Sneak Peek of my current project

[cobra2326]

3 Cree XP-G2 Cool White 75CRI
1 Cree XP-G3 4000K 70min CRI
3 Cree XT-E Royal Blue
3 Cree XP-E2 Blue
1 osram oslon photo red
1 Cree XP-E2 Green
1 SemiLED 425
1 SemiLED 415nm
1 SemiLED 400nm

Mostly modeled after AI Hydra 52, but has a bit more UV and a neutral white.

 

[JonezNReef]

Looks interesting. I enjoy building my LED fixtures as well. What driver do you plan on using for them? Also what tank are you putting it over?

 

[cobra2326]

I'm using Meanwell LDD drivers. 7-channels from 700-1500mA depending on LED specs and spectral balancing.

I have this running over my Nuvo Fusion 10 right now, but I'm waiting on a mount so I don't want to take pics yet

 

[JonezNReef]

Very nice. That's probably going to be a bit over kill but will still be really cool to see up in action

 

[cobra2326]

Hopefully it will be overkill I plan on doing lots of SPS so we'll see. I actually added 1 each of the blues/UV last minute just in case. Once you have the drivers adding LEDs is easy and cheap.

One thing I'm not very happy with right now is the color banding. I have the LEDs placed as close together as the optics will allow but there is still noticeable banding and disco effect. Changing powerheads may help some, but I've been playing with a few options: either adding a diffuser as the acrylic cover, or switching to a custom PCB design with reflector (not for this tank but for a future larger one).

 

[CrazyEyes]

Take off the optics and group them closer. It'll help get rid of the disco.

 

[cobra2326]

They'll only be about 2mm closer without the optics. I thought about shaving the optic holders too. The issue without optics is light spill and the beam is actually less even. I specifically chose these optics because they even things out within their FWHM (47 degrees).

The interesting thing is that the distance for most of the popular fixtures (AI Prime, Radion) isn't much smaller (I believe its 12mm vs my 20mm), so there must be some disco with those fixtures too.

Not sure what my plan is yet, but it's mostly bearable as long as I don't run the reds too high. I may experiment with taking the lens of the reds, but banding is also a result of the distance between emitters, which I can't do much about.

 

[cobra2326]

Just in case anyone is interested. Here is what I mean about beam evenness. I believe this is what Ecotech did with their new HEI optics on the G4s, but I'm not sure.

The first image is the cross section of the LED with the Carclo Optics. The second is the raw LED. This is for CREE XT-E. You can see how without the Optics, it's brightest dead center and then drops off.

 

[ClownMan727]

These look more like what Ecotech is using as far as how close the leds are to each other.

http://www.rapidled.com/aurora-puck/

 

[cobra2326]

Yes, that's a really nice fixture IMO. The fact that they had the lens custom designed is what sets it apart from others (clay-boa, reefledlights). I could make a custom PCB to get the emitters closer, but there is still a compromise with off-the-shelf lenses and focusing. The difference is only about 6mm center-to-center from what I'm doing, so there will still be some banding, just not as much.

I was just in the garage testing and a diffuser seems to be the best option. I got the idea from this thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2477205&page=6. That guy definitely knows what he's doing also and seems to have iterated through a few of the issues I'm experiencing already.

 

[ClownMan727]

This is very cool.. Keep it up. and thank you for sharing.

 

[cobra2326]

Glad to hear it's interesting to some I'll have it mounted on an AI prime tank mount within a few days and I'll post more pics of everything then.

 

[ClownMan727]

What kinds of corals do you keep? Interested to see how it preforms for you. I have a feeling it will grow coral just fine.

 

[cobra2326]

What kinds of corals do you keep? Interested to see how it preforms for you. I have a feeling it will grow coral just fine.

Right now the tank is cycling, but I plan to keep mainly SPS. It will be somewhat challenging in a small tank. This was the inspiration to show me it is possible: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2555250

I did some more testing with the color banding last night. It's always going to be noticable, even with 2mm separation, but it definitely gets worse beyond 20mm or so, especially on emitters that are on opposite sides of the fixture. I wish I had taken some photos of what it looks like.

For the next iteration, I'll probably try a custom board with reflector, or a diffuser (depending on how much PAR I lose with it).

Next project is a 4 led refugium light (2 royal blue + 2 photo red).

 

[cobra2326]

Got things mocked up on an AI Tank Mount. I still need to make a bracket for the actual heatsink, but it's getting close.

 

[JonezNReef]

Very Nice! Inspires me to want to do a Nano just to do it.

 

[cobra2326]

I'll put up a document with a parts list. It's honestly pretty easy to build. By far the most time consuming part for me was picking the spectrum, lenses, layout, etc.

If you know just a little bit of Arduino the PWM for the LEDs is straightforward and the rest is glue + solder.

 

[JonezNReef]

Please do. Are you going to update this as a thread for your tank or do you have one. Would enjoy watching the journey. After I get my new system up and going I think I will be doing a nano now. I will have to go through my shed this weekend and see what I have sitting around. My wife is going to be so excited I have a new fish tank project already lined up LOL

 

[cobra2326]

I think I'll start another thread for the tank. I usually don't stay consistent with updates as I get easily distracted, but I'll try to do better.

LOL trust me on the wife part. This tank is in the garage because we're shopping for a new place and she really wanted me to wait until _after_ that. I just needed something to tinker with.

 

[cobra2326]

Finally setup a build thread here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=25077402