Luxeon Vs Cree and other DIY Q

[banditpowdercoat]

OK, Just got turned onto Stevesleds.com And seeing some things. I am a heavy DIY person. I had a plan on my LED's but now questioning. I have 3 70W Bridgelux 5000K chips, and supplimenting with RapidLED's Cree RB. The 1500ma max ones. XT-E I belive? or is ot XP-E? My plan was 14 RB with each Bridgelux. Heatsinks are one dilema. Wondering if I might be better to just go with all Luxeon? I only have 12 of the high current RB right now, and 12 700Ma. I know I need more RB!!! Color too brown/red. Need 4 more Meanwell ELN 48 60D Drivers to complete though. Atleast on my present plan of 3 setups on a 50" tank.

Anyone with exp on Steves sqyare tube heatsinks and Luxeon? I am also controlling through a Apex. so 0-10v control

[banditpowdercoat]

PS I like about a 14K Phoenix MH Look!

[daplatapus]

I don't have any experience with Steve's LED's. Heatsinks seem to be a bit of personal choice.
If it's up in a hood, you could probably get away with almost any piece of stock aluminum. No real need IMO for a factory heatsink. There's lots of examples of guys using square tubing and stuff.
I also found that trying to get a perfect mix of X amount of RB LED's to X amount of NW LED's to acquire a 14K MH look is kind of like finding a needle in a haystack. I tend to subscribe to overbuilding the fixture but have the different colours on dimmers and dial in the colour you want.
And in all the reading I've done about LED fixtures (and believe me, I've read tons!) you have to go as full a spectrum as you can afford. LED's emit a VERY narrow spectrum of light compared to MH. And I don't think we fully understand the need for which parts of the spectrum are needed for optimal growth and appearance. So the closer we can fill that spectrum in, the better odds we have of supplying what our tanks inhabitants need.
On my fixtures I run RB, NW,CW, OCW (red, green, blue), 405nm TV, and 430nm TV and I still don't think I've got the spectrum in full. Thus I chose a heatsink that doesn't permanently mount the LED's so I can fill in and replace LED's as the technology and our understanding progresses. So far, it's grown everything I've put under it except some purple poccilipora. No idea why, it just won't grow.
Anyway, sorry if that wandered off your questions there, it's fairly early and still drinking my 1st cup of coffee :)

[sphelps]

I used mostly steveleds for my build back in the day. I went with the tube style heat sink as well, mainly for hopes of a lower profile and quieter fans. It all preformed ok but the fans pretty much always had to be on to keep temperatures within allowable and they weren't that quiet. If I would build again I'd use either standard heat sink or u-channel. I would definitely say the tube style is less effective.

The Luxeon RBs use to be considered somewhat better than the crees but I'm not sure that's still the case, haven't kept up with the latest trends. The advantage was a lower spectrum peak so potentially better for color I guess.

I pretty much bought everything that guy sells and I'm not using any of it, lots of stuff never even used. If there's something you need or want to try out shoot me a PM. I have the fans for tube heat sinks, all the LEDs in most colors, drivers, 0-10V adapters and so on.

[banditpowdercoat]

I'd be interested in LED's, Sphelps. I'm going Meanwell drivers, I use them at work and they do seem good, even though Steve says there unreliable.
Shoot me a PM on what you got. Possibly try the fans too.

[daplatapus]

If you think you can use them, I'll probably have 2 HLG-185-42B Meanwell drivers that I'm not going to use that are BNIB.

[banditpowdercoat]

WOW, Thems large drivers!!!! PWM tho :cry: I think I want to stay individual sets of 3. Not sure why? Idea of sunrise at one end and sunset at other, would be cool. But only a 5' tank so really..... What you want for them?

[daplatapus]

It seems to me I paid $70 plus shipping per driver. I'd sell them for the same.

[byee]

I'd be interested in LED's, Sphelps. I'm going Meanwell drivers, I use them at work and they do seem good, even though Steve says there unreliable.
Shoot me a PM on what you got. Possibly try the fans too.

I've been planning my LED build for the last few months. Now that I've sold my aquarium, once I get my 60 gal cube I'll start building.

If I sell my own drivers, of course it's better than commercially sold products! Just my opinion!

My driver selection would be the Meanwells. They're IP67 as well........,basically means its waterproof!

I believe Steves drivers require a 24vdc external open frame power supply. Not very safe near moisture especially salt water!

Much safer with the self contained Meanwells.

[byee]

OK, Just got turned onto Stevesleds.com And seeing some things. I am a heavy DIY person. I had a plan on my LED's but now questioning. I have 3 70W Bridgelux 5000K chips, and supplimenting with RapidLED's Cree RB. The 1500ma max ones. XT-E I belive? or is ot XP-E? My plan was 14 RB with each Bridgelux. Heatsinks are one dilema. Wondering if I might be better to just go with all Luxeon? I only have 12 of the high current RB right now, and 12 700Ma. I know I need more RB!!! Color too brown/red. Need 4 more Meanwell ELN 48 60D Drivers to complete though. Atleast on my present plan of 3 setups on a 50" tank.

Anyone with exp on Steves sqyare tube heatsinks and Luxeon? I am also controlling through a Apex. so 0-10v control

Heat radiates up....convection helps with cooling.

My preference would be to use C channel with low speed computer fans to help move the air for cooling. Need to think about surface area. The larger the surface area, the better the cooling.

Tubular channel requires "pressure" fans for cooling. Natural convention for cooling plays a smaller role here.

I hope this info helps.

[RuGlu6]

He (Steve) is sure that his heat sinks are good.... may be if canopy is too tight there is not much air flow, thus it will be harder to keep low temp.
Anyway here is what he says.


Tubular Heat sinks are SUPERIOR!

http://stevesleds.com/Tubular_Heatsinks.html

This is one of the primary challenges with providing a proper heat sink for your LEDs -> Keeping them cool all while being lightweight and affordable. Generally, there are two mainly used heat sink styles, the plate-style heat sinks and the tube-style heat sinks.

Everyone has seen those old-fashioned "plate" heat sinks with fins sticking out on the back. I think that people currently use those because that is what they have always used and it seems to work ok. That is what their dad used, and their dad's dad used....you get the idea. Yes they do work just "ok" but that is it. Plate heat sinks are heavy and expensive and don't work as well compared to tubular heat sinks. You have high performance LEDs, why not get a high performance heat sink that costs less!

There are 4 properties that heat sinks need to be effective at dissipating (getting rid of) heat.

1) Thermal conductivity
2) Surface area
3) Air movement over that surface area
4) Affordability
.

His tank with LED DIY fixture
http://stevesleds.com/Photos.html
.
Cool White MSDS
http://stevesleds.com/uploads/Luxeon_ES_Cool_White_-_from_Steve_s_LEDS.pdf
Royal Blues MSDS
http://stevesleds.com/uploads/Luxeon_ES_Royal_Blue_-_Steves_LEDs.pdf
.

[mike31154]

Mike's LEDs, 27 no name 10 watt multichips mounted on individual heatsinks with fan attached to thin aluminum angle. Mixture of 6500K white, 10000K white, blue & royal blue.

Lightweight & been going strong for over 1 year. I've had to replace a few of the fans, they're quite small and cheaply made, but the price was right & I have plenty of spares. I understand even high end lights like Radions have had some fan issues, so.... I can live with my cheapies. But I'm considering a top for my fixture which will include a couple of larger, heavy duty fans. Might be able to ditch the little ones then, since that's 27 fans for 27 LEDs.


https://ojcrhq.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pJT4TxRu8VtVwb0hipxJTl8HE8eTO13MUAzRzaIedrsW4Yax __iqLPfEmglQ9Ec_QSJhL5cnCZ0o/P1050348e.JPG?psid=1

A few months ago I added a couple of 5050 SMD RGB strips along the center rail of 10 watt chips. Works great for dawn/dusk.

https://ojcrhq.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pgBpxjlAYog1sicZ9yN2LB5aNljlCcpR8r-aPoUx4wqJ-OnIRD_D07LyxxovkJAV1bAD4X5LdZ0I/P1060161e.JPG?psid=1

[sphelps]

A plate heat sink with fins is not old fashioned and is superior to a tube. It has way more surface area and can accept more convection. Those are really the only two variables here.

[byee]

A plate heat sink with fins is not old fashioned and is superior to a tube. It has way more surface area and can accept more convection. Those are really the only two variables here.

Ditto!

Heat radiates up......naturally without mechanical requirements.

How does heat dissipate using a square tube? Must require mechanical intervention. What happens if the pressure fan fails??

What happens

[mike31154]

Each scenario has its pros & cons. Set ups with fans need the fans to work, or else. Set ups with large heatsinks & no fans are heavy & tend to be overbuilt to ensure there is sufficient mass for cooling without fans. You can also hybridize with a moderately sized heatsink and a couple of larger fans to move air over the heatsink. Not many people actually do the math as to how much heat each LED produces & what is required to sufficiently cool them based on the actual mass of the heatsink without fan. Some folks go as far as installing temperature sensors to control fans. That gets a little more involved & complex for the average DIYer. As far as the tube set up, a fan blows into one end of the tube & as the air moves along, each LED adds heat & the one(s) at the ends of the tube(s) will tend to benefit less from the air flow since that air is already heated up from the LEDs upstream. Works fine for a shorter run of tubing, but a long run could spell disaster for the LEDs at the end of the tube. All depends on your particular needs & preferences.

[banditpowdercoat]

Temp sensors and a FET on each of my heatsinks operating the fan's. But then ya, I'm not your ave DIYer LOL