Minimalistic multichip DIY LED build

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The light spread at 140-160 degrees is too wide...I'm going to install some lenses...anyone know where to buy them cheap? im looking at 90degree lenses.

Anyway you guys enjoy the photos..

Regards

George
 
George,
Great pics, thanks for sharing. Couple questions, are you using any dimming? what are you using for your heatsinks? and how is the air exiting the fixture from your fans? Thanks---Rick
 
Hi Rick,

Im using Floramate for dimming, it can do 4 channels.. I can also simulate the Sunrise and Sunset with unlimited number of points (its upto you to program the times and light strength)

At both ends of the unit has a gap for the air to exit (if you look where the switch is you can see the gap)...the unit doesnt get warm at all...the heat sink is FREE from work and some parts are machined by our machinist.

George,
Great pics, thanks for sharing. Couple questions, are you using any dimming? what are you using for your heatsinks? and how is the air exiting the fixture from your fans? Thanks---Rick
 
Hi All,

Just an update... I finally finish my build... and installed last night.

just to recap... my build details using 10Watts chip:

4pcs - Blue 460-470nm
4pcs - Royal Blue 455-465nm
2pcs - Royal Blue 445-450nm
2pcs - Near UV (violet) 402-405nm
8pcs - 10000k-16000k

Driver: Meanwell ELN-60-48D running 5 chips per driver at 850mA
Heatsink: 1220mm x 150mm x 75mm Aluminum, I also added some fins under the fans. All metal work is made of aluminum for the extra heat sink.
Fan: 2pcs Noctua NF-P12 120mm @12V
Floramate for Dimming and Sunrise & Sunset simulation

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Well done very jealous
 
Hey guys, finally got my LEDs after what seems like a year in transit. LOL Well I used my multimeter to measure the resistance of the LED and one of them reads Overload and the other reads a resistance of 5Kohms.

I also hooked the meter in series to the circuit to find the current and I am not getting any current reading.
I ask because my LEDs are not working.
I have my positive (+) hooked to the anode and negative (-) hooked to the cathode.



I really do not understand what you are doing. Which power source are you using? you can´t not measure the recistance over a diod because its not linear and depend of the voltage, below Forward Voltage the recistance is infinite - over the FV it vary but not linear. Have you tested the LED´s without you meter? plus from your power source to plus on the chip and minus to plus on the next chip or to minus att the power source.

Sincerely Lasse
 
@ wogga: Look at the pattern I made in post 1091st I think it would be great for you. 1 piece 20-watt (or stronger) white light source in the middle and the blue spread evenly around.

I have noticed that the red in the middle gives a "disco effect" if it runs too strong or too close. This is because the wave movements resulting in a "shimmer" effect in the right corner of the aquarium. Have never seen this with blue light or white light. The test was the lighting only 15 cm from the surface. You wanted the lighting higher up and then you should probably use lenses. If you have a 90 in the middle and 60 degrees on the other, I think it will be good. Of course you may increase the distance between the chips so you can fit lenses. You can try things out but I think you get the best effect (or lack of effect) if you put the chips as a plus with the most divergent in the middle. The middle one should also have higher output - how much higher I do not know but I do not think there is a problem with either 30 or 50 watts - 20 watts works, I know.
Sincerely Lasse

Thanks a lot, Lasse!
 
Hey Lassef, I figured out the problem. On the Seller's diagram it showed where the polarities were on the LEDs, however on the ones I recieved they are reversed so that is why my readings were wrong. Now they read about 36.2VDC.

And I will follow up with a few pictures of my build. These are 100watt, 20000K LEDS off of ebay. My coolers are Alpine Pro 64 CPU coolers, and I am using TEK fixture legs to hold my lights up. The build is not as clean as others but its functional for now, I'll tidy it as time goes by. I think its pretty good for only spending a total of $180.

I turned off the white balance on my camera so the colors you see here are true. It is 20K but it looks more like 67500K to me. I will most likely add blues later on

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Yeah, I wanted a more natural sunlight kinda color which I got. But I'd like to add blues for when I want to tamper and look at the tank in a different spectrum and to bring out some more flourescent colors.

As you can see the LEDs do produce a shade of blue, but once the light penetrates the water all the blue spectrum dissappears.
 
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So your 20k looks very yellow, a few pages back there is a guy that used 16K's I believe and his photo's are pretty blue. Are you sure you got a 20k? Maybe there are big differences in brand?
-J
 
I must've missed his post with 16K leds. Jtrasap also posted previously with his 20Ks and they also have yellow in them too. Hopefully Lassef and Maglofster can help me identify if I got the right color.
 
Hello all,

I ordered two 100 watt LEDs and wanted to make sure that I could use this meanwell driver HLG-240h-36B in series.

Any thoughts let me know.
 
I must've missed his post with 16K leds. Jtrasap also posted previously with his 20Ks and they also have yellow in them too. Hopefully Lassef and Maglofster can help me identify if I got the right color.

My impression is that the real Kelvin degrees can vary by manufacturer. I tried a few 10-watt chip with 20 000 K and for my eyes so they looked more yellow than they 16 000 K, I already had. On the other hand, I've seen 100 watt chip where the 20 000 K was much more blue.

Hello all,

I ordered two 100 watt LEDs and wanted to make sure that I could use this meanwell driver HLG-240h-36B in series.

Any thoughts let me know.

I do not know your chip´s max current and FV. But 100 watt´s use to have arround 36 V in FV. It means that you not are able to have them i serie (2 in a serie => app 72 V in FV). Probably you can connect them parallell but to really know I need to know max current and each chip´s FV

Sincerel Lasse
 
My impression is that the real Kelvin degrees can vary by manufacturer. I tried a few 10-watt chip with 20 000 K and for my eyes so they looked more yellow than they 16 000 K, I already had. On the other hand, I've seen 100 watt chip where the 20 000 K was much more blue.


Sincerel Lasse

This is vary true when your talking about Light above 10,000K. On the true color maps the difference between a 16,000K and a 20,000K is extremly slight when viewed on a spectrumometer. With manufacturing processes there is a difference of 2% to 5% for any of the base colors (red, green, and blue) between different batches. However a change on 2% less red can easily move the Color Temperature by several thousand degrees.

LED's are more consistant this way compared to other light sources. However it should be kept in mind that that the higher the color temp the more a slight change will cause a larger Kelvin shift. Simularly running a LED as other than optimium current will cause its spectrum to slightly shift. This is true for all light sources with incadescent being the worst where a 10% voltage reduction can cause shifts of up to 2.000K to the red end of the spectrum.

When lighting sources are manufactured they are manufactured to create light close to a goal in K temperature. So if a source is manucatured to produce at 5,000K they are looking to create a light source with say 500 red, 500, green, and 500 blue. With an manufactuing goal of plus or minus 5% they can end up with something that is 525 red, 475 Green and 475 Blue which could easily fall at 4,000K.
 
I would like to light my 48x24x24 tank with only two chips. The spectrum on the 100 super actinic sounds to be too blue for my taste from what I'm reading. Could the 60 watt epistar 30 10k 30 royal blue be driven up to 100 watt if necessary possibly with a meanwell hlg 100h 36b to cover this size tank with sps at the top half? Would optics be necessary?
 
I read somewhere in this thread about 33/33/33.
33% 10000K
33% 16000K
33% mix of blues.
Sounds like solid advice.
My selection was based on this advice.
 
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