Minimalistic multichip DIY LED build

[bhazard451]

If you plan on using an arduino controller like the Typhon Boostled, you can also use Mean Well LDD-1000H (1000mah) drivers and a switchable power supply. I find it to be a much cleaner implementation than the ELN drivers, and these can dim via PWM down to 0%, unlike the ELNs. They are only around $6 per driver, and 1 inch big.

5 LDD-1000H drivers = $30
200w 36v 5.9a or 350w 36v 9.7a power supply for 2 chips from ebay = $32
Typhon Boostled or any 5-6v arduino controller = $55

This can give you 4 channels, full automatic sunrise/sunset, and dimming to 0% for the Dream Chip, for less money than 5 ELN drivers.

I'm actually using these drivers for my next build. My first DIY led light uses ELNs, but the small size of these drivers, the ability to keep the power supply external, the ability to dim to 0%, and the lower cost makes them the better choice.

I'd love to see someone implement this on the chip.

 

[Lassef]

Yes - if you put them in a daisy chain (serial connection plus from driver to plus chip 1 -> minus chip 1 to plus chip 2 -> minus chip 2 to minus driver and if you adjust the internal pot (on the driver) from its max (2300 ma) to just under 2000 mA. Use a multimeter to this adjustment. You must know which type of dim system you controller has and buy the right version. D if it use 1-10 v and P if it use PWM.


Sincerely Lasse

 

[dwolson2]

Can the adrino be programed to accept a 0-10v signal?

If you plan on using an arduino controller like the Typhon Boostled, you can also use Mean Well LDD-1000H (1000mah) drivers and a switchable power supply. I find it to be a much cleaner implementation than the ELN drivers, and these can dim via PWM down to 0%, unlike the ELNs. They are only around $6 per driver, and 1 inch big.

5 LDD-1000H drivers = $30
200w 36v 5.9a or 350w 36v 9.7a power supply for 2 chips from ebay = $32
Typhon Boostled or any 5-6v arduino controller = $55

This can give you 4 channels, full automatic sunrise/sunset, and dimming to 0% for the Dream Chip, for less money than 5 ELN drivers.

I'm actually using these drivers for my next build. My first DIY led light uses ELNs, but the small size of these drivers, the ability to keep the power supply external, the ability to dim to 0%, and the lower cost makes them the better choice.

I'd love to see someone implement this on the chip.

 

[bhazard451]

Boostled Typhon can do 5v or 0-10v PWM. The DIM4 can do 0-10v analog



Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

 

[dwolson2]

Boostled Typhon can do 5v or 0-10v PWM. The DIM4 can do 0-10v analog



Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

so the apex would need dim 4 correct?

 

[TropTrea]

That the maricultured corals grows at 6 - 8´deep is no evidence that the 420 - 460 nm not are most important wavelengths- these wavelengths at this depth has the same intensity (and a little bit higher) as they have deeper down. Most of the corals that you have seen near the surface is also able to grown in deeps down to 30´- and that is an evidence that they do not need the wavelengths you are talking about because most of them are gone at these depths.

The fact that you can eat meatbolls in Canada do not make them to be a Canadian dish - they are still a Swedish dish.

Sincerely Lasse

another big consideration here is in the wild you can find the same coral flourishing in 8" of water as well as in 32' of water, but not at 120 ' of water. The two samples of this coral one from 8' and the other from 32' however might appear considerable different in both there color and in the growth pattern.

Now when you put these coral in your aquarium your aquarium you will see changes over time and they both will gradualy look more and more alike. One might be more beautiful in your mind and other may be getting less atractive. What is the difference but the light and perhaps water movement and neutriment levels.

So the big point here is that no lighting combination is ideal for all corals. Some corals may bleach out from just a little too much red light others might love a considerable amount. Simularly with UV lighting especialy shorter than 420nm which can kill some corals while others thrive on it.

 

[megadeth72]

That the maricultured corals grows at 6 - 8´deep is no evidence that the 420 - 460 nm not are most important wavelengths- these wavelengths at this depth has the same intensity (and a little bit higher) as they have deeper down. Most of the corals that you have seen near the surface is also able to grown in deeps down to 30´- and that is an evidence that they do not need the wavelengths you are talking about because most of them are gone at these depths.

I'm sorry, I disagree with whatever point your trying to make. Where mariculture takes place does not matter much to me. What matters is where the corals are found in nature, ie where they evolved to survive. And it is quite a bit deeper than 6' under.

a shallow reef dive is less than 35 feet of water, I believe mostly 15-20'

 

[Whitebeam]

I give in! I've been trying to work it out myself, but can't make up my mind if I understand enough yet or not, so I'll ask the dumb beginners question...

I have an Aqua One Reef 200 tank (display porton 31" long, 12" wide and 23"deep (lights to sand), currently lit by two 24W T5 Geisemann Powerchrome Actinic+ and two 24W T5 Geisemann Powerchrome Aquablue+ a total of 96W of T5. I have some LPS and some simple SPS in the upper part of the tank. If I want to change to LED lighting for this tank, what combinations should I be looking for to:

a) Maintain the equivalence of my current lighting?
b) Allow me to think about growing something like Acro. formosa, Bali slimer etc from mid-water of the tank upwards?

I'm thinking that:

a) is something like 2 x 20W (or 4x10W for better spacing) 16,000K plus 2x 20W (or 4x10W etc) 445nm with perhaps a 430nm thrown in to heighten flourescence
b) is the same as a) but 4 of each main chip at 20W

I prefer a blue cast with strong flourescence. Am I on the right track?

Once I know this, I can handle the selection of drivers ok, but recommendations for a simple, cheap programmable controller with easily available circuit boards etc would be most welcome.

Peter

 

[megadeth72]

Can the adrino be programed to accept a 0-10v signal?

if you mean output, then no but you can use PWM on the ground, and supply a 10v hot

I use 12v to power my arduino, and a 7810 to drop the same power supply to 10v and a 2n2222 on the ground wire to generate the 0-10v PWM signal

 

[Lassef]

Originally Posted by Lassef
That the maricultured corals grows at 6 - 8´deep is no evidence that the 420 - 460 nm not are most important wavelengths- these wavelengths at this depth has the same intensity (and a little bit higher) as they have deeper down. Most of the corals that you have seen near the surface is also able to grown in deeps down to 30´- and that is an evidence that they do not need the wavelengths you are talking about because most of them are gone at these depths.

I'm sorry, I disagree with whatever point your trying to make. Where mariculture takes place does not matter much to me. What matters is where the corals are found in nature, ie where they evolved to survive. And it is quite a bit deeper than 6' under.

a shallow reef dive is less than 35 feet of water, I believe mostly 15-20'

Sorry megadeth72 - I do not understand why you say you disagree with me. I´m trying to say the same thing as you. mr.wilson states that because of the fact that maricultured corals grow at a depth of 6´- the blue wavelengths has not the importance for the photosynthesis that I have said they have. I disagree with this and agree with you that most corals has been developed deeper and therefore also are adapted to use the 420 - 460 nm range. And that they also use this wavelengths for photosynthesis in swallow water - because if you is able to find this wavelengths (420 -460 nm) at depth of 10 - 15´ - you will also find them at a depth of 6´ - and with more intensity. Many of the longer wavelengths are gone at depth of 10 - 15´ and therefore - they have not any great importance according to photosynthesis.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[megadeth72]

Sorry I got confused

 

[Lassef]

Sorry I got confused

A major difference between Svedish and English is the word order and the use of small words like "that". I understand that my english sometime can confuse people and my english should be called Swenglish instead

Sincerely Lasse

 

[kentrob11]

lol...no problem Lasse

 

[zoaracer]

diy driver

diy driver

Yes - a guy here in Sweden build driver boards based on CAT 4101 drivers. Somethings like the board you can get at Steve´s LED. The driver can give 1000 mA but if you connect two drivers (CAT 4101) in parallel you can get 2000 mA (at least with that construction my friend has) I always connect two pcs of 10 or 20 watts (of AC-RC type) in a daisy chain and adjust my ingoing voltage as close to the combined FV as possible (total FV + 0.5 V)

Sincerely Lasse

yup, CAT4101 drivers are very good , with very minimal components, and pretty stable too..

regards
zoaracer

 

[mr.wilson]

I won't flog a dead horse, but I will clarify my position one last time. :deadhorse:

1) Blue light is the most significant for photosynthesis and fluorescence; however, not to the exclusion of the rest of the spectrum, including, but not limited to 660nm red light.

2) Reflectance is an important aspect of coral presentation/colouration, despite how cool fluorescence is.

3) There is more than enough blue light in a 14k fixture and it will provide all of the "intense blue light" referenced in the recent lighting articles.

4) You cannot pick one aspect of reef lighting like chlorophyll A and ignore the rest of the science of spectral analysis.

5) Natural reefs do not look blue. You need to dive 500-800' to get the kind of blue many people are proposing.

6) Our aquariums will refract green, orange & red light, so the fixture needs to be closer to full spectrum than many think in order to achieve the desired effect in the aquarium.

7) Meatballs are a gift Sweden shares with the world.

I'll drop the subject there

 

[dwolson2]

@ megadeath:

if you mean output, then no but you can use PWM on the ground, and supply a 10v hot

I use 12v to power my arduino, and a 7810 to drop the same power supply to 10v and a 2n2222 on the ground wire to generate the 0-10v PWM signal

I was looking for Input. I have an APEX and want to go through the adrino to control the drivers. I could just go to ELN drivers, but I was looking at a more cost effective way to go. Not only that but I could also look into other things to program with the adrino, so It wouldn't just be for LED drivers(IE using the optical sensor for ATO instead of a float switch.)

If you plan on using an arduino controller like the Typhon Boostled, you can also use Mean Well LDD-1000H (1000mah) drivers and a switchable power supply. I find it to be a much cleaner implementation than the ELN drivers, and these can dim via PWM down to 0%, unlike the ELNs. They are only around $6 per driver, and 1 inch big.

5 LDD-1000H drivers = $30
200w 36v 5.9a or 350w 36v 9.7a power supply for 2 chips from ebay = $32
Typhon Boostled or any 5-6v arduino controller = $55

This can give you 4 channels, full automatic sunrise/sunset, and dimming to 0% for the Dream Chip, for less money than 5 ELN drivers.

I'm actually using these drivers for my next build. My first DIY led light uses ELNs, but the small size of these drivers, the ability to keep the power supply external, the ability to dim to 0%, and the lower cost makes them the better choice.

I'd love to see someone implement this on the chip.

Boostled Typhon can do 5v or 0-10v PWM. The DIM4 can do 0-10v analog

so the apex would need dim 4 correct?

 

[fsugmoney]

What is the best thing to use to keep the new 100 watt dreamchip cool...I want heat to never be an issue for me... What does everyone recommend? From previous build I have a 8x8 heatsink with fan, but I know I'll need something more than that for the new 100 watt driven more like 200...thanks

 

[TropTrea]

I give in! I've been trying to work it out myself, but can't make up my mind if I understand enough yet or not, so I'll ask the dumb beginners question...

I have an Aqua One Reef 200 tank (display porton 31" long, 12" wide and 23"deep (lights to sand), currently lit by two 24W T5 Geisemann Powerchrome Actinic+ and two 24W T5 Geisemann Powerchrome Aquablue+ a total of 96W of T5. I have some LPS and some simple SPS in the upper part of the tank. If I want to change to LED lighting for this tank, what combinations should I be looking for to:

a) Maintain the equivalence of my current lighting?
b) Allow me to think about growing something like Acro. formosa, Bali slimer etc from mid-water of the tank upwards?

I'm thinking that:

a) is something like 2 x 20W (or 4x10W for better spacing) 16,000K plus 2x 20W (or 4x10W etc) 445nm with perhaps a 430nm thrown in to heighten flourescence
b) is the same as a) but 4 of each main chip at 20W

I prefer a blue cast with strong flourescence. Am I on the right track?

Once I know this, I can handle the selection of drivers ok, but recommendations for a simple, cheap programmable controller with easily available circuit boards etc would be most welcome.

Peter

first off there no lighting system that everyone will agree is ideal. Personal taste in lighting varies considerably and for some people it even changes over time.

Next looking at you tank dimensions I would say your looking in the range of 60 watts of LED lighting to give allow you to keep a majority of corals. If you went up to 80 watts of power it not give you any issues provided the lighting is balanced.

With that in mind I would look at about 48 watts total of Blue Light. This blue light dependent upon peraonal taste can be all all Royal Blues, or you can have a mixture of Blue and Royal Blues to widen the band width in the blue range and reduce what some consider a pinkish tint.

Once you have the blues then the big question of how much white light you want to add comes into play. This is 95% personal taste. My personal preference would be going with about 16 watts of neutral white lighting of about 5,000K. Some would recommend about 24 Watts or more of 20,000K lighting. Either of which would give you a strong blue tint.

But as I said earier personal color taste is big here. For those not wanting a strong blue tint they may be looking at either 24 Watts of 5,000K lighting to 48 watts of 20,000K lighting. But keep in mind that that the 20,000K LED's are very blue in themselves and the only way to lessen that 20,000K look is to add aditional green and red light. While the 5,000K leds virtualy look white to start with.

 

[acabgd]

What is the best thing to use to keep the new 100 watt dreamchip cool...I want heat to never be an issue for me... What does everyone recommend? From previous build I have a 8x8 heatsink with fan, but I know I'll need something more than that for the new 100 watt driven more like 200...thanks

You would want a very powerful CPU cooler, something in the range of Coolermaster TPC-812 or Noctua NH-C14.

 

[007Bond]

There were postings tests some pages back by "tomservo" on a Zalman 8900 that he did on his Dream Chip.---RICK