DIY LED Using 10 Watt Arrays

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by Elias@caco3reef.com

I skimmed through this tread a little fast excuse me if this question already have an answer
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.