PRIMARY LED lit Custom glass tank
- Thread starter zachtos
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zachtos
Active member
Higher voltage = less resistors needed = less soldering/wiring.
besthongkong.com provides high power LEDs VERY cheap.
usplastics.com sells perforated sheets of pvc 2'x4' that are just right except the holes are a bit too small.
allelectronics sells a good 24V power supply. although if I were to scale up I would look into a much better supply.
besthongkong.com provides high power LEDs VERY cheap.
usplastics.com sells perforated sheets of pvc 2'x4' that are just right except the holes are a bit too small.
allelectronics sells a good 24V power supply. although if I were to scale up I would look into a much better supply.
easttn
Premium Member
LEDs are current sensitive devices. If you guys are building arrays then make sure all your Vf (Forward voltage) specs are the same across parallel circuits. It really makes a difference when you start using 3 and 5W LEDs.
Heat will decrease the life of the chip, the 1W+ LEDs must be mounted to a metalclad substrate to get the 10K hour lifetime. These guys only consume 350mA, so if you design or find a power supply that can deliver a constant 350 your golden. Two final points, pay attention to the binning specs supplied by the manufacturer, and LumiLed LEDs cannot take solder reflow temps for more than 3-4 secs - crank up the temp on your iron if possible.
Heat will decrease the life of the chip, the 1W+ LEDs must be mounted to a metalclad substrate to get the 10K hour lifetime. These guys only consume 350mA, so if you design or find a power supply that can deliver a constant 350 your golden. Two final points, pay attention to the binning specs supplied by the manufacturer, and LumiLed LEDs cannot take solder reflow temps for more than 3-4 secs - crank up the temp on your iron if possible.
ideally you should use alligator clips on the leads when soldering LEDs, they act as a heatsink.
though admitedly, probably not going to happen for a 5000LED array.
but really, all of this would have to done as a very massive project and 99% "just to see if its possible". I cant imagine it being remotely economical. the initial cost would be huge, the output would be mediocre, and with the whole converstion to DC for so many amps and volts, I question if the power bill would be that much cheaper. probably end up being similair to T5 in cost to run and output. but with much higher start up costs. I dont know the prices of replacement T5 lights. but then again, I dont know how the spectrum of the LEDs would change over time. granted they have a 100,000hour life which is 22 years at 12 hours a day. but LEDs decline in output over their life, meaning at 11years they should be roughly half as bright as day 1. and the question is how much brightness they can lose before its an issue. and how their spectrum changes with the intensity loss. you may end up with only maybe 5 good years out of them. not bad by any means, but when your looking at easily 100 hours to make the assembly, and as of now about 1000$ for the LEDs, well... youd need more than 5 years of life to offset that cost even if you did 2 MHs and replaced every year.
could consider that the LEDs will be much cheaper in another 5 years. but thats probably just a good arguement on why LEDs arent yet the best lighting option, but will be 1 day, no question.
though admitedly, probably not going to happen for a 5000LED array.
but really, all of this would have to done as a very massive project and 99% "just to see if its possible". I cant imagine it being remotely economical. the initial cost would be huge, the output would be mediocre, and with the whole converstion to DC for so many amps and volts, I question if the power bill would be that much cheaper. probably end up being similair to T5 in cost to run and output. but with much higher start up costs. I dont know the prices of replacement T5 lights. but then again, I dont know how the spectrum of the LEDs would change over time. granted they have a 100,000hour life which is 22 years at 12 hours a day. but LEDs decline in output over their life, meaning at 11years they should be roughly half as bright as day 1. and the question is how much brightness they can lose before its an issue. and how their spectrum changes with the intensity loss. you may end up with only maybe 5 good years out of them. not bad by any means, but when your looking at easily 100 hours to make the assembly, and as of now about 1000$ for the LEDs, well... youd need more than 5 years of life to offset that cost even if you did 2 MHs and replaced every year.
could consider that the LEDs will be much cheaper in another 5 years. but thats probably just a good arguement on why LEDs arent yet the best lighting option, but will be 1 day, no question.
glassbox-design
New member
....I am researching a total fixture composed of LED's.
The white's range from 3000-65000k and they also have blue 470 nm bulbs to supplement this...as well as pink's, red's, purples etc....which would work as individual "show" spot lights like many numerous japanese tanks utilize to get better color.
these units range from12 bulb units driven by a 24V ps to 48+bulb driven by 100-240VAC ps. And in shapes like striplights or pendents.
These are also controllable and there is the ability for full RGB color changing and continuously variable intensity.
I have found other companies that make LED MC-16 spots....could be something to look into as supplements along with T5's or the like for bright spots and the great look of glitter lines.
I'll keep you guys posted.
eric&flint
The white's range from 3000-65000k and they also have blue 470 nm bulbs to supplement this...as well as pink's, red's, purples etc....which would work as individual "show" spot lights like many numerous japanese tanks utilize to get better color.
these units range from12 bulb units driven by a 24V ps to 48+bulb driven by 100-240VAC ps. And in shapes like striplights or pendents.
These are also controllable and there is the ability for full RGB color changing and continuously variable intensity.
I have found other companies that make LED MC-16 spots....could be something to look into as supplements along with T5's or the like for bright spots and the great look of glitter lines.
I'll keep you guys posted.
eric&flint
duhfactor
Premium Member
Why not consider a computer power supply? I know I've bought 500 watt 12 volt power supplies with good fans that are quiet for $45.00. Some even have multiple power leads that come out of the power supply that could be set up on different array bundles making servicing or replacing the arrays easier and more convenient. Why not? Not enough amperage? You could buy six of them for the price your talking about on the other PS suggested above........
Damon
Damon
Last edited:
here's a few from ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/MASTECH-NEW-DC-...ryZ58286QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/Rivergate-30-am...ryZ34063QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
i have the 2nd one it works great.
Marty
http://cgi.ebay.com/MASTECH-NEW-DC-...ryZ58286QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/Rivergate-30-am...ryZ34063QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
i have the 2nd one it works great.
Marty
zachtos
Active member
rough calcs: about 500W for a 5000LED array. using 12V supplies would be 60W of wasted resistor heat, 24V would be 62W.. so the 12V would be more economical because the powersupply would be cheaper, but there would be 15% more soldering time/nodes w/ the 12V supply. Not a bad compromise. Resistor cost is negligible. LEDs should last 6 years - 10 years easily. The array would output the same LUX as a 250W MH basically. That is about 11,000 LUX estimated based off prior experiments from other projects posted. It's hard to say what to expect until my project is done. Also, LEDs dont spectrum shift w/ time, they only lose intensity at a linear rate associated w/ heat and time. they reach 50% intensity between 10K hours and 100K hours based on what the specs say.
I will be ordering new LEDs and the perforated PVC sheet this week. more to come in coming weeks.
I will be ordering new LEDs and the perforated PVC sheet this week. more to come in coming weeks.
zachtos
Active member
2" bulb made of ultrabrite LEDs 40,000mcd x 48 for under $20 ea, just plug em into a 12Vdc powersupply!
available in MULTIPLE colors
now you dont even need to solder... they also sell pre wired Blue LEDs individually that you could use to accent these.
of course I found out about these after I ordered my single LEDs. I'll let you know in a week how they turn out.
available in MULTIPLE colors
now you dont even need to solder... they also sell pre wired Blue LEDs individually that you could use to accent these.
of course I found out about these after I ordered my single LEDs. I'll let you know in a week how they turn out.
nanos I think Ive seen use those before. larger tanks thats 42cents each and you have to come up with a way to mount all the sockets.
cheaper to mount the LEDs individually. either way its going to be a cost and labor nightmare.
they have these too
450lumens per board equal to like 500 or more 5mm LEDs I think, I dont think its possible to convert from candellas to lumens
cheaper to mount the LEDs individually. either way its going to be a cost and labor nightmare.
they have these too
450lumens per board equal to like 500 or more 5mm LEDs I think, I dont think its possible to convert from candellas to lumens
zachtos
Active member
LUX and PAR are the best ratings we can use for LEDs for reef concerns. candella/lumen cant be converted and are not good measurments for our purposes. candella unfortunately is the best measurement we have unless we physically test the lux emmited ourselves. which evidently, is comparable to metal halide when in great number 500 or so
zachtos
Active member
I wired up my LED array last nite for the display. It's very fancy if I don't say so myself. 350 LEDs, 4:1 white:blue. Insanely bright. I ordered a LUX meter that should be here this week to measure the intensity and compare to 13W PCs, 55W PCs and a MH 250W.
Features include:
Daylight mode
Nite mode
surge protection
current limmiting
proffesinal grade mounitng and wiring
Details and Photos this week, I promise!
Features include:
Daylight mode
Nite mode
surge protection
current limmiting
proffesinal grade mounitng and wiring
Details and Photos this week, I promise!
zachtos
Active member
my beautiful array, note the use of a 1.5A fuse to protect from being dropped in the tank. I also have a capacitor on the power supply to help clean up the output voltage. I used 91.5ohm resistors in series w/ each 10LED strand. Each LED drops about 3.4Vdc and the resistor may vary between 2.2V and 2.5V depending on the temp of the LEDs giving 24-27mA, LEDs are rated for 20mA and 30mA max. I did not drill all of those holes, I ordered a sheet of perforated polycarbonate from usplastics.com. I did have to quickly widen all 400 holes of the 4.7mm holes w/ a 5mm drill bit. It really only took 20 minutes to redrill, it cuts like butter. I spent alltogether maybe 10 hours soldering/drilling/trimming/bending the LEDs and maybe 2 hours mounting them and making final connections/cleanup.
The array is secured w/ hexbolt standoffs and then is hot-glued onto them (couldnt twist the lugs/design error due to big fingers) cooled by 2 x 5Vdc fans, protective acrylic 1/16"sheet to shield LEDs from salt creep.
30 UV LEDs, these stay on after the power switch is flipped. The 36Vdc supply is made by running a 12Vdc supply in series w/ a 24Vdc supply. These lights are always on, but stay on after the main Lights go off. The 12Vdc is going throughout the entire array at nite but can not lite the LEDs at such a low voltage, but the UV's positive terminals are tapping the positive leg of the 12Vdc supply to keep them running at the correct voltage. This allows me to run my moon lights using only one 12Vdc supply instead of TWO!
before 13WPC, I like the colors better before... The LEDs seem to "wash out" colors... you decide.
after, 350 white/blue LEDs, 40,000mcd whites @26mA ea.
looks brighter to me, LUX reading to be delivered this week late,
GSP is the only coral I got (for now), and it is opening.
cliche quote "this moon lite pic does not do it justice!"
30 - 410nm UV LEDs @ 21mA
My intended goal: Simulate 150W MH light
- create lights that outlast the tank (these are supposed to last 50,000 hours until they reach 50% intensity, IE 13 tank years at 10hour days)
- create low heat lighting to avoid cooling costs/issues (they run about as hot as a 7W PC, warm... but they wont burn you, they do require fans to keep the current from getting too high)
- save power (these LEDs consume 42watts... 72% less power then a 150W MH)
- do it cheaper or equal (150W MH retail would be around $200 for a DIY kit, these cost me about $150-$200 minus tools)
- be equal to or as powerful as 150W MH (not sure, LUX metere is on the way!)
- prove that LEDs can grow coral (the spectrum should be there... I'll keep a log of my findings/growth starting with SOFT CORALS, then SPS/clam)
OceanNwisconsin
New member
wow that is bright! when is the 90 gallon gonna start?
