General DIY LED thread

[Steven Garland]

Next best thing..

45W Luxeon Rebel ES Blue 450NM 16Leds 400LM Led Emitter Bulb Lamp Aquarium Fish | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 45W Luxeon Rebel ES Blue 450NM 16Leds 400LM Led Emitter Bulb Lamp Aquarium Fish at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

M16's..

Eh maybe,I know of the K16's but the fV is kinda high no ? 1 would dang near max out a ldd,or am I misreading that ?

Bow if that had multiple colored chips on that pcb,that would be a dream.

 

[oreo54]

Eh maybe,I know of the K16's but the fV is kinda high no ? 1 would dang near max out a ldd,or am I misreading that ?

Bow if that had multiple colored chips on that pcb,that would be a dream.

Would need 46v ps. But 5 for $25

Parameters :

Watt: 45W
Size: 24.35x24.45mm
Viewing Angle: 140degreen
Emitting Color: Royal Blue
Nanometer: 447.5 - 452.5NM
Peak: 450NM
mW min.: 9000 mW
mW max.: 10800 mW
mA test.: 350 mA
DC forward current: 1050mA
mA peak: 1050 mA
V typ.: 42V
V min: 40V
V max.: 45.1 V
PCB material:Aluminium Alloy

Ldd-h go as high as 56v.
Many meanwell 46 v ps can ve tweaked above 46v . 48.1 is possible I believe

 

[Steven Garland]

Would need 46v ps. But 5 for $25

Parameters :

Watt: 45W
Size: 24.35x24.45mm
Viewing Angle: 140degreen
Emitting Color: Royal Blue
Nanometer: 447.5 - 452.5NM
Peak: 450NM
mW min.: 9000 mW
mW max.: 10800 mW
mA test.: 350 mA
DC forward current: 1050mA
mA peak: 1050 mA
V typ.: 42V
V min: 40V
V max.: 45.1 V
PCB material:Aluminium Alloy

Ldd-h go as high as 56v.
Many meanwell 46 v ps can ve tweaked above 46v . 48.1 is possible I believe

With trying to utilize the ps I have,having to buy a new one just to run 2 of these is almost out of question. 2 M's is half of that. I might just fork out $21 for 2 M's if JediBen doesn't have any old ones.

 

[Lingwendil]

Do you need two to put in separate spots, if so maybe try a couple 3-ups of royal blue from steves?

I like those k16s but yeah, the higher forward voltage basically requires a 48 volt supply. Even at 300mA from the lowest available LDD driver I can confirm that they are very, very bright. I think I have three left if you want me to send you a pair, I'm not likely to need them anymore. Let me know and I can try to dig them out.

It's too bad the k12 version is almost nonexistent at the consumer level, i think the forward voltage was lower at around ~32 nominal. Would have been handy for LDD-L drivers at 36 volt supply.

 

[miran2782]

LDB-350L can do 40Vout with ~15-36Vin but is limited to 350mA

 

[blasterman]

I tried the k16s and shelved the project.

fV isn't the problem. Its soldering that's the problem. That board is finicky about solder points, and I kept burning the LEDs next to the solder point due to high contact temps. Granted I'm a sloppy solder guy, but it was still a pain.

If you can find the native PCB connector get it.

There is also no optic options for it. You might 'Jimmy's some bridgelux array reflectors though.

I went back to Cree XPG3s. More efficient, great optic choices, easier thermal mgmt and the solderless PCBs easy to use. The K16 lit up at one amp is pretty intimidating though. I would have loved to see the more impressive s3000 royal that predated them.

 

[Lingwendil]

I use teflon-jacketed CAT6 and nice kester solder with a dab of flux, and I don't have any issues with them on my cheap 25W iron, at least not any more than with typical 3W stars. They are a bit tricky to place though, with the oddball PCB outline.

I've been running them flawlessly on my big "bruiser" fixture over my 40B build, they are plenty bright at 300mA for me, but tank is practically empty after I had to rehome a bunch of stuff after a really bad-near-tank crash due to a really bad heatwave at our last place. I still have the little pendants with them too, but haven't used them in the while. I may switch back over to them for the smaller overall form factor, I really liked how compact they were. My little LDD_H 8up PCBs work great for this too!

I may have to post up the planning stages for my 180 soon, even if it is a freshwater planted build. The selection of LEDs will be the only real difference to a reef build. Since the tank has two center braces I'm thinking three arrays in a pendant or smaller fixture form factor? Hmmm.

 

[Steven Garland]

I posted all my DIY led stuff for sale if anyone is interested.

 

[Ls7corvete]

I am thinking about doing a DIY Steves LED build, if anyone has done similar, let me know what you think.

Steve's led build advice

I was considering trying a diy led build using Steve's leds. I was wondering if anyone has done this lately and could hear your opinion/experience. I think the biggest question is, how important is deep blue? It looks like Steve only has cool blue and royal blue. Though sb reef uses a lot of...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Matt Carden]

I am in the beginning of building a
700 watt diy display light for a 150 gallon mixed reef tank. I'm planning on having six 0-10v dimmable powersupplies in the fixture. I will be sending 110v through main, common, ground wires. Additionally will be sending six 0-10v control wires from reef-pi. Can I use the Main ground wires for the control wires ground or do I need to send a separate ground?

 

[theatrus]

I am in the beginning of building a
700 watt diy display light for a 150 gallon mixed reef tank. I'm planning on having six 0-10v dimmable powersupplies in the fixture. I will be sending 110v through main, common, ground wires. Additionally will be sending six 0-10v control wires from reef-pi. Can I use the Main ground wires for the control wires ground or do I need to send a separate ground?

Absolutely not.

Don't cross from an earth connection to a logic connection. Run dedicated wire for control wires.

 

[Matt Carden]

Absolutely not.

Don't cross from an earth connection to a logic connection. Run dedicated wire for control wires.

All 6 need separate or shared?

 

[Matt Carden]

Related to above question, if I kept the power supplies in the stand I could send the DC output to the light fixture(about 8ft) , could I use a shared ground in that circumstance?

 

[oreo54]

Related to above question, if I kept the power supplies in the stand I could send the DC output to the light fixture(about 8ft) , could I use a shared ground in that circumstance?

Probably not....

LEDs sharing negative output from driver issue

I am having an issue with the above circuit when LED DRIVER B has 0 PWM and LED driver A is being driven by a signal driver B is supposed to be off but the leds from BANK B are still lit dim. I che...

electronics.stackexchange.com

the PWM probably opens and closes the ground since that's easier and cheaper to do than high-side switching. use drivers that switch high-side and keep the ground constant. you simply can't use the drivers you mention in a common ground config. –

Connecting grounds of two LED drivers

I'm using these Mean Well LDD-H DC-DC constant current step-down LED drivers to drive these LEDs. What I'm seeing is that when the -Vout terminals of the drivers are connected together, both LED s...

electronics.stackexchange.com

I don' t know of any drivers that don' t switch on the " ground" side nor anyone that diy- ed them w/ a common negative.

 

[Matt Carden]

I am just exploring different options thanks for your input.

 

[theatrus]

All 6 need separate or shared?

Its a signal wire, so its fine to share (very low current). Its shared from the perspective of the source anyway.

 

[theatrus]

Related to above question, if I kept the power supplies in the stand I could send the DC output to the light fixture(about 8ft) , could I use a shared ground in that circumstance?

Depends on the driver. Most drivers, won't. I haven't seen common-cathode drivers, but I have seen common anode drivers (e.g., based on my favorite LM3414 for a DC/DC option), which let you share the anode (+) side. Remember to calculate currents and scale up the conductor for this lead.

 

[Ls7corvete]

I am in the beginning of building a
700 watt diy display light for a 150 gallon mixed reef tank. I'm planning on having six 0-10v dimmable powersupplies in the fixture. I will be sending 110v through main, common, ground wires. Additionally will be sending six 0-10v control wires from reef-pi. Can I use the Main ground wires for the control wires ground or do I need to send a separate ground?

Separate.

 

[PocketClam]

If you can find the native PCB connector get it.

If it helps, I dug around a bit and the connector on the Ali-express stock looks to be a Pico EZMate Molex, I can't really confirm that however.

https://www.arrow.com/en/products/2026542021/molex

 

[dadarara]

just wondering and would like to know your opinion about the DIY led project vs buying commercial.
I have a 120G mixed reef tank. I am very good at electronics and soldering etc..
I also have the aluminium heat sinks I would need and I also already have reef-pi and robotank board controller so I have PWM 5-6 channels controller ready.

my decision points are:
1) price
2) ability to fix myself if broken vs cost of shipping to manufacturer / trying to fix myself a monolithic board with tens of leds on board.
3) aesthetic - try as I may, I will never make it as beautiful as commercial . and I have a rimless open build

and I know that DIY I can be more efficient like not use RED /GREEN etc.. but I consider this as marginal benefit.
I will be using very close to some commercial setup arrangement anyways.

I am comparing to something like
ZETLIGHT Qmaven Coral Lamp Marine Aquarium Light ZT6500II 6600II 6800II Sunrise Sunset 210W 168 leds this will cost me 780$.

better choice I would think is https://www.reefi-lab.com/reefi-led-duo-info/
I am guessing I will need 2 of these 850$ ( incl shipping tax) for 360W and ~150 leds . thats 5.5$ per led. or 2.3$ per Watt.

So if I build it myself : I am looking at about 600$ cost.
150 leds 2-4$ a piece = ~400-500$
couple of power supply 48v for redundancy = 100$
constant current drivers - 50$
not sure if I need optic lens
not sure what about the water splashes , so do I need some glass or even quartz glass not to lose some UV lower lights

so what was your though process ? what would it be today based on the above please?

Thanks in advance for the advice