Minimalistic multichip DIY LED build

[megadeth72]

That looks great!!!!!! I wish someone could tell me what I'll need for my 75......

you shoudl ask in the lighting forum, and you'll want to explain what your keeping too

nobody can answer honestly without that, and corals really dont care what size your tank is

 

[firefightered66]

Thanks trop trea... So if I put 4x 20w 16k and 8x 10w rb this should be enough penetration for a 20" deep tank 4' long. This will equal out to 160 watts. What if any lens should I use without getting the "disco" effect? and could I just use 2 80w meanwell dimmable drivers?

You should be running somwhere in the rang of 150 watts total of LED's if your running them in there moost efficient power range. As far as color selection goes this is dependent a lot on the eye of the beholder. I personaly like between a 3 and 3.5 to one ration of Blues to Neutral whites (5,000K). Some like to use higher K rated whites and if you go that route you need more whites in the color ration.

As fat as the wattage of LED's you select to go with remember that higher wattages are best for deeper penetration. Usualy 3 to 10 watt LED's work best for tanks up to 24" tall. But when you go taller than that the higher wattages will give you more penetration.

 

[tomservo]

From a quick review of the package this multichip array is basicly 60 epstar chips in an array. The Epstar chips are at there hieghest effeciency when they are running at 1 Watt. This is probably why they are rated as a 1 watt multichip. However it is possible to run these individual chips at 3 watts max wich would put the total power for 60 of them up to 180 Watts. But if you look at the multichips you will see that each of these 60 chips are generating heat so close to each other that it would be extremly difficult to despensate the heat fast enough to run them safely at 180 watts. This is why the manufacturer rated them at 60 watts where they are the most effecient. Now dependent upon how much you put into cooling these chips you can push that wattage up. Personaly with good cooling I'd feel good and safe up to 90 Watts, but would feel very scared if I pushed them over 120 watts for any lenght of time.

Remember that heat is the biggest destroyer of LED's. The higher the Wattage the greater the ratio of heat to light.

The 3w class epistar chips are rated for 2.52w @ 700ma (typ) - this is the reason for the 151w rating. As long as the package is kept in the thermal envelope there should be no problem with running it at a full 151w, although I would agree with you, 90-120w is more appropriate and likely what you'd end up with for most tanks.

These are nice chips and should be dead easy to keep cool with a direct contact heatpipe type cooler.

I have pictures of my dream chip build progress but I guess I need to reboot this laptop, it's giving me a rough time.

 

[TropTrea]

Thanks trop trea... So if I put 4x 20w 16k and 8x 10w rb this should be enough penetration for a 20" deep tank 4' long. This will equal out to 160 watts. What if any lens should I use without getting the "disco" effect? and could I just use 2 80w meanwell dimmable drivers?

On a 24" tall tank with 40 LED's I originaly went with 90 degree lenses but after two days I pulled the lenses. With your tank being only 20" tall I would not use lenses unless your mounting the lights more than 8" above the water surface.

As far as lighing combo is concerned the wattage is about right. But remember for the benifit of the corals themselves the Blue Light is your main concern. The addition of the white light is mainly for your viewing pleasure. This is why I prefer using the 5K whites. It allows me to use more wattage of blues, as just a small amount of the 5,000K light brightens things up considerably.

 

[tomservo]

Double post madness! At least it's letting my add attachments.

Progress so far: Painted the gooseneck black, it came out very well. sanded (not enough) the housing, and gave it one coat of black, it really soaked into the pores of the ABS. I think these couplers I bought are some sort of high density ABS foam, they are really porous compared to the sheet ABS I have used in the past.

I have the light working, I need to move some stuff around, for some reason I connected the actinic driver to the dimming input for the whites. No big deal, just move some wires on a terminal block. After that I need to reprogram my reef angel to give 100% output so I can dial in the current settings on the ELN drivers. Then I can muck about and figure out the settings I want to give the PAR I desire.

I started in on a mount for the gooseneck pole, it's a 1" thick slab of nylon, with a hole drilled for the pole and a slit with a bolt running through it to clamp on the pole. I need to decide how I want to attach it to my stand.

 

[adam182]

Hello,

Im just buying the bits for mine now, Can anyone tell me what gauge wire i need for 5 10w LEDs in series?

Thank you

 

[funkyfish77]

I'm using 20 gauge solid core no probs with heat. Firefighter i have 2x14k 4xsuper actinic hybrids and 2x420nm all in the 20 watt veriety over my 120 with no lenses.
I had to move most coral to the bottom . The leds are running about 1300ma 10.8v.
These things are pretty intense.

Funky

 

[bebitte70]

Hi I'm not sure if this belongs in this thread but I would like to know how you figure out how determine which side is positive and negative. I noticed there's a side tha t has a second hole where the connections go. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread.

 

[hillscp]

I would like to know how you figure out how determine which side is positive and negative.

All the ones I have seen have a plus and minus stamped on them. Which array do you have?

 

[firefightered66]

Thanks funkyfish.. With your exp. with these chips, do you think I could get by with the same set up but dim them down? Or go with 10w which would only be 80w. I'm looking at getting a DIM4 to control these things. I just want to get this right the first time. Also what drivers are you using?

I'm using 20 gauge solid core no probs with heat. Firefighter i have 2x14k 4xsuper actinic hybrids and 2x420nm all in the 20 watt veriety over my 120 with no lenses.
I had to move most coral to the bottom . The leds are running about 1300ma 10.8v.
These things are pretty intense.

Funky

 

[adam182]

I'm using 20 gauge solid core no probs with heat. Firefighter i have 2x14k 4xsuper actinic hybrids and 2x420nm all in the 20 watt veriety over my 120 with no lenses.
I had to move most coral to the bottom . The leds are running about 1300ma 10.8v.
These things are pretty intense.

Funky

Thank you for the reply

 

[adam182]

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/zumcs

Can anyone please tell me what these metal plug in connectors are called? I saw them in one of the builds and would like to use them in mine.

Thank you

 

[tomservo]

OK, where to start? The CNPS8900 has no trouble with the dream chip. I am only able to drive the channels to 1.3A with my ELN drivers (I didn't want to futz around so much setting everything to 1.4A to test and then have to readjust.

Total wattage measured at the socket: 260w @ 118.6V
5 x ELN60-48P
Actinic: 1275/34.55v @ 100%
746ma @ 50%
White1: 1275/34.54v @ 100%
759 @ 50%
White2: 1300/34.72v @ 100%
Blue1: 1309/35.02v @ 100%
Blue2: 1304/34.36v @ 100%
* I only took 50% readings on 2 channels, as this kind of thing is a PITA due to how I have to connect my meter.

TEMPS:
Fan
9.92v - 114.6F 45.8C
7.97v - 120F 48.8C

PAR measured in air / 100 degree optic (inches)
Under light
18 - 675
24 - 400
36 - 185
38 - 165

12" offset (24" spread)
18 - 340
24 - 265
36 - 165
38 - 148

24" offset (4 foot spread)
18 - out of light cone
24 - 100
36 - 108
38 - 100

With the ELN's configured to give max output (1300ma) I can still dim to 12% - below that is like moonlight sort of levels. I think that if I adjust the current limit in the driver I could achieve a more fine level of dimming, which I may do.

edit: I forgot to mention the ambient temperature during my tests was 82F (27.7C)

 

[007Bond]

Tom, 82F you guys having a heatwave in Manitoba.:uhoh3:

 

[funkyfish77]

Thanks funkyfish.. With your exp. with these chips, do you think I could get by with the same set up but dim them down? Or go with 10w which would only be 80w. I'm looking at getting a DIM4 to control these things. I just want to get this right the first time. Also what drivers are you using?

I'm using a dimmer that is built in to the ballast on 5 and 3 on eBay dimmers on a 200 watt ballast . I'm working my way upon intensity my slimer mbirdsnest, monti's,
An clam Are loving it. All my soft corals did not like it much for the first few days. If you go with 10watt chips get more of them I may have to get a couple more. Another week or so turning it up will tell the tail. I'm working on a touch screen arduino set up for control hopefully I'll be able to get it up and running soon.

Funky

 

[TropTrea]

Hello,

Im just buying the bits for mine now, Can anyone tell me what gauge wire i need for 5 10w LEDs in series?

Thank you

The current is the big determination of wire guage size. The recomendation is
16 guage up to 3.7 Amps
18 Guage up to 2.3 Amps
20 Guage up to 1.8 Amps
22 guage up to 920 ma.
24 guage up to 570 ma.

the use of solid or multi strand wire is a matter of personal preference. I prefer working with multi strand while others prefer solid. Note multi strand is much more flexable.

 

[BeanAnimal]

This numbders are very misleading and do not indicate the current carrying capacoty or (or voltage drop) of chasis wiring.

You can easily carry 10A on a #22 wire (of reasonable length, say less than 3 feet) inside a device without significant voltage drop or heating. Don't confuse NEC ampacity with the current carrying capacity of the wire...

 

[tomservo]

This numbders are very misleading and do not indicate the current carrying capacoty or (or voltage drop) of chasis wiring.

You can easily carry 10A on a #22 wire (of reasonable length, say less than 3 feet) inside a device without significant voltage drop or heating. Don't confuse NEC ampacity with the current carrying capacity of the wire...

+1 on that - your best bet with this kind of design is to use a voltage drop calculator, as that will become an important factor long before your wires start to get warm. For example, with a 10 foot run of 22 awg you can throw 4A at it and only have a voltage drop of 1.29v - although your wires would likely get slightly warm, you wouldn't have a problem unless your whole bundle of cable was doing similar duty.

In other news, I put the light up, although temporarily mounted. I need to heat and bend the gooseneck a bit, or mount the holder directly in the center behind the tank, which may be possible. Probably go with the second option as it will look better.

The blue channels light up the white phosphor a great deal even by themselves, I notice. Right now I have the drivers all limited to 500ma current and the lights are programmed for 30% blue 20% white, and I want it more blue, but don't want to go higher on % right now. No idea the current levels ATM but PAR wise I have ~160 center-mid, which I think is a bit lower than with the previous fixture. By lowering the current limit, I have a bit more control over the light levels for my tiny tank - with the drivers configured for 1300ma as before the 12%/12% setting was over 200 PAR!

 

[nettraptor]

Hi there ...

i am using this driver to control two 50watt leds.
Ebay link removed~dc

Is there anyone using a Reef keeper ellite controler RKE from Digital Aquatics to control (remote dimming controll) ? with the ALC module.???

 

[ltlevil]

Hi there ...

Ebay link removed~dc

Is there anyone using a Reef keeper ellite controler RKE from Digital Aquatics to control (remote dimming controll) ? with the ALC module.???

I am not using this driver but both the Apex an Digital Aquatics use 0-10v signaling. You would need to insure this is what is used on this particular driver and basically take out the Pot and install the ALC in its place IF it is contolled with 10v signalling. It cleary states it is not Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) so if the dimming capabilities are controlled with 0-10v then the above will work. You need to determine which wires going into the Pot are positive and negative and verify the Voltage, if for some reason it is higher than 10 volts then the ALC will not work. If it is 10v or less, determine which wires are going TO the driver and these are what you would attach to the ALC.