help with led diy project

[Esquare]

Do you have a voltmeter inline to check the connection?

 

[vietcu]

nah it is at work, so I had everything turned down on the meanwell. I thought the same thing, but in order for it to even light up the first 7, all wiring connection would have to be good am I correct?

 

[Esquare]

I wish I could help but I'm more trial and error on wiring and don't have the expertise some of these guys do. Good luck with it.

 

[cmbspd]

Vietcu,

You wired an LED backward, had a loose connection, a short to the heatsink, or an LED is fried. Test using a 9V battery. Just run wires from the battery to the + and - terminals on LEDs until you find the culprit. You have to have the current flowing in the right direction (ie - battery to + LED won't work!).

 

[vietcu]

Vietcu,

You wired an LED backward, had a loose connection, a short to the heatsink, or an LED is fried. Test using a 9V battery. Just run wires from the battery to the + and - terminals on LEDs until you find the culprit. You have to have the current flowing in the right direction (ie - battery to + LED won't work!).

I have checked and recheck to see if I went backwards on the LED but it is wired up correctly. I am not sure what a short to the heatsink means but I think that is what it is. Here are some photos, please help in terms of how to use the meter and how to find the culprit. Thanks.

I found this out while testing the Led string again with the batteries. Touching each Led on the + and - side they all would light up. But when I touch the + of Led #7, 10, 12, and 13, and the - to the heat sink. Those Led would also light up, none of the others did. So how do I go about fixing this? Thanks.

 

[vietcu]

Got it to work, after fidling around with the LED. I found out one of the connection points was messed up, used another point and everything is OK. Tony if you do this test every LED before plugging it in, it helps out big time as I have learned . Got another string up now, will have one half of the fixture working by tomorrow hopefully.

 

[Tonycip]

Good deal VU my heat sinks are here so I'm trying to figure out my lay out and some other design details. One thing I did notice when I was testing a previous design was
I didn’t protect the stars that the leds are mounted on from the elements the lights where about 6" above the water and although they weren’t getting wet they definitely corroded in short order. Just a heads up. And lets see more pic's vu thanks
I'll post some as I go

 

[Tonycip]

Ok Lets get started...
Here’s the project to remove the t5's and replace them with 2 led modules.

Here’s the stuff from cutter and rapid led
I got 60 deg lenses I'm not sure I'm going to use them I've seen some nice ones done without on a big tank with no problems so I'll see..

I'm also not sure on the spacing of the leds some people have them as close as 1 inch and others as far apart as 3-4 inches.
I'm going to try somewhere in the middle. And put 23 on a 20"long heat sink here’s the lay out .

They’re all marked and center punched now I'm waiting for the drills and taps and nylon screws I ordered from Mc Masters. They should be here in a couple of days.
And I need to make a trip to House of plastics for some black acrylic to spruce it up..

 

[Tonycip]

Ok I got the drills and taps in the mail today and drilled both plates and tapped 1.
It took 2 hrs.I also put a little wax on the tap to help lube it . I have to finish the other 1 tomorrow...
If anyone was interested the whole size was 2.5mm and the tap was 3mm x .5
I got the tap drill and a bag of 100 nylon screws from mc masters..

 

[vietcu]

Looking good Tony, keep us updated. I have hit a snag on my project, more like a time constraint. I will start on it again maybe this weekend.

 

[guillotine]

hey tony what will ur lighting scheme be whites in the middle and blues on the outside 2:1 ratio?

 

[Tonycip]

I was thinking 1:1 staggered. Whites on 1 driver and the blues on another so I could dim and brighten as needed to get the right mix. Unless anybody knows of a reason why that’s not a good Idea. Chime in. Thanks

 

[Tonycip]

I got all the taping done and started on the sides I found some light weight polymer sheets at the house of plastics its 3/8” thick its hard and light although you can scratch it with your finger nail it may be the filler material for laminate sheets anyways it will do for my prototype mock up. I cut the sides and put a grove in it for the splash shield screwed it to the sides of the heat sink. I was going to use 120mm computer fans but there 4 and ¾
Wide and the heat sink is only 4 and ¼ so I’ll either have to space out the sides ¼ on each side or use 80mm fans I haven’t decided yet I really don’t know how much cooling I’ll need… I’m also trying to keep the whole assembly as thin as possible since it has to fit under my hood and I want to keep it as far off the water as possible so the drivers will have to go in the stand and I’ll have to make some kind of harness between the two.
I also need to find some lock tight for nylon screws. Things to ponder….
Any suggestions or comments welcomed

 

[guillotine]

looks good tony are you planning on putting anything in the middle of the two fans to force the air over the entire heatsink

 

[tripico]

Questions regarding tapping the holes, did you have to Drill first than use the tap and tap by hand or can you use the tap bit on a hand drill?

 

[Tonycip]

yes I had to drill first, and the tap is so small I didn't want to chance breaking it so i tapped them by hand.

 

[Tonycip]

Here’s the prototype with brackets for hanging and terminal block for the wires
I'm going with the bigger 120mm fans and spacing the sides so they’ll fit and also it might let some of the air circulate to the front of the heat sink.. I'll be mounting the leds and wiring it up next.. Stay tuned..

 

[Tonycip]

OK I got 1 wired up and fired up one thing I did notice is to be careful when soldering the wires that they don’t touch the edge of the star that the led is mounted to because that will short it to the heat sink. Just a heads up. I also tried to see if I could get away without a fan so I run them for 15 min and checked them and the heat sink was almost to hot to touch so the answer is NO.

 

[jcl79]

I had the same problem, i fried like 36 lights, gave up and bought a premade fixture haha

 

[jenn33426]

Those are sweet looking! Tank pics yet?