Building an 'evil cluster' - DIY LED on steroids

[kyle1284]

What's the cost on building a led system? I'm looking in to buying 2 48" stunner strips and that like 230$ so what how much to do a DIY one instead? oh great build tagging along can't wait to see finished.

Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

I am kinda curious too...


Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

 

[jedimasterben]

I am kinda curious too...


Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

If you want me to help customize a system for you, PM me and I'll help you out, like bigkai.





THE LUXEON M IS LIVE! Mine are all on the way!

Ok, so now that I have pricing on those, I can break down each aspect of this array.

From Newark:
4x Bridgelux 950-B------------- $22.92
1x Bridgelux 1350-B------------ $8.54
4x Ledil Brooke W--------------- $19.28
1x Ledil Brooke M--------------- $4.82
5x Molex LED holder------------ $14.40
Tax/shipping---------------------- $14.08

$84.04 total

From Heatsink USA:
2x 1.813" 14" plate-------------- $17.64
3x 4.85" 12" plate---------------- $33.48
Shipping/cutting------------------ $23.70

$74.82 total

From Mouser:
12x Ledil Minnie WWW--------- $26.28
4x Ledil Minnie M---------------- $10.60
Shipping--------------------------- $6.99

$43.87 total

From Steve's LEDs:
16x Luxeon M RB---------------- $168.00
10x Rebel CB--------------------- $34.00
8x Rebel Cyan-------------------- $27.20
10ft 20ga 4-wire------------------ $4.60
14x 90° optic---------------------- $6.30
4x 45° optic----------------------- $1.80
10ft CAT6 cable------------------ $2.40
20ft 24ga wire--------------------- $2.00
20ft 63/37 solder----------------- $2.00
Shipping--------------------------- $8.00

$256.30 total

From eBay:
2x 48v 7.3A DC PSU------------- $62.98
Shipping---------------------------- $5.60

$68.58 total

From LEDGroupBuy:
36x Hyper violet------------------- $198.00
8x Meanwell LDD-1000HW------ $55.44
3x Meanwell LDD-700HW------- $20.79
24x 60° optic----------------------- $30.96
12x 20° optic----------------------- $15.48

$320.67



Totals to around $850. There will be about $10-15 more to make the enclosures and for misc stuff, but overall, $875ish. Less money, more output and better color than three Radion Pros. I'll take it!

 

[kyle1284]

If you want me to help customize a system for you, PM me and I'll help you out, like bigkai.





THE LUXEON M IS LIVE! Mine are all on the way!

Ok, so now that I have pricing on those, I can break down each aspect of this array.

From Newark:
4x Bridgelux 950-B------------- $22.92
1x Bridgelux 1350-B------------ $8.54
4x Ledil Brooke W--------------- $19.28
1x Ledil Brooke M--------------- $4.82
5x Molex LED holder------------ $14.40
Tax/shipping---------------------- $14.08

$84.04 total

From Heatsink USA:
2x 1.813" 14" plate-------------- $17.64
3x 4.85" 12" plate---------------- $33.48
Shipping/cutting------------------ $23.70

$74.82 total

From Mouser:
12x Ledil Minnie WWW--------- $26.28
4x Ledil Minnie M---------------- $10.60
Shipping--------------------------- $6.99

$43.87 total

From Steve's LEDs:
16x Luxeon M RB---------------- $168.00
10x Rebel CB--------------------- $34.00
8x Rebel Cyan-------------------- $27.20
10ft 20ga 4-wire------------------ $4.60
14x 90° optic---------------------- $6.30
4x 45° optic----------------------- $1.80
10ft CAT6 cable------------------ $2.40
20ft 24ga wire--------------------- $2.00
20ft 63/37 solder----------------- $2.00
Shipping--------------------------- $8.00

$256.30 total

From eBay:
2x 48v 7.3A DC PSU------------- $62.98
Shipping---------------------------- $5.60

$68.58 total

From LEDGroupBuy:
36x Hyper violet------------------- $198.00
8x Meanwell LDD-1000HW------ $55.44
3x Meanwell LDD-700HW------- $20.79
24x 60° optic----------------------- $30.96
12x 20° optic----------------------- $15.48

$320.67



Totals to around $850. There will be about $10-15 more to make the enclosures and for misc stuff, but overall, $875ish. Less money, more output and better color than three Radion Pros. I'll take it!

Where is the pic of the M's on!?!? Stop teasing!!


Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

 

[ReefLEDLights]

This is what $40 in optics looks like.

More like reflectors...Are they Carclo???

Toss us a link...

Bill

 

[cparka23]

Those are ledil reflectors for the bridgelux led array.

Nice looking build. I was going to try out the BXRA-40E2200 last year, but went in another direction. I'll definitely follow this build to see what might have been.

 

[jedimasterben]

Where is the pic of the M's on!?!? Stop teasing!!


Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

They shipped out already, but I haven't gotten them yet.

More like reflectors...Are they Carclo???

Toss us a link...

Bill

They are Ledil Minnie reflectors. CA12240_MINNIE-WWW Ledil | Mouser

Those are ledil reflectors for the bridgelux led array.

Nice looking build. I was going to try out the BXRA-40E2200 last year, but went in another direction. I'll definitely follow this build to see what might have been.

Thanks for joining for the ride, it's gonna be awesome! arty:




Just ordered the last pieces of the puzzle, and they'll ship out on the 11th once the LDD come back in stock. Huzzah!

 

[jedimasterben]

A few quotes from blasterman and evilc66 on color rendition and LED choice.


blasterman

Corals don't care how they look and just want uber amounts of blue or cool light. The rest is marketing.
The AI units suffer the same problem as most other premium American units. They are based on low CRI, cool white LEDs that supposedly have 'optimum spectrum for coral growth'. If you look at the actual bin's they are using the also have the optimum spectrum for parking lot illumination as well. I really hope somebody from AI is reading this thread, and maybe they'll get insulted enough to do something about it because I'm actually stating facts.

If you like a heavy blue / actinic look the older AI units are for you. If you're looking for more of a premium 14k halide look or mixed T5 colro balance, forget it. Balancing in some 4000-4500k higher CRI whites will help a lot, but I'm staying away from how to do it because I haven't done it.

The lower the CRI (color rendering index) of an LED the brighter the LED typically is when measured with an intensity meter. This is because the LED can throw it's energy into a narrower range of specific spectrums, and the thinner the phosphor coating on the chip is. To get better rendering with a white LED you *have* to sacrifice brightness to some extent. Note that as LED technology improves the color rendering 'handicap' I'm referring to is becoming less and less of an isssue.
If you're lighting a parking lot or highway you really don't care about color rendering. You just want a light source that's close to white, but you want the most brightness out of it to get the most lumens per watt. Makes sense from that perspective. However, these same LEDs are frequently sold as the main white LEDs in reef lights, and after awhile reefers start to become annoyed at the lack of color.

I tease flashlight geeks that Cree doesn't care about flashlights. I can tease reef geeks that Cree doesn't care about reef tanks either. However, if you read some of the marketing about lights using Crees you'd think Cree has an army of bio-engineers walking around in lab coats trying to make the best LEDs for coral. Not the case. Same cool-white used in your expensive reef lights is also used to light a parking lot. This why your SPS has two colors; actnic, and asphalt grey. A low CRI cool white LED is basically 'blue plus green, and nothing in between'.

Cool white LED's regardless of color rendering grow corals just great.

evil

My top list of best looking white LEDs:
1) Bridgelux (not the generic 3W LEDs in cheap fixtures, but the large, high power arrays)
2) Philips Lumileds (Rebel etc...)
3) LEDEngin
4) Samsung
5) Cree

There are other brands out there that do a good job with white LEDs, but I haven't seen them all in person, so I don't have them on the list. Citizen supposedly has some killer white COB LEDs.

 

[kyle1284]

I read you previous LeD build thread and made me curious as to why wanted to build this lighting setup?


Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

 

[jedimasterben]

I read you previous LeD build thread and made me curious as to why wanted to build this lighting setup?


Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

It started as an excuse to play with the big Luxeon M and Bridgelux chips, but I will also get better color rendition out of the big Bridgelux chips.


Speaking of the M,

All copper!

Size comparison between the M and Rebel ES.

 

[kyle1284]

Never thought I would think a LED chip looked sexy lol


Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

 

[jedimasterben]

Closer and closer. The LDD got pushed back again though.

 

[kyle1284]

Holy crap that is going to be blinding!!! Can't wait to see it lit


Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

 

[jedimasterben]

I'm getting antsy! The LDD were pushed back til the 17th. :/

 

[jodah175]

Powergate has 58 of the 1000H variant in stock, and 7 of the 700H. I know on the toher forums there is a nice 4x LDD and a 5xLDD pcb thats been posted. I'm pretty sure they also have a provision for a pull-down resister to make the ldd's default to 0 when the power goes out, controller resets, etc.

 

[jedimasterben]

I just found that on RC, and thanks for the tip about the drivers. They're about $20 total cheaper than buying the HW from LEDGroupBuy, but I had a credit there already. I want to switch it to the H versions to use those 5up boards and such, but those are out of stock until the end of May, and I simply cannot wait that long to get them here.

 

[CrabDragon]

This is going to be awesome.

 

[Fishinizer]

Can't wait to seeit all done

 

[that novice guy]

very nice little build cant wait to see the end resultd

 

[jedimasterben]

So I tested an array today. Threw the 1350B on a 6" Makers heatsink with four of the RB M. Used a Makersdriver with two 700ma LDD. Tomorrow I will repeat these tests, but with 1000ma LDD in place. All measurements taken at 12" from the top of the heatsink (where the splash shield would be, essentially), so about 13" from the LED diodes, with an Apogee SQ-110 PAR sensor. Numbers in parentheses are the 'corrected' values of PAR for the 450nm RB M, which the meter reads about 25% low.

At 700ma, the BXRA-4E1350-B consumes 21.5 watts and emits about 2,050 lumens. The royal blue Luxeon M at 700ma consumes 7.7 watts and emits 4,400-4,600mW of radiance.

No optics:
BXRA only - 100 PAR
4x M only - 160 PAR (200 PAR)

Ledil Minnie WWW (74°) / Brooke W (50°)
BXRA only - 400 PAR
4x M only - 605 PAR (756 PAR)

Ledil Minnie M (26°) / Brooke S (24°)
BXRA only - 450 PAR
4x M only - 1,050 PAR (1,312 PAR)

Holy crap.

Pics:

Ledil Minnie - WWW on left, M on right

Ledil Brooke - W on left, S on right

Power supply was tuned to 51v to make sure I have enough to supply the LDD with more than enough voltage for the M.

This is at 5% (estimated, this is the minimum that the LEDs stopped flickering)

 

[dorky]

wow that just plain Evil!! But so Sexy!!:tongue: