Joe's 48" LED fixture build - Coming Soon!

[Wheel of Time]

I second the idea of a little LED workshop at an upcoming meeting. Would be very informative. I know I would learn a ton. Still hard to believe you built that whole rig. nice work. Would be nice to see up close just what Id be getting myself into if I go down the DIY LED road....

 

[Reef_Matrix29]

RTMA, what current are you driving your whites and blues at and how high is your fixture off the water surface?

 

[RTMA]

700 ma blues
1000 ma white

I'll have to measure the height again as I forgot.

 

[chrisfowler99]

I had purchased parts to do serial lines as well and was looking for project box ideas.

Just came across your setup and ended up ordering some boxes off of ebay as well.

 

[RTMA]

I had purchased parts to do serial lines as well and was looking for project box ideas.

Just came across your setup and ended up ordering some boxes off of ebay as well.

Cool, nice to see my build was helpful. :beer:

 

[RTMA]

RTMA, what current are you driving your whites and blues at and how high is your fixture off the water surface?

Just measured it, they are 12" off the surface of the water. Sorry for the delay!

 

[PurpleMonster]

Hey joe, freaking sweet brotha!

I jsut got my LED's and Heatsinks. I finished tinning all the LED pads and wire, but now im scratching my head bc i have no idea how to lay them out. I had an idea and then remembered that im not doing a 50/50 mix lol.

28 XRE Royal Blues
20 XPG Whites....

I just want to prevent any spotlights lol

Thanks for sharing man, now im thinking of using my extra T5's lol...

 

[RTMA]

Hey joe, freaking sweet brotha!

I jsut got my LED's and Heatsinks. I finished tinning all the LED pads and wire, but now im scratching my head bc i have no idea how to lay them out. I had an idea and then remembered that im not doing a 50/50 mix lol.

28 XRE Royal Blues
20 XPG Whites....

I just want to prevent any spotlights lol

Thanks for sharing man, now im thinking of using my extra T5's lol...

Nice to see people diving in. Good luck on arranging them, I was 1:1: so it was pretty easy for me. I don't have the brain cycles to sit and think of your layout.. Maybe start with laying them out in 1:1 and then finding the best spot for the extra 8? The T5s are nice, they offset the strict LED bue glow nicely. Still love it without them too.

Good luck

 

[PurpleMonster]

Thanks bro, yea i ended up finding what i hope will not create any spot .... I got one driver up since i was messing around with configurations half the night lol. You aint lying about the blues though holy neon glow batman! ahaha.

Soon as im done i will post some pics

 

[killab443]

I'd hate to bring this back from the dead but I had a question about your setup. Do you loose amperage using db9 connections and wire? The gauge of wire in a db9 cable is 24-28 depending on the cable. I like this idea plan to use it Im just unsure if Im going to loose a ton of amperage.

 

[RTMA]

Hey Killa, i don't notice any loss, the leds still run at spec. I wired them myself and I think I used 24 ga. I made all my own cables, only the ends are used. hope this helps. btw - I'm using those dosing pumps you posted a while back. Thanks for the inspiration there. They are still going strong.