so my initial plan was to go full out diy, with dimmers and all, but the cost is still quite high despite being much cheaper than most configs. The issue is the heatsink cost to me, its like 1/3 the cost. I was going to bite the bullet and pay up, then i stumbled upon a thread on a reefer site. Its called GU10 LEDs. Most people buy them from ebay and the result has been great growth of even clams for dirt cheap. Many reefers are on their third or second build of them already.
My build:
The plan is this, a fixture for my 20 G, but built to stand length mounted to the wall. This will allow me to simply add more bulbs if i need more light or change the tank size (which i did!). the sockets will be mounted in two rows, but just slightly alternated apart, giving me more bulbs in a tigher space and make it easier to blend colours the way i want. I can fill all sockets above the tank, or leave a single space here and there without worrying about spot lighting.
3x2W bulbs of Two configs
2 blue, 1 cool white
1 blue, 1 cool white, 1 pure white
I was tempted to get a bulb config with red, but in reality i need maybe 3 or 4 at most with red and they risk overpowering, i still plan on making this bulb down the road.
Here we go, a photo journal of the guts of my fixture.
a bin containing half the bulbs i got, the only way to tell them apart is the colour of the led emitter, whites are yellow, blues are clear. looking directly at the pure whites and cool whites, i notice the pure white is actually lighter yellow emitter, so there is a difference i guess.
The layout, the guide i followed said one tightly fit row is good enough for a 12"depth tank, but i wanted a bit better colour blending, but not too intense, so i grabbed a bulb and traced out a row of 3 bulbs right together, my goal was 2 rows, but as tight as possible with 4 bulbs in that pace of 3, going 5 bulbs would have spread the rows further apart. heres the plank with the layout
the sockets have the two rivet holes which are used to mount the socket, and the othe way has a groove in the ceramic, so its really easy to center the sockets. i figured out the distance between the mounting holes and measured out all the others. for the holes to push the wire through, i resorted to tracing where the wires come out since i couldn't find my circle stencil from high school. by the way #5 screws work great. #6 are too big.
heres all the plank drilled,
a few sockets mounted to test out spacing before i finish all of it off, theres a bit of play so you are slightly off, it will shift the other bulbs to make room, the joys of a spring lock socket.
how the wires look out the other side
All sockets filled to see how it looks, only using enough sockets for my 20G foot print though for now. My wife even jumped in to help screw them all in, didn't use the drill for two reasons. one, lost the chuck key, and two, ceramic breaks. Some of it chipped at the top a little bit from rushing driving the screws in without paying attention, the driver did the chipping, not the screws. have to look for it to notice though.
all the wires out the other side and my wires for splicing, #18 wire should suffice. Some people yell about how its "illegal" but they are referencing a building code for permanent wiring (in wall), not the requirements for manufacturing. Generally speaking you will see cords rated for 7 amps (840 watts) 'light duty' being #18 AWG wire, these bulbs are far below that threshhold total, when LEDs, or if incandescent, bang on the limit for 14 bulbs on a string. But if someone is picky, then someone can write in sharpee, DO NOT EXCEED 60 Watt BULBS and feel happy that they are safe. Just remember that all DIY electrical fixtures are 'illegal' since they lack CSA approval. Im doing 2 strings, one of 13 bulbs, the other 14.
Everything spliced
the finished product
