LED build 10 gallon help?

[pikachux3]

Can someone help me with building a controllable LED light for a standard 10 Gallon tank? I am new to reefing and have been reading various LED builds but I am pretty lost as I don't know how things hook up. I am a little familiar with OHM's laws and can learn coding. I am thinking about using a dimmable buckpucks instead of a a driver.

I think a popular choice for LEDs are Cree, but I would like to use ebay LEDs to gain experience. I plan to buy <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/10PCS-3W-Royal-Blue-High-Power-LED-Emitter-700mA-450-455NM-with-20mm-Star-Base-/320867358141?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ab52f55bd" target="_new">these</a> from ebay and 3w cool whites.

Materials I think I need for LEDs:
1x Heatsink
?x Power Supply (Not sure how many volts and can this be used for the LED Controller?)
2x Buckpucks with dimming (1000mA)
6x RB 3W LEDs
6x CW 3W LEDs

Materials I think I need for LED Controller:
1x Arduino Uno with USB cable (I have this already)
1x LCD Shield
1x RTC
1x Breadboard
1x 20-26 Gauge Wire
1x Breadboard Jumpers
2x NPN transistor (1 for each string I want to control independently if I am understanding it correctly)
2x 1K resistors

For the LED controller, I used Link 1 to find what I need, but it uses a meanwell driver so I am not sure how it works with buckpucks. If anyone has a similar build they can share or suggestions (maybe not use buckpucks?), I appreciate it! Thanks for reading.

Sites I used to research:
Link 1: https://sites.google.com/site/caddnima/myreeftank/led_controller
Link 2: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1847680
Link 3: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1987110

 

[pikachux3]

Oops, sorry for posting this twice! My posts did not change until today so I thought no one could see my other thread. Mods please delete my other post if you see this, thank you.

So from my understanding, in order to control one string of light, it needs its own driver? Also, I realized that CW LEDs are actually 5w, how does this affect things?

 

[pikachux3]

Oops! After looking at the buckpuck data sheet, I think I flip flopped the power supply and positive/negative leads.

 

[pikachux3]

Bump.

 

[pikachux3]

 

[paulywog0667]

I would run a separate power to the LEDs instead of using the controller. Unless you are using one pin for each LED? Then it usually needs to be less that 40ma per output. If your diagram is the bare LEDs, you may have forgot to add in your resisters, going back to ground. Do not know if they are needed for Crees. Never looked to see if they where on them already. I am building a new controller myself. I have been researching c programming. It can get as complicated as you want it to be. I noticed things can get complicated if you have the unit doing a ton of things at once, or certain need things done alone, or pick the order. I found a website called cprogramming.com. On the left of the page, there are some tutorials. It also gives a lot of other good information, from concept to examples. I do not think the Arduinos are like 5000$ traffic controllers with bigger processors, but work great for aquariums. From what I have read, the simplest way is to have it do functions in order, if you need to double use pins. Then keep the coding organized. Or at least seems reasonable to me, to not exceed output voltages. If it is reading the temperature, let it get it to settings, then go to the next function. Like updating Ph readings. Give it a few seconds to turn on lights, overwrite functions if messing with something else, then resume. I think if you look at the site I posted, then keep it one function at a time. It is about my extent of the programming to date. lol still studying.

 

[paulywog0667]

I might have goofed too. Do not know if you could double use pins. Makes sense since things are stacked on the arduinos. On mine, I am going to have my Mega, then Ethernet, sensor and display shields stacked. The manufacturers of the shields, I believe do all the circuitry, to keep signals organized. From what I have read, coding is set up like a book. Headers being like a table of contents, libraries like references, etc... If you have the controller doing calculations, like if the temp is below 77, send a 5v to relay, to turn on the heater until the equation is true or false (back to where you want it). Once it is done with that task, go to the next, like update the display for ph. Generally, if all things are completed by the controller and your not waiting on a heater or something. It only takes a few seconds tops, to fly through the whole program. For it to test ph and print it on your display takes barely any time. If the ph was out of expectable range. You had it set up to a reacter. It would stay on the command until it is resolved. Then the next thing. If you use a RTC. The controller wont have to think about the lights again, until you tell it too.

 

[pikachux3]

Hey paulywog0667, thanks for the information about the arduino and advice on coding; I will definitely look into that. as I have a lot to learn. I'm not sure what these "pins" do lol.

As for the resistors, from my understanding, they aren't required since the build uses constant current. Can anyone chime in to confirm?

 

[perkint]

If you are using constant current to the LEDs you don't need resistors to help bring the voltage down for them. The CC driver should sort that.

Tim

 

[pikachux3]

Thanks Tim. So I want to do a 20 gallon long now.. Now I am considering using 2 meanwell drivers. 24 LEDs total: 12 LED in series on each driver. I read that I should go with the P since it is better for arduino. Is this correct? And I believe I can use 2 drivers in parallel to use 1 power supply. Is this also correct? Thanks folks.

 

[perkint]

Which meanwell drivers do you mean? The LDDs? If so, you can use two of those from one power supply, as you say

Tim

 

[pikachux3]

Oops, I was referring to the ELNs. Hmm, I was not aware of the LDDs, and after looking into them a bit, they seem to fit my needs better being less costly and small. I will research those and come back with questions. I appreciate the help Tim .

 

[perkint]

The ELNs are combined power supplies and drivers. If you use those, you connect direct to the mains - don't try and connect those in parallel to another supply

The LDDs are ideal for buying a (for example) 100W power supply and then connecting tthree 30W LED strings to that in parallel

Tim

 

[pikachux3]

New 20 gallon long led build list (30" x 12" = 360in^2/15) = 24 LEDs

12x 3w Cree RB LEDs (I decided I want to do it right the first time with quality materials)
12x 5w Cree CW(or mix in NW?) LEDs
2x LDD-H 1000mA
1x Coralux LDD-2 Driver Board
1x Power Supply (not sure what to get?)
1x Aluminum U Channel (what do you guys think about this alternative heat sink? And would I need a fan?)

For controller:

1x Arduino Uno
1x LCD shield
1x RTC
1x 20-26 Gauge Wire

How do these supplies look so far? Am I missing anything vital?

 

[pikachux3]

The ELNs are combined power supplies and drivers. If you use those, you connect direct to the mains - don't try and connect those in parallel to another supply

The LDDs are ideal for buying a (for example) 100W power supply and then connecting tthree 30W LED strings to that in parallel

Tim

Hahah, I see.

So I need to choose a power supply that has higher wattage than the total wattage of LEDs?

 

[perkint]

Which LEDs are you looking at? There's a huge difference between XTE, XPG, XML, etc, even before you start including the different bins!

The list you have seems to cover the required components, but to know what to say about the heat sink, need to know exactly what LEDs to know how much heat they generate at 1A drive current. The cooler the LEDs are, the more light you get per Watt and the longer they last

Tim

 

[perkint]

Hahah, I see.

So I need to choose a power supply that has higher wattage than the total wattage of LEDs?

Yep. Simple as that

Well, almost. The drivers consume a bit, but not much. You don't want to drive your power supply flat out all the time, but buying a 200W supply for 100W of LEDs is a bit (but not massively) inefficient.

Tim

 

[pikachux3]

Which LEDs are you looking at? There's a huge difference between XTE, XPG, XML, etc, even before you start including the different bins!

The list you have seems to cover the required components, but to know what to say about the heat sink, need to know exactly what LEDs to know how much heat they generate at 1A drive current. The cooler the LEDs are, the more light you get per Watt and the longer they last

Tim

XP-G for CW LEDs and XT-E for RB LEDs. How do I know how much heat they generate?

 

[perkint]

The meanwell data sheets will tell you the °C per watt

But, the only ones better than what you say there are XPG2 or XML/XML2 for whites so you've picked good LEDs

Tim

 

[pikachux3]

Oh cool, I'll look into that.

How does the arduino get power? (same power supply powering LEDs?)