LEDBrick - DIY LED Pendant with Pucks

[ludnix]

What a treat it was stumbling into this thread! You do amazing work Theatrus and I appreciate you taking the time to share it with everyone. I am excited someone is still pushing the envelope with reef tank LEDs. I will be ordering some acrostrips and or acrostars in the future!

 

[User1]

The acro stars are great. I have 8 of them over my 210 gallon and they reach the bottom of my tank with ease @ 30" tall.

While I only have the details he shares here and on another forum it would appear that he is trying to help the DIY crowd with the overall package. Some people, or most I'll probably say, manage the cables, connectors, and power cleanly. Then there are those, like me, who love the DIY chips like these but have a fire hazard on their hands with all of the messy wires and connections. That is really the only down side.

But yeah - huge fan of the chips and their color.

 

[theatrus]

Ohhh man !!! Those acrostrips !!! Are they gonna have the same color options or a custom layout options well ?

Yes, with a few exceptions (can’t put everything in the violet spots)

 

[theatrus]

The acro stars are great. I have 8 of them over my 210 gallon and they reach the bottom of my tank with ease @ 30" tall.

While I only have the details he shares here and on another forum it would appear that he is trying to help the DIY crowd with the overall package. Some people, or most I'll probably say, manage the cables, connectors, and power cleanly. Then there are those, like me, who love the DIY chips like these but have a fire hazard on their hands with all of the messy wires and connections. That is really the only down side.

But yeah - huge fan of the chips and their color.

Thanks for the kind words!

Referencing the other LED project is the AIO driver/controller project. Once I have the Reef-Pi Pico line humming out of beta I’ll get this one into a usable state:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/all-in-one-led-controller-dimmer-driver-project.558930/

 

[Steven Garland]

Okay. I just need something simple for my 2g (12x6x6) around 16k in color But would perfer a strip over a more circular array to provide fuller and wider spread and par distribution.

Maybe something like 6x royals,1 regular blue,2 violet,2 neutral,1 mint or close to that nature.

 

[theatrus]

I’ll be in touch! Thanks!

My tank went from 66x40x24 to 72x44x27 after I started buying all of my equipment. Custom tanks are great, but give you the opportunity to think on it for months and months if the builder is backed up. I decided it’s easier to change associated equipment than to change out a custom tank later. Now maybe it’s really easy!

@theatrus Any thoughts on those dimensions? I already have six 5ft T5s and two heatsinks with 1.4 C/W/3". I’m thinking five 100w instead of six 48w on each heatsink? Maybe four?

I don’t have great spread data on the larger units. Give me a few days to start cataloging that.

What’s the mounting height of your lights from the water?

Also congrats on the larger tank and jealous of the 44” depth. Looking at a 72” myself but no space for something that deep

 

[theatrus]

So, after the discussion on UV, PMMA and PC, I’ve made a better (tm) diffuser for the larger Angela. Snaps in, is removable, and passes violet at 385nm.

 

[rushbattle]

So, after the discussion on UV, PMMA and PC, I’ve made a better (tm) diffuser for the larger Angela. Snaps in, is removable, and passes violet at 385nm.

Looks great!

 

[rushbattle]

I don’t have great spread data on the larger units. Give me a few days to start cataloging that.

What’s the mounting height of your lights from the water?

Also congrats on the larger tank and jealous of the 44” depth. Looking at a 72” myself but no space for something that deep

My lights can be adjusted, it’s a floating canopy. I guess my preference would be higher than lower, maybe 15-18”. All the Acropora pros seem to prefer a higher mounting height.

Thanks for looking into the spread.

The tank size is really nice, but also a bit of a monster to deal with. Hope I like it!

 

[biecacka]

What webpage are you referring too?


Corey

 

[Steven Garland]

I cannot wait for the sire to he updated with all the new goodies man !!!

 

[theatrus]

Preview of the smallest unit using my new Optimizer. Very low profile, diffuses, but also increases on-axis PAR over bare LEDs.

Also a spectrum sneak peak from the same small unit, both channels run at the same current, 25W total. 130PAR (using Spectrometer measurements) at 12":

Ch1: Royal, Blue, Cyan, PC Amber, Mint, Royal
Ch2: Royal, 415nm, 405nm, 385nm, Royal, Royal

The single Viosys 385nm is a monster.

 

[theatrus]

I cannot wait for the sire to he updated with all the new goodies man !!!

The smallest array is updated on the website. As always, happy to do some custom tweaks. I found the current layout pretty as a nice sweet spot in output.

 

[theatrus]

950-1100 PAR at 12”.

 

[rushbattle]

950-1100 PAR at 12”.

That’s without diffusion? Looks awesome!

 

[theatrus]

That’s without diffusion? Looks awesome!

Without diffusion, correct. In this case I’m not sure it needs it. Doing thermal stress testing now to make sure the center doesn’t end up in a totally molten state.

 

[rushbattle]

Without diffusion, correct. In this case I’m not sure it needs it. Doing thermal stress testing now to make sure the center doesn’t end up in a totally molten state.

That’s even better if it’s not needed, makes the system even more efficient! I think with T5 to help blend and a decently high mounting height these are the best pucks yet! Amazing! Hope the thermal testing goes well!

 

[Steven Garland]

Those new arrays,wow !!! I would love to see what they the strips look like over coral !!!

 

[theatrus]

Those new arrays,wow !!! I would love to see what they the strips look like over coral !!!

I'll grab some pictures of my 90g which, while not the same layout, uses the same ratio of LEDs and types.

 

[theatrus]

That’s even better if it’s not needed, makes the system even more efficient! I think with T5 to help blend and a decently high mounting height these are the best pucks yet! Amazing! Hope the thermal testing goes well!

Measuring stack dense arrays is harder to control for . The radiant energy is enough to tan by (and already had a mishap from a free floating reflector getting knocked into the LEDs, which had a really nice melting effect), so the thermocouple measurements have a lot of radiant heating.

Using the FLIR method and setting emissivity down to 0.45 (a guideline for uncoated LEDs) shows we're still under peak temperatures even at the core. The outer rings are fine. The hottest LEDs are, to no ones surprise, the violets due to their lower efficiency.

I'm setting up for some extended bake tests. This is 100W, and really does need a good heatsink and copious airflow.