LED lighting on a budget!
- Thread starter kcress
- Start date
I'm using something like that but 1" across X 1/2" high and 1/8" thick. Got it here: www.onlinemetals.com. It was about $7.50 per 6 foot section. They have many shapes and sizes. Way more than Lowes. Shipping for my last order of 6 footers was $25!!!
Bob
SWINGRRRR
Premium Member
Thanks both of you. I decided to give it a shot. I have a build thread in the DIY section using the stuff from Lowes.
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
How many 6' pieces did you order to incur such a shipping cost? I've thought about using them but will need to factor in the shipping cost.
6 pieces. UPs charges $5 extra for any package over 58". Regardless, shipping was more than I planned for. Especially since I ordered twice! Indecision!
Much better than my ~$13 for each 6 footer!
The aluminum channel that SWINGRRR posted above looks like a great deal. I'm very interested and will probably swing by my local Lowes within the next couple days to check it out.
I will freely admit that I don't know anything about calculating thermal transfer. With that confession out of the way, I've been doing a lot of reading about DIY LEDs lately and it seems like most people are going with much larger heat sinks. Would 16 gauge aluminum be sufficient to dissipate the heat from HO LEDs assuming that they are spaced at least 2" apart?
My apologies if this is getting too far off topic. Please let me know if I should take this up in a new thread.
I will freely admit that I don't know anything about calculating thermal transfer. With that confession out of the way, I've been doing a lot of reading about DIY LEDs lately and it seems like most people are going with much larger heat sinks. Would 16 gauge aluminum be sufficient to dissipate the heat from HO LEDs assuming that they are spaced at least 2" apart?
My apologies if this is getting too far off topic. Please let me know if I should take this up in a new thread.
kcress
New member
swjim; No one is going to "calculate heat dissipation" for these things. We just use estimations based on past experience. Calculations would require knowledge about the designs we never have. Include a fan and every thing goes out the window!
Your proposed layout sounds OK in my experience with moving -non stagnant air.
Your proposed layout sounds OK in my experience with moving -non stagnant air.
customcolor
New member
check out my build with 24 3w leds in a 8x11 area with a thinner heat sink and 1 fan....i have temps on there...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1796371
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1796371
stugray
Premium Member
If you choose to go with the channel shown above, then you only have 1/16" to work with so if you choose to drill & tap, you might have some issues.
I found a local metal supplier where I can get 16 foot pieces of the 1"X1"X1/8" U-channel for $30.
I'll be picking some up next week as I am building another set of lights for the LFS.
This time they are XP-Gs though instead of the XR-Es in the pics above & on the other thread.
I bought enough optics to experiment too.
Stu
I found a local metal supplier where I can get 16 foot pieces of the 1"X1"X1/8" U-channel for $30.
I'll be picking some up next week as I am building another set of lights for the LFS.
This time they are XP-Gs though instead of the XR-Es in the pics above & on the other thread.
I bought enough optics to experiment too.
Stu
kcress and customcolor: thanks for the reassurance about the heat sink material. I just got back from Lowes, picked up a 4' segment of 2" x 2" x 1/8" angle aluminum. I plan to cut it into 16" segments and use some flat pieces that I picked up to tie them together. The cost was only $30, which is about half of what I was planning to spend. Thanks for the tip!
NeveroddoreveN
New member
Doesn't that only save about 24$ for a 48 LED set up if I'm going to use Crees anyways?
81.60$ (48 LEDs at 10.20 per string of 6) +373.92$ (24 Q5, 24 Royal Blues and optics) is only 24$ less than this- http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-25/48-Premium-LED-Do-dsh-It-dsh-Yourself/Detail That seems like a lot of work for what you save.. unless I'm missing something here.
81.60$ (48 LEDs at 10.20 per string of 6) +373.92$ (24 Q5, 24 Royal Blues and optics) is only 24$ less than this- http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-25/48-Premium-LED-Do-dsh-It-dsh-Yourself/Detail That seems like a lot of work for what you save.. unless I'm missing something here.
TheFishMan65
New member
Never,
Not sure what driver you are using for $10.20. But for 48 LEDs you can get those from ETGTech (from what I understand having emailed Anna, but not yet ordered so I could have misunderstood) for $288 (6*48). So there is almost another $100
Not sure what driver you are using for $10.20. But for 48 LEDs you can get those from ETGTech (from what I understand having emailed Anna, but not yet ordered so I could have misunderstood) for $288 (6*48). So there is almost another $100
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
Or, buy the cool white XR-Es from DX for $4.50 each and save even more!
Rapidled is essentially eating some cost in their bundle packs, so it's hard to compare the price of their kits to other (non-discounted) methods. kcress's method cost around $10 to drive 6 LEDs, which is $1.67 per LED. The Meanwell LPC-35-700 used in the kit you linked is $25, and can drive 12 LEDs, so it's $2.08 per LED. So it's 40 cents per LED different. Might not seem like a lot, but on a large build, it would be significant.
And, it's worth noting that the LPC-35-700 is pretty much the absolute cheapest commercial off-the-shelf method to drive LEDs. The ELN60-40 meanwell is maybe $35 - $40 (depending on where you buy it and how you choose to provide a signal to the dim circuit), or $3 - $3.50 per LED. A buckpuck is $13 - $20, depending on dimming options, plus $3 worth of power supply (assuming you're splitting a $15 power supply across 5 strings), so $16 - $23, to drive 6 LEDs, so $2.50 - $4 per LED, more or less.
Rapidled is essentially eating some cost in their bundle packs, so it's hard to compare the price of their kits to other (non-discounted) methods. kcress's method cost around $10 to drive 6 LEDs, which is $1.67 per LED. The Meanwell LPC-35-700 used in the kit you linked is $25, and can drive 12 LEDs, so it's $2.08 per LED. So it's 40 cents per LED different. Might not seem like a lot, but on a large build, it would be significant.
And, it's worth noting that the LPC-35-700 is pretty much the absolute cheapest commercial off-the-shelf method to drive LEDs. The ELN60-40 meanwell is maybe $35 - $40 (depending on where you buy it and how you choose to provide a signal to the dim circuit), or $3 - $3.50 per LED. A buckpuck is $13 - $20, depending on dimming options, plus $3 worth of power supply (assuming you're splitting a $15 power supply across 5 strings), so $16 - $23, to drive 6 LEDs, so $2.50 - $4 per LED, more or less.
TheFishMan65
New member
DX is at $4.36 I think it was if you order 24. Of course I am still waiting since they are currently out of stock.
kcress
New member
Yes companies who don't have the stuff they advertise in stock are always the cheapest.. :hmm3:
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