48" LED Array - Up and Running...Mostly

[Ron99]

Steve, just a plain jane handheld soldering iron. If I can remember where I put it when we moved in December

Hillbillyreefer and bvlester, the supplies came from different places. LEDs, drivers and optics came via the nano-reef.com group buy (better pricing that way). The housing was a freebie that was going into the trash elsewhere. Heatsinks were salvage/surplus from eBay (they aren't the prettiest but they were a third the price of buying a new heatsink and they'll do the job). Angle aluminum from a metal supply shop (Metal Mart; half the price for the same stuff at home depot etc. and they cut it to length for me). Stainless hardware came from Airarms (fastener supplier). The stainless bolts were like one third the price of the same thing at home depot

I really recommend buying supplies anywhere but one of the big box stores if you can. The stainless bolts were a great example. They were something like 40 cents each from an actual fastener supplier and $2.50 for a pack of 4 at Home Depot. Same for the aluminum angle. IIRC an 8 foot length at HD was $40 plus tax. Paid $20 at Metal Mart.

So all in so far I think I am in for around $1000 in parts, most of that being spent on the LEDs, optics and drivers. A couple of fans will cme from computer suppliers; probably NCIX or similar and the Arduino parts will probably be ordered from robotshop.ca.

[BlueAbyss]

Hmm...

LEDs, drivers, optics:

www.ledsupply.com - US
www.cutter.com.au - Australia, more choice

Heat sinks:

www.heatsinkusa.com - US

Arduino, mechanical bits, etc:

www.robotshop.ca - Canada

I'll be building an LED rig this summer, using Cree MC-E whites and XR-E blues. I have yet to decide which driver will be the best for my needs though, so I'm still in the research phase.

I'm actually considering building a plant growth rig with XP-G whites, partially to see how these new LEDs are and partially because I don't have enough window space for all my seedlings... maybe I'll build that first and put it on my 10 gallon when the seedlings move outside.

Either way, hope it goes well for you... can't wait to see how it works when you're done.

[Ron99]

Originally Posted by BlueAbyss

Hmm...

LEDs, drivers, optics:

www.ledsupply.com - US
www.cutter.com.au - Australia, more choice

Heat sinks:

www.heatsinkusa.com - US

Arduino, mechanical bits, etc:

www.robotshop.ca - Canada

I'll be building an LED rig this summer, using Cree MC-E whites and XR-E blues. I have yet to decide which driver will be the best for my needs though, so I'm still in the research phase.

I'm actually considering building a plant growth rig with XP-G whites, partially to see how these new LEDs are and partially because I don't have enough window space for all my seedlings... maybe I'll build that first and put it on my 10 gallon when the seedlings move outside.

Either way, hope it goes well for you... can't wait to see how it works when you're done.

I would add nanotuners.com for LEDs and drivers as they have slightly better prices than ledsupply and also carry the Meanwell drivers which are a good choice. The Meanwells are nice because they come in dimming versions, run off AC power so there is no need for a separate power supply and can drive a good number of emitters.

Heatsink USA is not bad if you want a brand new heatsink. But the heatsinks I bought are actually wider at 12" than heatsink USA's widest at just over 10" and for a similar length of the 10" wide from heatsink USA it would have cost well over $200 with shipping. I have 45" x 12" of surplus heatsink at a total cost with shipping of $75. So keep your eyes on eBay as there are lots of used heatsinks available. If you are patient you can find what you need at a good price.

I'm not sure the MC-Es offer a huge advantage over the XR-Es. Yes, they have more lumens but they also generate more heat since they are essentially 4 emitters on one die. Also, are there any good choices in optics for MC-Es? I feel that the XR-Es with good optics provide more than enough PAR and if you need more for say a deeper tank than the XP-G may be a better option at this point.

[Ron99]

Some progress. Here are the two aluminum angles mounted in the fixture:



And then I lay the three heatsinks on top to figure out spacing and where to drill my mounting holes:



Now because of the shape of the housing the aluminum angle had to be mounted pretty much flush with the bottom of the housing but I need clearance for the LEDs and optics so the heatsinks have to be raised a bit. So I cut some nylon spacers to place between the heatsinks and the angle.



And here it is all assembled:



So now that the mechanical engineering part is more or less sorted its on to the electrical engineering

[StirCrazy]

what are the milled squars for? is that the bottom or the top?

Steve

[Ron99]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

what are the milled squars for? is that the bottom or the top?

Steve

The heatsinks came like that. Probably held some components or something. They are only 1/16 of an inch deep so a few emitters will sit 1/16 inch higher than the rest. I figured 1/16 inch won't make an appreciable difference in PAR and coverage etc. and given the cost savings of the heatsinks vs. something pristine I could live with it. It won't be visible inside the housing anyhow.

[Ron99]

Heatsinks cleaned and polished a bit and 80 emitters mounted:



next up, wiring...

[BlueAbyss]

Originally Posted by Ron99

I would add nanotuners.com for LEDs and drivers as they have slightly better prices than ledsupply and also carry the Meanwell drivers which are a good choice. The Meanwells are nice because they come in dimming versions, run off AC power so there is no need for a separate power supply and can drive a good number of emitters.

Aha, forgot about nanotuners... they also carry some other cool stuff. LEDsupply carries Meanwell drivers also, I'm sort of leaning towards non-dimming since I no longer have the patience to experiment with PWM controls. That may change in the near future as I need a temperature controller and Arduino may be the ticket.

Originally Posted by Ron99

Heatsink USA is not bad if you want a brand new heatsink. But the heatsinks I bought are actually wider at 12" than heatsink USA's widest at just over 10" and for a similar length of the 10" wide from heatsink USA it would have cost well over $200 with shipping. I have 45" x 12" of surplus heatsink at a total cost with shipping of $75. So keep your eyes on eBay as there are lots of used heatsinks available. If you are patient you can find what you need at a good price.

I'm not sure the MC-Es offer a huge advantage over the XR-Es. Yes, they have more lumens but they also generate more heat since they are essentially 4 emitters on one die. Also, are there any good choices in optics for MC-Es? I feel that the XR-Es with good optics provide more than enough PAR and if you need more for say a deeper tank than the XP-G may be a better option at this point.

I really just meant to list some websites that I had found for such things. Ebay can definitely get you a better deal on just about anything (though I don't trust cheaply built Asian anything). I like the idea that people could salvage good aluminum heatsinks from computers and put them to good reuse as lighting equipment also (though this only works in nano-sized situations).

The MC-E's only advantage is that they are basically 4 XR-Es on a single die that can't be run as hard as the XR-E because of their higher 'thermal density'. There are just as many optic options for the MC-E as the XR-E. I am choosing them because they offer exactly that, more power with less space. If you're using more than 12 LEDs though, I doubt there is any reason to even glance at the MC-E. XP-Gs seem to be the most efficient, but any of the high powered LEDs will do the trick with the right optics (and optics are made for all of the popular LEDs), no matter the depth of the tank. I'm pretty sure that with 8 degree optics you could get good coverage on the bottom of a very deep tank.

My setup personally will consist of about 10 LEDs, so MC-Es = more light, less space when working with PCB stars.

EDIT: I meant to post this earlier this week but forgot... check out the 'Relative Spectral Curve's for the MC-E RGBW chips. http://ledsupply.com/docs/cree-mce1.pdf Shouldn't the curve for the 6.5K be heavier in blue than in red than 4K, rather than the other way around?

[StirCrazy]

I don't think the MCE are a good choice at this point. there white will realy over power blue and you won't be able to get as good of color variation as you can with the other ones right now.. well at least till they make a blue chip not a color chip. the color curves are right, remember a K temp can be made a thousand different ways so yes you could have a overall higher K temp with less blue as well as less red and green.

Steve

[BlueAbyss]

I only mentioned the RGBW in passing, I have no intentions of using them. I'll be using a 6.5K version. If they could fit 4 XR-Es into a 2" square, they would be a better option for my needs at the moment than the MC-E. I'm also considering using a 'light engine' and modifying it to my needs, rather than using the MC-E, but part of the reason I want to use the MC-E (with optics) is because it's something I haven't seen it done yet and I need this light source to be as compact as possible.