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Old 03-15-2010, 05:31 AM
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Default 48" LED Array - Up and Running...Mostly

Well I now have most everything I need to build this so here goes. I'll start with pics of the parts. Here's the housing (an old Hamilton housing with acrylic splash shield) the array will go into along with my 3 heatsinks and two lengths of aluminum angle to mount the heatsinks in the housing.



And these are the 8 Meanwell ELN60-48P drivers for 80ish LEDs (each can drive up to 13 LEDs), 80 Cree XR-E emitters (half cool white, half royal blue) and a bag of 60 degree optics. I do actually have some 40 and 80 degree optics to experiment with but I think 60 will be the way to go.



I forgot to throw all the nice stainless steel bolts I picked up into the pictures. What I still need are fans when I decide exactly what the configuration of those will be and some Arduino bits to make a controller. The plan is to program it to gradually bring the blues from off to full illumination over 15 to 20 minutes and then gradually bring the whites up over another 15 to 20 minutes for a nice gradual sunrise. Sunset will be the opposite.

So now to start drilling and tapping the aluminum angle...

Last edited by Ron99; 04-10-2010 at 04:00 AM.
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Old 03-15-2010, 01:13 PM
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what are you using for a soldering gun Ron?

Steve
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Old 03-15-2010, 01:52 PM
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Should be a nice setup when your done. Could you keep us updated on costs and suppliers too.
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Old 03-15-2010, 02:20 PM
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OOHHHH Nice
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Umm, a tank or 5
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Old 03-15-2010, 05:34 PM
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very nice where did you order the kit from?

Bill
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Old 03-15-2010, 06:02 PM
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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.
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Old 03-15-2010, 07:05 PM
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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.
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Old 03-15-2010, 08:31 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueAbyss View Post
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.
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Old 03-17-2010, 05:10 AM
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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
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Old 03-17-2010, 12:58 PM
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what are the milled squars for? is that the bottom or the top?

Steve
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