DIY LED - Group Buy

[jthunder]

Did you try these LEDs? what drivers/power supply did you use?

[Bryan]

I have used the 3w blue leds and they work well, but I don't have any Royal Blues to compare with, but there is some info on nano-reef's that the two are almost identical. I am using the Sure drivers, cheap and seem to work well, but do get quite warm when run at close to capacity.

the leds are on a nano reef so just using a 24v laptop powersupply. The sure drivers are quite forgiving for voltage and you have a wide range depending on number of LEDS used.

http://cgi.ebay.com/3w-LED-Driver-MB...item3a6442f9f3

[mason dixon]

Originally Posted by Bryan

I have used the 3w blue leds and they work well, but I don't have any Royal Blues to compare with, but there is some info on nano-reef's that the two are almost identical. I am using the Sure drivers, cheap and seem to work well, but do get quite warm when run at close to capacity.

the leds are on a nano reef so just using a 24v laptop powersupply. The sure drivers are quite forgiving for voltage and you have a wide range depending on number of LEDS used.

http://cgi.ebay.com/3w-LED-Driver-MB...item3a6442f9f3

I'm new to leds's....what is the advantage of running those small 3w drivers(I'm assuming one per led?) over something like this this?

[Bryan]

Well, they can run up to 8 LEDs on each driver. From the bottom of the Ebay page is a link to the datasheet, which describes the specs and voltage required for the amount of LEDS used. You will need to provide a PWM input for dimming. A simple 555 timer can take care of that.

[mason dixon]

Thanks, I was thinking that can't be right but I had to ask since I'm such a noob.

Will 1 24v laptop pwm be enough for 72 led's?

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by mason dixon

Thanks, I was thinking that can't be right but I had to ask since I'm such a noob.

Will 1 24v laptop pwm be enough for 72 led's?

Probably not but it depends on the wattage of the power supply, how many watts or amps is it rated for?

For 72 LEDs you'll need at least 200W which I believe is much more than the average laptop requires. You can buy other power supplies that run at 24V at much higher wattage than a laptop supply. I would go larger to the range of 300-350 W encase you ever wanted to add more LEDs.

[StirCrazy]

for a power supply you don't want to go by watts. while this can work it is much easier and safer to go with a constant curent output. so figure out what current you want to run at (700mA or 1000mA) then get one that has enough voltage to handle the amount of LEDs. you want to run your blues on a different power than your whites

here is an example of one of the better drivers to come out laitly
http://www.nanotuners.com/product_in...roducts_id=754

this is a 64 top 114 volt driver at 1050mA you can get them bigger or smaller.

Steve

[msjboy]

Can you get the following items:
http://reefledlights.com/shop/led-seal/ : this is a spray to protect the welds... by a company called Luxdrive.

Philips LEDs - Rebel ES series.... apparently better than CREE in terms of lighting suitability for corals. nano-box-reef.com/ uses them.

msjboy

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by msjboy

Can you get the following items:
http://reefledlights.com/shop/led-seal/ : this is a spray to protect the welds... by a company called Luxdrive.

Philips LEDs - Rebel ES series.... apparently better than CREE in terms of lighting suitability for corals. nano-box-reef.com/ uses them.

msjboy

you could also go to acklands and get the same thing in a different can for 1/3rd the price.......



Steve

[mark]

comparing to the $400 AI Sol which has 24 Cree LEDs, going with www.ledgroupbuy.com to build similar (mix of 24 XP-G and XP-E, couple of power supplies, heatsink, optics and connectors) would cost about $265.

This right?