Need help with custom LED setup - LDD's!!

[aguila88psi]

I'm considering setting up an all Blue/actinic LED setup on my tanks. I plan on using a meanwell SE-350-48 for a power supply but can't decide on which current to pick for the LDD's. Please provide pointers or ideas and feal free to correct any mistakes on the scenario's below.

Option 1:
qty. 7 LDD-1000HW each running 13 CREE XT-E Royal Blue LED's
13LED's @ 3.5v each, power supply runs 48V -> 48/3.5=13.7LED's so I can run 13 led's max
7x1000ma = 7amps and power supply is rated at 7.5amps
13LED's x 7 = 91 LEDs @ 3.5v each -> 91*3.5v*1000ma=318.5 watts

Option 2:
qty. 10 LDD-700HW each running 13 CREE XT-E Royal Blue LED's
13LED's @ 3.5v each, power supply runs 48V -> 48/3.5=13.7LED's so I can run 13 led's max
10x700ma = 7amps and power supply is rated at 7.5amps
13LED's x 10 = 130 LEDs @ 3.5v each -> 130*3.5v*700ma=318.5 watts

I plan on using no optics on my 20g Long frag tank that'll have 18-24 LED's, the rest will go to my 90g display tank that'll have 90° optics. Which option would you go with and why? Would going with higher current LED's be brighter or would it just decrease the life of the LED? Option 2 would be more expensive because it uses more LED's and drivers but offer a bigger spread of light thus more expandable but would the extra LED's be worthwhile?

 

[MrHarvard]

Pedro, Just a couple of questions before I give my .02. What lighting are you combining this with. Are you adding these to an existing fixture or building a separate one? I ask because I was wondering if you will be able to raise and lower the leds or will that affect your other lighting? Can you give me a description of how your laying all of it out?

 

[aguila88psi]

Pedro, Just a couple of questions before I give my .02. What lighting are you combining this with. Are you adding these to an existing fixture or building a separate one? I ask because I was wondering if you will be able to raise and lower the leds or will that affect your other lighting? Can you give me a description of how your laying all of it out?

Planning an running 4-t5's in conjunction with the LED's, thinking 2-UV t5's, one 6500k and one ati coral plus. I can raise and lower the light and will find a way to manage thermal load of the light system. First I'm running it with an actual light fixture but actual plans are to build a custom canapy to house all the lights.

 

[CrazyEyes]

I'd skip the meanwell P/S, not because they're not good quality but because you can get a 350w 48v 7.3a P/S on ebay for around $35 shipped. Same p/s I was going to use on my LED which was recommended by someone I trust when it comes to LEDs. Also, I'd go with 7 1000's because 1. Less stuff to buy, 2. You can run xt-e's at 1000mA and you're only at like 67% of what the LED can do. The LDD drivers are perfectly fine running at 100% too. I assume you're going to be dimming these or atleast have the option to correct?

 

[aguila88psi]

I'd skip the meanwell P/S, not because they're not good quality but because you can get a 350w 48v 7.3a P/S on ebay for around $35 shipped. Same p/s I was going to use on my LED which was recommended by someone I trust when it comes to LEDs. Also, I'd go with 7 1000's because 1. Less stuff to buy, 2. You can run xt-e's at 1000mA and you're only at like 67% of what the LED can do. The LDD drivers are perfectly fine running at 100% too. I assume you're going to be dimming these or atleast have the option to correct?

Yes, I do plan on dimming and thanks for the information.

 

[CrazyEyes]

How are you planning on dimming them?

 

[aguila88psi]

haven't fully decided, may go apex but thinking a seperate controller, haven't fully decided yet. I only plan on running all blue led's so a typhon led controller might be overkill but then again I can dim seperate channels of actinic led's to achieve some cool disco ball effects so don't know yet. Any suggestions Crazyeyes?

 

[CrazyEyes]

I'd personally just run a typhon.

 

[MrHarvard]

Mike is right on the money here Pedro! The only suggestion I would give u is since ur going with nothing but blue leds I would gear the T5s towards the more white spectrum. For example in your set up I would lose the 2 UVs and only run 1 UV T5 , 2 UVL 75/25 (14K spectrum), and 1 ATI aquablue special (12K spectrum). I don't personally like the coral plus it has to much red and looks to pink and I don't see the benefits of having one with only a 4 bulb set up maybe if u had 8 bulbs. If you run all those blue leds and that T5 bulb combo i think you would have a perfect blend. You may even want to lose the UV T5s all together and add another ATI aquablue special and buy some hyper violet UV leds and run them off a 500 LDD driver on a separate channel. Just my thoughts.

 

[aguila88psi]

Thanks for the input guys.

I wanted to stay away from UV LED's as they tend to not last very long if driven at the max current. I'm gonna stay with 1-UV T5 at minimum and the other three t5's I'll play around with what color works best.

 

[CrazyEyes]

Technically the UV LEDs you get from like Rapid or LGB aren't UV, UV is something like 365nm. With that said, the hyper violets that you can buy at LGB are probably one of the best violet LEDs you can buy in that price range. It hits a very much needed spectrum. Just a thought.

 

[MrHarvard]

Technically the UV LEDs you get from like Rapid or LGB aren't UV, UV is something like 365nm. With that said, the hyper violets that you can buy at LGB are probably one of the best violet LEDs you can buy in that price range. It hits a very much needed spectrum. Just a thought.

+1....don't be scared away from uv leds due to hearing about the cheap Chinease ones that melt and overheat. If you buy the quality ones and push them with the correct driver they won't' melt or burnout like the cheap ones. Just figured I would share the as well.

 

[aguila88psi]

any links to check out LGB Led's?

 

[CrazyEyes]

http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/exotic-hyper-violet-led-430nm/

 

[aguila88psi]

link doesn't work

 

[CrazyEyes]

http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/exotic-hyper-violet-led-430nm/

 

[CrazyEyes]

I'll PM it to you.

 

[MrHarvard]

Double post

 

[Milfordguy]

Steves and LGB just came out with new violet LEDs. I believe they have silicone lenses. I've used the original HV from LGB for 6 months with no problem.

I would definitely consider running hyper violets or true violets along side your RB

 

[kory1006]

Couple things...

XT-E's at 700ma have a forward voltage of 3v. So you could run 15 per LDD at 700ma.

The LDD require PWM for dimming. The Apex doesn't support PWM, you'd need some sort of converter to go from the Apex to the LDDs to change the output to the correct voltage for the LDD.