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

[donlite]

Hi, I own a company Sensa-Light Ltd. We do custom lighting. The LED set up you have looks good, but it looks like you have good heat dissipation from the heat sinks. If you can hook up a "K" probe ( most cheap ohm meters will have or use one) and test the heat you may be able to forget the noisy fans.

I am using 1 watt lumileds in blue and white combination to get about 14,000k
I think I have about 30 LEDS on a 55 gallon tank. The home made unit does not need any fans. Good luck, if I can help let me know, Don

[superduperwesman]

NICE! Want to build me a 6' one?? ahah

[rstar]

Tagging along! Keep up the good work, lookin good!

[Edmonton newbie]

looks great cant wait to see how that works for you, thinking i need something like that for my next tank

[Ron99]

Originally Posted by donlite

Hi, I own a company Sensa-Light Ltd. We do custom lighting. The LED set up you have looks good, but it looks like you have good heat dissipation from the heat sinks. If you can hook up a "K" probe ( most cheap ohm meters will have or use one) and test the heat you may be able to forget the noisy fans.

I am using 1 watt lumileds in blue and white combination to get about 14,000k
I think I have about 30 LEDS on a 55 gallon tank. The home made unit does not need any fans. Good luck, if I can help let me know, Don

Thanks. The heatsinks are probably overkill but that's good. I will probably still run fans as they will be in an enclosed housing and I also want to put the drivers in the housing so it is all self contained. So extra cooling will be good. I plan to run the array for up to a few hours after it's all wired up and see how hot the heatsink gets.

Originally Posted by superduperwesman

NICE! Want to build me a 6' one?? ahah

Well, if you aren't in a hurry stay tuned as I have something brewing

Originally Posted by rstar

Tagging along! Keep up the good work, lookin good!

Thanks. I can't wait to see how it turns out myself

[hillegom]

Ron, computer power supplys put out 5V and 12

[Ron99]

Originally Posted by hillegom

Ron, computer power supplys put out 5V and 12

It's a good idea but it's to big and overkill for the need. I will just need a small 12v wall wart and then the voltage rectifiers. That way it will fit in the housing. I wouldn't be able to squeeze a computer PS into it. I can actually probably run my fans off it too as the Arduino and PWM circuitry won't draw alot of current.

[hillegom]

How many amps at 12V do you need?

[Ron99]

Originally Posted by hillegom

How many amps at 12V do you need?

Only a couple of amps. The Arduino itself uses very little current, it dependes on what is plugged into it. I will probably only be using it to generate the PWM signal and power a real time clock circuit so it will likely only be using a few hundred milliamps at most. the three fans will probably use more and fans typically draw around 300mA; maybe a little more. So a 2A power supply will likely be more than enough.

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

um, thats stupid, I figured the PWM models would be based on 5V as there is only need for a pulsed signal not a voltage.. oh well.

Steve

Yeah, but I guess they did not design it with microcontrollers in mind. You can apparently use lower voltage but it will not go to full brightness. I am using a 9V battery for test purposes just to get it to fire up. It lights but is probably not a full brightness. It is basically using a 10V signal for full bright that is then chopped up for the dimming.

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

Ron, what about using a 10V power supply to power the arduino, and then taking the power from your 9V out wich will actualy be 10V. this will eliminate that need of another power supply as I can't imagin you need much of any current for the PWM.

Steve

You are correct. I am still figuring out the Arduino and assumed it needed 5V in but it can take 12V in as it has it's own voltage regulator on board. So I can use a single 12V supply for the fans, the Arduino and then with a voltage regulator to supply the PWM. I don't see a 9V out on the Arduino, just a 3.3V and 5V outputs.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Ron99

You are correct. I am still figuring out the Arduino and assumed it needed 5V in but it can take 12V in as it has it's own voltage regulator on board. So I can use a single 12V supply for the fans, the Arduino and then with a voltage regulator to supply the PWM. I don't see a 9V out on the Arduino, just a 3.3V and 5V outputs.

there is a pin labled Vin it can be used for a hardpoint voltage supply or you can take off there to power something else and it will be what ever power you are feeding your board with.. so if you are using a 12v adapter (which is probably what you should use. it will be 12V out. then you can step it down to 10V as you lose about 0.7 of a volt. so that out with a 12V adapter will actualy give you about 11.3V

Steve