LEDBrick - DIY LED Pendant with Pucks

[theatrus]

The "half" Z layout was basically the 16 up with double the spacing, which was thermally advantageous. I didn't want to stack the Zs closer to the center as the thermal pour would only extend in one direction with that arrangement.

I do however have an 8-up in the works, with the same size and reflector combo, using the Luxeon C and SemiLEDs UV which are spaced closer to the center - this was a bit easier since the C has a dedicated thermal pad that is shared among all the LEDs.

I don't use red or 550nm greens - with white LEDs you don't need it and it's a waste to pack super narrow emitters in non-essential spectral spots.

Warm and neutral whites is my usual loading, along with maybe a Lime, and usually a 500nm Cyan (a dead spot in most white LEDs). I also recently got the 90+CRI 5700k (Cool) whites (which have a very balanced spectrum) and Mint LEDs (Lime phosphor with violet bleeding through) in the C footprint - can't wait to try some combinations soon!

 

[stefanm]

The "half" Z layout was basically the 16 up with double the spacing, which was thermally advantageous. I didn't want to stack the Zs closer to the center as the thermal pour would only extend in one direction with that arrangement.

I do however have an 8-up in the works, with the same size and reflector combo, using the Luxeon C and SemiLEDs UV which are spaced closer to the center - this was a bit easier since the C has a dedicated thermal pad that is shared among all the LEDs.

I don't use red or 550nm greens - with white LEDs you don't need it and it's a waste to pack super narrow emitters in non-essential spectral spots.

Warm and neutral whites is my usual loading, along with maybe a Lime, and usually a 500nm Cyan (a dead spot in most white LEDs). I also recently got the 90+CRI 5700k (Cool) whites (which have a very balanced spectrum) and Mint LEDs (Lime phosphor with violet bleeding through) in the C footprint - can't wait to try some combinations soon!

Sorry for bumping an old thread, what is the thickness of the acrylic that you have used?

 

[Steven Garland]

I really think a smaller square board with about 6-8 leds on 2 channels would be amazing. I know we spoke about clusters via emails,but I really think that would bad butt.

Something smaller where people could put them in small spaces,like me where I want to use an array in my told Nanobox fixture where normal arrays won't work due to the small area.

Something like this would be super nice:

(ACTINIC)
CH1-3 royals,1 violet
CH2-1 mint,1 violet,1 regular blue,1 royal.

("20K")
CH1-3 royals,1 violet
CH2-1 neutral white,1 mint,1 regular blue,1 violet

 

[Lingwendil]

I've got a custom Luxeon C board set over my 20 long that is similar to your second option-

Ch1- 1x royal blue, 1x blue, 1x mint, 1x 5700k high CRI white
Ch2- 3x royal blue, 1x violet



It flat out rocks! Looks just like a 20k Radium (as I hoped it would) and I get excellent growth.

Terrible pic, but it's one of my favorites, so I'm posting it. Doesn't do it justice, but gives a good idea...




What I really want, is a version of the 24w boards that have a two channel driver already on board, so you literally just feed it DC and PWM, and mount it. Would be killer for smaller setups or pendants.

 

[Steven Garland]

Shoot,even running this with a MakersLEd 2up Basic and 2 ldd's you would be good. Get a cheap Meanwell DC laptop power supply from Led Supply and 2 ldd's,mixed with a MakersLED slim sink and that would be a super nice combo. I am trying to work with them and come up with some more lights,compared to what they already have,and different sized arrays,from circle to square to make things easier to fit into smaller areas. I also have tried to get them to think about adding solder pads to the light for people who want to solder. I was having trouble with my non solid core wire with the terminals.

For something that can come in at basically the same price as a A80 but stronger,is awesome for nano people.

 

[theatrus]

Kicking my old thread thinking about "whats next".

Having designed, consulted on, and built a number of LED setups over the years (with a family health break in between), my biggest pain point has been wiring, especially when dealing with PWM dimming and multi-channel control. Its also a major source of headaches having to assemble all of the relevant parts, especially for larger installations over big tanks. Its also the #1 source of questions nearly anywhere.

A few other changes have been rolling out in terms of LEDs even though there aren't any quantum leaps of efficiency or spectrum (and UV remains expensive and harder to find). EcoTech has shifted to the Hemispherical lens style on their newest Radeon. The Chinese manufacturers are very good at stuffing LEDs on a metal PCB at prices no one in the EU/US can match. The gap between top-end and bottom-end fixtures is growing, and no one uses DIY LEDs for pure cost savings.

I want to try to solve the issue of installation and control for retrofit fixtures and larger custom installations. I'd like to reduce everything down to one daisy changed cable assembly which carries power and control. This means we are integrating drivers and LEDs in nearby or connected PCBs, with wiring between them. I'm currently evaluating two main physical solutions:

• RJ45
• USB-C

Pros of RJ45 are:

• Easy to make yourself
• Dirt cheap in very small sizes (6in, etc) which are needed when stringing together LEDs
• Can re-use multiple pairs of wires for +Ve and GND, with two differential control signals (3/3/2)

Cons of RJ45:

• The connector is physically very tall, especially when dealing with "tab up" connectors.
• Wide variance in quality of cables used, meaning variable power delivery capabilities

Pros of USB-C connector:

• Very slimline connector
• Available in 6in lengths readily

Cons of USB-C:

• Thinner wires = less daisy chaining power available (only a pair of VBUS/GND connectors).
• Complex assortment of wire types, can really only rely on USB-C 2.0 cables
• Cables are more expensive, and can't be home-made.
• Actually plugging in a USB-C device into a string used for light control will likely lead to a very broken end device

I'm currently leaning on RJ45/8P8C cabling - any thoughts?

 

[Ranjib]

Usb c is fancy , while rj45 is old. But if that’s what make sense, I think it’s a fair choice to with it

 

[theatrus]

Just for some illustration, this is roughly what I'm going for in terms of layup:

This is on a MakersLED Slim heatsink, though could be used on any stock. I'm using an existing driver here (MicroDriver v2) as a illustrative example, but imagine the two ends of the driver being RJ45, and the third end being an AVX 9159 series of plug/socket lighting connectors, which means the LED and driver board just slide together.

The LED board (the piece of paper!) is also an experiment using Carclo Hemispherical 20mm bubble lenses with Luxeon C emitters. I'm also experimenting with the denser 3x 10mm lens assemblies, all with or without the light bead diffuser material I have been using so far.

 

[Steven Garland]

With UV prices being so high for Luxeon's why don't you just use Semi's ?! After being mounted at cost of $3-$4 I'm sure its a good choice compared to Lux UV.

Whatever happened to your led strips ? I see they arent a option on your site anymore.

 

[theatrus]

With UV prices being so high for Luxeon's why don't you just use Semi's ?! After being mounted at cost of $3-$4 I'm sure its a good choice compared to Lux UV.

Whatever happened to your led strips ? I see they arent a option on your site anymore.

SemiLEDs N3535 1As are in consideration for sure. In low quantities (hundreds) the diode cost is in the $2.50 realm, pre-tariff. Luxeon UV U1/U2s are about $5.

I pulled the initial AcroStrips as they were a pain for manufacturing in their initial form, plus too many SKUs. I've tooled up since then and looking at launching a revised version of the 2 most popular varieties.

 

[Kampo]

SemiLEDs N3535 1As are in consideration for sure. In low quantities (hundreds) the diode cost is in the $2.50 realm, pre-tariff. Luxeon UV U1/U2s are about $5.

I pulled the initial AcroStrips as they were a pain for manufacturing in their initial form, plus too many SKUs. I've tooled up since then and looking at launching a revised version of the 2 most popular varieties.

whats your opinion on the VioSys diode Steve uses on his Hypervilolet v4 he seems to think they are the best cost effective option compared to the luxeon..

excited to see where this project goes. I almost went with your board for my last build. but as you said you were dealing with some stuff past few months and decided to try the chinese route.

 

[theatrus]

whats your opinion on the VioSys diode Steve uses on his Hypervilolet v4 he seems to think they are the best cost effective option compared to the luxeon..

excited to see where this project goes. I almost went with your board for my last build. but as you said you were dealing with some stuff past few months and decided to try the chinese route.

I have yet to sample them but keeping my eye on it.

 

[Steven Garland]

Maybe get with Jeff at StevesLeds and see if he will sell you loose diodes on the violets,I'm sure he won't have a problem.


How much would this end up costing if you were to offer this to the public i.e the driver board drivers and led array ? Would you also offer the items individually ?

 

[Kampo]

thought about just making it all one board? kinda like this o2surplus concept he was working on?

could then do discreet channels. heck even 8, would need a RJ45 on the outside of each light fixture for control and a power supply connector. would be pretty clean.

Something like:
12 RB basically every other channel on that board
3 Violet
3 UV
2Mint and a luxeon c high CRI cool white
1 Blue 1 Cyan and maybe another High CRI cool white, or maybe a warm? don't think any more than 1 blue and cyan would be needed in my opinion.

so basically 5 channels but I think having the RB split up will let you get a lot dimmer RB for nightlight (1% on my light is quite bright still) should be able to break tha tdown to 2 channels really easy too.

or just skip the cyan/blue and do something like this:

12xRB
6xUV/Violet
2-3 Mints
2-3 High CRI whites (the luxeon sunplus have good coverage in the cyan/blue range)

have the RB/UV same control channel but different drivers. undecided if I would want Mint/White on the same channel.

Maybe go with 1RB 2 Mint and 1RB and 2 White on those channels. that would be a lot of blue "OOMPH" but I feel that in normal ratios you see people hardly utilize there white channel in a 1:2 ratio. this would be closer to a 1:3 Ratio.

 

[Steven Garland]

God I need someone to make me one of these...

 

[theatrus]

thought about just making it all one board? kinda like this o2surplus concept he was working on?

could then do discreet channels. heck even 8, would need a RJ45 on the outside of each light fixture for control and a power supply connector. would be pretty clean.

Something like:
12 RB basically every other channel on that board
3 Violet
3 UV
2Mint and a luxeon c high CRI cool white
1 Blue 1 Cyan and maybe another High CRI cool white, or maybe a warm? don't think any more than 1 blue and cyan would be needed in my opinion.

so basically 5 channels but I think having the RB split up will let you get a lot dimmer RB for nightlight (1% on my light is quite bright still) should be able to break tha tdown to 2 channels really easy too.

or just skip the cyan/blue and do something like this:

12xRB
6xUV/Violet
2-3 Mints
2-3 High CRI whites (the luxeon sunplus have good coverage in the cyan/blue range)

have the RB/UV same control channel but different drivers. undecided if I would want Mint/White on the same channel.

Maybe go with 1RB 2 Mint and 1RB and 2 White on those channels. that would be a lot of blue "OOMPH" but I feel that in normal ratios you see people hardly utilize there white channel in a 1:2 ratio. this would be closer to a 1:3 Ratio.

The all-in-one has issues with optimal routing for the drivers on a one layer MPCB, espeically when adding local control circuitry (so many jumper resistors!). I've considered it, but its easier to just split the process and pay the $2 in connector overhead to split the two.

Overall the idea is still sound though, as a higher power puck.

 

[theatrus]

Maybe get with Jeff at StevesLeds and see if he will sell you loose diodes on the violets,I'm sure he won't have a problem.


How much would this end up costing if you were to offer this to the public i.e the driver board drivers and led array ? Would you also offer the items individually ?

Unsure on cost, also depends on optics. I do go through entire reels of LEDs now so pricing slides down, but then tariffs slide them back up

Its still a component build system, so its mix and match but does have a suggested pairing for optimum performance. Also, I've been exploiting the common anode structure of the LM3414 drivers quite a bit which makes wiring a lot easier.

 

[dantimdad]

@theatrus Let me know when you are ready to test some of these ideas out.

 

[Kampo]

@theatrus Let me know when you are ready to test some of these ideas out.

Same I've got a frag tank build qued up. Planning on using the 3 half mega pros I have. But would be open to trying something new too.

 

[Kampo]

also unrelated question. the 3 half megas I have from you. I really want to use a bar type heatsink for them but there a bit to big for stevesled heatsink is there important circuts in the top/bottom 5mm? or can it be cut down.