diy led ??????

[mainereefer]

ok I kind of jumped the gun, and bought a few things to get started building my lights

what I ordered (for 1 fixture)
10 x 12-15k - 3w led's
8 x royal blue - 3w led's
2x 7000k 5w led's
2x 5w drivers
50w dim-able driver
and 20- 45 degree optics and 2- 60 degree

I have a few questions.
how many leds would you put on a 2' led fixture? (I have to build 3, tank is 25"tall 24"wide 72"long)

the driver is 50w and 32v the bulbs are 3.2v . do I need a resistor or something before the bulb?

 

[foxhuntr]

for a tank that size you would need at least 48 - 3 watt leds per panel to equal a 250 watt MH......if i were you i would build it with 60 leds per panel and dimm them down to your liking

 

[mainereefer]

so I could basically just double what I bought?


and does anyone know of a good controller for a led light?

 

[foxhuntr]

i just bought an Neptune Apex controler to control mine.....it gives you the cloud movement,dimming blues and whites seperatly,sun phases and moon phases

 

[ReefLEDLights]

ok I kind of jumped the gun, and bought a few things to get started building my lights

what I ordered (for 1 fixture)
10 x 12-15k - 3w led's
8 x royal blue - 3w led's
2x 7000k 5w led's
2x 5w drivers
50w dim-able driver
and 20- 45 degree optics and 2- 60 degree

I have a few questions.
how many leds would you put on a 2' led fixture? (I have to build 3, tank is 25"tall 24"wide 72"long)

the driver is 50w and 32v the bulbs are 3.2v . do I need a resistor or something before the bulb?

As Far as your driver what is the output current and exactly which 3w LEDs. Some are better driven at 700mA others 500mA or less. Not all 3w LEDs are the same, some sadly are not even close.

For Cree XP series you may consider parallel strings with a 50w driver at 32v.

For a tank your size and to grow softies I would recommend a rough minimum of 72 Cree XP Leds.

For SPS and Clams and the same PAR of 2 400 watt MH 110-135 XP LEDs is closer with quality Optics. This has worked for me.


Bill

 

[mainereefer]

ok the driver I ordered wont work it runs at 1000ma they listed it wrong so it will be returned. and they are going to refund and compensate me with an extra 10 led's with my next purchase! (sounds great so far)

as far as a driver now I am thinking I will just use a power supply from an old computer

this is what it gives me for specs on the 3w led's

High Power Star 20mm

DC Forward Voltage (VF): 3.2V~3.8V
​

DC Forward Current (IF):700mA​

Maximum Pulse Voltage: 3.9V​

Maximum Pulse Current: 750mA​

Brightness Lumens: 180LM~240LM
​

LED Diameter: 20mm
​

 

[mainereefer]

ok changed my mind. I am building 2 of the 3 lights I need for my tank

here is what I have ordered
50x 3w cool white led's
40x 3w royal blue led's
heatsink 49" x 8 1/2" x 1 5/16"

plus the 18x 3w leds I already ordered and the 2x5w

I am thinking putting the 5w led's in the middle of the fixture or should I bother? I was planning on using 9"x9" heatsinks but now I am using 16" heatsinks


what size wire should I use?
and can I use something like arctic silver to glue led's to the heatsink?

 

[Troylee]

What kind of LEDs are you using???

 

[five O]

You will want way more RB to the whites. The whites will just blast out you blues.

 

[bui]

Actually i would recommend 100 royal blue & 50 cool white should be a better fit for your tank. this ratio should give you 14K

 

[mainereefer]

Actually i would recommend 100 royal blue & 50 cool white should be a better fit for your tank. this ratio should give you 14K

I dont see how I can fit 75 led's on a 16" heatsink but ok?
I will have probably 40x3w and 1-2, 5w led's on each 16" heatsink

why does everyone want a blue tank?
the cool white led's said 15k in color we will see

from what I understand if I went 2-1 with blue it would put me around 20k+

 

[CJO]

Unfortunately, I don't know a lot about these LEDs so I'm not sure how to help you with color. You'll probably just have to experiment and see.

With a forward voltage of 3.2V to 3.8V, they appear to be pretty inefficient for current LEDs. They say the maximum pulse current is 750mA, any idea what the maximum sustained current is?

You can use Artic Silver adhesive to "glue" the stars to the heatsink. This is what I did. It is pretty easy to do, but removing and replacing them if they burn out is kind of a pain.

18 to 22 gauge stranded wire (preferably pre-tinned) will work well.

I haven't researched it well, but I think that computer power supplies are constant voltage drivers, not constant current, and wouldn't be suited for your use. I really suggest you read some more before spending any more money.

CJ

 

[mainereefer]

here is the actual specs on the cool white led's ordered

[TABLE="width: 402"]
[TR]
[TD="class: SpecContent, bgcolor: #EEEEEE"]Cool White[/TD]
[TD="class: SpecContent"]

[/TD]
[TD="class: SpecHeading, bgcolor: #EEEEEE"]color[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: SpecContent, bgcolor: #EEEEEE"]220 lm[/TD]
[TD="class: SpecHeading, bgcolor: #EEEEEE"]Lumens @ 750ma
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: SpecContent, bgcolor: #EEEEEE"]6500K to 10000K
[/TD]
[TD="class: SpecHeading, bgcolor: #EEEEEE"]Color Temperature Range[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: SpecContent, bgcolor: #EEEEEE"]120°[/TD]
[TD="class: SpecHeading, bgcolor: #EEEEEE"]Beam Angle[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: SpecContent, bgcolor: #EEEEEE"]750 mA[/TD]
[TD="class: SpecHeading, bgcolor: #EEEEEE"]Recommended Max Current[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: SpecContent, bgcolor: #EEEEEE"]1000 mA[/TD]
[TD="class: SpecHeading, bgcolor: #EEEEEE"]Maximum Rated Drive Current[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: SpecContent, bgcolor: #EEEEEE"]3.20 Vf
[/TD]
[TD="class: SpecHeading, bgcolor: #EEEEEE"]Typical Forward Voltage[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: SpecContent, bgcolor: #EEEEEE"]20mm x 3.5mm
[/TD]
[TD="class: SpecHeading, bgcolor: #EEEEEE"]Dimensions[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

 

[mainereefer]

lol guess there not the 15000k they originally said

using the power supply was a friends idea. he is a computer guru and knows allot more about all of this than I do.

I am trying to do this as cheep as I can (im out of work on comp.)
I hope these led's work well but for the price of everything we will see
so far the most expensive part was the heatsink! at $89. I will have around $120 into each 125w led light!

for wire I should use stranded? or glass coated solid?

 

[SF Nano Reefer]

Whered you order the LEDs? Im looking to build one for a 30 gallon but Im new to this. How many would you recommend for a 30 gallon? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[CJO]

Those specs look a lot better, though you will still have to use more LEDs to get the same light output as you would have with Cree XP-Gs. Based on the color range, you will probably want a ratio of white to blue of between 1:1 (if the whites are around 10,000 K) to 1:2 (if the whites are around 6,000 K). Based on those forward voltage specs, you can run a string of 12 to 14 of these LEDs per Meanwell ELN-60-48D, or double that if you are familiar with the risks and methods of running parallel strings.

CJ

 

[mainereefer]

I got these leds from ebay. I asked again and they said these were 12k-15k in color?

they messed up and listed the driver I bought wrong,so it wont work for what I need.
we worked it out so I will drop ship the driver for an order inside the usa, they gave me full credit for the driver and one heck of a deal on more led's!

for the 108 3w leds it cost me $140 and the 4x5w cost $17 so I have 344w of led for $160!! then I found the 49"x8 1/2" heatsink online for $88
I need to order more leds because I am going to build 3 lights. I was thinking I am going to end up with 130-160w of led per light for under $150 all said and done with fans and moonlights. I cant complain

now I need a driver I am debating on a stage lighting system (driver+controler)
or rigging a power supply or just a normal driver