Some DIY LED Questions

[cyberlocc]

Hey guys I had a few DIY LED Questions.

Looking at making my first DIY LED light, and this stuff is all over the place lol.

I have all my LEDs covered, its for a plant. So mostly whites lol.

Anyway, I want to do Meanwell LDD drivers, so I can individually control each channel. I want to control them with an Apex, and I want a half way decent looking fixture.

So I like the Rapid LED fixture, but they are running me around about putting meanwells in there with boards. First they told me, I could do it if the driver were soldered in, I dont want to do all that, so I asked if another method would work and they said Meanwells wont fit in there period. (Pretty stupid, to make a "All in One" fixture, that cant actually hold anything.....)

So question 1, Has anyone got meanwell LDDs inside those rapid sinks? Is it possible? I like them better.


If not, then I will go makers, now I seen the one up board, perfect, except I really wanted 1500hs for my whites, life goes on I will use 1000hs. Now how do I hook this thing to an Apex? Is it even possible?

I know how and what to use to convert the meanwells 5v pwm to 0-10v, but I dont think the 5 up allows that.

Then there is the rapid, well thats cool, but its flipping huge. I would have to have 2, as I need 5 drivers, and now I am losing 2.5inches off either side of the fixture, on the 18inch makers sink thats too much for me. I was fine with that, with the 20 inch rapid, but it doesn't fit in there (didn't I mention how stupid that was?).


Does no one with DIY LEDs want stuff to work together at all lol, anyway please can someon give me some ideas how to pull off a decent looking fixture, with 5 channels (there is actually only 4, but 2 of whites need their own LDD each).

Oh, also I have seen stevesleds boards, but they do not support Fans, and I need fans to be powered. I have seen Coraflux, they require serious soldering, which I am not good at, and also dont support fans. Is there any other options?

 

[sfsuphysics]

Seem to be all over the place with your question/statement/criticism... what exactly doesn't work with what?

Rapid LED meanwell boards only work with pinned LDD drivers? Yes, that's the whole point of the boards, because the pinned LDDs would require you to add wires to connect them otherwise, so the boards effectively "add wires" by having traces on a board. Could you fit the wired LDD drivers in there? They're not designed for it, but I guess if you tin the ends of the wires you can make them stiff enough to jam into the boards.

Wired LDD drivers don't fit in the heatsink? Well the boards allow a place to connect to, and they use t-slot type heatsinks, so again yeah. Wired LDD drivers don't have any holes to bolt stuff too. Use some zip ties or something and you can attach them though. Not quite getting the "fit inside the rapid sink" question.

If you know how to change from 0-10V to 5v PWM then it should work with the driver boards, the boards simply accept a 5v PWM, the Apex provides a 0-10V dc signal, so somewhere in between use whatever it is you think you need to convert the signal.

Key here is DIY though, decent looking is possible, but it's not Lego you're going to have some level of skill/knowledge to make it happen, it won't just snap all together, once you get to that point it's not so much DIY but more commercially available.

 

[cyberlocc]

Seem to be all over the place with your question/statement/criticism... what exactly doesn't work with what?

Rapid LED meanwell boards only work with pinned LDD drivers? Yes, that's the whole point of the boards, because the pinned LDDs would require you to add wires to connect them otherwise, so the boards effectively "add wires" by having traces on a board. Could you fit the wired LDD drivers in there? They're not designed for it, but I guess if you tin the ends of the wires you can make them stiff enough to jam into the boards.

Wired LDD drivers don't fit in the heatsink? Well the boards allow a place to connect to, and they use t-slot type heatsinks, so again yeah. Wired LDD drivers don't have any holes to bolt stuff too. Use some zip ties or something and you can attach them though. Not quite getting the "fit inside the rapid sink" question.

If you know how to change from 0-10V to 5v PWM then it should work with the driver boards, the boards simply accept a 5v PWM, the Apex provides a 0-10V dc signal, so somewhere in between use whatever it is you think you need to convert the signal.

Key here is DIY though, decent looking is possible, but it's not Lego you're going to have some level of skill/knowledge to make it happen, it won't just snap all together, once you get to that point it's not so much DIY but more commercially available.

No, no lol.

You didn't read what I was saying right.


I am not trying to out wired LDDs in the board, I understand how the board works. The board doesn't fit inside of the rapid LED heatsink.

There is less than 5/8 of an inch, between the T Slots and the Splash gaurd, of height. The board is almost an inch tall.

I asked them at first, could I fit the board in if I remove the quick slots for the LDDs and solder them into the baord directly. They said yes that would work.

Then I later asked, what if I instead trimmed the solder leads on the bottom and used a thermal adhesive instead of the standoffs, they then stated, no that won't work, and actually neither will removing the push in connectors.

The LDD board, will not fit in the rapid heatsink period, it's too tall, unless you just leave the whole thing open (no splash gaurd or cover of any kind)

Now, LDDs are .80in wide, right? So they cannot be flipped on their sides and thermal adhered down that way.

They are 12mm tall, so maybe, just maybe if they were flipped upside down, and thermal adhered down. That depends how close to the driver you can bend the wire, and how tight it will bend.

Also, no one said anything about Legos lol. My criticism is well placed, why make an elegant fixture, to turn around and attach a bunch of driver boards to the top of it, because they didn't make enough room internally? That doesn't make any sense at all, and is a pretty foolish design.

MakersLED heatsinks, do not suffer this problem, they have over an inch between the T Slots and the Splash gaurd, they are just ugly as sin for the old ones, and too hard to shroud the top of the new Slim's, as it would require some seriously tight and clean bending work, which is out of DIY grasp with basic tools.

But that's life, if I can't find a way to mount LDDs in rapids, then I will just have to build accent panels and improve the looks of makers as best I can. Still short sighted in rapids part, and seeing how I am going to need to build 18 of these lights(over the next year or so), I would have preferred doing it with theirs.

I had seen in a thread here, someone using the Rapid, and he stated the same, he was using LDD L drivers (and only the 700ma and less ones, the others are too big) and said that's all that will fit, and that it was silly.

 

[cyberlocc]

Also I get it's not Legos, and I am all for DIYing, but having to saw out a chunk of the heatsink, to allow LED drivers to actually fit in the LED heatsink, is absurd, and even if I went to that extreme, there is still no gaurnteed that would even work. But it was something that crossed my mind. And for what reason? To make the Sink package, 1/4 inch slimmer? Who would even notice 1/4 inch? Until they actually need to idk use the thing and it doesn't work. Truly, not though through design.

 

[sfsuphysics]

See just had to say it that way, now I understand exactly what you're saying

That said, why don't you ask them out you're supposed to arrange their "kits" that they sell for any particular size aquarium. They sell kits, that have those enclosure/heatsink combos, and the LDD driver boards come equipped. Ask them if you're supposed to run wires a long way (i.e. driver boards are no where near the LEDs) otherwise how do you make a fixture? If they don't got an answer then tell them tank you and walk away.

 

[cyberlocc]

See just had to say it that way, now I understand exactly what you're saying

That said, why don't you ask them out you're supposed to arrange their "kits" that they sell for any particular size aquarium. They sell kits, that have those enclosure/heatsink combos, and the LDD driver boards come equipped. Ask them if you're supposed to run wires a long way (i.e. driver boards are no where near the LEDs) otherwise how do you make a fixture? If they don't got an answer then tell them tank you and walk away.

I don't think they have a kit that has the LDDs do they? I didn't see one, but I didn't look very hard either. I will check again.

But ya, they already said an LDD won't fit with their board.

I was talking to someone on the PT, and they said they think they will fit if I thermal glue the LDDs backs down to the T slots, and use the HWs as I can bend the wires enough to just barely fit it.

A little harder to wire, but that will be okay. So I know the space I have, I'll buy some LDDs to play with and see if I can bend that wire enough.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Yeah if you go to DIY fixtures, aquarium, by size, most any of them (I didn't check all of them) do have the boards, LDDs, and the premium enclosure

here's an example
https://www.rapidled.com/solderless-90g-tank-dimmable-kit/