Solaris Led lighting systems

[divernm]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11327338#post11327338 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
I am sure that plenty of people would be interested in your project. Many people do not understand electronics enough to undertake such a project on their own, even if the details of such a project are rather simple.

As for the controller, I think most people like the ability to change the spectral output and theretofore aesthetic of the tank. A small PIC or AVR would easily do the trick for spectral options and dimming on a schedule.

bean, thank you for the response, yes the electronics can be tricky and analyzing the components (the spec sheets tell nothing of their electronic characteristics) to do the calculations was fun to say the least working the heat dissipation was another surprise but it is doable and it can be done for around the comparable metal halide and actinic bulbs set up (be it vho or compact florescent) cost.
this is still in the infancy stage for me, and I am setting up a circuit board layout and blue print so that when I do the other side I can just drop the components into the holes where the silk screen says and then solder them in. I have found a place that will make the board for me, double sided, silk screen, and solder masked, for around $20 so hopefully soon I will be able to give you guys a drawing and a web page and say send them this and they will send you back the board you need. with that said the total assembly time to make the light was only two hours and that was drilling the heat sink mounting the leds, and soldering the components together along with trimming the amperage for each one.
the dimming controller is a great idea and a simple one also but the way I see it, it will be something I will tackle after I get the design simplified and very easy for some one with very little electronic back ground to make.
with that said it is very easy to get the light out put you want by just changing the main resistor in the set up, takes about 60 seconds to change all 9 out on my system as it sets right now.

but that is also what the solaris is all about for people that want that and everything else the solaris gives which is a lot in my opinion they can always bite the bullet and buy a unit. I just can not see paying the price for the cycle and all the other benefits when I tend to buy the same bulbs every time and have kept the same color balance and light cycle for the last 25 years that I have kept reefs, for me it was just over kill. I make about $300 a month from selling frags from my tank they grow so fast, so for me to "need" the moonlight phases and all just seems too much (I know I am going to get flamed for that one) my tank produces everything from aros to brains both my brains drop 10-15 buttons a month I put them in my grow out tank and then sell them when they are big enough.

anyway I am way off track sorry, I am working on making the electronics easy for even the most basic of diy project people
just please give me some time to get there.

thanks again for your input.

 

[cipher]

bravo

bravo

i did the same thing as you did divernm. i researched everyone of the links you posted lol. and contacted a company to manufacture a board. i gave up when trying to tackle the controller and dimming the led's. Of course that was when the first ones came out. I was thinking about one large heatsink (or one per array) that was watercooled. I have done this many times with building computers. I think it would be easy to get a machine shop to make them for a prototype. I think you could get all the goody out of them if the heatsink was watercooled and maybe get more life out of the diode. They would definately run cooler. I would be very interested in knowing how your project is progressing. And if you need any help I would be more than willing to help out. I knew someone would make their own array someday. It was just a bit overwhelming for me at the time. Keep up the good work.

 

[divernm]

cipher, the unit is going well it has been up and running for three months now and the corals are growing faster on the led side then the metal halide side. and heat is not an issue. I have designed boards that anyone that can solder can use with little knowledge of electronics and have made a production run of 200 boards I found that it costs an arm and leg to make a board as a one off like the tune of $300+ so i decided to make a run and sell them to others that want to dyi a led light so i can re-coupe some of the cost to have the board made and we all get them for a decent price.
as for heat I have one large heat sink and it works real well keeping the junction temperature at only 20 degrees above ambient. this allows ambient to be over 120 degrees f and still keep the led well within limits at 1 amp (max power) without any fan or active cooling, the reason i stayed away from active cooling is if something goes wrong with the cooling system you lose the whole light (high cost of replacement) this way there are no moving parts or electronics to fail the heat is all passive, nice side benefit is no noise also. thanks for the offer to help and I may take you up on it.
I do not know where talking about selling dyi stuff crosses the lines of Rc rules so I will not get into all the stuff here. but soon i will have a web site up and it will give you better place to look at the design the larger the order the smaller the price so I hope to get a place here you can get everything you need to build at a low price.
but the dyi led light is very easy to make runs great and very customizable

 

[crazzy]

What happened to the thread " Holy Solaris Batman" ?? or some such thread on LED's ???

 

[reeformadness]

divernm, I am interested in the same thing you are basically. I don't know where I can find someone to make me a board but I've been looking at trying my own circuits. I just ordered some starboards from Germany along with some cool looking heatsinks and luxeon rebels. I'm going to try an array of 6 rebels to test some direct current source, PWM, and buck controller circuits. If all works, I will try and expand it to more than 6 led's. Do you have any circuits worked out for large arrays of LED's and would you be willing to share them with me? Good luck with your project.

 

[pjf]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11971822#post11971822 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by crazzy
What happened to the thread " Holy Solaris Batman" ?? or some such thread on LED's ???

It's right here:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=894702

 

[J3REEF]

Let's discuss LED SPS growth.

I just swapped out the Solaris for a MH setup and am noticing a huge difference.

My SPS are growing better & the color is better under MH.

I had an H series from day one running about a year and have a MH setup for about 2 weeks.

Who has extensive SPS comparision with LED technology that is seeing things differently?

I would like to know if anyone has better growth & color over an extended period of time with LED technology vs. MH.

Are these LED companies pulling the wool over our eyes?

I would like to hear from LED users with SPS that have had good experiences with growth & color.

Anyone????

 

[divernm]

reeformadness, No problem on the board, I can get you how every many you need, they are laid out so that they run four rebel stars each star has its own circuit so if something goes wrong with a star you do not blow out all of them just the star that goes bad. they are constant current set to .88 amps at 12 volts, they will operate at any voltage from 12 to as high as 24 but anything over about 12.5 is just wasted in heat at the FET.
take a second to look at

http://smgsllc.com/diy.html

for a look at the board and what we are doing. I just designed and built the units for my own tank to replace my 150 mh and dual 96 watt actinic PC per side set up over my main tank and a friend of mine is going to start making them and selling whole lights and components to DYI your own. When I built my boards I made over 200 too sell the ones I did not need to recoup some of the cost. a friend of mine decided to take it one step further and start selling all the stuff need, he made and tested the rest of the boards and is now ready to sell them, which is nice I get my initial investment back and he gets a business out of it. we have already made lights for people and are up and running selling them.

administrators: I do not know just how much I can say here without crossing the line of selling things. so please if this post crosses the line remove it for I do not want to get in trouble with RC

thanks
Mike

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11978473#post11978473 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reeformadness
divernm, I am interested in the same thing you are basically. I don't know where I can find someone to make me a board but I've been looking at trying my own circuits. I just ordered some starboards from Germany along with some cool looking heatsinks and luxeon rebels. I'm going to try an array of 6 rebels to test some direct current source, PWM, and buck controller circuits. If all works, I will try and expand it to more than 6 led's. Do you have any circuits worked out for large arrays of LED's and would you be willing to share them with me? Good luck with your project.

 

[divernm]

here is the top of the light, heat sink and fan