New diy led

[reefgeezer]

Wow... I just realized I built my LED fixture in December of 2011. It has worked pretty well over the years. I'm also planning an upgrade of my whole system this winter, so I guess it's time to plan the LED Upgrade.

I currently use four dimmable ELN Drivers that run four groups of twelve 3W Cree LEDs. I have the driver pots turned down to less than 700ma on all & have them dimmed to about 50%. They are mounted on aluminum C-channel heat sinks inside an old Coralife 48" powder coated aluminum fixture with six small fans in it. All this is operated by two small 12 VDC power supplies.

I plan on upgrading to a 90, 120, or 150 gallon tank. All would be 24" high. It will have SPS corals in it. At a minimum, I plan on buying new heat sinks, LEDs, and optics. I'm looking for advise to get me up to speed on the current state of LED tech. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[hann1bal]

Bump this post. I cant afford a prebuilt solution and would love anyone that has info or plans on a good spectrum LED lighting that is more DIY.

 

[TheFishGuy31]

New diy led

I just replaced my old black box LEDs with some DIY Hydra 26 HD clones.

I bought 3 heat sinks from Rapid LED and the LEDs, drivers, and driver boards from eBay.

I'm using an Arduino to control everything

So far the colors are awesome.

Total cost to build three fixtures was around $250.


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[ssagar]

Would love to see some pics for this built

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[mcgyvr]

Bump this post. I cant afford a prebuilt solution and would love anyone that has info or plans on a good spectrum LED lighting that is more DIY.

In general... You can purchase a prebuild solution cheaper than you can DIY now... Any of the Chinese black box fixtures will be quite a bit cheaper than DIY and they work just fine (for the most part)...



Very little has changed IMO.. Most are just using LDD drivers now w/power supply and ELN's are old tech and really don't have a place anymore and lack the 3 in 1 dimming functionality of the "newer" ones like the LPF (well its not "new" either but its got the 3-1 dimming) series,etc.. have..

There are a bunch of newer "reef" specific LED modules.. And some new "PWM" controllers out there but really not much is drastically different now..

 

[theatrus]

In general... You can purchase a prebuild solution cheaper than you can DIY now... Any of the Chinese black box fixtures will be quite a bit cheaper than DIY and they work just fine (for the most part)...



Very little has changed IMO.. Most are just using LDD drivers now w/power supply and ELN's are old tech and really don't have a place anymore and lack the 3 in 1 dimming functionality of the "newer" ones like the LPF (well its not "new" either but its got the 3-1 dimming) series,etc.. have..

There are a bunch of newer "reef" specific LED modules.. And some new "PWM" controllers out there but really not much is drastically different now..

I agree on the value sentiment of the imported black-box LEDs. The specs are basically a lie (derate power by a 1/3rd at least), but they do light things up

There are a few more puck modules out there, and most drivers are LDD based boards (with some notable exceptions) - the end result is really similar. Obviously, the ELN drivers still work and there isn't anything wrong with re-using them if you have them.

A lot of the controllers are pretty overpriced (I'm looking at you BlueFish) but there isn't that much useful competition in the field yet, which goes back to the imported black boxes consuming the bottom end (and probably the vast majority) of the DIY field.

I'm biased to my own DIY thread of course

 

[TheFishGuy31]

Would love to see some pics for this built

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I'll get some pics and do a little write up this weekend.


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[Webmanny]

I think you are safe with the type of setup you have now. I have built several of my tank lights over the years and for this last build, I decide to go with 48W LED pucks instead of my normal route of using 3W LEDs and in all honesty, I think I will go back to using 3W LEDs again for my next build.

I got caught up on the LED puck craze and since so many manufacturers are using multichip pucks now, I imagined that tit was the best way to go, but I don't think that is the case. I feel that I have too many hot vs cold zones in my tank now, due to the LEDs being all centralized in one spot.

You should just take your same model and just crank it up a notch to fit your new tank. I would go with even more LEDs than you think you need. Doing this will allow you to run them at a lower intensity and generate less heat. You do this and they will last forever.

One thing I will do for my next one, which I did for my current one is, go T5/LED hybrid. I think your corals will like the idea of running T5s for a few hours a day and LEDs as the main source.

 

[reefgeezer]

I like the idea of using what I have. The fixture I have now still works great. It needs some work though and I thought this might be a good time to make some improvements.

I thought I would replace all the LEDs since they are approaching 5 years old. Putting some real heat sinks in it so I can use less fans seems like a good idea also.

I just can't imagine having more than about 50 3W LED's over a 4' tank though. So here's the plan for comment.

I'll probably stay with four dimmable groups. The groups will be turned on & off using two simple timers. Dimmer switches are wired into each group to adjust overall color. I like the 6" X 20" heat sinks from Rapid LED because the have a machined in fan pocket. I'll put two in my fixture. I think adding optics and raising the fixture might also be in the plan.

I used cool white, warm white, & Royal Blue LEDs in my first build & didn't like the result. I replaced the warm whites with various colored LEDs but still never got it quite right. I'd like to know what mix of LEDs everyone is using in their arrays.

Thanks.

 

[reefgeezer]

While waiting for replies, I got to thinking. I've decided my upgrade will only be to a 90 gallon. It's really more of a replacement for my crappy old 75. I just don't have the cash to do a bigger tank right. So here are the LED's I might want to run.

Group 1 (~1300ma) 10 XP-G2 Cool White, 2 XP-G2 Warm White
Group 2 (~1000ma) 12 Royal Blue XT-E. (if possible) 2 Blue XT-E
Group 3 (~1000ma) 12 Royal Blue XT-E. (if possible) 2 Blue XT-E
Group 4 (~750ma) 6 Semi-LED UVA, 6 Semi-LED True Violet, 2 XT-E Red

This will be an old school build w/ ELN dimmable drivers. That's why the XP-G's are only running @ 1300 ma. I can't remember how many XT-E's I can run on one driver but I think the max is somewhere between 12 & 15.

Any comments or suggestions? Thanks.

 

[TheFishGuy31]

Sorry, hot building and long hours make it hard for me to do anything when I get home.

I did my little write up on my Hydra clones. Feel free to ask any questions.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=24656510#post24656510

 

[Webmanny]

I just wanted to throw in a few design ideas and LED combinations of my previous and current build that may help you decide which way to go.

This was my previous design for a hybrid light.

This is what I ended up with and it works, but I feel I am going back to the 3W LED design.

This is the original design document with the actual LED colors indicated. I hope this helps you some.

 

[ssagar]

I just wanted to throw in a few design ideas and LED combinations of my previous and current build that may help you decide which way to go.

This was my previous design for a hybrid light.

This is what I ended up with and it works, but I feel I am going back to the 3W LED design.

This is the original design document with the actual LED colors indicated. I hope this helps you some.

Both of them are neat built. Why do you want to go back to the first design??


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[Webmanny]

Both of them are neat built. Why do you want to go back to the first design??


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My decision is solely based on light spread. I have noticed that my corals are ok, but not great and not growing that much when I compare them to the growth I had with the 3W LEDs covering the whole tank.

I know this is completely subjective and many here will disagree with me, but based on my internal testing and comparisons, my corals were a lot happier before with the 3W LEDs.