Ron's DIY LED Project

[O2Surplus]

Ron- have you tried turning down the voltage on your power supply? The Cat4101 IC's only need .5-.8 volts over your led string voltage to operate efficiently. You'll notice that they'll run much cooler if you do.

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

They 15 steps in the instructions could be summed up as:

1) Measure output voltage with no load, ensure less than 25V
2) Hook up to LEDs, turn down voltage until they appear dimmer, turn back up a little bit.

It seemed like it was going to be much more than 2 minutes work. At 22V instead of 24.7V, there is almost no heat now. I'm not even positive I need a fan for the drivers, now, but I'll give them one.

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

Makeshift temporary thermal solution. Amazing how well the c-channel does at cooling with a little bit of airflow.

Excuse my wires.

It doesn't look quite as blue in person. I need to play with the white balance on the camera I think.

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

They sure do make for pretty coral pictures.

 

[WSPepsilon]

Nice

 

[propeine]

Ron, I think it turned out very nicely! Thanks for posting progress pics and the final shot with all the LEDs installed and dialed in for your viewing pleasure.

 

[hionreef]

well i decided to dive into it - getting the kit with 84 LEDS - may be overkill but I would rather have too many than not enough - plus with more LEDS i can run at a lower voltage and hopefully the heat wont be too bad. the setup is for 2 x 60" strips but i ordered an extra 60" heatsink, w/ 2 more fans and may cut the strips in half for more flexibility and i had them switch out the 400w PS for 2 200wt supplies. we will see what happens...

 

[WSPepsilon]

Any luck on tracking down that par meter?

 

[WSPepsilon]

bump

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

No luck yet with the PAR meter. Still trying.

 

[windowlicker916]

I thought the old club treasurer had it. That not the case?

You running these full time yet and if you are how are the coral liking it?

 

[GRRjammm]

so would you recommend the phillips over the crees?? i have crees atm , but i think i may get some more blues as atm i have 1:1 blue and white..

 

[crn005]

Any luck getting those PAR readings yet? I've been doing a lot of research on which direction to go in the LED department and I would greatly appreciate any extra information!

 

[htreef]

unbelievable build. wish I have that kind of skills

 

[windowlicker916]

Any updates?

 

[Borchers]

Wondering myself! Updates Ron......uuuuupppppdates

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

Test SPS frags seem to not color up. Everything else looks great with good growth. Wish I had PAR numbers.

 

[hionreef]

So this is weird. I thought someone had a list of who had what. So who has the list and who has the meter. Is there a waiting list???