Newest adventure

[jfl14609]

I cant take credit for the actual soldering of the leds but this system was originally designed to be run by a profilux controller so I had to completely remove all the ballast power etc and rewire it. Can I just just tell you what a pain in the butt no wonder these things cost like $4,000 haha. Still nee to mount the dimmers ( after I get it done I am building DWZM's diy controler) and the fans etc.

 

[jfl14609]

Moon Lights

Blues

Whites

 

[jfl14609]

All together

 

[Willistein]

Cool! What kind of LEDs are they?

 

[ggdowski]

Very cool.
That is a lot of machining. Did you do the machining?
Any idea of power consumption? That was my main reason for going this route.
Also... the notion of never buying bulbs again sounded great to me.

 

[jfl14609]

Honestly a friend of mine bought this fixture. At this time he really doesn't have a tank to use it on as its a 6 footer and his tank is only 4. I am just getting it going but I might buy it from him who knows haven't gotten that far. The main thing is I like to tinker with tech stuff so it seemed like a project. Haven't gotten any readings on anything as its still not done yet. The bulbs are 3 watt cree with 60 degree optics. There are a few reason I am thinking about using this first is the obvious fact that I have 1100 watts of lighting on my tank with a nice bill of about $400 per year in bulbs versus no bulb replacement and 330 watts

 

[jfl14609]

No one has Kill a watt out near brockport do they

 

[jfl14609]

Just started my diy led controller its a design by DWZM called typhon

 

[davidpesce]

Welcome to LEDs! You're gonna love them.

 

[jfl14609]

I set it on my tank really fast and i wasnt very impressed really may be that I need more power or its just that they need to be higher but I saw alott of shading

 

[jfl14609]

well got the fixture up last night. the only thing I dot like is the shading. it seems like with metal halide the light got into caves a bit better. I am hoping to get some par readings and pics soon. I am thinking about adding a few t-5s in the mix.

 

[SkiFletch]

Pics! And any links to the Typhon controller?

 

[solRNY]

looks like a whole lot of fun
pics!

 

[jfl14609]

Here is a link to the typhon project http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1847680 Am working on getting a par meter right now so i can get some readings I will post pics and readings as soon as I can

 

[NirvanaFan]

Mind if I ask what you predict the final cost of this project will be? I've thought about doing LEDs, and I have access to all the necessary machining tools here at work, but I wouldn't really know where to start.

 

[jfl14609]

There really isn't much machining involved but if you want/ all the bells and whistles with dimming like mine proprob1500 to 2000

 

[ggdowski]

Did you glue down the LEDs or did you drill, tap and use screws to hold the Star LEDs in place?

 

[jfl14609]

Drill and tap with thermal compound under fortunately I didn't have to do that part

 

[davidpesce]

There really isn't much machining involved but if you want/ all the bells and whistles with dimming like mine proprob1500 to 2000

Yowsa! Next time DIY it. Taking a stab here but the wires look like a higher gauge than the 3w LEDs are recommended to run (18awg). Any chance you know the wattage per led? Or how many per string?

Looks like a meanwell driver but kinda curious.

 

[jfl14609]

It is a diy complete I just didnt have to do the drilling or tapping look at it like this 150 bulbs 3 watt cree with 60 degree optics so 7 bucks each plus 10 mean well dim able drivers then add in power supply cases dimming controllers fans and heat sink and it all ads up fast.