Minimalistic multichip DIY LED build

[Everyones Hero]

I'm really up in the air between which LEDs to use on my standard 75g.

I'm thinking either 4*20w 10k & 2*20w RB or 2*50w 10k & reuse my old T5 actinic bulbs.

The 20w are a lot cheaper initially, but only provide 1.19w/$, whereas overdriving the 50w give 1.5w/$. That's about 20% difference between costs using maximum current.

If I go with the 20w chips I will put the 10k & RBs on different drivers so I can adjust the color to my liking (I don't want it to be too blue.)

 

[epicentyr]

It probably work, but I'm not entirely sure but if you decide to try - use the HLG-100-54B

Sincerely Lasse

Edit: Here is another option

Thanks Lasse. I think the HVG 100 is intended for the European market. I am in the 120v States. It appears that the min voltage in is 180v.

I think I am going to order up the HLG-100-54B.

Thanks for the help.

Derek

Additionally, Does anyone know the difference between the HLG-100 and the HLG-100H series? I cant seem to find out what the "H" on the end signifies. ???

 

[kcress]

The H just means it's high voltage capable. Another words you can feed it up to 277V instead of just 240V.

 

[Lassef]

@epicentyr: Do not forget to give feedback to this thread with your experiences when you have finished your fixture

@ Everyones Hero: I would have chosen the 20-watt solution, since the freedom of choice is greater when setting the light you want.

@ kcress. Thank you. With that answer was that issue resolved and I have learned something new today again

Sincerely Lasse

 

[epicentyr]

Thanks to everyone for helping me get this far. I have everything on order. I will be starting a new thread on my build in the next few weeks once the supplies come in. I will also post here throughout my build. :bum:

Plan:
Twenty 20W Epistar multichip LEDs (4 different color variations)
Each color on individual dimmable circuits on an APEX controller (with lightning)
two 1900k sunset LEDs from AC-RC

and for the kicker... wait for it... WATER COOLING:uzi:
The closed loop coolant (95/5 - DI Water and Isopropyl) flow will be able to be diverted to heat the tank via a heat exchanger or through a small "transmission style" radiator if heat is not needed for the tank.

Thanks again and we'll see 'ya in a few.
-Derek

 

[007Bond]

Thanks to everyone for helping me get this far. I have everything on order. I will be starting a new thread on my build in the next few weeks once the supplies come in. I will also post here throughout my build. :bum:

Plan:
Twenty 20W Epistar multichip LEDs (4 different color variations)
Each color on individual dimmable circuits on an APEX controller (with lightning)
two 1900k sunset LEDs from AC-RC

and for the kicker... wait for it... WATER COOLING:uzi:
The closed loop coolant (95/5 - DI Water and Isopropyl) flow will be able to be diverted to heat the tank via a heat exchanger or through a small "transmission style" radiator if heat is not needed for the tank.

Thanks again and we'll see 'ya in a few.
-Derek

Derek, Happy to see your moving forward. Just a thought on water cooling. You should ck towards the start of the thread, maybe pages 5 thru 8? There is a lot of info on cooling (some on water cooling). From Maglofster http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=20014165&postcount=185 " won' burn up when a fan fails" Old rule--not If but When. You should figure a way to monitor your circulating pump. Maybe your APEX can do this? Maglofster's point being that, if his fan fails, the heat sink is capable of keeping the chips cool until the fans can be repaired. Looking forward to your build.---Rick

 

[malawinovice]

Hello,

I am looking at the kessil a150 as a base light and then use multichip leds floodlights for additional range.


Would I be best to get kessil 10k and add floods for blue?
Or kessil 15k and add floods at 10k?

What is more important for growing corals? I figure to use the ac rc floods for color in the tank.


Thanks

 

[malawinovice]

or my other option are light sticks, like reef brite

1000mm 54W 20000K LED 3060LM Aquarium Fixture

 

[cwhfsr]

I have been doing more research, and someone local to me has built a fixture using the 10w LEDS. I think they will do well with what I'm looking for in order to get the best spread of the colors without spotlighting.

I have been thinking of making a two pendants. The problem is if what I want will work. I would like to have 15 total 10w LEds per pendant with 8 being blue and 7 white. I would also like to have the blue/white be independently controlled.

So the question is, will a single 100w driver work for this? So I would have a 100w driver for the blue and another for the white even though I'm not using all 100w?

If so, then the next question would be how I would wire it up? Positive from the driver to positive of the first LED, then neg of the first to the positive of the second and so on until the negative of the last goes to the negative of the driver?

The other option would be two rows of 20w LEDs but that really is more than I needed, plus I liked the idea of having more of a spread...

Thanks for all the help!

 

[cwhfsr]

I have been doing more research, and someone local to me has built a fixture using the 10w LEDS. I think they will do well with what I'm looking for in order to get the best spread of the colors without spotlighting.

I have been thinking of making a two pendants. The problem is if what I want will work. I would like to have 15 total 10w LEds per pendant with 8 being blue and 7 white. I would also like to have the blue/white be independently controlled.

So the question is, will a single 100w driver work for this? So I would have a 100w driver for the blue and another for the white even though I'm not using all 100w?

If so, then the next question would be how I would wire it up? Positive from the driver to positive of the first LED, then neg of the first to the positive of the second and so on until the negative of the last goes to the negative of the driver?

The other option would be two rows of 20w LEDs but that really is more than I needed, plus I liked the idea of having more of a spread...

Thanks for all the help!

 

[jtrasap]

and for the kicker... wait for it... WATER COOLING:uzi:
The closed loop coolant (95/5 - DI Water and Isopropyl) flow will be able to be diverted to heat the tank via a heat exchanger or through a small "transmission style" radiator if heat is not needed for the tank.

Thanks again and we'll see 'ya in a few.
-Derek

I was considering this as I have a water cooling system with blocks and everything from an old computer, I was thinking about a diverter or something that would send the heated water to the tank when needed or to the radiator when heat wasn't needed in the tank. The biggest problem is that for a saltwater tank you're going to need a titanium heat exchanger for the portion that you're going to heat the tank with and titanium is very pricy. I also considered possibly using glass tubing coils but in the end I decided that the water cooling was just overcomplicated with too many means of failure such as pump failure, fan failure, leaks and so-on I figured I'd be better offer just to go with a simple heat sink with a fan.

 

[epicentyr]

I had a DIY heat exchanger that pulled heat from my reef to heat my freshwater stingray tank. I just coiled 3 - 50' rolls of 3/8" poly tube with a parallel manifold. Seemed to work fine. Definitely not as compact or efficient as titanium, but a whole lot cheaper.

 

[jtrasap]

I had a DIY heat exchanger that pulled heat from my reef to heat my freshwater stingray tank. I just coiled 3 - 50' rolls of 3/8" poly tube with a parallel manifold. Seemed to work fine. Definitely not as compact or efficient as titanium, but a whole lot cheaper.

Yeah, that could work, I just don't have room for 150' of 3/8" poly tubing in my current setup and then I still can't get past the fact that I could get the job done with just a fan and heat sink, I figured the novelty of the liquid cooling wasn't worth the extra headache.

 

[Lassef]

I had a DIY heat exchanger that pulled heat from my reef to heat my freshwater stingray tank. I just coiled 3 - 50' rolls of 3/8" poly tube with a parallel manifold. Seemed to work fine. Definitely not as compact or efficient as titanium, but a whole lot cheaper.

Here in Sweden it is popular with underfloor heating. Plastic clad soft aluminum tubes are used for this. In a size of 1/2 "to 3/4", they are perfect for making spirals with a diameter of about 10 ".
I've used that trick to cool a large saltwater tank. Tried first with plastic tubing, but this is superior in heat exchange. I do not have salt water inside the aluminum tube. There I have cold fresh water from the cold side of a heat pump.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Lassef]

I have been thinking of making a two pendants. The problem is if what I want will work. I would like to have 15 total 10w LEds per pendant with 8 being blue and 7 white. I would also like to have the blue/white be independently controlled.

So the question is, will a single 100w driver work for this? So I would have a 100w driver for the blue and another for the white even though I'm not using all 100w?

If so, then the next question would be how I would wire it up? Positive from the driver to positive of the first LED, then neg of the first to the positive of the second and so on until the negative of the last goes to the negative of the driver?

Thanks for all the help!

You should connect in series and using a driver with constant current , thats my opion at least. You plug + from the driver to plus on the the first chip. Minus from the first chip to plus of the second and so on until you reach the final chip where minus is connected to the driver´s minus.

Normal maximum current of 10 watt chip tends to be 1000 mA. Most people settle with 900 mA. Forward Voltage (FV) for a 10 watt chip tends to be between 9 - 11V. (FV is the voltage needed to illuminate a chip). If you connect in series you should add up all the FV to get the string's total FV. In your case it will be somewhere between 60 V and about 85 V. You will need to find a driver that can regulate and maintain 900 mA at least in this area. it can be difficult. Most can handle up to 48 V. The Mean Well ELN-60-48D or Meanwell ELN-60-48P dimmable driver can handle between 24 to 48 V. With this you can connect 3-4 pieces 10 W chip in series and adjust the current to 900 mA

Sincerely Lasse

 

[cwhfsr]

Lasse, thanks for you input. It has explained what I needed to hear, not what I wanted to hear. With what you are saying, I would need 4 drivers for each pendant, which is way more than I wanted to do.

How about a combo of series/parallel? Have two sets of 4 in series and both of them parallel? Not ideal, but then I would only need to have 2 drivers per pendent (at least with the mean well drivers going up to 48v).

 

[Lassef]

How about a combo of series/parallel? Have two sets of 4 in series and both of them parallel? Not ideal, but then I would only need to have 2 drivers per pendent (at least with the mean well drivers going up to 48v).

Possible but in that case with the MeanWell driver I mentioned you only get arround 650 mA to each Chip instead of arround 900 - 1000 mA. Your wattage on each chip will only be 6,5 watt. You have in this case to put the driver on 1300 mA. If one set will break down - the other will have all of the 1300 mA.

This LPF-90D-48 is better if you want to run a combination but you must use 3 or 4 in each string and two parallell strings.The strings must be as equal as possible - don´t mix different colors or K between the two strings. In the string - you can mix - but you must mix in the same way in both of the string to one driver. In this case you will get 940 mA to each chip and arround 9 - 10 watt. Its also wise that you put a fuse on each string (1 A) because if one of the string break down in this case - you get 1880 mA to the remaining.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[cwhfsr]

Ok. I can have it run with 2 parallel strings of 4 each color for a total of 8 LED per driver (one for white, one for blue).

I know how to run the LEDs in series. for the parallel would I wire like this:

Red from driver to positive of string one AND positive of string two, then run the 4 LEDs in series for each string, then the negative of string one to the negative of the driver and the negative of string two to the same negative of the driver? Would I put the fuse between the positive of the driver and the positive of the first LED in each string?

I think that would do what I'm wanting. I would end up with 8 Blue and 8 White LEDs per pendant for a total of 160w per side. It is more than I need but I am looking for a more even spread of color.

Again, thank you for your help with this. You are really educating me and everyone else.

 

[Lassef]

Would I put the fuse between the positive of the driver and the positive of the first LED in each string?

I have never done that but if I will build a construction with parallell strings of LED - I should do it in that way. One fuse 1 A (or slightly over cause you run at 940 mA) for each string and before the first LED in the string.

Thank you - I educate myself as well because of all the tricky questions and I also have to answer in a foregin language. Its lucky that I do not have to speak cause my daughter use to say that I speak english with a slight Swedish accident

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Dustin1300]

First off I want to say thanks to all (Especially Maglofsler/Lassef) that have contributed on this thread and think I'm going to have to read the whole thing over a second time. I'm currently building out a 96"X48"X30" DT and would really like to go with LEDs. I've been considering many options and recently at frag swap really started looking at the multi-chip LED fixtures out there (Kessil/Orphek) and this thread has me intrigued. I'm subscribed and following along and will likely pick up some chips to test out on a 140 gallon frag tank I recently started up.

As a long time computer geek/engineer, I'm surprised no one has brought up water cooled blocks for CPUs/GPUs as they are the most effective and have a very slim profile. If your goal is to have a small fixture then this might be a good option. Below is one that has good ratings and a fat copper heatsink:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/14186/ex-blc-971/XSPC_RayStorm_High_Performance_Acetal_CPU_Liquid_Cooling_Block_-_Intel_Sockets_LGA_775_1155_1156_1366_2011.html?tl=g30c323#blank

Of course this then involves pumps/radiators to cool the liquid but I've been quite a few computers like this in the past. (No reason to anymore IMO because of the beasts of CPUs available) Just thought I'd share and hope someone finds it a suitable option for your fixture as it won't be suitable for my 96"X48" footprint:spin3: