Making a DIY LED 120Watts

[vivekshankarpmk]

Hi All , i am currently doing a DIY LED Light ,i have designed a pattern and not sure if this is ok .please have a look on it and give ur suggestions please. I am using 60 Degree Lens cap for each led

 

[Ron Reefman]

First I have a couple of questions. How big is the tank this is going over? And is this the only fixture or will there be more than one? And why are you using 60 degree lenses? Is this going over a deep tank?

I suspect you are going to have 2 issues causing serious color spotting. You have only 2 red leds, that's OK, but you have them almost next to each other AND you are going to use 60 degree lenses that will focus them right into the center of the array.

You have 4 warm whites at the outer edges. Again with 60 degree lenses you'll just have warm white light at the outer limit of the fixtures spread. Is that what you want?

 

[vivekshankarpmk]

First I have a couple of questions. How big is the tank this is going over? And is this the only fixture or will there be more than one? And why are you using 60 degree lenses? Is this going over a deep tank?

I suspect you are going to have 2 issues causing serious color spotting. You have only 2 red leds, that's OK, but you have them almost next to each other AND you are going to use 60 degree lenses that will focus them right into the center of the array.

You have 4 warm whites at the outer edges. Again with 60 degree lenses you'll just have warm white light at the outer limit of the fixtures spread. Is that what you want?

My tank is a cubical tank 2 feet , i guess its little deep to penetrate thats why i have an idea of using lens. I am new reefer and not sure if my pattern is correct . hence it would be helpful for me if u give ur valuable suggestions

 

[Ron Reefman]

Spread the odd colors (red, green warm white around so they don't work together like a spotlight and make a solid red spot in the middle of the tank.

You guess your tank is a little deep???? That doesn't help much. I don't know what you consider a little deep. Tanks are typically 12", 18", 20", 24", 30" and 36"... more or less. I would only consider 60 degree lenses on a 36" deep tank (or deeper). And even then I'd be much more inclined to use 90 degree lenses. If your tank is 24" or less deep, 120 degree lenses which is what most leds are without lenses. That way the colors mix better.

If you don't really know the best way to build an led fixture, you may be way better of buying one. A 2'x2' cube with one Mars Aqua led would work. They sell for $100 or less if you shop around just a little.

 

[oreo54]

Ok, FIRST thing is that since you are designing your own tailored to what you want you need to
1)Define look characteristics. Deepwater look shallow flats look ect
2) FIX what a commercial light isn't offering.
The above are related as you will want to not "waste" diodes like dimming "whites" ect 80%..

Then for a cube tank should have a cube light..
then simplify.. Reds, greens are really unnecessary w/ using warm and cool whites.. Plenty of it in them IF you use it.
Personal addition.. don't ignore cyan gap...FW or SW it's sort of the "secret sauce"..

60 degree lenses will not help w/ spotlighting colors..unless hung really high..
3W CLASS diodes doesn't mean 120Watts.. Usdually far from it unless you drive those diodes hard and w/ that density and inefficient diodes you prob. will have issues down the road.

suggest you go through this thread a bit..

General DIY LED thread

so we have lots of derailing talk in other threads about DIY lights and what would be the optimal LED layout these days. would love to start a conversation about this. As for a project i'm working on. I'm planning a diy light for a frag tank in my fish room as something for some tinkering...

www.reef2reef.com

just because it looks like "fun"..
POST #24

For just some fun a 2 COLOR array compared to an Iwasaki 6500k spectrum

Purple toned white

 

[vivekshankarpmk]

Spread the odd colors (red, green warm white around so they don't work together like a spotlight and make a solid red spot in the middle of the tank.

You guess your tank is a little deep???? That doesn't help much. I don't know what you consider a little deep. Tanks are typically 12", 18", 20", 24", 30" and 36"... more or less. I would only consider 60 degree lenses on a 36" deep tank (or deeper). And even then I'd be much more inclined to use 90 degree lenses. If your tank is 24" or less deep, 120 degree lenses which is what most leds are without lenses. That way the colors mix better.

If you don't really know the best way to build an led fixture, you may be way better of buying one. A 2'x2' cube with one Mars Aqua led would work. They sell for $100 or less if you shop around just a little.

i had exchanged the 60degree with 120 degree from the shop friend. from the conversation i guess i should shatter the warm whites by making them mix along rather being a spot light. I had a sunsun ads500h marine light which had the warm ones in each corner thats why i designed them like this

 

[Ron Reefman]

i had exchanged the 60degree with 120 degree from the shop friend. from the conversation i guess i should shatter the warm whites by making them mix along rather being a spot light. I had a sunsun ads500h marine light which had the warm ones in each corner thats why i designed them like this

If you liked that look, there is nothing wrong with it... more or less. But the red spectrum in those warm white leds only gets to the corals on the outside edges. And why are you making a long narrow fixture if your tank is a cube?