Oildalemonkey
New member
I took the LED plunge after deciding I needed to do something about my soaring PG&E bills. Since my 40 Breeder tank was using metal halides, it become the guinea pig in my experiment. I do not consider myself knowledable in electronics, electrical wiring, soldering, or most anything DIY for that matter. I spent countless hours reading threads on Reef Central and local reefing forums, and studying how-to videos and write-ups on LED supplier websites for information. This build took me about 3 months to complete because I took my sweet time to make sure I did it (mostly) right.
I started amassing parts several months ago from various places: some bought used from the classifieds and fellow reefers, others purchased new from RapidLED, and Reef Led Lights, Radio Shack, and the big box hardware stores.
I had an old 24" Current USA Orbit Power Compact fixture and after tearing the guts out realized that a couple LED drivers, heat sinks, and LED's with lenses just might fit inside. And it did!
Parts List
12 x CREE XP-G Cool White...............................$61.44...........clay-boa
6 x CREE XP-G Neutral White............................$30.00...........RapidLED
24 x CREE XP-E Royal Blue................................$81.36...........clay-boa
2 x Heatsink 5.886 inch x 10 inch.......................$38.34...........clay-boa
DIY 2 color dimming kit.....................................$30.00...........RapidLED
36 x Thermal Tape Preform 20mm Star................$19.80...........clay-boa
36 x 70 degree optics......................................$36.00...........ReefLEDLights
2 x used MeanWell 60-48D Drivers......................$50.00...........ReefCentral Classifieds
Aluminum strips, fasteners, 2-part epoxy, .........$45.00...........Lowe's, Home Depot, Radio Shack
63/37 Rosin-core solder, 24g stranded wire,
fuse holders, other misc. parts
Light hanging kit.............................................$20.00...........ClintonJ @ CentralValleyReefers
On with the build!
I purchased this solder station from Amazon.com since I'm sure I will be building more of these if this one works out!
http://www.amazon.com/Aoyue-937-Dig...0QBW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1310342007&sr=8-4
Here is the group shot of most of the new parts:
I got busy with tinning all the stars and wires to be used. I also purchased the solder from Amazon.com. It's 63/37 rosin-core, the leaded kind. The stranded wire was from Radio Shack: 24 gauge in the three-color package.
I used the thermal tape adhesive stars to attach the LEDs to the heatsink. These are really easy to use and much less trouble than using screws or mixing thermal paste. They go on quickly and seem to hold the stars well.
For the color mix, I wanted something around a 14k look so I used a combination of 24 royal blue, 6 cool white, and 6 neutral white CREE 3 watt leds. The choice to use the 50/50 mix of neutral and cool whites based on what I have read about the different colors of white CREE's. My decision came down to this: some like the neutral whites and some like the cool whites- so I used both.
I still have 6 cool whites leftover for a future build.
I just spaced the leds on the two heat sinks in a pattern that seemed to make the most sense: 4 rows of 3 blues alternating with 3 rows of 2 whites. I left a 1" gap between the 2 heat sinks with the plan of adding a moon light in the center at some point in the future.
The 24 royal blues are using the parallel string method of wiring and incorporate separate fuses on each string. I bought resistors but ended up not using them because a) I didn't quite understand how they worked, and b) Reef LED Lights said they really aren't that necessary.
I installed the external fuse holders from Lowe's in the old power switch openings of the fixture and used a large nylon washer, painted black w/ Krylon Plastic Paint, to cover the rest of the old opening.
I had inherited an old analog multi-meter with no instruction manual so that in itself was a fun adventure in learning-as-you-go! I'm still not 100% certain I used it correctly...but I think I did. :roll:
Another nice thing about using the Current fixture is that the MeanWell drivers fit almost perfectly. All I had to do was drill a hole in the old ballast brackets to accomodate the MeanWell style and attach them with the old screws.
The dimming kit came with a housing, but I choose instead to install the power adapter plug and dimming potentiometers into the Orbit housing in line with the existing power cords. I think it turned out pretty well.
So I then started wiring everything up. I had to get my soldering skills up to par pretty quickly and found that for me the best temperature to use was about 300 C (572 F) on the solder station. I tested my all my solder joints and every one worked the first time! The test firing of each string and then the entire fixture also went flawlessly. Not bad for a rookie!
I started amassing parts several months ago from various places: some bought used from the classifieds and fellow reefers, others purchased new from RapidLED, and Reef Led Lights, Radio Shack, and the big box hardware stores.
I had an old 24" Current USA Orbit Power Compact fixture and after tearing the guts out realized that a couple LED drivers, heat sinks, and LED's with lenses just might fit inside. And it did!
Parts List
12 x CREE XP-G Cool White...............................$61.44...........clay-boa
6 x CREE XP-G Neutral White............................$30.00...........RapidLED
24 x CREE XP-E Royal Blue................................$81.36...........clay-boa
2 x Heatsink 5.886 inch x 10 inch.......................$38.34...........clay-boa
DIY 2 color dimming kit.....................................$30.00...........RapidLED
36 x Thermal Tape Preform 20mm Star................$19.80...........clay-boa
36 x 70 degree optics......................................$36.00...........ReefLEDLights
2 x used MeanWell 60-48D Drivers......................$50.00...........ReefCentral Classifieds
Aluminum strips, fasteners, 2-part epoxy, .........$45.00...........Lowe's, Home Depot, Radio Shack
63/37 Rosin-core solder, 24g stranded wire,
fuse holders, other misc. parts
Light hanging kit.............................................$20.00...........ClintonJ @ CentralValleyReefers
On with the build!
I purchased this solder station from Amazon.com since I'm sure I will be building more of these if this one works out!
http://www.amazon.com/Aoyue-937-Dig...0QBW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1310342007&sr=8-4
Here is the group shot of most of the new parts:
I got busy with tinning all the stars and wires to be used. I also purchased the solder from Amazon.com. It's 63/37 rosin-core, the leaded kind. The stranded wire was from Radio Shack: 24 gauge in the three-color package.
I used the thermal tape adhesive stars to attach the LEDs to the heatsink. These are really easy to use and much less trouble than using screws or mixing thermal paste. They go on quickly and seem to hold the stars well.
For the color mix, I wanted something around a 14k look so I used a combination of 24 royal blue, 6 cool white, and 6 neutral white CREE 3 watt leds. The choice to use the 50/50 mix of neutral and cool whites based on what I have read about the different colors of white CREE's. My decision came down to this: some like the neutral whites and some like the cool whites- so I used both.
I still have 6 cool whites leftover for a future build.I just spaced the leds on the two heat sinks in a pattern that seemed to make the most sense: 4 rows of 3 blues alternating with 3 rows of 2 whites. I left a 1" gap between the 2 heat sinks with the plan of adding a moon light in the center at some point in the future.
The 24 royal blues are using the parallel string method of wiring and incorporate separate fuses on each string. I bought resistors but ended up not using them because a) I didn't quite understand how they worked, and b) Reef LED Lights said they really aren't that necessary.
I installed the external fuse holders from Lowe's in the old power switch openings of the fixture and used a large nylon washer, painted black w/ Krylon Plastic Paint, to cover the rest of the old opening.
I had inherited an old analog multi-meter with no instruction manual so that in itself was a fun adventure in learning-as-you-go! I'm still not 100% certain I used it correctly...but I think I did. :roll:
Another nice thing about using the Current fixture is that the MeanWell drivers fit almost perfectly. All I had to do was drill a hole in the old ballast brackets to accomodate the MeanWell style and attach them with the old screws.
The dimming kit came with a housing, but I choose instead to install the power adapter plug and dimming potentiometers into the Orbit housing in line with the existing power cords. I think it turned out pretty well.
So I then started wiring everything up. I had to get my soldering skills up to par pretty quickly and found that for me the best temperature to use was about 300 C (572 F) on the solder station. I tested my all my solder joints and every one worked the first time! The test firing of each string and then the entire fixture also went flawlessly. Not bad for a rookie!
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