PRIMARY LED lit Custom glass tank

[zachtos]

I've revived my LED project. I ordered 24 x 3watt Luxeon Stars... These are the same LEDs used in the PFO solaris hood. I will be using dual 24VDC powersupplies and dual current regulating power pucks. Details as to how I'm wiring it and how it works will be given later.

PLAN
-Light my main display with 21 LEDs. 12 white: 7 blue: 2 green
-Light my refugium with 3 white LEDs.
-Will grab 2 x 5000K potentiometers and use them with the power puck to dim the blues/whites independently in the main display to adjust temperature. This will also allow me to help acclimate corals if I desire.
-each LED will be thermal epoxied to its own aluminum RAM heatsink and all the LEDs will be cooled by a single 12VDC 80mm fan.
-I havent figured out how I will secure each heatsink in the hood yet... hotglue?

Cost me $175 and parts should be here next week.

expect photos and details when I start next week.

 

[FloridaFishMan]

Awsome! I can't wait to see your results with this test. Where did you find the luxeon stars?

 

[zachtos]

power puck
Luxeon3 specs
order leds
order power puck
order thermal adhesive
order heat sinks

I probably should have ordered luxeon k2's. I'm still looking into them, but the whites are apparently 50% brighter and take the same amount of energy. I'm not sure what other differences there are between those and the old luxeon3's yet.luxeon k2's specs

 

[FloridaFishMan]

Thanks for those links. The K2's are supposed to be extremely bright. But they get hot and I see you posted links to heat sinks so I think you already know that. What type of emmiting did you order (lambertian, side emmiting...)?
I think the 3watt luxeons should be fine. I can't wait to see your results!
Chris

 

[zachtos]

I ordered 21 LEDs. 12 white: 7 blue: 2 green, all are lambertian but the greens are side emmitting, I figure I'll get better dispursion of the only 2 greens that way.

K2 pros:
-whites are 50% brighter
-slightly cheaper

K2 cons:
-I believe they produce more heat - heat bad. but more light good.
-no heat sink included
-requires you to insulate each connection to prevent them from shorting to the required heat sink (heat shrink all the terminals before you glue it to the heat sink)

I DO HAVE A LUX METER and I WILL POST REAL RESULTS

 

[zachtos]

good heatsink supplier

 

[firerock]

Cool. Your projects are real fun read. Keep us posted. :thumbsup:

 

[leeweber85]

Glad to see you going at it again. I'm surprised you didn't order more of the blues. I think PFO claims the blue ones are the ones that the corals need and the white ones are more just for looks.

 

[Qwiv]

Lux meter results are useless. The blue's emit more PAR then the whites from the ones I have measured.

 

[zachtos]

once again, i don't have a PAR meter. I can compare LUX measurements from this array versus the old 5mm array and some other standard lights. You can use that in conjunction with spectrographs to get a general idea of how bright the light is. A LUX meter is a great tool to keep tabs on when it's time to change a dying bulb, that's about all.

 

[marco_UK]

K2's

K2's

Just lit up some K2's tonight with the same thing in mind. I think you would like them !!! Very high colour temp

 

[zachtos]

progress

progress

Couldn't wait to get started. I used coat hangers and hot-glued aluminum RAM heat-sinks to them. I used the supplied sticky pads to attach each 3watt luxeon star. All of them are lambatian, the greens are side emitting. They will be powered by dual 24VDC powersupplies and current regulated by 700mA powerpucks, cooled by a 12VDC PC fan and 12VDC supply. This will light a 12"x6"x10"deep display. I will complete this project later next week. The open ends of the hanger will get inserted into pilot holes with hotglue inside the hole to secure them. There is also an existing acrylic splash guard. the 3 LED white strip is for the macro lights. I put dots on the paper indicating color layout.

W-W_W
W-B-W-W-W-B-W
B-W-G-B-G-W-B
W-B-W-W-W-B-W

*lemme know if you see any issues or have ideas/suggestions/comments.

 

[ChemE]

Sweet! I'm glad I kept my subscription to this thread! Way to not give up zachtos, I can't wait to see your newest results.

 

[jnarowe]

so how well does the hot glue hold up to heat?

 

[zachtos]

3 watt Luxeon Project is complete:

Looks great, output is crap.

LUX readings,
0" = 12,000 lux
6" = 6000 lux
12" = 2500 lux

current is 700mA driven properly by the current driver. the fan is keeping them cool for now, but I doubt the hot glue will last long, the LEDs seem to melt it.

These readings are maybe 50% of what my last array could do, but these will last much much longer and cost twice as much. This is not even close to metal halide outputs. These actually are equal to 26W of PC lighting that I had before.

Problem probably is that these need Fraen lenses. These are about $2.50 each and would cost me another $65 or so, and would probably increase the intensity maybe 2-4 times, which would make them close to metal halide again. I may order some, I may not... I'm too discouraged honestly.

Tired of LED projects for now. The K2 luxeons with proper cooling and Fraen lenses would provide much better results. I suggest that you buy lenses if you want to use these for marine purposes, otherwise the spread is 140degrees instead of 40degrees. Alot of wasted light I believe. BUT these are better then PCs in a small tank, but cost $250 (cost me $175, I had some stuff already) and took 8 hours to construct. If you add in lenses, these may become better.

Buy me some lenses and I'll tell you if it works! wink wink.

 

[leeweber85]

bummer! have you tried testing just the whites and just the Blues?

 

[FloridaFishMan]

Sorry to hear that the light ouput isn't as good as you thought. LMK if you want to sell a couple of those whites, I am looking to convert some flashlights.
Chris

 

[zachtos]

I probably will keep all the blues/greens for moonlights in a bigger tank in the future. The whites I may keep for macro growing in small compartments or for a freshwater small plant tank.

I think I may make a small office tank 2'x2' acrylic and light it with a few T5's instead.

 

[leeweber85]

aren't you going to at least try keeping some soft corals?

 

[zachtos]

i could, but what's the point? I'll try GSP and a mushroom or two, but the intensity is lacking, the spectrum is good though. I'm planning a large system and have decided against LED primary lighting... just doesn't work out in any scenario for cost vs. long term against T5's.