DIY Radeon clone?

User1 · Dec 21, 2018

@theatrus is there any thermal room left on the 20k pro blue 48w chips? Since the PWM module has 6 channels I was wondering if there was room to add a channel dedicated to lime and white - maybe to help tune color? While I've never asked I only run my chips at 80% of power - if there is a limit maybe those channels could help dial in color to the eye while leaving the main 4 channels to handle intensity/corals.

I'm going to be taking offline the Borealis Luxeon z arrays once I add in the new chips from you. I think I'm going to miss the limes and white it offers. It really blends in nicely with your chips. I could probably mix in a pair of your day lights I guess but was getting spoiled with your single form factor.

Borealis that I'm taking off line:

Channel 1 (1000mA max) - 5 Neutral White
Channel 2 (1000mA max) - 6 Royal Blue + 5 Blue
Channel 3 (700mA max) - 12 Lime
Channel 4 (700mA max) - 5 Violet UV + 4 Deep Red (660nm)

User1 · Dec 27, 2018

Testing a single 50" x 2" wide aluminium light bar. Initial Blue Acro chips installed with drivers and pwm converter. I snapped a drill bit hitting aluminium side flange so couldn't install remaining pair of IQ drivers. Will run out later and pick up along with some wire.

dantimdad · Dec 27, 2018

Nice!

@saf1 where did you get the heat sink?

User1 · Dec 27, 2018

@dantimdad thanks. Not done yet and I still need to install a pair of fans on the other side. I have some small Noctuoa that fit perfectly. Heat sink is from heatsink USA. Cheapest I found so wanted to try it out. I think it was like $0.38 a foot. I think they are 52" wide so just under 20 bucks a bar. Hopefully I can post the URL: https://www.heatsinkusa.com/2-079-low-stock-please-call/

I currently have 4 of the same chips on single heat sinks which are 4 x 6 but I have a lot of wires and it is messy. I mean really messy

If this works and is cool enough then I'll just move the other chips to a replica and be done.

Edit: Just saw it said low stock in the URL - odd. Sorry. It is 2.079" Wide Extruded Aluminum Heatsink from heatsinkusa.

rushbattle · Dec 27, 2018

saf1 said:
@dantimdad thanks. Not done yet and I still need to install a pair of fans on the other side. I have some small Noctuoa that fit perfectly. Heat sink is from heatsink USA. Cheapest I found so wanted to try it out. I think it was like $0.38 a foot. I think they are 52" wide so just under 20 bucks a bar. Hopefully I can post the URL: https://www.heatsinkusa.com/2-079-low-stock-please-call/

I currently have 4 of the same chips on single heat sinks which are 4 x 6 but I have a lot of wires and it is messy. I mean really messy If this works and is cool enough then I'll just move the other chips to a replica and be done.

Edit: Just saw it said low stock in the URL - odd. Sorry. It is 2.079" Wide Extruded Aluminum Heatsink from heatsinkusa.

I went overkill and went with the 4.6" serrated fin heatsink from heatsinkusa. 60" lengths have to cool 5 48w pucks and three drivers from Acrostar, and a T5 ballast or two.

User1 · Dec 27, 2018

rushbattle said:
I went overkill and went with the 4.6" serrated fin heatsink from heatsinkusa. 60" lengths have to cool 5 48w pucks and three drivers from Acrostar, and a T5 ballast or two.

I thought about it - I did. The heat sink alone was a lot of $$$$. I bet it is a nice package / form factor though that you have.

rushbattle · Dec 28, 2018

saf1 said:
I thought about it - I did. The heat sink alone was a lot of $$$$. I bet it is a nice package / form factor though that you have.

I am not an engineer, but I work with and have befriended quite a few. They all remind me that overkill is no big deal, it’s only a waste of time, money and natural resources...

The other thing they say frequently is “if it works, it works.”

My response is: “I’m not an engineer so overkill is better than underkill.” I’m better at economics, I’d rather spend $160 on a heatsink for ~$500 worth of LEDs including the supplemental stars and not ruin them than save money and harm the larger investment.

So if your heatsink works, it works. And is a better solution than spending 7x on a part that comparatively works perfectly well at the original cost.

All of the above is meant to help people understand the trade offs, and that I’m not capable of doing any thermodynamics

User1 · Dec 28, 2018

rushbattle said:
I am not an engineer, but I work with and have befriended quite a few. They all remind me that overkill is no big deal, it’s only a waste of time, money and natural resources...

The other thing they say frequently is “if it works, it works.”

My response is: “I’m not an engineer so overkill is better than underkill.” I’m better at economics, I’d rather spend $160 on a heatsink for ~$500 worth of LEDs including the supplemental stars and not ruin them than save money and harm the larger investment.

So if your heatsink works, it works. And is a better solution than spending 7x on a part that comparatively works perfectly well at the original cost.

All of the above is meant to help people understand the trade offs, and that I’m not capable of doing any thermodynamics

Agreed. Are you running the acrostars also?

rushbattle · Dec 28, 2018

saf1 said:
Agreed. Are you running the acrostars also?

I have twenty Mega4Z Pro 20Ks sitting in a box waiting to get mounted up on their heatsinks. I will be adding some 12W white LEDs and maybe some UV or something on the other channel to supplement an equal wattage rating of T5 to go with the Mega4Z Pro's. I have a large area to cover and wanted to add diffuse fill light. I don't think that the Mega4Z have a spectrum deficiency, just that I didn't want to have to install another row of 5 pucks to get full coverage.

User1 · Dec 28, 2018

rushbattle said:
I have twenty Mega4Z Pro 20Ks sitting in a box waiting to get mounted up on their heatsinks. I will be adding some 12W white LEDs and maybe some UV or something on the other channel to supplement an equal wattage rating of T5 to go with the Mega4Z Pro's. I have a large area to cover and wanted to add diffuse fill light. I don't think that the Mega4Z have a spectrum deficiency, just that I didn't want to have to install another row of 5 pucks to get full coverage.

Sounds good. Once I add this 2nd bar I'll have a total of 8 Mega 4Z Pro's over a 210 gallon that is 54" wide x 30" deep and 30" tall. I was thinking about adding another bar but using the Half Mega daylights. Or maybe some singles mixing in lime and whites - to tune the color.

I was going to ask what intensity / power you are running them off but see they are offline and not mounted yet. I'm running the current set at 80% during their peak.

Steven Garland · Dec 28, 2018

Have you guys tried Mint out ar all ? I LOVE the mint conpared to Lime. StevesLeds has them for $2.25 I think.

User1 · Dec 28, 2018

Steven Garland said:
Have you guys tried Mint out ar all ? I LOVE the mint conpared to Lime. StevesLeds has them for $2.25 I think.

I have not, no. I currently have a older multi chip in addition to the Mega Pro's by rapidled. That chip has 12 limes and with the neutral whites it has provides a good color balance. I plan on taking these offline for a bit while I rethink how they are mounted or if I can move them over to my Apex. They are currently being managed by my older Reef Angel that I also want to take offline. I'm trying to reduce my wire clutter.

Steven Garland · Dec 28, 2018

Man,it is such a good spectrum. I have 1 mint mixed in with 4 neutral white,4 warms and 2 cyan and wow it makes such a difference. Adds an really nice crisp color white compared to the yellowish color of the 2 color whites.

I also have 1 on my blue channel and it brightens it up way too much,so I'm taking it out.

dantimdad · Dec 28, 2018

I read where nano box was going to do away with whites in favor of Mint/Cyan/Blue/RB/Violet.

The photos of the tank they are testing it on are amazing!

User1 · Dec 28, 2018

dantimdad said:
I read where nano box was going to do away with whites in favor of Mint/Cyan/Blue/RB/Violet.

The photos of the tank they are testing it on are amazing!

They have a pretty good chip over there for sure. I've looked at them a couple times and it is pretty well priced from what I recall.

dantimdad · Dec 28, 2018

If I end up going totally DIY, then I will go that route. I will put a few whites of varying colors on their own channel just in case I don't like the look without them and I have them laying around anyway. But, the theory is sound. You really don't need anything in whites to grow corals and have them color up nice.

@Lasse can verify this. I believe he uses RGB LEDs.

Plus, the more unnecessary bulbs you cut out, the less money, heat and failure points you have.

Steven Garland · Dec 28, 2018

I've also thought about using a ocean coral white from LedGroupBuy. Has anyone used this led ? If so,what about mixing it in with the blue channel ?

User1 · Dec 28, 2018

dantimdad said:
If I end up going totally DIY, then I will go that route. I will put a few whites of varying colors on their own channel just in case I don't like the look without them and I have them laying around anyway. But, the theory is sound. You really don't need anything in whites to grow corals and have them color up nice.

@Lasse can verify this. I believe he uses RGB LEDs.

Plus, the more unnecessary bulbs you cut out, the less money, heat and failure points you have.

True. I think the reason I didn't go with the Nanobox at the time was that it was a 5 channel chip and I only had 4 by default with the Apex although later I added the expansion. Both are using the Lumileds Luxeon Z's which I prefer and are high quality. At least I think so - I'm no expert though.

theatrus · Dec 28, 2018

Steven Garland said:
Have you guys tried Mint out ar all ? I LOVE the mint conpared to Lime. StevesLeds has them for $2.25 I think.

I like Mint, but it’s only in the Luxeon C footprint. Same phosphor mix as the Lime, just less phosphor so the blue/violet bleeds out more. Using a smaller reflector with the Luxeon C has a lot of problems with color banding which don’t show up in Z footprints, so I’m also testing larger reflectors as well.

I’m looking at a tank upgrade in the next 9 months or so (90g to ... 180g? 300? Sky’s the limit) and playing with different layouts and mixups. Doing noodling here:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ledbrick-diy-led-pendant-with-pucks.243746/

Steven Garland · Dec 28, 2018

He is using Lux Rebel ES,C's and T's. I feel like he uses 1 too many mints,but thats just me. My light now uses 2 old 11ups he made (4x es royals,2 es true blues,1 es cyan,2 es neutrals and 2 es warms). If would,I would swap all the leds. I wish I had the room to add more violets and cover from 400-430 they way I wanted with leds from RapidLed.