought the MakersLED heatsink because of that...hopefully I can land on a good design and not worry about changing things up later, but the MakersLED does make it somewhat easier to do.

Question on a PS...would 2 of these work well to drive 12 LDDs (to be on the safe side)?

Ebay 24V 350W Power Supply
 
Personally I think that is way too many LEDs for your tank size.

Also, I am not sure that I would waste the time and money with that many violet LEDs. IMO they really do not add much and certainly not enough to justify 20 of them. I have 12 of the on my fixture and am getting ready to replace them with other colors. If you do decide to use them make sure that you run them under 700ma or they will melt the lenses and burn out.
 
halcyonism said:
Personally I think that is way too many LEDs for your tank size.

Also, I am not sure that I would waste the time and money with that many violet LEDs. IMO they really do not add much and certainly not enough to justify 20 of them. I have 12 of the on my fixture and am getting ready to replace them with other colors. If you do decide to use them make sure that you run them under 700ma or they will melt the lenses and burn out.
Click to expand...

I'm glad you said something, cause I was thinking the same thing. I have 78 3w LED's (royal, blue, CW, Cyan) and I thought that was a lot. With that I run my blues and colors at 100% and my whites at 60% and all SPS are happy. With 111 LED's that's nearly 350w of LED's for a 70 gallon tank.
 
Thx for the feedback all...I need all I can get! I got these numbers off an LED spreadsheet from another forum....but I am not sure as to its logic. I also did recently look at the specs of some popular commercial units...the Radion Pro has 82 LEDs (across 2 fixtures), the GHL Mitras have 144 (across 2 fixtures) and the Vertex Illumina 360 36 inch has 96 LEDs without additional modules.....cutting down would certainly save me some $'s! Reefnewbie, what are your tank dimensions?
 
The Mitras have 144 because they are all being run near 500-600mah at low power.

My tank is 6ft long, and I will be using 120 leds, to give you some perspective. The only reason I'm even using that many, is because it will have 7 channels. I could easily get away with 90-100. You wont need more than 60-70.

When choosing a power supply, make sure to look at how many amps it puts out. You have no reason to use 12 LDDs. Using 24v is not useful with these, as they handle up to 52v per driver.

At 48v, 1 LDD driver can handle 12-15 leds. The LDD-1000 will put out 1 amp. For that 350w power supply, you must stay under 7.3amps. My setup uses 4 1000s, 2 700s, 2 600s, and 1 350. = 7amp.
 
chrishet said:
Thx for the feedback all...I need all I can get! I got these numbers off an LED spreadsheet from another forum....but I am not sure as to its logic. I also did recently look at the specs of some popular commercial units...the Radion Pro has 82 LEDs (across 2 fixtures), the GHL Mitras have 144 (across 2 fixtures) and the Vertex Illumina 360 36 inch has 96 LEDs without additional modules.....cutting down would certainly save me some $'s! Reefnewbie, what are your tank dimensions?
Click to expand...

my tank is 48"x20"x24". I believe that I have more than enough. Good luck w/ the build. I had a lot of fun w/ mine, and it is amazing how much doe u can save. also look at the reef angel controller to control your leads



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