PDA

View Full Version : DIY LED Using 10 Watt Arrays


mike31154
01-18-2012, 10:54 PM
Decided to document what I'd like to do with respect to LED lighting for my 77 gal tank. I've been fence sitting for some time watching various builds etc & finally decided to do a bit more than experiment, although this is really still just that, an experiment. While I'd love to get my hands on something like an EcoTech Radion, they're just a bit too rich for my budget at the moment. I have some knowledge as far as electrical gear goes, so a DIY lighting fixture should not be a problem & save me a few $$ in the process.

I'm not a fan of builds with massive heatsinks and have been looking for a somewhat lighter & more elegant solution. Some of the more costly commercial fixtures like Radion, Orphek, Kessil have caught my fancy since they seem to be able to get the job done without a 50lb piece of aluminum to draw heat from their LEDs. A reasonably sized heatsink with a fan or two is more to my liking.

Inititally I'd been looking at an MR16 two pin bulb solution. They're designed to run off 12VDC, so with a 12 Volt power supply, some MR16 LEDs & sockets to plug them into, I figured that would be a good way to go. Have a few 4 watt (4 x 1 watt) MR16s in cool white as samples that I'm using above the kitchen sink as task lighting.

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pz1DVOH9ZRk3bnsStwE21na4pAQ4cx01xzjSkRE0Wa4YqYFf lWsAk_R1De8wkRU6AyGeGxV00_oDY7_xg_6R0Jg/P1040396e.JPG?psid=1

These are great little lamps with heatsink & current limiting circuitry incorporated, but they do seem to run a little hot after being on for a while, so not sure whether they'll last the advertised number of hours before giving up the ghost. So far so good, perhaps the heatsinks are doing their job & my fears are unfounded. There are few to no threads on anyone using these over their tank, FOWLR, softie, LPS or SPS. Nevertheless, I'll keep my options open, since once the sockets are wired up to a 12 VDC supply, they're plug & play, easily replaced. Worst case, I can even disassemble them & replace the individual LEDs.

Since I'm on a 12 VDC kick as far as power supplies go, I've decided to pursue the 10 watt LED array route. Several manufacturers are now using similar arrays as a LED option for aquariums. Arrays can be had that run at over 100 watts. They're now available in many different colours, including UV & combo colours on the same chip. The combo chips are an interesting development since they should minimize the disco ball effect reported from many builders using individual 3 watt LEDs of different colours. They all use between 9 & 12 VDC running at 900 to 1000 mA. So close to 10 watts each at the rated voltage. I already have 4 cool white (6,000 to 7,000K) versions of these. 10 Royal Blues came in the mail yesterday & ten 10,000K arrays are enroute. Should be plenty for my 77 including spares.

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pJTV5j14OeegA5NR3IRseaGbwp6m5MB1PMcHnGIgN-XWVRQNOG0TIfXMt1w6TRmCH0yMwdFevHeXDN9WTWtqGaQ/P1040643e.JPG?psid=1

Now to the heatsink issue. I already have two small heatsinks with fans designed specifically for these arrays & 10 more on the way. What I'm thinking is to use two aluminum rails in parallel & screwing these heatsinks into them. The heatsinks will span the two rails & serve to hold them together. I'd like to tap the heatsinks & mount each array with two screws in addition to using heatsink compound. Even with the tiny fan, these are very light, so the fixture should be light & open for air circulation as well.

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p6F6B-TRtMrOJi0W0Xf8PcJ6IG9g2TEM69IZpDpV0VfNghK3c6oAxMPf yR3o-WR1gtxkPdXiIHYGanEwFTqqDpw/P1040642e2.JPG?psid=1

Last but not least, there are optics available to fit over these. I'm thinking of trying without to start & go from there. Here's a pic with all the goods(except the power supply).

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p70AdSHJJwvjyanCb5zX7avgb7CBUdQ5Wq9ZO5JiaBfPCj-yq5CRJhyxzWRMeCx_YBa0tgfdHo0Dtw3nxYSEtQw/P1040642e.JPG?psid=1

Stay tuned.

wingedfish
01-18-2012, 11:19 PM
Going to follow along on this build.
What is your projected cost, finished?

mike31154
01-19-2012, 12:12 AM
What is your projected cost, finished?

Components I have (& on order) so far cost roughly $260. That includes 4 cool white arrays (6,000-7,000K), 10 Royal Blue arrays (452-455NM), 10 10,000K arrays, 12 heatsinks with built in fans, one 250 watt 12 VDC power supply & 2 sets of optics with holders. Probably won't use all 10 Royal Blues & may order some regular blues and/or the odd red, green, UV, combo array. Should be able to keep it between $300 & $400 I reckon. These are not Cree emitters & I don't care to get into the lumens for your buck debate here. I don't have much in the way of SPS coral and am confident that these generic arrays will do the job nicely for my LPS, softies & couple of SPS frags. I'm not in the coral farming business & provided there's moderate growth & the tank is pleasing to the eye, I'm good.

Still need to get the aluminum rails/supports, additional heat sinks and perhaps more power supplies & optics. Depending on how the power supply I ordered works, I may need to add current limiting drivers so as not to overdrive the LEDs. A couple of variable resistors are an option for dimming & limiting current, but those don't cost that much. Other miscellaneous hardware & wiring.

The optics & holders I have at the moment are actually the wrong size for the 10 watt arrays, the lens is probably ok, but the opening in the plastic holder looks to be designed for the higher wattage arrays, from 20 watts up. So I might just order a higher wattage array & see how that looks.

mseepman
01-19-2012, 05:11 AM
If you're looking to keep costs down...look to Donald's machine for the rails. One of the owners has a reef tank and they are priced much better than the big box stores.

Ryan
01-19-2012, 05:33 AM
Tagging along.

mike31154
01-19-2012, 02:06 PM
If you're looking to keep costs down...look to Donald's machine for the rails. One of the owners has a reef tank and they are priced much better than the big box stores.

Hey thanks Mark. Last bunch I used to fabricate my current MH/T5 setup I got at Princess Auto in Kelowna. I assume Donald's machine is in Vernon?? NM, found it in the Vernon phone book.

mike31154
01-22-2012, 05:42 PM
Time for an update. I've got a little more work done on this. SeaHorse Fanatic has a similar project going built by a friend of his. This is what provided the motivation for me to finally get started on a LED fixture for my system.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=81619

I checked out the local machine shop for aluminum stock that mseepman recommended, but they only had larger, thick material & I'm looking to keep the mass & weight of my build to a minimum. They recommended I try another local machine shop, but I was on my way to Kelowna that day anyhow, so went to Princess Auto where I had scored some reasonably priced square & angle stock before. Ended up getting some thin 8 foot lengths of 3/4 aluminum angle for about $15 ea incl taxes.

I haven't made up any kind of plan on paper or otherwise, kind of doing it on the fly. Still waiting for heatsinks, power supply & additional LEDs I've ordered, customs is taking their time in processing the shipments. grr. Since I have the aluminum & hardware to get started, I put together one 4 foot rack with two heatsinks.

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p8bp11FR9d96EIyXqDbWISdXspgXEaNX3qMCFZY5VxNmAPM0 jBSatrHDGQiVeKNF71vndpJpxcXMwfg4CnWATAw/P1040669e.JPG?psid=1

Had some thicker angle stock left over from building my MH/T5 rack, so used those pieces at each end of the lighter stock. Threaded with 8-32 tap & used stainless bolts to fasten.

Here's a detail view of the business side of the heatsinks with 10 watt LED arrays loosely positioned. Will endeavour to keep the wiring neat & tidy, using small terminals or soldering wires together & covering with heatshrink tubing. I'm thinking heatshrink will provide protection from moisture, but we'll see.

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1peD2yXSBdnwQjEgaiRRflunhEqVupQrSjxnbxqEOJ3p-QUwkNpraI-kXNnZBMd4WXmt-ZtvCvRiR5T4n8WN-yhA/P1040666e.JPG?psid=1

Here's the flip side of the rack, showing the fans on the heatsinks. This will be facing away from the water surface. I threaded the heatsinks to allow use of stainless bolts for fastening. Tried 6-32, but one didn't hold, so went with 8-32 here as well. Mounted the heatsinks diagonally since this provides the best clearance for the fans to do their job of cooling. They're plenty secure with two 8-32 ss bolts.

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1peD2yXSBdnwTCRbrSdbUfNTy9Bjwu3ZobmgXjozNWs9AoRu8 UspJWsf54ZiWlrNY2O2r5vK8XzsKzCTT-7dpLpg/P1040670e.JPG?psid=1

Spacing from center of one heatsink to the next is approx. 6 & 1/2 inches. This will allow installation of at least 6 arrays equally spaced along the 4 foot rail. I'll start with that, or maybe 5, & see how that goes. The thing I like about using this material & fastening with bolts, is that if I need to modify the set up, it's as simple as drilling additional holes. Electrical hookup should also be easy to modify, with a minimum of soldering. Also still thinking I might add a few MR16 bulbs to the rail as needed. This will allow me to spotlight a certain coral or area of live rock with a custom LED colour of whatever works for that area. Just need to figure out a way to fasten the MR16 bulb socket to the rail. Shouldn't be too difficult.

I'm thinking 3 of these rails for my 4 foot tank. One down the center & two along the outside. Not quite sure whether I'll hang them or make up something to set them on the tank rim. Either way, I plan to install the outside rails so that they can be swiveled to point slightly inwards. A single bolt through the end brackets with a wing nut to allow friction fit with quick adjustment should do the trick.

mseepman
01-22-2012, 06:23 PM
Looking good so far. Anxious to see how this turns out.

mike31154
01-24-2012, 03:22 PM
A little more progress on the project since the 12VDC 240Watt power supply & 10 additional heatsinks finally arrived yesterday. Still waiting for 10 10Watt 10,000K LED chips. Chuckle, all those 10s make my eyes go buggy.

Power Supply. Adjustable from 10.07 to 13.58 VDC with the variable resistor. I will probably set it at close to 12 VDC & use separate variable resistors or drivers on each output line to control current & brightness of LEDs. With a potentiometer on each output line, I'll be able to control 3 colours of LEDs individually. This is pretty much mandatory, since different colours of these LED arrays tend to have slightly different maximum voltages, anywhere from 9 to 12. For example, the Royal Blues' rated forward voltage is 9-10 volts, so running them at 12 will sure as hell make them brighter, but I reckon they wouldn't last too long.

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pN4YARurTIV1JPNnhknabjuByLDFzgiyKr5foFlXD9xADJdY 0lk0mR-HL8CFgXbQXAgmpvkFDml1Zsrf1_tUfzA/P1040673e.JPG?psid=1

I've now mounted 6 heatsinks on to the first rail with 3 each of the cool white 6,000-7,000K LEDs & 452-455NM Royal Blues. The LED chips are only held on with heatsink compound at the moment. I'll see how secure that is once the compound cures & may leave it at that instead of securing additionally with screws. The tiny screws required are hard to source.

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1piRU057BskVT3WkgPs0zv4UUth1d49E9YeXPcrX3CNhfwygT DpAMVHaz2r0Vgam9lwlL5VIgdxFG-U3t3zAKbcg/P1040677e2.JPG?psid=1

Original idea was 3 of these rails, but having assembled the one, I think I may reconfigure to have 2 rails only, but with 8 LEDs per rail vice 6. My 77 gal is just under 16 inches inside dimension front to back & 3 rails would be too much hardware with these 10 Watt arrays.

Now it's wait for the remaining LEDs, shop for additional hardware - potentiometers & wiring for hookup. Have a couple more heatsinks on hand, so I can get to work building the second rail.

hillegom
01-24-2012, 04:20 PM
Great build, following along.
I have been wanting to build one as well, still just learning.
Where are you getting all the components, if you don't mind me asking.
Thanks

mike31154
01-24-2012, 06:42 PM
LEDs, heatsinks, power supply are all from Asia, via the well known online auction site. Need to plan ahead & be patient, look for deals, be careful of shipping scenarios. Hardware, aluminum etc. I'm trying to get local as much as possible. So far Princess Auto has been the most cost effective for aluminum stock in the sizes I need. Think I'll visit Circuit City today to see what they might have in wire & potentiometers. PA can be a good source for those things as well, but I'm not driving to Kelowna today.

mike31154
01-28-2012, 04:18 AM
Another bit of work completed, not without hiccups & second thoughts. But I did mention earlier that I'm building on the fly without extensive planning on paper...

Still awaiting the arrival of the 10,000K LEDs, but have wired up 3 each of the Cool White & Royal Blues to the first rail for some testing. Sourcing small screws/bolts to fasten the 10watt LEDs to the heatsinks was an issue, but the other day it dawned on me to check the local hobby shops & scored some M2 nylon bolts plus tap to thread the heatsinks for LED mounting! Worked like a charm until I snapped the tap on or about the 5th heatsink, so I need to get another. Two of the heatsinks I had already tapped for #4 (American std) screws, so I still need to get my hands on some of those.

I decided to snip off the little connectors on the heatsink fans & solder them to the + - terminals of the the LEDs along with the hookup wire. Trying to keep the number of connections to a minimum, but it does have drawbacks, since now the fans are destined to run at whatever voltage is delivered to each individual LED array, vice running at their full 12 VDC rating. I lose the ability to independently control the fans on the heatsinks. Hoping that won't be a big issue, since they may not need to run at full power if the LEDs are not being driven at max current either. Was originally going to use 18 guage wire for LED hookup, but decided on 20 guage single strand instead. This made it easier to solder both the LED hookup wire & the very tiny fan wires to the LED terminals. #18 would have been a very tight fit in the terminal hole. Also added a small section of heatshrink tubing over each connection for protection from the elements... salt water.

Photo is not great, but you should be able to see the relevant details here. The center LED is placed between the two mounted ones for reference, showing the fan connector still on it, whereas the mounted ones have been cut off & wires soldered to LED terminals. Heatshrink tubing on the RH cool white LED has been given the shrink treatment, while the RB LED on the left has the tubing pulled back to show the solder joints. Note also that the cool white LED on the right has no mounting screws yet, this is where I need the #4 screws. The RBs are fastened with the nylon M2 screws.

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pNCYzNHowiohzy-3ActfDeGPQmXk-SlisXK3kjDeg8sSxKI0rv4x8LOBhyaeLb2jFUjv2QCfrF8vOl3 W08cf_Vw/P1040678e.JPG?psid=1

A full length shot of the rail. May still modify the hookup wiring to shorten all leads & use terminals to connect the 20 guage wire to larger guage for the run to the power supply.

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p6fI8g8ZFIaXulxAKaKuWCah3WihAdTwkMXug5YTFJTJvrv5 TYxhWunajKVx7acXvHS26sSx2QrEiq6diKGsrpQ/P1040681e.JPG?psid=1

After soldering the 6 LEDs yesterday evening, I tested each one for current draw with the power supply adjusted to the lowest possible setting of 10.7VDC. This is slightly higher than the rated voltage for the Royal Blues but within the acceptable range for the Cool Whites. Found that the RBs were running at over the 900mA rating, in fact a good bit over 1 amp, so didn't leave them on very long. Fans worked well on all the LEDs. I did hook them all up shortly after lights out on the aquarium to see how it looked & was quite impressed. Great fluorescence on my LPS & amazing shimmer.

I know I'm going to need some sort of additional regulation to limit the current to the RBs in particular, so today I dug up an old 2 ohm variable resistor I've had laying around for decades. Did a lot of reading on various regulation scenarios, voltage, current, pwm, simple resistor & even found out about another possibility, something called a PTC resettable fuse. This device acts a little like a resistor, but the main purpose is to regulate current. If the current rises above the PTCs rating, the PTC will heat up & cut the current, thereby protecting the circuit or LED in this case from frying due to overcurrent. However, since my power supply is relatively stable at the set voltage, it seems that a 2 to 3 ohm (or variable resistor in that range) in series with each LED will be the simplest, most cost effective solution.

Testing of each LED today with the variable resistor set @ 2.8 ohms & power supply @ 10.7 VDC showed a variance from 700 to 740mA for the 3 Cool White LEDs. The 3 Royal Blues ranged from 880 to 910mA with the same voltage/resistance values. This testing also showed the value of proper heatsinking & having the LEDs firmly mounted with heatsink compound. The Cool White LED which I have no screws for at the moment had lifted from the heatsink without me noticing & when I hooked it up the current was rising steadily as time passed. I had been tilting the rail away from me to avoid getting blinded, but noticing the rising current, I snuck a peek & noticed the problem immediately. Once I pressed the LED back onto the heatsink with the compound more or less holding it in place, the current settled rock solid @ 700mA. I ran each LED for a good few minutes to ensure the reading was stable. The fans & heatsinks appear to be doing their job very well. I could even feel some of the heat being transmitted to the mounting rail. Will likely add some heatsink compound to that interface as well to aid further in cooling.

So far the results are very encouraging. The rail is ultra light. I think I will probably end up going with 10 LED arrays per rail. This will provide plenty of options as far as colour mixing goes. Downside is, I still need to figure out a dimming solution. Will certainly not be sophisticated but my current set up has nothing, so chances are my livestock will not care a whole lot. I reckon simply putting the RBs & some blues on first & last using timers will provide enough of a dawn dusk effect & keep things simple. It's kind of what I do now with my T5 & halides, so business as usual, probably a tad better.

mike31154
01-28-2012, 04:33 AM
Here's a photo during testing, one of the RBs fired up, running exactly at it's rated 900mA current with 10.7VDC applied through the variable resistor set at 2.8 ohms.

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pA5xC1TV37TiD-oyZZI6uhaBGbWrGyecNIdNRHl5KEiJbkVU9CDNXmB2esHvY8e3 chWIdHi3ydAkG6komKhf2CA/P1040688e.JPG?psid=1

Skimmerking
01-28-2012, 04:37 AM
Mike looking great i love the mixture BEER and LIGHTS :lol:

mike31154
01-28-2012, 05:07 AM
Ha, ha, thanks. My homebrew goes good with DIY. I'm reminded of an old Frank Zappa tune, T*tt*es & Beer!

mike31154
02-02-2012, 03:10 AM
Short blurb to keep the thread going. The 10,000K LEDs have started trickling in thru the mail, but project is stalled since I snapped the M2 tap I was using to thread holes into the heatsinks. Can't get another locally, so not sure this will be solved short term. I have BC Fasteners & Tools bringing in some #4 stainless screws by this Friday, so maybe I can use those to mount the LEDs to the heatsinks. #4 taps are easier to get locally than the metric M2, just not sure the heads on the #4s will be small enough. The fans on the heatsinks are actually attached with what appear to be self tapping countersunk screws, so that may be another option, but again, they're so tiny that they'll be just as difficult to source locally.

Lesson learned, use the proper lubricant for aluminum when attempting to thread with a tap. I was tapping dry.

emerald crab
02-02-2012, 05:09 AM
I had a different approach, I used a CPU heat sink. It can handle four 10w led no problem. For this fixture I used a 30w 900mA and a 10w 900mA driver, both of them 85-240VAC supply.

mike31154
02-02-2012, 02:16 PM
I had a different approach, I used a CPU heat sink. It can handle four 10w led no problem. For this fixture I used a 30w 900mA and a 10w 900mA driver, both of them 85-240VAC supply.

I like that approach, pretty slick! So if I'm not mistaken you have 4 of the 10 watt LEDs mounted to one CPU heatsink & you've wired 3 in series & one independently? What's the colour combination, I see one blue or royal blue? The housing looks like a PVC coupling & not using any optics? And what about the nifty little swivel mount? What kind of screws are those securing the LEDs?

Please feel free to elaborate on the construction of your LED cannon! More details on the parts & how it's working for you. Don't worry about hijacking this thread, I'd like to see more ideas from people using these 10 watt or even larger LED arrays. I think everyone will benefit.

Stones
02-02-2012, 05:54 PM
Very promising looking build so far. It's nice to see someone veer off the beaten path as almost all LED builds I've seen have been done with the 3 watt chipsets on a huge heatsink.

Which website did you order the LEDs, heatsinks and power supply from if you don't mind me asking? Looking to possibly do a LED build for a planted discus tank and this may be a better option than going with 3 watt LEDs as I had originally planned.

mike31154
02-02-2012, 08:26 PM
Guess it's time to end the vague reference to a certain auction site as the source of my parts. All the LED arrays, heatsinks & power supply were purchased via eBay.

emerald crab
02-03-2012, 01:32 AM
I used one 20000k, one 6500k, one 455nm (royal blue) and one470nm (blue). I used 100 mm (4") PVC pipe and yes I did use optics, one 100 mm diameter glass lens f=80mm. I like it better than individual optics. All the bolts used are 6-32. The swivel mounting was supposed to be used for mounting speakers on the wall. I bought that from Walmart 5-6 years ago. I don't remember what I paid for, but it wasn't expensive.

mike31154
02-04-2012, 05:13 PM
I used one 20000k, one 6500k, one 455nm (royal blue) and one470nm (blue). I used 100 mm (4") PVC pipe and yes I did use optics, one 100 mm diameter glass lens f=80mm. I like it better than individual optics. All the bolts used are 6-32. The swivel mounting was supposed to be used for mounting speakers on the wall. I bought that from Walmart 5-6 years ago. I don't remember what I paid for, but it wasn't expensive.

Thanks for the details. The swivel mount is definitely a nice touch. That's quite a mix of colour temperatures in one LED cannon too! I'm beginning to wonder if my approach will blend the colours adequately.

Progress with my build. BC Fasteners & Tools in Vernon was able to get in some #4-40 stainless machine screws allowing me to mount up more LEDs. I've asked them to bring in another 40 of them plus 2 M2 taps. Not able to use the same holes for mounting as with the M2 nylon screws, but it works. The#4 screws butt up against the curves at the corners of the LED base & the larger head clamps down nicely on it. The #4 tap is larger & more robust than the M2. This time though, I dipped the tap into some diesel fuel to make cutting easier. Diesel is the closest thing I had on hand to kerosene, which is apparently the preferred tap lube for aluminum. Here's a photo showing two arrays, one mounted with the nylon M2 screws & one with the stainless #4s. Several LEDs are mounted using both since I wasn't able to extract the broken pieces of the M2 tap out of the holes.

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1plAlvRlvrrcEvobDLqJpO1RXnXvo8BH6rp8UMWWy-_Gk6aGe4DMy5sgbFco-qQ6Xielb4SZbSoY0hDYQlj17LAw/P1040691e.JPG?psid=1

I've reconfigured the rail to hold 9 LEDs in total. The plan is to start with 5 of the 10,000K LEDs & 4 of the Royal Blue LEDs. Would like additional colours, just not sure how to fit them in at the moment. Perhaps a third rail or some MR16 bulbs. Spacing between the LEDs is now at 4 & 1/2 inches on center. This leaves about 6 inches from the center of the first & last LEDs to the ends of the rail. Two rails to start with, so a total of 19 LEDs for almost 200 watts. The 250 watt power supply will handle that with a few watts to spare. Hoping this will adequately replace my current ghetto DIY 2xT5/2x250 watt Halide rig. Total wattage there is close to 600 watts, I'm overdriving the 4 foot T5 tubes. The 10,000K T5s run morning & evening, with the 14,000K Plusrite Halides coming on in sequence during the midday period. BTAs, LPS, softies & a couple of SPS frags all looking healthy & showing steady growth under the current lighting scheme. Still need to figure out how I'm going to time the LEDs.

Things will be a lot more open with two rails of LEDs replacing this monstrosity.

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p3Osy5XxV_nm1GMOKgS5R3g5USISxljNV8CiApsTsKwhCGaH IeFMwLv9c1HpNVW1IddJdw_ZDqz-9ZvPGjUEdxA/P1010866a.JPG?psid=1

Have to wait until I hang the rail to see how the LED spacing works as far as blending the 10,000K & Royal Blues without optics. Specs for these LEDs generally quote a viewing angle between 120 & 140 degrees. Intensity will surely be less at the perimeter as directly underneath each array. Will be a matter of adjusting height & spacing between rails to see what works. Further reconfiguration/adjustment is always an option. Still need to complete wiring, measure current for each LED to determine what I need resistance wise for each to run them at the proper level. 5 more heatsinks in the mail & I'll need a few more to get the 9 per rail that I'm shooting for. Couple of spares are probably a good thing too.

emerald crab
02-04-2012, 05:43 PM
How the light is gonna blend is a matter of optics used. You might want to bring them closer and install a few more LEDs.
I did play with some small heatsinks, similar with yours. They need 12V to stay cool and at 12V they are a kind of noisy. If you want to see those contraptions I can take some pics.

mike31154
02-05-2012, 03:09 PM
How the light is gonna blend is a matter of optics used. You might want to bring them closer and install a few more LEDs.
I did play with some small heatsinks, similar with yours. They need 12V to stay cool and at 12V they are a kind of noisy. If you want to see those contraptions I can take some pics.

A build thread on your light would probably generate a fair bit of interest. More info on your optics & where you got the lens would be useful. How is the lens attached? Do you have more of these lights or just the one & what area are you lighting up with it, tank size etc.?

I'd like to try the rail in the current configuration without optics and see how the colours blend. Looking at the photos of SeaHorse Fanatic's build, the light seems to blend quite well. Unfortunately, other than the number/type of LEDs & PAR readings, details of his build are scant & I have no idea how his LEDs are spaced or if he's using optics. The optics I have for these at the moment are thick glass & quite heavy. Not sure how I would mount them so I'll play with height of the rail above water to see how that works first. I recall reading that any optic, glass or acrylic is going to filter out a certain amount of light. So it's a bit of a trade off between the need to focus & the desire to get maximum lumens out of each LED without filtering.

Not sure what heatsinks you played with, but the ones I have are designed specifically for these LEDs. Running the fans at a lower speed with lower voltage may well shorten the life of the LEDs. If I find the heatsinks get too hot, I may have to cut the fan leads & run them separately at full 12 volts. I only ran each fan briefly to make sure they all work & didn't find them that noisy, barely audible actually. Currently I have fans cooling the ends of my overdriven T5 tubes & I can definetely hear them. I've lived with that sound for years now, so the LED fans will not make a difference in that regard.

Thanks for the continued input regarding your experience with the 10 watt LEDs. And yes, more photos would be cool.

emerald crab
02-05-2012, 05:51 PM
The heatsinks you have are videocard sinks and they sell around $2-3 on e-bay. In one of the first pics you posted they even had the plastic clips used to fasten them to the pc board. If you bought them as specifically designed for led you probably overpaid. When you run just one the noise is not a big issue, but when you run 12-24 that's a different story. When I played with the VGA heatsinks I used same kind of glass lens that you use and I liked them. I don't want to hijack your thread, but I'll post some pics showing the lens mounting.

emerald crab
02-05-2012, 06:32 PM
Here are the pics of the optic system used with VGA heatsinks. 1.5" ABS coupling, 2 rings cut out of a 1.5" ABS pipe, one 44mm glass lens and two #4 screws (stainless) to attach the heatsink to the optics.

mike31154
02-06-2012, 12:30 AM
Here are the pics of the optic system used with VGA heatsinks. 1.5" ABS coupling, 2 rings cut out of a 1.5" ABS pipe, one 44mm glass lens and two #4 screws (stainless) to attach the heatsink to the optics.

Thanks for the pics, good info. Price I paid for the heatsinks is about what you paid as well, I don't think I've overpaid. Good to know what else they are used for. I assumed they were specifically designed for the 10 watt LEDs since the eBay sellers I've purchased the LEDs from often list the heatsinks as well and the item description says they're designed for them. I reckon in the interest of economy in manufacturing, many heatsinks are used for different applications, provided the specs meet the required cooling capability and have the necessary footprint & mounting options.

mike31154
02-08-2012, 03:16 AM
Not much in the way of progress with the build, but I have been scoring a few more parts that I need. While in Kelowna the other day getting more wire at Princess Auto, I found out about a great electronics outlet not far from there, Interior Electronics. Eureka, a shop full of resistors, capacitors, voltage regulators, hard to find connectors, it was like being in a candy store as a kid. I picked up a few 5watt & 2 watt resistors ranging from 1.5 to 3.3 ohms and a breadboard. This will allow me to run each LED chip with the different resistances to determine what value of resistor I'll need to limit the current to the rated spec. Might be a tedious process & I'll need a resistor in series with the power supply for each LED. Also not the most elegant solution by today's standards with LEDs, but simple & effective. A good thing about doing it this way is that failure of one resistor isn't going to take out any other LEDs. About the only thing that will take out multiple LEDs would be an overvoltage fault of the 12 VDC power supply & I'm banking on that being very unlikely.

I used the breadboard with resistors yesterday to run 2 whites & 3 blues at once. Worked very well & the fans were nowhere near as audible as the four I'm using on my overdriven T5 tubes. In theory the 5 LEDs should have been using 50 watts, but if I recall correctly the wattmeter was showing less than that, so I assume they were being underdriven. Still very bright though & I think the 4 & 1/2 inch spacing between them should work fine without optics if I hang them at the proper height.

mike31154
02-08-2012, 03:47 AM
For the benefit of those wondering what the H a breadboard has to do with electronics....

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pabIrp5ggxGqEWRnrLlFw30A6EQ3P8sD8p-NTr68mNnl05KfLbZ06Rc5qQfVRxCOEo36OrdBQZS1cE-4x2E5L7Q/P1040693e.JPG?psid=1

Interior Electronics also had some fine little project boxes. What I'm thinking of doing is mounting several of these on each rail with a terminal block & resistors inside to keep things tidy & relatively moisture proof.

eli@fijireefrock.com
02-12-2012, 06:35 PM
I skimmed through this tread a little fast excuse me if this question already have an answer:biggrin:
As I am planning to do a 20W led setup for a couple of my tanks similar to what you are doing but 1st I would like to know how good are these fans at keeping these LED cool as I am planing on running then at full power.
By the way good thread on this build.

chewie
02-13-2012, 01:12 AM
Very informative read. I am in the process of trying to figure out how to do a build myself, following along this thread to see how it is done.

Here is a list of parts I am thinking of using:

Dimmer. ( may have a few to run different led temps, blue, daylight 12000k etc...)
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/dimming-controller-for-led-lights-dc-12v-73618

Daylight 12000k
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/t10-sv85-ba9s-16w-12000k-1280-lumen-32-5630-smd-led-white-light-car-indoor-lamp-dc-12v-112583

Blue light
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/10w-180lm-445-447nm-blue-light-led-emitter-9-11v-100875
OR
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/31-44mm-adjustable-4-5w-288-lumen-24-5050-smd-led-blue-light-bulb-dc-12v-100622

Power supply ( once again a few to run different lights on timer. Not sure if this will work or if I need an actually LED driver supply. )
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/120w-universal-digital-power-supply-adaptor-for-laptops-12v-24v-dc-output-100-240v-ac-37110

or if I need a proper led driver
http://s.dealextreme.com/search/led%20driver%2012v

any suggestions?

mike31154
02-20-2012, 09:39 PM
I skimmed through this tread a little fast excuse me if this question already have an answer:biggrin:
As I am planning to do a 20W led setup for a couple of my tanks similar to what you are doing but 1st I would like to know how good are these fans at keeping these LED cool as I am planing on running then at full power.
By the way good thread on this build.

Sorry for the delay in answering your question, I've just returned from a week long backcountry ski trip!

The fans in combination with the heatsink do a great job of cooling the 10 watt arrays since they are more or less designed for them. There are alternative options without fans in the form of larger heatsinks, but I'd like to keep the aluminum mass to a minimum. If you do any searching on eBay for similar items, you will find plenty of sellers offering heatsinks with fans suited for the larger 20 watt LED arrays, as well as the big honking 50, 100 & even larger ones. Needless to say, as you go higher with the wattage, the corresponding heatsink & fan will also have to be much larger to cool the LEDs.

The fans on the heatsink for my 10 watt arrays are designed to run at full speed with 12 Volts DC. I decided to wire the fan leads to the LEDs so that my fans will run at a lower speed, since the LEDs will be run at anywhere from 9 to 10 Volts DC, depending on the size of resistor I put in series with each LED array. I've done some initial short runs to test the rail & it looks like this approach will be fine. If I need more cooling, I may simply add another piece of angle aluminum facing up to give the assembly additional mass for drawing away heat.

mike31154
02-20-2012, 10:07 PM
Very informative read. I am in the process of trying to figure out how to do a build myself, following along this thread to see how it is done.

Here is a list of parts I am thinking of using:

Dimmer. ( may have a few to run different led temps, blue, daylight 12000k etc...)
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/dimming-controller-for-led-lights-dc-12v-73618

Daylight 12000k
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/t10-sv85-ba9s-16w-12000k-1280-lumen-32-5630-smd-led-white-light-car-indoor-lamp-dc-12v-112583

Blue light
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/10w-180lm-445-447nm-blue-light-led-emitter-9-11v-100875
OR
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/31-44mm-adjustable-4-5w-288-lumen-24-5050-smd-led-blue-light-bulb-dc-12v-100622

Power supply ( once again a few to run different lights on timer. Not sure if this will work or if I need an actually LED driver supply. )
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/120w-universal-digital-power-supply-adaptor-for-laptops-12v-24v-dc-output-100-240v-ac-37110

or if I need a proper led driver
http://s.dealextreme.com/search/led%20driver%2012v

any suggestions?

The dimmer is something I've also been looking at to control the current my 12 Volt power supply delivers to the LEDs.

The daylight 12000K 5630 SMD LEDs are generally considered insufficient for our purposes, since the LEDs are not large enough to penetrate the water properly. Yes, there are 32 of them on the board for 16 watts, but I'd still advise against trying to use these since they just don't have enough punch per individual LED. About the only advantage to them is that since they're designed to replace automobile lighting, any 12 Volt DC power supply may be used to run them, no driver to worry about.

Your first link for the blue light is the same 10 watt LED form factor that I'm using in different colour temperatures. You will need either large heatsinks, or the fan/heatsink combination I'm using for my build. You will also need either individual drivers for each 10 watt LED, or a power supply in the 12 Volt DC range of sufficient rating to run multiple 10 watters in addition to a current limiting resistor for each 10 watt LED.
The second link for blue light is again, a board with low wattage 5050 SMD LEDs really unsuitable for anything except maybe a night light.

With respect to power supplies/drivers, the preceding paragraph should pretty much answer that. Your choice really. You can either get a separate driver for each 10 watt LED, or a larger 12 Volt DC power supply to drive a bunch of them with current limiting resistors for each 10 watt LED. If you decide to use the SMD LEDs for sunrise/sunset or night lighting, all you need is the 12 Volt DC power supply on a timer.

chewie
02-20-2012, 11:50 PM
I would love to do a build like yours or Grizzs using leds from Modular Led but just cannot justify the cost a.t.m . I am trying to go cheap and thought going 12v would simplify things. My tank is only 18" deep so was hoping to get away with it...well maybe I should stop being cheap and use proven led's from Modular.

mike31154
02-21-2012, 01:34 AM
I would love to do a build like yours or Grizzs using leds from Modular Led but just cannot justify the cost a.t.m . I am trying to go cheap and thought going 12v would simplify things. My tank is only 18" deep so was hoping to get away with it...well maybe I should stop being cheap and use proven led's from Modular.

If you wish to pursue the 12 V simple approach, you might want to look into the MR16 bulb form factor. They are designed to run off 12 VDC, even 12 VAC in some cases. Driver built into LED bulb, plug & play, sort of. Price is coming down on these bulbs & I understand there's a company about to launch more efficient/powerful MR16 LED bulbs. Initial customer base will be commercial, but shouldn't be long until they target the domestic consumer.

It's slowly getting to the point where it's more difficult to realize significant savings in a DIY LED build as long as you're not looking for all the bells & whistles such as an EcoTech Radion.

Below are some MR16 bulb pics. This bulb has four 1 watt LEDs in it & pretty good optics. You can even unscrew the bezel & remove the optics if you wish. This would expose the individual LEDs & provide more spread, but also expose them to water spray. They are very bright. Before embarking on the 10 watt LED chip build, I was seriously considering this option. I may still use some of them as supplemental lighting or to spotlight a particular coral/area of the tank. Of course if you have primarily low light corals etc. in your tank, those car lights might be enough, but I wouldn't count on it. For a FOWLR they'd probably be ok.

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pRNqR06QSPT6mm6uA41e29eM5S8PC4l6jZ6gpdm0ebTOKNIk Njorlm0qhq0UpjGHcQZsLWOjuZI95WJn_cexHrg/P1040396e.JPG?psid=1

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pbMftY8mWmDvVTGm9532XO4wkHzPNHTySM9790s4Lq1Np2uS A7XINW8gh1ahuGkeI--POwoL4twT9WsFnhhYY_Q/P1040394e.JPG?psid=1 https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pRNqR06QSPT5LA-tpZaek0apIn0H1jOmq6XoDp22m3XAvFAAhlg5tAbLz1jsx-sTsVv8xT4Sgk1_bFB8GZ99H_A/P1040398e.JPG?psid=1

mike31154
03-14-2012, 01:11 AM
Been a while, lots of skiing so not much work on the LED project, but I did manage to get a little more done. I've decided to go with a third rail down the center. Probably have some funky coloured night lights & one or two day supplement arrays on that. Maybe even a green or red. The two outer rails will do the bulk of the work. I've cobbled them together using two pieces of plywood to experiment with spacing & get an idea of what kind of spread the currently planned mix of LEDs will give.

I've ordered 10 more heatsinks with fans & 10 Blue arrays to see how they will work with the current bunch of Royal Blues & 10,000K. Still need a bunch of 5 to 10 watt resistors in the 1.5 to 3.3 ohm range to tune each LED array to the proper running voltage/current. As it sits right now with 17 LEDs, heatsinks, aluminum & plywood, the unit weighs in at 1.8 Kg, that's 4 lbs. Nice & light. Current plan will be to have 9 LED arrays on the two outer rails & maybe 4 to 6 on the center rail. Also need to add the weight of resistors, more wire, project boxes to wire the whole shebang etc. Might also add some plywood skirting to make some sort of open hood in order to minimize light spill & hide the aluminum. With any luck I'll be able to keep it under 10 lbs.

Here it is. Spacing between LEDs on each rail will be approx 4.5 inches. Spacing of LEDs between rails is around 5 inches. I plan to rotate the outer rails slightly inwards. No optics, I'll play with height above water to find a good compromise between spread & light output.

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pdhF502_ojNU_cJAI8nYX4odSgpnLF_uARnhjIm6kNC5_C0k mGvTP6zdiAy7fOmUwYMG63ekNo7LvIxnoFglRDw/P1050348e.JPG?psid=1

End view. The plywood will allow me to drill holes easily & reposition the rails if necessary. The wingnuts provide quick adjustment of the inward tilt of the outer rails.

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pXGxkByIw1T1WJjnPr_HCDhfgBKO54SmE2uqm-5OFaHW16a7IQcc2KZz2fkM8tdcW4avlJnOkH2XXyvzSYSU8Og/P1050349e.JPG?psid=1

Another view to better illustrate the tilt on the outer rails.

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p4i9P7PoBn74-oS4cDOmmkwZookM9uIcl2N8DpFrNiaMgFN72stxxvlcaHkiaQl Gij7htJ1NlF7AnZ18FUhRdsg/P1050350e.JPG?psid=1

mseepman
03-19-2012, 07:01 PM
Any new developments on this Mike?

mike31154
03-19-2012, 08:14 PM
Any new developments on this Mike?

Well, sort of. Still waiting for more heatsink/fans as well as Blue LEDs as per my previous post. Somewhat rethinking the resistor method of controlling current to each LED so I've also ordered ten 12VDC constant current drivers to see how that will work. It may be more efficient than resistors but the downside is, they are somewhat larger than a 5 or 10 watt resistor & they also cost a bit more. These constant current drivers will accept an input of 12 to 24VDC and provide constant current of 800-1000mA at 8-12VDC out. As with the resistors, the plan is to use one per LED.

One idea I considered was to use 3 low resistance, high wattage resistors, one on each of the 12VDC power supply outputs feeding 3 different colours of LED. Not that keen on that idea since these resistors are physically quite large & if one goes bad, I risk frying all the LEDs downstream of that. So I'll probably stick with a resistor or driver for each LED. This will provide a safety factor & also allow me to tune each LED individually. However, not finished yet, & I've also ordered three 12VDC, 8A LED strip light brightness controllers. Might use them in combination with the resistor/drivers. I'll open one of these up to see what's inside when they arrive. Curious to see whether it's just a potentiometer or if there's some electronic wizardry going on in there. My 10watt LEDs are bulk ordered & not binned so production variations will require slight differences of current to each LED for the desired light output. I don't have a PAR meter to measure light output, but at least I can tune each LED to draw at or below the rated maximum.

Going shopping this afternoon for either plywood or thin pine planks to build some sort of enclosure to hold the rails. Would like to keep it open, so I'm thinking some wide side pieces as a frame & a few along the top to mount the terminal boards, resistors/drivers as well as keep the wiring neat. I'd really like to keep the weight of the whole thing down.

I've seen a few similar builds now on RC, one where the chap is using the larger 50watt LEDs. The build looks amazing but much more involved than mine since he needs to cool each LED chip with this monster heatsink with liquid cooling & huge fan. Since the higher wattage LEDs generally need higher voltage (36 VDC), your choice in power supplies gets limited & you end up having to buy the ready made drivers for whatever wattage LED you intend to use. One of the things I prefer about my build, is that 12VDC power supplies & drivers are more common. I can also diversify a bit easier with the colour spectrum & if a LED goes bad, I'm not out as many $$s as with the larger ones.

mseepman
03-19-2012, 10:05 PM
I've been following the build on RC...he's done an amazing job. His light only requires a basic heat sink (VGA, not CPU) but it just looks huge. The Heat pipes don't use liquid...but some others suggested he try liquid cooling. I think that would be too much effort.
I'm not done my cree build yet and I wouldn't change anything right now, but the large multi-chip builds interest me a lot.

mike31154
03-30-2012, 06:00 PM
Still a bit of work ahead, but I now have the components for assembly & testing. The wiring needs some serious cleaning up, but I'm still experimenting with different options to drive the LEDs. The 3 dimmers work very well so I'll order a few more of them for added flexibility in controlling the intensity of each colour. I'm close to their current limit of 8 amps each, so there's a safety factor to consider. The 12VDC constant current drivers I ordered should arrive within a week, so I'll be able to see how they might fit into the scenario.

A summary of the fixture's current config:
-Three rails of nine 10watt LED arrays each for a total of 27 LEDs,
-Two outer rails each have five 10000K White & four 452-455NM Royal Blue,
-Center rail has five 460-470NM Blue & four 6000-7000K White,
-Three 8 amp Dimmers, one controlling all the Whites & one each for the Blues & Royal Blues,
-One heatsink with fan per LED,
-One 250watt 12VDC power supply,
-Terminal boards, wiring, stainless steel hardware & aluminum angle stock,
-Mahogany veneer wood frame (I scored the wood real cheap in the clearance pile at Windsor Plywood).

The fixture weighs just over 12 lbs, or approx 5.5 kg. I ran it last night trying each colour on it's own & in various combos, including full on. Although the calculated wattage with 27 ten watt LEDs is 270 watts (more than the power supply max wattage), the energy monitor showed around 230 watts with all LEDs & fans running. I attribute this to the fact that I didn't run them at their full voltage/current. I dialed the voltage on the power supply down to 9.9 VDC & using each dimmer, further lowered the voltage delivered to each colour to < max rated forward voltage. When time permits, I'll perform current measurements on each LED to confirm they're operating at or below max rating.

One of 3 dimmers I used during the initial test. These are actually sold to dim 12 volt SMD LED strips, but they work fine with the 10 watters, provided you mind the current rating:
https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pP2iRH3IrCeKetVfe83kFFKgmRKgjMvxuhBXHsGIG3X7HO_B 7NYdhqCIncrkzCtit4-HHUv6OdfQ8HGwtqB5ZUw/P1050351e.JPG?psid=1

The entire assembly. Wiring will be cleaned up, shortened, more terminal boards added & dimmers mounted remotely near the power supply:
https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pgMYDnlMwNuaZFympSNYlQL60q13lx1RpopAH-tu2cPXXbW6XN0vK8pTtizMt1yZs-4q3TvX9sNGVWRfJsGhjJw/P1050355e.JPG?psid=1

The 'bright' side:
https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pc8af8KKHPvINfcT265BnXxOlwwYbY7PHON-toGxysOD6w_HAqMJFKkQMuql5tHrYhfKsyMKP6BRwvd2MQPCp4 w/P1050357e.JPG?psid=1

Side view showing the Mahogany veneer frame. This should look pretty good with some finish & trimmed with moldings:
https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pNtAhvU_V9YLVmEcqeHpQp9P4cu4kIY6j17OaZOtXKyuwsjE 0qqVnavE9uvVF6V_QczQzG0OFmesLUJSgvEZvGQ/P1050368e.JPG?psid=1

As far as the test run goes, I very much like what I saw last night & don't think I need to modify anything with respect to colour blending & spacing between the LEDs. I used a couple of 2x4s to rest the fixture on the rim of the tank, much closer to the surface than it will eventually hang. Quite anxious to get it completed now & start experimenting with height above water. The Royal Blues in particular bring out a flourescence in my LPS & soft coral that I've never seen with my current MH/T5HO set up.

Some pros & cons having reached this point:

Pros (as I see them anyhow);
-DIY, so I can repair or modify any part of the fixture myself with parts readily available & relatively inexpensive,
-Fewer LEDs required than with the more common 3 watt builds,
-Not as heavy as builds with massive heatsinks,
-10 watt LED forward voltage is in the 9-12 VDC range, more flexibility in choice of drivers, power supplies etc. Easier to adapt to off grid power, solar, wind, battery etc.

Cons;
-DIY, not everyone's cup of tea,
-Noise from fans (didn't seem bad at all during test run),
-Limited controllability compared to the fancier manufactured fixtures, i.e. dimming is manual at this point,
-I have no measurements as far as light output etc, so experimentation & time will be needed to confirm suitability. Manufactured fixtures have all the testing done & data available. My build is a best guess as to what I require.

More to follow as additional components arrive & I finalize assembly. I plan on ordering a couple more power supplies so that I can run each colour on a separate timer to get some form of sunset, sunrise effect. I also need them to keep from overworking the single 250 watt supply. Still pondering whether soldering the heatsink fans directly to the LED contacts is a good idea or whether I should cut the leads & run them at the full 12 volts all the time. Stay tuned.

bkelly
03-31-2012, 01:04 AM
HI Mike Thanks for bringing your LED to the swap and showing us, sorry i didnt get time to see it more. Unreal how bright they are.
brent

mike31154
04-01-2012, 03:27 AM
HI Mike Thanks for bringing your LED to the swap and showing us, sorry i didnt get time to see it more. Unreal how bright they are.
brent

No trouble at all Brent, there wasn't much more to show. All I was able to do was get a couple of them fired up at your place, one blue & one white. It was a busy venue!

For what it's worth, I made a few photos of the set up over my tank this afternoon/evening. I'll try to get several more tomorrow with the T5HO & Halides for comparison, but just looking at the photos compared to real life, I must admit the photos don't really tell the story. Seeing the LEDs over the tank has given me more incentive to finish up the build & replace the old lights. Anyhow, here they are:

All LEDs running with the fixture 7 inches above water surface. Blues & Royal Blues set at 8 VDC, Cool White & 10000K White set at 9 VDC. So in effect they are all being driven at somewhat below their maximum forward voltage. Still very bright & the colours are blending nicely. Did not perceive any disco ball effect.

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1piy4wSorlOVjrKYDQ32n2NQomaWm3HVFmPo3-AIfLOzl3flP_caczyAF_7vcg2MAbAq0BcEjhnAJxtuK3-IWORw/P1050380e.JPG?psid=1

This one is only the 5 Blues on the center rail dialed down low, set at only a few volts with the heatsink fans barely turning.
https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1piy4wSorlOVjHiR6xHGyU61hFnmcnoeP-h0V_i-MMelpwQGpI2_r-9Zv7qDtWa0E5u0iHAgsfag_00UEL9_p3Pw/P1050385e.JPG?psid=1

bkelly
04-01-2012, 05:04 AM
that looks great , should be cool if you get into programming/controlling the diff lightings.

mike31154
04-01-2012, 06:07 AM
that looks great , should be cool if you get into programming/controlling the diff lightings.

Yeah, I don't have a controller at the moment, not sure I want one either. Current lighting is on digital timers & I was thinking the same with the LEDs. This is one reason (aside from the wattage requirements) I need more power supplies, so I can run each colour with it's own power supply on separate timers. But now that I've started toying with the dimmers, a more sophisticated/automated method of controlling & dimming the LEDs is certainly tempting. On/Off with just a timer might not cut it anymore! Not that the livestock will care, since it's all been doing fine without sophisticated controlling.... more for the hobbyist I guess! I simply can't get that excited over fixtures that offer overkill features like cloud effect & lightning etc. I love my EcoTech VorTech pumps, but could care less that the Radion lights can communicate with them. What the hell for? Dawn/dusk dimming would make me a happy camper, don't need any more than that. 'Want' & 'Need' are different animals, often associated with large variations in $$$$$.

mike31154
04-03-2012, 05:54 PM
Decided to forge ahead & start using this fixture even though there's still a fair bit of work & experimentation ahead. A major part of the experimentation is of course how my critters react to the lighting change. Burned the midnight oil last night, pulled the old MH/T5HO monstrosity & hung the LEDs. Running them as is, with loose wires all over on only one power supply & 3 dimmers has it's limitations, but I figured the sooner I get started, the sooner I'll see how the livestock fares. The LED configuration with respect to numbers & colours is where I intended for the initial trial, so damn the torpedoes.

I started with the fixture approx. 12 inches above water surface this morning. The 12 volt power supply, set at just under 10 volts is on a single timer & changes in intensity are done manually, either with the 3 dimmers or raising/lowering the fixture. I cut some wooden wedges to mount the outer rails, giving them a 10 degree inward tilt. I'm hoping the increase in focus to center, away from the sides translates into less glass cleaning! I'll probably be moving the outer rails a fraction closer to the center to further tighten light spread & minimize spill over the sides where it's neither needed nor wanted. The Hagen 77 gallon is relatively narrow & my rock scape with corals runs pretty much down the center longitudinally. It will take some tweaking to find the sweet spot of LED spacing in conjunction with height above tank, but I don't think I did too bad with my initial guess in that regard.

The fans are definitely audible & although lower in noise level than those I had cooling the ends of my overdriven T5HOs, some of them have a mildly irritating high pitched whine. This may be due to the fact that they're running below rated voltage or simply because they're cheap, dunno. The more I bump up the voltage on the LEDs, the faster they run & actually quiet down a little. Might try cutting all the fan leads & running them full speed at the rated 12 volts to see how that works out.

I like the look, plenty of shimmer & great colours on the coral. The tank is more accessible since the fixture is mounted higher than the old set up. The fishes certainly noticed something was different this morning and were a bit shy, but in less than an hour they were behaving pretty well as usual. I have a spawning Maroon clownfish pair so it will be interesting if the lighting change has any impact on their schedule. It's been about 4 days since their last clutch hatched and the female should be about ready to put down another.

After a couple of hours, I lowered the fixture by 2 inches to 10 above surface & bumped up the voltage on all 3 colours of LED. That'll be my sophisticated, high tech dawn/dusk program until I get more power supplies & timers. Numbers are now as follows, measured at the input & output of each dimmer:

LED colour, Dimmer input VDC, Dimmer output VDC

10000K & 6000K White, 9.63, 7.98
Royal Blue, 9.73, 5.51
Blue, 9.83, 5.51

Not entirely sure why the difference in input voltage values, since a single power supply is driving all the dimmers & lights. I assume it's due to slight variations in wire lengths feeding the dimmers & probably the different number of LEDs being run by each dimmer. The dimmer running the Blues is driving only 5 LEDs, Royal Blues number 8 for that dimmer & the one working hardest is the dimmer running both the 10000K White & 60000K White which total 14. I'll have to keep an eye on that one since it's probably close if not over it's 8 amp limit. Haven't made any current measurements, but by underdriving the LEDs with the low forward voltages, they won't be drawing anywhere near their maximum of 1 amp, so should be fine.

Inserted my power monitor into the circuit & the fixture with voltages as set now is drawing 140-146 watts. Should equate to some useful energy savings over the long term, although it seems that my heaters will be running a little longer without the Halides doing their thing during the midday lighting period.

mike31154
04-09-2012, 05:59 PM
Update time! Cleaned up excess wiring & secured it to safely continue using the fixture. So far it's working great with no duds & I'm able to blend/control the colours nicely with the 3 dimmers. I've ordered 2 more dimmers to split the 6000K whites from the 10000Ks. I'll be ordering at least two more power supplies to distribute the load & run each colour on a separate timer. The current config works fine until those parts are in, it simply means I need to manually adjust the intensity for dawn/dusk dimming every day. Colours on separate timers will allow basic dawn/dusk effect, but automatic dimming using additional electronics is something I'm contemplating for the future.

12VDC, 250watt power supply & three 8amp dimmers are now mounted on a board in the center compartment of the stand. Another dimmer will be added to isolate the 6000K whites from the 10000K whites. 14AWG single strand house wiring runs from power supply to dimmers. From dimmers up to fixture is 14AWG stranded hook up wire.
https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pYU2NNyweX3ewDm9n-K6o73jhRIXMmD63J_3c1qOV4cIRqdD6fYm72CSzrYc-CqstWbpPy37Lkn1RWlP0ay3mew/P1050405E.JPG?psid=1

Top side of the fixture. Added 4 cedar slats to mount terminal boards for wire distribution. Drilled additional holes in the rails for rubber grommets to feed LED wires thru.
https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1phDOzW2EBIHq73sEuERrvRPq3ihFCTTOIdiTqA2XYj53uBI7 queewf-EMKZEqSMmJhzCgNzLWHv7J4DLPytyEVg/P1050408E.JPG?psid=1

Ten of these 12 to 24VDC, 900mA constant current drivers for 10watt LEDs came in last week. Don't think I'll be using them on this fixture since there doesn't appear to be any adjustment on them. I test fired one on a spare 10watt LED & it worked great at regulating the current as advertised. Haven't tried running it downstream of a dimmer to see how it reacts to that, but even if it works, I'd need one for every LED & that would be a bunch more hardware to add to the fixture. Since the build is essentially a parallel hookup, with each LED seeing the same voltage as delivered by the dimmers, constant current is less of a requirement than for a series application where you're feeding a string of LEDs. They might still come in handy for when I set up a fuge or frag tank, since there's really no dimming requirement for those applications.
https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pYU2NNyweX3cf-u3o-y6KAziMIeqwWaIfytrPzQF1I8zLDWUZkGujywWIqkvkVUhDc9f yXH3Ht92sR0zuGAXM_w/P1050410E.JPG?psid=1

Photo taken last night directly at the LEDs. Don't recall what voltage I was running them at, but nowhere near max. & they were still very bright.
https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pvhD0puAhJd5c8lJYq_mdTVscuWC8FH4G5Mg9tyPCXliu5pp MHQZigKs0pTspUlGKnd1ssB_yaaXwKu93uf-xTg/P1050399E.JPG?psid=1

Had to run the two 250watt 14000K MH Plusrites yesterday while I was completing work on the LED fixture, so here's a tank shot to compare with the LED photo from last week. MH
https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p0SyxGuljLsyL4krtCMvnZQYWorb2DFsyn_sc2suAGg7wFh4 I2xGMbo6vdlDs4NkmSYH_iLJZhTxkEQPJOQlFVQ/P1050390E.JPG?psid=1

and the LEDs. Nicer spectrum & more pleasing to the eye to me. Better blend overall & still underdriven. Not too shabby at less than half the power consumption of the Halides.
https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1poD-xaZbEo26VDFFHiH8vLgLRRHOirnSWpOOWKzMu-vbuzzOO691iww4EYbs37JllvV3cQ65AIJbwtaS5wOc2-w/P1050380e.JPG?psid=1

Very happy with how it's turned out & livestock appears to be adjusting without issues. Female Maroon clownfish spawned a couple days ago, so she's clearly ok with it. Will take some time until I know how the coral fares, but everything looks quite happy after a week under the LEDs. Have 7 Blue & 2 Royal Blues left over from the build, along with miscellaneous wiring, hardware & resistors I didn't use. The fixture easily lights a 4 foot tank, weighs only around 7 pounds & the cost of material is somewhere in the neighbourhood of $600 to $700.

mike31154
05-09-2012, 04:17 PM
A little over a month now running the fixture. Not completely finished, but I've stained the wood & half attached some of the trim to make it a little nicer to look at. Still need to figure out how to cover the top without adding a bunch of weight & restricting air circulation to the heatsink/fans. Something thin & flexible I can sort of bend into a shallow dome perhaps.

Everything appears to be adjusting nicely to the LEDs, with no apparent issues, other than the green algae. Since this fixture is providing more blue light for a longer period of time, the green stuff is taking it on the chin & tank is looking better every week. All coral including several sps bits continue to grow. Will take more time to get a better idea of the rate, but just the fact that they're doing well is a good sign.

Latest photos. Fixture is dimmed down for morning dawn effect. Things get much brighter when I crank up the voltage.
https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p8Hfgk57YmDAl3hNZmEFc8DyWVMeSgNdfafjSapnafENzJew Jo1T7ySlc9fvuSEx6L92Tfgsx5w-U7LhTm2YbJA/P1050442e.JPG?psid=1

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pYtdzYJQu_k-OSKQ5NbEioO9RaeS5M8gwlUYl4PcP-Ls40gALex78PH4hrM67hiaf7uHejtmByu0fsuj2K2_ZCA/P1050443e.JPG?psid=1

reefme
05-09-2012, 06:11 PM
How are you getting the reflectors and lense installed?

mike31154
05-10-2012, 01:33 AM
How are you getting the reflectors and lense installed?

I won't be using optics. Things are looking great without reflectors & lenses. I think the colours blend more effectively without lenses.

mike31154
07-21-2012, 01:35 AM
Fixture running great since beginning April. Thought an update may be in order. I've added a second power supply allowing me to run each on a different timer to give a simple dawn/dusk scenario. Still no automatic dimming other than that. Added a fourth manual dimmer to allow individual control over each of the 4 different colour LEDs I've used. Two meters provide voltage monitoring through a couple of switches I added. The top voltmeter shows volts for the two left dimmers fed by the 250 watt power supply (Royal Blue & 10000K LEDs on the outer rails). The lower voltmeter monitors the smaller 150 watt power supply (6000K & Blue LEDs on the center rail). By using the DPDT switches I can toggle between monitoring the voltage provided through each of the 4 dimmers. Here's a pic of what it looks like at the moment.

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pU0UnQqrtikRMKuxBvbX0uDpbtycyAKqT43JTeX2L3cyCZA3 sjN8vu0AUPFSD6nAGpDXJglWLLuuEMogeZj7gng/P1050595e.JPG?psid=1

All the 10 watt LEDs should be well 'burned in' by now and the only thing that has failed is one of the heatsink fans. Easy enough to replace since I have a few spares kicking around. Still running without any constant current devices, relying on the dialed down voltage to keep things safe. Intend to do some current measurements to see how things are matched between LEDs, but it's been working so well I wonder why I should bother. If one were going to cook, it surely would have done so by now.

mike31154
10-17-2012, 07:51 AM
Update I reckon after running the fixture for almost 7 months. LEDs still going strong, no burn outs.

I finally cut the heat sink fan leads off of the LED terminals & wired them separately to the power supplies. A whole lot of cutting, soldering & running more wires to feed 27 fans, but now the 12 volt fans are getting at least 10 volts DC regardless of what I do with the LED dimming controls. The issue of giving the fans a kick start in the morning with my finger due to low voltage delivered to LEDs is now solved. Reliable start of the fans.

https://ojcrhq.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pBUi6kgzt6N-QMwXMNdvGnitqk8Q8XetzZYG22HoxL6PMJ67DgE_yFZpQ85Tbi B1ZE8wwrd62BpXmb17SERuQZPaiQ7FyAmQO/P1040678e.JPG?psid=1

Note the way the emitters are wired above, with the fan leads soldered in parallel with the LED leads. All the fan leads have been cut & rewired. In the future whenever I replace a fan, I'll keep the connector on as shown on the center LED. Stripped 20 gauge solid strand wire slides into the connector nicely, no soldering.

Coral & other livestock doing well, tank looks good, saving electricity, evaporating less water. Downside I guess is the heaters need to run longer to keep the tank temp up.

Northernseacorals
11-05-2012, 05:54 AM
Fantastic build man, light looks excellent.

mike31154
11-05-2012, 04:08 PM
Thanx, it's been running well since last April. Last week I finally did some additional current measurements. Been meaning to do this for some time since the only other time I measured current was before assembly. Constant voltage is not the conventional way of running a LED fixture & doing so has its risks, but I've seen instances of folks cooking their LEDs with constant current drivers as well.

At any rate, the current measurements taken at several different forward voltages revealed that I've really been underdriving the fixture. Highest I've had the voltage is around 9.5 volts which is 0.5 volts above the lowest recommended voltage for the Royal Blue LEDs. That was only for a short burst though & since putting the fixture in service I've kept the voltage at about 7.5 max.

There was a definite difference in current between a Blue & a Royal Blue at 8.5 volts, with the Blue drawing 310 mA & the Royal Blue drawing 500 mA. Both numbers are well below the 1,000 & 900 mA rated current. It took 10 volts to get the Blue up to 500 mA. By comparison, a 10,000K white was only drawing 180mA at 8 volts. Need to keep in mind that the voltage/current curve is not linear & current rises quickly once you get close to the maximum forward voltage. One of the reasons I've kept the voltages fairly low up to now.

Only checked one or two of each colour LED so I need to do more measurements to compare the current difference between LEDs of same colour at the same voltage in order to see how well (or not) balanced things are. After running for months, they have to be 'burned in' & there should be no surprises, but with electronics you never know. They're well cooled with the individual fans now running at 10 volts, so I'm reasonably confident that there should be no major disaster even if one or two burn out & I don't notice for a while.

Even at the 6 to 7 volts I've been running the LEDs at, coral growth was very good, comparable to my previous Halide/T5HO set up. Since taking the current measurements recently, I've bumped up the voltage of each colour to 8.5 and the tank looks great. Quite a bit brighter, especially the whites, so I'll need to keep an eye on things to ensure I'm not burning coral. Looks good so far after several weeks & algae is not getting out of hand either. Could probably run them all at 9 volts, which is recommended minimum forward voltage for all colours except the 10,000K whites (10 volts), but there seems no need to do that based on growth & look of the tank. Besides, that would use more power & probably shorten the life of the LEDs somewhat.

mike31154
12-13-2012, 07:46 PM
To provide additional flexibility to the fixture with regard to dawn/dusk effect, I've decided to add some SMD5050 RGB strips. During the longer summer days ambient daylight minimizes the effect of the sudden blast of light when the 10 watters kick in, but this time of year it's quite a radical wake up call for the livestock in a darkened room.

I scored a 5 meter reel of waterproof RGB LED strip lighting online complete with 44 key IR remote control & 12 volt DC 5 amp power supply for about $35. Had to wait a month to get it, but can't complain for free shipping & no brokerage fee or customs hit. Had an 8 foot length of the thin aluminum angle left from the 10 watt rail build, so I cut that into 2 sections & stuck the RGB strips to them. The aluminum angle will be attached to the existing center rail of my fixture using stainless #4 screws. I've threaded the holes so should be a slick & easy addition. I'll need to disconnect the fixture & take it down though, so I can drill & tap matching holes into the center rail.

Photo of the strips mounted to the alu angle. They come with a 3M sticky backing which holds well, but a zip tie at each end to support the connectors adds a bit of security.
https://ojcrhq.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pJlx1qpo6ZiqN3AfNVB_GiJajWph2Vj0eVWLEArXS9D_KUZK vynP5RWnGfQkGZHc31v5-G1qnOSQ/P1060144e.JPG?psid=1

Opposite end. The RGB control box with IR receiver attaches to the connector. Power supply plugs into the other end of the control box. Plug & play with more colour choices, dimming, flash modes than I'll ever need.
https://ojcrhq.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pJlx1qpo6ZirhB5WXdfPrl253NeMGAbjiHM3ED3isr38A0U3 jt8MO_6i8QZvy2Ao49PvrLaMJVE8/P1060150e.JPG?psid=1

I loosely laid the two strips above the tank the other day to see how it looked & they put out quite a bit of light. The 5 meter reel of 5050 LEDs consumes 36 watts, there are 60 LEDs per meter providing 780-900 lumens/meter. Each of the strips I cut off the reel is just over a meter long (approx. 41 inches). This gives me 63 LEDs/strip, for a total of 126 for dawn dusk/tweaking or night lighting. Good thing they can be dimmed with the 44 key remote. One of the timed power bars I use for the 10 watt LEDs has the alternate day/night receptacles, so the plan is to plug the strip light power supply into one of the night jobs. Still not as good as having a controller to turn the strips off at some point during the night when I'm not home, but better than nothing I guess. When I'm away I may just set them up to be fully dimmed red all night.

mseepman
12-13-2012, 09:28 PM
Hey Mike,

I scored a couple of those same ones and am planning on using them above my kitchen cabinets.

Nice way to use them on the tank!

mike31154
12-14-2012, 03:04 AM
Indeed, uses for LED strip lights are almost limitless. I considered using the whole reel as Xmas lighting on a spruce tree in my front yard, but found that I probably need more than 5 meters for that! So I ended up using the crappy tire LED strings I bought a few years ago. Many of those are beginning to burn out already though & they don't have the flashing/dimming options, so I'm thinking of ordering a few reels for next year.

Tony Ooi
12-17-2012, 01:11 AM
i was trying to understand the whole circuitry from all the post here.
Sorry i have few quick questions as i trying to follow these post and make sure i get the correct understanding
In the end, you didn't have any resistor in series with each LED, right?
The whole circuitry is just the 12V power go into the dimmer and from dimmer go to the LED. Please correct me if i am wrong.

mike31154
12-17-2012, 02:04 AM
In the end, you didn't have any resistor in series with each LED, right?
The whole circuitry is just the 12V power go into the dimmer and from dimmer go to the LED. Please correct me if i am wrong.

You are absolutely correct. The two 12 VDC power supplies have a limited range of adjustment via a small potentiometer next to the wire terminals. The adjustment range is from about 10 volts to 13 volts. Downstream of the power supplies are the manual dimmers which provide further control & enable me to dim all the way to off.

The LEDs are all hooked up in parallel, no series chains whatsoever. If one of the LEDs were to burn out, the remainder on that dimming circuit would likely run at a slightly higher current which poses a certain risk if I don't notice for a while. I mitigate that risk by having the manual dimmers adjusted to 8.5 VDC, which is 1/2 volt below the recommended minimum forward voltage of my 455nm Royal Blue LEDs (spec for them says Vf should be 9 to 10 volts). So in essence, I am slightly underdriving the Royal Blue LEDs. The whites, 10000K & 6000K as well as the 470nm blues can handle a higher Vf (up to 12 VDC) so they are underdriven even more. In addition, each LED has its own fan for cooling, which adds to the safety factor with respect to burn outs.

I opened up a couple of the dimmers to see what makes them tick since there is little info on them other than the rated input/output. Some of the vendors selling them on eBay talk about them being pwm and/or constant current capable but it sure would be nice to confirm how they really work. Aside from the potentiometer, the dimmer consists of solid state circuitry including what looks like a MOSFET transistor, so they do have some complexity. Despite the low price, the soldering & assembly are very good quality.

Tony Ooi
12-17-2012, 07:31 AM
Thansk for your explanation.
Te 12V DC power supply, the potintiometer you mention , is it the the plastic which have philips screw head?
my dimmer just arrived yesterday. I have yet to open up to inspec what is inside , but it felt like almost nothing and very light wieght. I have LED which spec at 10watts(running at 10V, 1A current). Theoretically should able to handle up to 8 LED per dimmer base on the label stated there 8A. For safety reason, i might just want to keep 6-7 LED per dimmer.

mike31154
12-17-2012, 02:15 PM
Thansk for your explanation.
Te 12V DC power supply, the potintiometer you mention , is it the the plastic which have philips screw head?
my dimmer just arrived yesterday. I have yet to open up to inspec what is inside , but it felt like almost nothing and very light wieght. I have LED which spec at 10watts(running at 10V, 1A current). Theoretically should able to handle up to 8 LED per dimmer base on the label stated there 8A. For safety reason, i might just want to keep 6-7 LED per dimmer.

On both my power supplies the adjustment potentiometer is as you describe, located next to the power supply power "ON" indicator LED. If you look at the photo on post #46 closely, you should be able to see it on the left of the power supply front panel. It's the only adjustment that is accessible from the outside of the power supply.

Definitely a good idea to keep the number of LEDs per dimmer below 8 as you plan to do. Having said that, the dimmer controlling my 10000K LEDs is doing fine with 10 of them hooked up. Of course I don't run them at full voltage/current, but it reminds me that it might be a good idea to add one more dimmer! Seems to me when I first ran the fixture one of the dimmers had both the 10000K & 6000K on it, meaning a total of 14 LEDs plus the cooling fans! No issues, but I don't know what I was thinking & certainly wouldn't recommend that, even though I had the voltage down at 4 to 5 volts.

mike31154
12-30-2012, 09:38 PM
A few additional photos showing the 5050 SMD LED RGB strip lighting I recently added to the fixture. Since I don't have a controller running the 10 watt chips, I'm using the RGB strips selected to blue on a timer to provide a crude dawn/dusk effect. I suppose I could have simply purchased a straight blue strip instead of RGB, but the cost difference is minor & it's interesting to play with the different colour combos possible with the IR remote control pad & the RGB strip.

Close up of the strips mounted along the center rail of 10 watt emitters. I simply drilled/threaded the center rail alumiunum angle in 4 locations & used small stainless steel screws to attach the angle holding the LED strips.
https://ojcrhq.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pE7mQPYfnJCoc4P8rVb_q4cfam1R5We3ed4G0UGXBRXEgr-QGI3oYwsOAB3FmtelUn5fGjEks_v4/P1060151e.JPG?psid=1

This shows a bit more of the fixture with the blue LEDs shining.
https://ojcrhq.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pgBpxjlAYog1sicZ9yN2LB5aNljlCcpR8r-aPoUx4wqJ-OnIRD_D07LyxxovkJAV1bAD4X5LdZ0I/P1060161e.JPG?psid=1

Now for some shots over the tank with different colours. Blue, red, violet/purple and white (using all 3 colours). I've left out the green since it's not a colour one would normally use on it's own over a marine tank. Photos are all with respective LEDs at full power. They can be dimmed down to near zero with the 44 key remote control.
https://ojcrhq.blu.livefilestore.com/y1paeCArxqUqi19eJ2uKPelosAkiAtqRV9tkU5-RRS3joSJUyC6PoMRiB13SJk37mDPUkJ7Anj9xCQ/P1060171e.JPG?psid=1

https://ojcrhq.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pBLQmw6lv1FP3SfiCQW-sX_etziUY00ObYl_9NQMe3ykS9magGtU_zjkDRAe9uY-18JdTNojv370/P1060169e.JPG?psid=1

https://ojcrhq.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pTQd5msqpLuzCheIajyBWdMne2PggFka95Fjq18SrbpocBnm Uny8XVw4WiTzJ0J2vZl6IyDhJdlA/P1060173e.JPG?psid=1

https://ojcrhq.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p-ZFcfdpnejjl_AOg4T6yFsjH45KR8qdH7x9mjxSKE6dQ9p-RsoHESBaPk67sZ0sVzLudgQ3qNXo/P1060172e.JPG?psid=1

As you can see the 'white' shot lights up the tank fairly well with the 2 rows of 5050 SMD LEDs at full brightness. Each row sports 63 LEDs in segments of 3 for a total of 126 LEDs. I have 174 LEDs left on the spool to use on another project. Someone with a FOWLR could easily build a suitable fixture using additional rows of these. Could even work for a tank with softies & LPS. You'd have to mount them fairly low & pack a bunch of rows together, but the stips are available with various levels of water proofing, so that shouldn't be an issue. There are brighter 5630 SMD strips available, as well as less bright 3528 SMD strips. A fairly simple diy to either build a full fixture, supplement existing lights or dawn/dusk effect which is what I use them for.

mseepman
12-31-2012, 03:26 AM
Just to comment, I brought in 4 x 50cm strips of the 5630 Samsung LEDS in cool white and they are very very bright. They came mounted on a thin aluminum strip with a surrounding aluminum mount and after running for 5 minutes you would be burned by the aluminum strip. The surrounding mount is still fairly cool. Mounted to a proper heat sink, these would shed a lot of light! Haven't seen them in any colours or RGB yet.

Aughskel
12-31-2012, 05:02 AM
Decided to document what I'd like to do with respect to LED lighting for my 77 gal tank. I've been fence sitting for some time watching various builds etc & finally decided to do a bit more than experiment, although this is really still just that, an experiment. While I'd love to get my hands on something like an EcoTech Radion, they're just a bit too rich for my budget at the moment. I have some knowledge as far as electrical gear goes, so a DIY lighting fixture should not be a problem & save me a few $$ in the process.

I'm not a fan of builds with massive heatsinks and have been looking for a somewhat lighter & more elegant solution. Some of the more costly commercial fixtures like Radion, Orphek, Kessil have caught my fancy since they seem to be able to get the job done without a 50lb piece of aluminum to draw heat from their LEDs. A reasonably sized heatsink with a fan or two is more to my liking.

Inititally I'd been looking at an MR16 two pin bulb solution. They're designed to run off 12VDC, so with a 12 Volt power supply, some MR16 LEDs & sockets to plug them into, I figured that would be a good way to go. Have a few 4 watt (4 x 1 watt) MR16s in cool white as samples that I'm using above the kitchen sink as task lighting.


These are great little lamps with heatsink & current limiting circuitry incorporated, but they do seem to run a little hot after being on for a while, so not sure whether they'll last the advertised number of hours before giving up the ghost. So far so good, perhaps the heatsinks are doing their job & my fears are unfounded. There are few to no threads on anyone using these over their tank, FOWLR, softie, LPS or SPS. Nevertheless, I'll keep my options open, since once the sockets are wired up to a 12 VDC supply, they're plug & play, easily replaced. Worst case, I can even disassemble them & replace the individual LEDs.

Since I'm on a 12 VDC kick as far as power supplies go, I've decided to pursue the 10 watt LED array route. Several manufacturers are now using similar arrays as a LED option for aquariums. Arrays can be had that run at over 100 watts. They're now available in many different colours, including UV & combo colours on the same chip. The combo chips are an interesting development since they should minimize the disco ball effect reported from many builders using individual 3 watt LEDs of different colours. They all use between 9 & 12 VDC running at 900 to 1000 mA. So close to 10 watts each at the rated voltage. I already have 4 cool white (6,000 to 7,000K) versions of these. 10 Royal Blues came in the mail yesterday & ten 10,000K arrays are enroute. Should be plenty for my 77 including spares.

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pJTV5j14OeegA5NR3IRseaGbwp6m5MB1PMcHnGIgN-XWVRQNOG0TIfXMt1w6TRmCH0yMwdFevHeXDN9WTWtqGaQ/P1040643e.JPG?psid=1

Now to the heatsink issue. I already have two small heatsinks with fans designed specifically for these arrays & 10 more on the way. What I'm thinking is to use two aluminum rails in parallel & screwing these heatsinks into them. The heatsinks will span the two rails & serve to hold them together. I'd like to tap the heatsinks & mount each array with two screws in addition to using heatsink compound. Even with the tiny fan, these are very light, so the fixture should be light & open for air circulation as well.

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p6F6B-TRtMrOJi0W0Xf8PcJ6IG9g2TEM69IZpDpV0VfNghK3c6oAxMPf yR3o-WR1gtxkPdXiIHYGanEwFTqqDpw/P1040642e2.JPG?psid=1

Last but not least, there are optics available to fit over these. I'm thinking of trying without to start & go from there. Here's a pic with all the goods(except the power supply).

https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p70AdSHJJwvjyanCb5zX7avgb7CBUdQ5Wq9ZO5JiaBfPCj-yq5CRJhyxzWRMeCx_YBa0tgfdHo0Dtw3nxYSEtQw/P1040642e.JPG?psid=1

Stay tuned.
Do you design custom led headlights. I need them and ready to spend good money on them

Aughskel
12-31-2012, 10:30 AM
Do you design custom led lighting (http://www.niceledlights.com) headlights. I need them and ready to spend good money on them
Still waiting for your reply

mike31154
12-31-2012, 03:18 PM
Still waiting for your reply

Sorry no, I don't custom design LED headlights & am not in the LED light manufacturing business. If I was, I think I'd be breaking forum rules here & jeopardizing my membership. This is a DIY project for myself only & information to benefit others that may wish to embark on their own project.

I've actually been looking for LED car headlights myself & haven't found too much. Not sure they are even legal if retrofitted in certain jurisdictions. Most car/truck headlight retrofits seem to be HID & Xenon, not LED.

byee
01-12-2013, 07:24 AM
Mike,

Thanks for sharing you LED build.

I'm also in the process of designing me LED setup on paper. I will also be using the 10W LED's.......prob looking at 24 LED's for my 120 gallon reef tank. I will be using the Mean Well drivers instead of 12VDC 20A power supply with dimmers. I will also be just about finished building my programmable 4 channel light controller based on the Arduino PLC. The controller can be programmed to dim the lights throughout the day via PWM. The Mean Well drivers can be dimmed via PWM.

Did you design you setup with a 12VDC for simplicity? Dimming the lights is done manually using the dimmers?

Once again, thanks for sharing!

mike31154
01-12-2013, 02:25 PM
Mike,

Thanks for sharing you LED build.

I'm also in the process of designing me LED setup on paper. I will also be using the 10W LED's.......prob looking at 24 LED's for my 120 gallon reef tank. I will be using the Mean Well drivers instead of 12VDC 20A power supply with dimmers. I will also be just about finished building my programmable 4 channel light controller based on the Arduino PLC. The controller can be programmed to dim the lights throughout the day via PWM. The Mean Well drivers can be dimmed via PWM.

Did you design you setup with a 12VDC for simplicity? Dimming the lights is done manually using the dimmers?

Once again, thanks for sharing!

Your plans sound interesting & it should be a great set up with the controller etc. A build thread to show your progress would be great. Not sure what your plans are with respect to livestock, but you might want to add a few more LED arrays for a 120. As you can see, my 77 uses 27 LEDs plus two strips of SMD5050 LEDs.

As far as my decision to go with constant voltage 12 VDC power supply, simplicity comes into play a bit, but cost was another consideration. One of the things I'd like to do in the future is put up a solar panel array for my home & this could potentially provide most if not all the power for my LEDs. Most photovoltaic systems are designed to produce 12 or 24 volts DC to charge batteries, so I could potentially run my LEDs off the solar array or battery bank. Need to keep in mind that the charging voltage will be higher than 12 volts to charge the batteries, so resistors in series with the LEDs would be needed. This is one of the reasons I chose 10 watt LEDs as opposed to the larger chips. Most 10 watters have a Vf of between 9 to 12 volts, so that keeps things really simple & cuts down on the amount of voltage conversion (drivers & other hardware) to run the LEDs. I see now there are a few 20 watt multi chips LEDs that have a Vf in that range. For now I like the idea of only having 2 power supplies. The number of electrical outlets I have available for my current set up would mean I'd need a few more power bars to run multiple Meanwell or other constant current drivers. I already have enough of a wiring rat's nest around my tank & more power bars to run multiple drivers are just not an option at the moment.

With respect to dimming, I like it simple there for sure. My dimmers are manual and I haven't touched them since setting the Vf at 8.5 volts for all the LEDs. I use digital timer power bars to bring the lights on line in a staggered cycle to provide a crude dawn/dusk effect. The RGB SMD5050 LEDs help in that regard as well. Less to go wrong, no programming or controller required and for my livestock, not much of a change from the blast of light they used to get from my old MH/T5HO rig.

For a larger future build, I might go a bit more sophisticated with the dimming, maybe. I'll certainly consider using larger, fewer multichips mounted higher up with optics. This would also cut down on the number of drivers, fans, wiring, etc required. By the time I get around to that build, I'm sure the price will have dropped even more on those, better spectrum & other innovations will be available. If I were to rebuild using the 10 watt chips, I might arrange them a tad closer together, like 4 inches on center rather than 4 & 1/2. Maybe even 3 inches. That would allow more LEDs & additional colours to be packed into the same area. I see there are now 10 watt chips available with blue & white on the same chip. Might also consider getting the larger heatsinks for them that don't require a fan. This seems to be the weak link with my build at the moment. I've replaced 3 of the fans to date & a few more are showing signs of weakness. A positive side to this issue is that none of the LEDs have burned out despite some of them running for hours with a stalled fan with no apparent ill effects. It may well be that even these heatsinks don't really need the fan to sufficiently cool a 10 watt LED. The open design with aluminum rails may have something to do with that.

Best of luck with your project, hoping to see how that goes.

mike31154
04-03-2013, 01:35 AM
Tomorrow will be the 1 year mark running this DIY 10 watt multi-chip fixture. It's been working great, no LED burnouts despite the fact that a few of the fans failed and the LEDs are basically no name cheapies. I have replacement fans so not a problem there, but I would probably build it a little differently next time around. There are now slightly larger heatsinks available for 10 watt multi chips that supposedly cool sufficiently without a fan directly attached. I'll probably order a few of them to check it out. I think if I built a top on the fixture and added a couple of larger fans to move air through that, it may work without all the individual mini fans. I have something in mind along the lines of a semicircular piece of wood at each end, then adding thin slats across the top with a slight space between each. This will cover the top nicely while allowing air circulation similar to the open top configuration at present.

Livestock is happy, coral growing & my BTAs have never looked better. In fact they are taking over the tank. I'm still slightly underdriving most of the LEDs, so they should continue to plug away for another year or two no problem. The fixture is likely nearing the point where it will have paid for itself in power savings & not having to buy replacement halides and T5HO lamps. Starting to get the itch for another build though, this time with larger, fewer multi chips. Anyone contemplating a DIY LED fixture should at least consider these multi chips rather than the more common builds using 3 watt Crees etc. They may not be quite as efficient as the Crees or other big name brands, but the price is right & they work fine. They also now come in multi colour arrays on the same chip. Fewer LEDs can be used meaning less wiring & soldering.

https://ojcrhq.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pLm7aHvTOeXv_Q-GB9YHyHr3HMEeheF-e4MmRg3Lq-YO6Ep9sVsJUjLS9x4DJPDXGHCw8jb1Z2uU/10WattLED.jpg?psid=1

daplatapus
04-03-2013, 04:15 AM
Hey Mike. I'm still wondering if I shouldn't have gone this way too. I chickened out and went with what I kinda knew already. I think if I get a frag tank running in my basement I might try and go this route and pick your brain again. If you get to making another, definitely log your progress, I'd love watch it get built. :)

mike31154
04-03-2013, 06:35 PM
Hey Mike. I'm still wondering if I shouldn't have gone this way too. I chickened out and went with what I kinda knew already. I think if I get a frag tank running in my basement I might try and go this route and pick your brain again. If you get to making another, definitely log your progress, I'd love watch it get built. :)

I would hardly call what you're doing with the 'Jarduino' build chickening out. More like going all out with controller, programming etc. I've come to appreciate the simpler things these days, without so much computing. It's great to have the many features a controller or controlled LED fixture provides, but the results I'm having with a a few timers running the lights is working for me at the moment.

I continue to watch builds like yours with interest & may embark on something similar down the road, with programmable features. Folks like you are paving the way!

mike31154
02-01-2014, 10:40 PM
This coming April will be the 2 year mark since I've put this fixture into service. I'm finally preparing a proper top for the thing. All the LEDs are still going strong but the 27 heatsink fans are becoming a nuisance. They are cheap & I suppose I should have expected the odd failure but it's starting to get old with 5 or 6 failures & many of them are getting a tad noisy. Time for a redesign in that regard.

Larger heatsinks that are supposed to provide adequate cooling of the 10 watt multi chip LEDs without a fan have started showing up on eBay so I ordered a batch of 10. They came in recently & I've redone the center rail of 9 LEDs with them. They come drilled/tapped complete with screws to mount the 10 watt multi-chips. Instead of using angle aluminum I opted for a piece of U-channel I had laying around from my old MH/T5HO Frankenfixture. Drilled a single hole in the back of each heatsink, tapped it & screw mounted with a blob of heatsink compound, making the U-channel an efficient contributor to the cooling process.

https://ojcrhq.dm1.livefilestore.com/y2pH2xiA-EWIcEb4sf0aBl8NDrJrZyNBu9NfGHLSo_JBPvfWup9grXl9wvL UlHwCS07i2TQomrqHXQk_eBNVszlSNsjZ5vk5sdRAiFCMrbUPV M/P1070201e.JPG?psid=1

Running for about a week now & so far so good. Vewy, vewy quiet! The U-channel gets quite warm but not hot enough to burn fingertips. I had to remount the SMD5050 strips used for supplemental lighting because they'd been attached to the aluminum angle of the original rail. No biggie, but they're a bit higher now, attached to the wood braces of the fixture frame. The new rail weighs only slightly more than the original.

For the cover, I've cut two arc-shaped end pieces out of the same material used for the frame & my idea is to span these with strips of wood, effectively hiding the mess of wiring. Spaces between the wood will allow warm air to vent and I plan to add a couple of larger fans to boost circulation. I have 20 more of the large heatsinks on order to replace the outer rails, so I'm thinking additional flow to keep things cooler will be required.

I've laid some thin pine slats left over from another project on to the end arcs, noting that they sag in the middle due to the 4 foot span. Might have to rethink that & go with very thin plywood that I can bend to shape over the end pieces. Will need to add slots or holes to ventilate. Or I could go with some corner molding, which might hold it's shape a bit better, but not sure I'd like the look of that. Whatever I decide, I'd like to keep it as lightweight as possible. If anyone has ideas, I'd be glad to hear them. I'd like to stick to wood as a material. A couple of coats of finish & the thing should look quite pleasing to the eye.

https://ojcrhq.dm2301.livefilestore.com/y2pCoeYijl-546vqO3mWjyA5PtTXERresBqacibiPqf9TC32vqWs1UJc7fwMq-yqgu4xc3nqQOTGd1D25gf9XaeR57IzkMs0Oh1znEN4jBwYuE/P1070204e.JPG?psid=1

https://ojcrhq.dm2304.livefilestore.com/y2p4GEL9NpQXs8DmTkl6coDE9T0XnZsFiPXqM_7mucsSlGbZXJ YfzB7zoFUFZoludEwuzqMkhuyNMS3pn2Q1uukkvk6rQ-DDTcIa8RHmQ3Nxm4/P1070205e.JPG?psid=1

mseepman
02-01-2014, 11:09 PM
Do have suggestions but would love to come see your setup sometime Mike. I also liked those heatsinks so much I bought three myself today. I have 3 10w chips sitting doing nothing so I figure I'll do something with them now.

daplatapus
02-02-2014, 09:29 PM
Hey Mike, can you just cut 2 matching arc shaped pieces of 1/2" ply or something and just stick them in 1/3 of the way from each end, effectively cutting the span of those strips to 16"?

SeaHorse_Fanatic
02-02-2014, 10:55 PM
My main display's DIY LED unit using 10w emitters has a big enough Al heatsink that it uses NO fans and stays barely warm to the touch. Should consider upping the heatsink size/mass to dissipate the heat.

mike31154
02-03-2014, 02:30 AM
Hey Mike, can you just cut 2 matching arc shaped pieces of 1/2" ply or something and just stick them in 1/3 of the way from each end, effectively cutting the span of those strips to 16"?

Thanks for the suggestion. I have considered an additional support near the center of the fixture, but there's just too much stuff in the way, wiring, terminal strips etc.

mike31154
02-03-2014, 02:44 AM
My main display's DIY LED unit using 10w emitters has a big enough Al heatsink that it uses NO fans and stays barely warm to the touch. Should consider upping the heatsink size/mass to dissipate the heat.

I have no idea what an "Al heatsink" is or how many emitters you have attached to it, what your spacing is, so more details as to size, weight etc. would help. I'm trying to keep the weight of the fixture reasonable, so not too keen on adding excessive mass. This is the reason I went with the small heatsinks with individual fans in the outset. The fixture hangs by two anchors in the ceiling (I think one is in a stud, but the other is just in drywall), so I'd rather not take the chance on excessive weight causing my fixture to pull loose & fall. The new heatsinks I've used for the center rail seem to be doing the job without fans, so I'm fairly confident that modifying the remaining two rails with the same hardware with a couple of good quality fans to move some air through the fixture should be more than adequate.

More details on your fixture would be a great help. Do you have an update to your LED build thread?

mike31154
02-03-2014, 02:48 AM
Do have suggestions but would love to come see your setup sometime Mike. I also liked those heatsinks so much I bought three myself today. I have 3 10w chips sitting doing nothing so I figure I'll do something with them now.

Sure thing. My setup is pretty modest, but yeah, I'd be happy to let you have a look see some time. My schedule is pretty flexible, I'll shoot you my phone # by pm. I'm in the old part of town on Mission Hill, a few blocks southeast of the hospital. I've been planning an upgrade for years, room divider probably similar to what you've done, but not much progress due to other things in life keeping me busy & drawing on my finances.

hillegom
02-03-2014, 03:51 AM
Mike instead of a center brace, a half moon, maybe a quarter moon shape in the middle will clear all the wiring, terminal blocks etc.

SeaHorse_Fanatic
02-03-2014, 03:54 AM
Al is Aluminum. My lights use Aluminum bars connected into a heatsink. Dissipates heat well.

Small, light-weight heatsinks will have more trouble dissipating the heat from 10w emitters so you'll probably have to continue using fans.

mike31154
02-03-2014, 05:00 AM
Mike instead of a center brace, a half moon, maybe a quarter moon shape in the middle will clear all the wiring, terminal blocks etc.

Hmm, half moon, that's an idea. Thanks.

mike31154
02-03-2014, 05:06 AM
Al is Aluminum. My lights use Aluminum bars connected into a heatsink. Dissipates heat well.

Small, light-weight heatsinks will have more trouble dissipating the heat from 10w emitters so you'll probably have to continue using fans.

Ok, I thought by Al you may have meant AI as in Aqua Illumination, a heatsink from the company that makes LED fixtures which you used in making your DIY. So how thick or heavy are these bars? Some photos, dimensions etc. would certainly help me visualize what you're talking about. The new heatsinks I have are advertised to work without the need for fans as well and they've been doing the job on the center row of lights for a couple of weeks now. So if I were to consider what you're proposing/using, I'd need more info. Where did you get them?

mike31154
02-08-2014, 04:05 AM
Here's what I've come up with for a cover. Mostly built, but need to fine tune, stain, cut vent holes, trim the edges & figure out the hanging scenario. The existing brackets for hanging don't protrude far enough through the new top. I suppose I could hang it from the top itself, but then I'd need to bolt the top to the frame & I'd rather have the top easily removable, so just resting on the frame. I'll figure something out.

Ended up getting a sheet of 1/8 mahogany plywood & fastening that to the end pieces. Amazing how stiff 1/8 ply can be when you're trying to bend it. I had to make two more semi arcs to support the plywood & make it bend properly in the center.

https://ojcrhq.dm2304.livefilestore.com/y2pJmiJLfZW7dzr66mGePsz7iQLMRUtJSvq2zl4FXoF-XjugwlH0xWyMo4G0S1_dUvVo16C2Ua3lFlxLwmWgDDyihARc4I GDZD6kcqIFAGBZwc/P1070206e.JPG?psid=1

https://ojcrhq.dm2302.livefilestore.com/y2pcln7QMe4bpfVAn6FQrq0Rr7qP-I4Vo_1POwwY2fSAGEudZo4YNCB5qMVS0mlTyIlIoa2HXN6XoXY 0YsT9q7aJB8xDGfi9rCW_n5KoFQGUro/P1070211e.JPG?psid=1

https://ojcrhq.dm2303.livefilestore.com/y2p9ciom07V0QJ8qQn8rzjRmBcMSKKXvlPW4SQYUfegRDmgzpe IaYAiZVN-1DCUc40sg7Mv8yzzOE4g6UMtQ_Iu0apNQ9Xmq2bS8SS7Can1pU 0/P1070208e.JPG?psid=1

https://ojcrhq.dm2301.livefilestore.com/y2pqavUoeOg9IjI30AoRAQ98fomFfSk0JmEcsFZNocPHcOWYiY YteXGvT0KslPVOsL2JPQ1T0RTa4JErUTmBLPsrSqmsQFHbHqbR gSOB-Syfw0/P1070214e.JPG?psid=1

mseepman
02-08-2014, 04:20 AM
Nice job Mike. I like that look a lot! Do you have to drill for fans still on top?

hillegom
02-08-2014, 05:56 PM
looking good

daplatapus
02-08-2014, 06:04 PM
Nice job Mike. I actually kind of like the 3 ribs on top. :)
FYI, when you have to wrap a curve like that, see if your supplier carries wiggle wood. It's a 1/4" plywood, but all the layers are oriented the same direction so it can roll up to something like a 4" diameter circle. Extremely useful, and you don't end up with those little curling edges that are always trying to straighten them selves like regular ply does.

mike31154
03-17-2014, 12:06 AM
Some progress on the cover and replacing outer rails of lights with larger heatsinks, sans fans. Heatsinks are mounted on larger 1 inch aluminum u-tube than when I did the center one, so more material to draw away heat. The center rail has been running fine without fans & the 3/4 inch u-tube for some time now, no issues with the LEDs, so not sure whether I'll redo that one with the 1 inch material. Still need to yank the old rails & mount the LEDs on the new ones, but lights are on at the moment. Might get it done tonight.

Came up with some artistry to vent the cover. A bit of work with all the drilling, but I think it should look & be pretty cool once I have it stained & mounted.

https://ojcrhq.dm2303.livefilestore.com/y2pfrP_SHvdiA6AkwW-H4jvL6YKn_28wbdCHAZAltmMy2cutIXa6Iynwbbagsv0_d_Xge leXEJKk30OVI0_07dQmwzEChP1I6k2UXQb8p13gPo/P1070408e.JPG?psid=1

https://ojcrhq.dm1.livefilestore.com/y2p-8n5VxvJmbgjqPLo2jR3vyUhhPZPxcF_6DrTf2YVkZsmQSxRi-kBgwk7UKC3yjaip193UvrWrg5v23G4_PAapJiK-Vhk5ebj8VZOVl1WT-o/P1070404e.JPG?psid=1

hillegom
03-17-2014, 03:27 AM
wow nice
You are not only into electronics, but an artist as well
Well done

daplatapus
03-17-2014, 02:16 PM
That looks sweet Mike, Nice work!

mseepman
03-17-2014, 03:10 PM
Nicely Done!

mike31154
03-17-2014, 05:13 PM
Thank you for the encouragement everyone! It's most welcome. I was up until past midnight yesterday replacing those two stupid outer rails of LEDs. Another few hours this morning hooking the wires back up.

The cover does have some flaws, a few cracks & tears from drilling the larger holes & stresses from bending. Don't show up in the photos! Nice thing about wood is that I should be able to patch it up & once the stain is on, will be harder to see the booboos. Will take a few more days until I finish it up. It certainly will be nice to have the mess of wiring covered up. I've read more than the odd post where folks tend to shy away from DIY fixtures due to the industrial look of the end product. Next build will probably involve a canopy, so it won't matter!

Electrical & instrumentation was my trade in the Air Force. I've taken on a few woodworking projects over the years since I enjoy that as a hobby. I work on my old 'yota & motorbikes too. I tend to take forever to finish stuff though.

mike31154
03-30-2014, 10:31 PM
Time for another update, this time due to a boo boo. Really should have seen this one coming, but kind of let it slide.

Been running the center rail with 4 whites & 5 blues on two dimmers. This means at full power of 1 amp per LED, the white dimmer would need to handle 4 amps & the blue dimmer 5 amps. Well within their rating & since I've got the voltage around 8 to 8.5 (a volt or two below the recommended voltage of 9 to 10), there's an added safety buffer with respect to current. So why would I run the both outer rails on only 2 dimmers? There are 5 Royal Blue & 4 10000K White LEDs on each outer rail. This means the RB dimmer handles a total of 8 LEDs & the 10000K dimmer deals with 10. If I were to run the RBs & 10000K LEDs at full power (0.9 amp for RB & 1.0 amp for 10000K), the RB dimmer would be at maximum rated current & the White would actually be over the limit by 2 amps. Clearly I know better, but I guess since I had the voltage down at 5 volts for the first year of running the LEDs, I kind of got complacent.

I recently replaced the 2 power supplies with slightly larger ones, my rationale being that with the extra power, the supplies should run cooler & safer. Not sure if this had anything to do with cooking the RB dimmer, but it wasn't long after this change that I noticed the RBs were very dim. I played around with the dimmer control & the LEDs hardly changed, just flickered. Photo tells the story, this is what a cooked dimmer looks like. The parts at the top of the photo are from a second dimmer that I patched in after finding the first one cooked. It started smoking a few minutes after I hooked it up. Might be able to save that one with a new MOSFET. What puzzles me is why the RB dimmer went & not the 10000K. After all it's running 2 more LEDs & it continues to soldier on with no sign of overheating. I have 5 dimmers on order & will be adding two to split the load & correct my faux pas. In the meantime, the tank's been looking a little whiter without the Royal Blues doing their thing for the last week or so. Livestock seems ok with it, but I'm anxious to get the RBs back on line.

https://ojcrhq.dm2301.livefilestore.com/y2pGdmUvuxnlt1A7ymA3B6n9h5u-KoTebAwmmjCO_vekeu2GTPiDJ_v5dKDCQx9JXdLFsmQmXo1lTu NEGBZfasNJ7OGCSMvhq8su-HAwI-8ITY/P1070436e.JPG?psid=1

mike31154
04-08-2014, 03:55 PM
Nice job Mike. I actually kind of like the 3 ribs on top. :)
FYI, when you have to wrap a curve like that, see if your supplier carries wiggle wood. It's a 1/4" plywood, but all the layers are oriented the same direction so it can roll up to something like a 4" diameter circle. Extremely useful, and you don't end up with those little curling edges that are always trying to straighten them selves like regular ply does.

Thanks for the heads up on the "wiggle wood". I'd never heard of that. Too late in the game for me now to rebuild the top, but certainly will keep my eye out for that stuff for future projects. I had also considered veneer, but that's pretty thin & actually quite costly compared to a piece of 1/8 " plywood. You can probably see the 'waves' along the bottom edge of the cover in the photos where the standard plywood didn't co-operate. I'll have to apply something along there to straighten it out, perhaps some gold coloured aluminum trim. The thing is starting to get heavy now though, with the larger heatsinks & cover.

mike31154
04-26-2014, 03:36 PM
Took longer than I had hoped to get the additional dimmers I needed after cooking the one that was overloaded with too many 10 watt LEDs. They finally arrived yesterday & I've wired them in so each of the 3 LED rails now has 2 dimmers controlling the mix of white & bue. Previously I had 2 dimmers on the center rail, but only a single dimmer for each outer. Should have fixed that long ago, but let it slide until there was smoke. Bad idea.

At the moment the center rail has fired up & I'm still waiting for the outers to kick in which won't be for a few more hours. Once they're on, I'll adjust & take voltage/current readings. Everything should now be well within the 8 amp limit for each dimmer, even when I crank the voltage to near max. Vf for the LEDs.

This is how it was:

https://ojcrhq.bl3301.livefilestore.com/y2pyKy4NR_96XviuI7EjkkDyh5THyUtmTOp575qW7fF0nWZ_sy 5SqpLSUuRC8whzBbae6C5ZOWZqqSXpIj0iNgSxHeKnmpmn1TP-a2DVRkmYLY/P1050595e.JPG?psid=1

Here's the latest config. with larger power supplies & 2 more dimmers:

https://ojcrhq.dm2301.livefilestore.com/y2pbxaJOkWuFFP9FJgole073OKk9jOG0gkPcUn8RjdidbrkATP YO3VDHzsYRz_KCCeKEb_gXPEOdQAVUlUKcZwJL66rpvDxF1LMa GQHiGzFH1U/P1070534e.JPG?psid=1

I've dispensed with the voltmeters since I wasn't really using them for daily monitoring. Since I don't have a controller & simply use timers to run the lighting schedule, I'll dial in a voltage, check that & current with my multimeter & see how things go with the livestock for a while. It appears nothing suffered too much during the past month with none of the Royal Blues running, so I'll just play it safe for a while & keep things running at a Vf that's comfortably below the max Vf for the LEDs.

_Adrian_
11-24-2014, 12:33 AM
Nice Job...

I would change a few things though...
1.- Dimmers are a catch 22 - Loss of voltage as well as current limiting. You need to find a better solution as this is already getting complex and will impact the life of LED's and could be a potential fire hazard.

2.- Running LED's in series still means the same amperage draw just need more voltage. Ex.: 4 5v drawing 500mA each in series will require 20V @ 500mA but in parallel it would be 5v @ 2A. High draw situations the heat is generated.
The LED's im planning to use are rated for 9-12V at 900mA but will run 4 per string ( for a combined maximum voltage of 48V. This means one 48V 10A power supply can drive about 40x 10W LED arrays at 95% load.

3.- Move to a larger heat sink, loose the fans and gain back your hearing LOL

4.- Start looking at an light controller, whetever its off the shelf or Arduino based. This would allow you to recreate solar and lunar cycles and being able to fade in and out and recreate more other weather related events ( Ex: storms ). There's Tons of PWM controlled LED drivers that are fair priced, and readily available.

All this ends up reducing heat output, you'll end up extending the life of the LED, makes the system more stable and easier to use/maintain most of all

mike31154
11-24-2014, 01:36 AM
Thanks for the input. Not sure how much of the thread you've read, some of the posts are quite long. The fixture's been running fine since April 2012 except for the one mishap which I kind of had coming by overloading one of the dimmers. I have added larger heat sinks & ditched the original smaller ones with fans. I don't want a light controller beyond the dimming controls that I'm using already. Don't see how adding a controller or rewiring to series will make my life simpler. It would mean buying new power supplies/drivers & rewiring the works! If I do another build, I will probably use a few of the larger watt LEDs with optics. Don't foresee any major modifications in the current fixture, it's working fine for me as is. Maybe good info for some one else who's embarking on a new build!

_Adrian_
11-24-2014, 01:46 AM
No worries.
I will be soon posting a build log for my setup.
This will have a whole bunch of custom PCB's and multichannel controller / drivers...

DSlater
11-24-2014, 03:57 AM
Mike

Do you get any noise from those power supplies?

Mine made a bit of noise ramping up and down at first, now after a year they are much worse. Feel like modifying them with my hammer. Just curious if yours were the same at half or less power.

mike31154
11-24-2014, 05:23 AM
One of my power supplies has a built in fan, so that is audible, but normal. Other than that, they don't produce any noise. Solid state, so there really should be no noise, other than a transformer hum, but the transformers in these are fairly small, so shouldn't be audible.

mike31154
11-24-2014, 05:28 AM
No worries.
I will be soon posting a build log for my setup.
This will have a whole bunch of custom PCB's and multichannel controller / drivers...

Cool, looking forward to a new build thread. Hasn't been much on the radar here of late. With the price of commercial fixtures continuing to drop, the DIY LED spirit is waning!

mike31154
04-02-2015, 02:20 AM
In a couple of days this DIY fixture will have 3 years under its belt! Despite it being a parallel set up & all the 10 watt LEDs purchased off shore, there have been no failures to date. I've made several of modifications since April 2012, but essentially it's been doing its thing trouble free (after I added several additional dimmers to handle the load). I think it's safe to say this rig now owes me nothing. No bulb changes for 3 years, I haven't done the math, but if I was still running my MH/T5HO combo, there definitely would have been a few $$$s spent renewing them.

I will likely remove the supplementary 5050 RGB lighting strips & replace them with more powerful warm spectrum 5630 strips. It's cool to play around with the RGB colours, but they tend to drift in spectrum & the 'white' light created when all 3 colours are on, is not really all that white. One strip appears greenish, the other more blue. They certainly haven't been as robust as the 10 watt multi chips & seem to keep changing spectrum on me. I have a couple of UV 10 watt LEDs that I considered adding, but the livestock I have at the moment seems fine with the lighting as is, so probably best to not mess with it & keep it simple.

daplatapus
04-02-2015, 01:39 PM
Hey Mike,
Nice to hear yours is still up and running. I still haven't got my main build lit yet, lol. When I got my Evergrow light over my cube, I took down my DIY 18" fixture I built. It was my trial run for the 3 - 18" I'm putting up over my 210. I had a half dozen UV LED's (True Violets actually) but the lenses on them look like they're burnt. They aren't, but they've discoloured so bad, they look brown. Not sure how much light they even put out now never mind the spectrum.
Have you noticed anything on yours? Do yours have lenses on them?

mike31154
04-03-2015, 12:49 AM
No optics on any of my 10 watt multi chips. The 5050 RGB strips are the water proof flavour, with a flexible silicone type coating. Actually a good reminder for me to inspect the 10 watters & see if they need a wipe to get any salt accumulation off. The fixture is up high enough so that it's not a major issue, but a periodic cleaning is never a bad idea. The UV or Violet (don't recall the wavelength ATM) 10 watt chips have never been installed, I've only run them for a few minutes to test them. Only have a couple, so probably wouldn't have much effect over my tank.

mike31154
04-14-2016, 11:54 PM
4 years now, going strong. No bulbs added to the landfill.

mike31154
07-21-2017, 02:40 PM
5 years + now on this puppy! I think I can safely say I've recouped my investment compared to replacing T5HO tubes or MH bulbs over that period. Might be time to look at changing out the LEDs, they may have lost some of their effectiveness over the years, but I have no way to tell really. Fish don't care & my montiporas are growing gangbusters.

mike31154
04-02-2018, 10:15 PM
Annual update of this dinosaur thread. 6 years running this fixture now and it may be time for a refit or upgrade. One of the LEDs finally failed a few months back & I replaced it since I have spares on hand. Another one went recently & several more are on the way out, losing a string of 3 on the chip. Seems the Royal Blue, Blue ones are failing before the Whites. No more spares on hand, so I'm faced with the decision to order more or do a major upgrade with newer multi colour multi chips available these days.

Wondering if it's even worthwhile, there has been so much progress in LED development & costs have come down substantially. Is anyone doing DIY LED fixtures anymore?? How are folks' commercial fixtures, Radions etc. holding up? Tempted to go to fewer higher wattage multi colour chips, but ordering more of the 10 watters & replacing them would be a lot easier than a redesign/build.

Frogger
04-03-2018, 03:40 AM
I had a 110 watt diy led fixture ran for 6 to 7 years no issues. Still running but not currently using because the colour array not great, royal blues and white only (50/50). Would be good for fish only

The first Maxspect I bought ran for about 2 years before the fans went and several of the led's burnt out. (lemon)

They gave me a credit and bought a new one been running for about 3.5 years no issues.

Have an ATI hybrid, runs great after 2 years.

mike31154
04-03-2018, 03:55 AM
I had a 110 watt diy led fixture ran for 6 to 7 years no issues. Still running but not currently using because the colour array not great, royal blues and white only (50/50). Would be good for fish only

The first Maxspect I bought ran for about 2 years before the fans went and several of the led's burnt out. (lemon)

They gave me a credit and bought a new one been running for about 3.5 years no issues.

Have an ATI hybrid, runs great after 2 years.

Thx for the input/info.