My DIY LED Lighting project

[pdelcast]

Thought I would share with everyone my LED lighting project and progress on it.

Here is the basic LED light bar (8 light bars in this array):
<a href="http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/pdelcast/?action=view&current=IMG00061.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/pdelcast/IMG00061.jpg" border="0" alt="LED Panel"></a>

Completed panels (from pick and place robot)
<a href="http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/pdelcast/?action=view&current=IMG00060.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/pdelcast/IMG00060.jpg" border="0" alt="more LED circuits"></a>

Closeup of a panel

(sorry for the fuzziness -- these were taken with a cell phone camera)

There are 8 light bars on each panel, and they are scored to remove each circuit from the panel. Each bar has 12 x 3.5 watt LEDs, for a total of 42 watts per bar. The bars are 11" long. The circuit boards are made from aluminum to allow for good cooling.

Here is a closeup of an LED bar mounted on a heat sink (required for high power operation.)

<a href="http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/pdelcast/?action=view&current=IMG00063.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/pdelcast/IMG00063.jpg" border="0" alt="LED bar on heatsink"></a>

 

[pdelcast]

And finally:

4 bars in operation. Note there is a mix of 450nm blue and Cool White (8000K) LEDs on these bars. This is 168 watts of lighting in a 22" x 3" space.

<a href="http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/pdelcast/?action=view&current=IMG00065.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/pdelcast/IMG00065.jpg" border="0" alt="LED bar lit (2)"></a>



For my personal project (90 gallon tank) I will be using 16 bars on 2 48" x 3" heat sinks with 4 x 60mm fans on each heat sink (bit of an overkill on the fans, but LEDs NEED to stay cool.)

Total lighting will be 672 watts, with similar efficiency to T5 bulbs (the white LEDs are 90 lumens/watt, and the blue are 345milliwatt light power output) but with a MUCH smaller footprint than the T5s.

We have 4 tanks total (3 personal tanks, 1 tank here at work) that we will be converting to LED lighting in the next few weeks.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Nice work.. Don't we all wish we had a pick and place machine sitting beside a nice reflow or wave soldering station. I would love to design more using SMT instead of through hole!

Is the a commercial venture or just a side project using the resources at your disposal?

 

[pdelcast]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12819453#post12819453 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
Nice work.. Don't we all wish we had a pick and place machine sitting beside a nice reflow or wave soldering station. I would love to design more using SMT instead of through hole!

Is the a commercial venture or just a side project using the resources at your disposal?

Thanx!

This started out as a side project, but looks like it will become a commercial venture.


It is nice to have the pick and place machines here to do things like this (this was an after-hours project for engineering here.) We have total capacity to pick about 50,000 parts per hour on our SMT line.

 

[BeanAnimal]

care to stuff a few of my boards

 

[pdelcast]

This is a picture of three different LED boards, one white, one blue, and one half blue/half white (sideways.)

There is also one of the LED boards turned upside-down, to show the aluminum substrate.

The white LEDs have a yellow tint from the phosphor -- the white LEDs are actually blue LEDs with a phosphor added to make white.

<a href="http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/pdelcast/?action=view&current=IMG00066.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/pdelcast/IMG00066.jpg" border="0" alt="LED bars"></a>

 

[pdelcast]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12819588#post12819588 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
care to stuff a few of my boards

I wish -- we don't have enough capacity just to do our normal builds -- it's nuts.

 

[kcress]

Looks like the LEDs are just soldered to a flat piece of aluminum no traces visible...

 

[pdelcast]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12820331#post12820331 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kcress
Looks like the LEDs are just soldered to a flat piece of aluminum no traces visible...

The white solder mask really hides the traces well -- but they are there. It's a Thermagon single layer aluminum backed laminate.

 

[MadTownMax]

Nice project! Any thoughts on if something like this could be retro-fitted into the hood of a biocube? (would the heat sinks be too tall to fit inside the hood?)

 

[Whalehead9]

Whose LEDs are you using are how are you driving them?

 

[pdelcast]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12821344#post12821344 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Whalehead9
Whose LEDs are you using are how are you driving them?

Those are Cree XRE LEDs, and are being driven by a constant current ballast of my own design.

 

[pdelcast]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12820632#post12820632 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MadTownMax
Nice project! Any thoughts on if something like this could be retro-fitted into the hood of a biocube? (would the heat sinks be too tall to fit inside the hood?)

You wouldn't have to use heat sinks that are as tall as the ones I am using -- those are a bit of an overkill -- so it could be done as a retrofit.

A heat sink with a fan would be fairly small, maybe 12" long, 1" wide and .5" tall. The fan would be required to keep the LEDs from overheating (they cannot go over 70C without damage.)

 

[MadTownMax]

That's very encouraging - I'd be very interested in a higher wattage system that wouldn't require extensive cooling fans and a chiller !

 

[Deathwish238]

So how many lumens does a reef need per gallon?

 

[cbusreefer]

how long till you have pics of this over your tank?

 

[pdelcast]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12825098#post12825098 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Deathwish238
So how many lumens does a reef need per gallon?

Well, I'm gonna use a PAR meter to determine how much light I actually need in my tank -- I'm afraid of killing everything first time I bring the system online (it will be almost 3 times brighter than my 8 tube T5HO system.) So I'm going to start it way above the tank and slowly lower it down over time.

Using my simple LUX meter, two bars of LEDs (about 84 watts) outputs as much light as a 250W MH (10000K) and as much TOTAL light as 2 x T5 HO 48".

I'll put up PAR measurements after I get it set up above my tank.

 

[dantimdad]

So, the ultimate question:

When will these be available for purchase and how much will they cost?



dantimdad

 

[pdelcast]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12825226#post12825226 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cbusreefer
how long till you have pics of this over your tank?

Retrofit for 28 gallon:


<a href="http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/pdelcast/?action=view&current=light_1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/pdelcast/light_1.jpg" border="0" alt="retro1"></a>

Closeup showing wiring and fans:

<a href="http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/pdelcast/?action=view&current=light_2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/pdelcast/light_2.jpg" border="0" alt="retro2"></a>


In operation:

<a href="http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/pdelcast/?action=view&current=Tank.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/pdelcast/Tank.jpg" border="0" alt="tank1"></a>



Note that this is on one of my engineer's tanks -- and the light change was too sudden (upgrade from 2 bulb T6 HO system), he (partially) bleached one of his Acroporas. So he's running it at 1/2 power now.

 

[lth03]

Very bright LED system,I am really interest on them.Are they only white or do you make them actinic too?