Ron's DIY LED Project

[RonMidtownStomp]

Luckylefty -- C-channel from Home Depot. Very reasonably priced and a descent heat sink. I like Steve's tube idea and fans he's using, but this is a very common solution.

Time for more pictures.

I feel like my soldering has improved.

Testing, 1, 2, 3, Testing...

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

And I have to say that the photo looks way better than it did in person. It looked dim in comparison to the Radiums in person.

And getting ready to get riveted together for the shallow reef.

This density should be much better.

 

[propeine]

Ron have you checked to see how many amps you're drawing per string? To be honest they look very dim even compared to the other free air shots I have seen. I know this is at quite the high angle so there shouldn't be that much spill but still. Thanks for writing this up for us!

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

I think I had them dimmed all of the way when I took the picture. I had no cooling fans on them in this position so I only turned them up for maybe 10 seconds to see what they looked like. Also, the camera was in manual mode and the rest of the picture is very underexposed. I'm sure it shot extremely fast due to the bright lights.

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

FTS with LEDs.

I had some stuff to draw up for work, so no more riveting tonight. I think the LED brightness in this shot is more representative of their actual blinding brightness.

 

[WSPepsilon]

looks nice, are you happy with the color?

 

[propeine]

FTS with LEDs.
I had some stuff to draw up for work, so no more riveting tonight. I think the LED brightness in this shot is more representative of their actual blinding brightness.

Thanks Ron. That looks much brighter!

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

Well the color changes drastically when you dial the brightness of the white LEDs around. I haven't used them for long enough to know, yet.

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

First thoughts after testing on frag tank --

1) I like them a lot, especially with the promise of major power savings.
2) The color goes from washed out white to disco party with a very small change of the pot controlling the white brightness. That's interesting and definitely leads me to believe that 2:1 blues:white is adequate.
3) I have to track down the PAR meter, because my eyes are so used to seeing everything under Radiums that it's very hard for me to say how much light I'm putting out with this setup.

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

I have some requests for a complete cost analysis.

Aluminum - ~$40
Fans - ~$30
Steve's LEDs total - $263.98
Two Meanwells - $70
Cree LEDs/lenses - Current price $4.60/each *24 = $110.40
Total - $514.38

 

[WSPepsilon]

I have some requests for a complete cost analysis.

Aluminum - ~$40
Fans - ~$30
Steve's LEDs total - $263.98
Two Meanwells - $70
Cree LEDs/lenses - Current price $4.60/each *24 = $110.40
Total - $514.38

Is this a cost comparison between going with Cree's vs Lux? No... that all adds up to the total. I thought you used everything from steves, did you change your mind on the drivers and switch to the Meanwells? Sorry, i'm confused...

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

I already had two strips of Crees with Meanwells. The final layout is:

12 Cree RB
6 Luxeon White
14 Luxeon RB
6 Luxeon White
6 Luxeon White
12 Cree RB

They're just riveted together, so I could drill them out and rearrange them in about 10 minutes. I am considering the Luxeons and the Crees to be more or less interchangeable. The Luxeons do appear to be visually a little bit brighter, but until I get the PAR meter, it will be hard to quantify anything. Our eyes are terrible at judging brightness.

 

[WSPepsilon]

which driver do you like better? the meanwells or steves?

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

The Steve's drivers are very cool from an engineering standpoint, but they get freaking hot in a hurry. I haven't figured out how to mount them so that they can benefit from the barrage of fans I'm going to set up. Cooling solution coming tomorrow.

 

[WSPepsilon]

yeah, it seemed like there's just way more you can do with them than the MWs.

 

[WSPepsilon]

don't look like the drivers are that big... maybe you could adhere them with some thermal glue to an aluminum sheet and then use a GPU style heatsink to cool them...???
$30 from tiger direct
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7166021&CatId=4027

 

[propeine]

Another thing to note is the light spectrum. The luxeon RB and Cree RB overlap a bit but they fill out the spectrum a bit by using both which from the aesthetics thread appears to be a good thing.

 

[WSPepsilon]

Another thing to note is the light spectrum. The luxeon RB and Cree RB overlap a bit but they fill out the spectrum a bit by using both which from the aesthetics thread appears to be a good thing.

hmm, so going with a Lux RB --- Cree RB --- Lux RB and so on may be an option too...???

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

Well the designer sells a bit of aluminum tube and a pressurized fan to cool them. I'm pretty sure if I put a PC fan along a piece of C-channel it will be enough. That's today's goals -- design thermal solution.

Cree/Luxeon/Cree is what I have for Royal Blue (because I already had the Crees) and I like it a lot, so far.

 

[propeine]

hmm, so going with a Lux RB --- Cree RB --- Lux RB and so on may be an option too...???

Ya if you look at the spectrum bands, depending on bins, royal blue ranges from about 420-460 and a better spread is usually considered a good thing. Sheer luck here I think but I plan on mixing them up a bit intentionally.