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Cultivated Reef

Another DIY LED fixture


M@rine_lover

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M@rine_lover

After the 1st LED lighting since last years and the result is good so decided to do another one with 35 LED for better coverage for my tank :P .

 

All stuff just gathered yesterday morning and started my process of diying now and expected to complete by next week includes of testing :D .

 

Here are the update;

 

3mm Aluminum plate with drilled hole for wiring

 

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Adhesive tape for Star MCB, Bond-Ply

 

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Customised White acrylic sheet from DAMA.

 

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Nice acrylic setup (at least it looks that way :)). What are you using for a heatsink on top of that 3mm plate?

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M@rine_lover
Nice acrylic setup (at least it looks that way :)). What are you using for a heatsink on top of that 3mm plate?

 

Just 3mm aluminum plate as heatsink and star metal core PCB will sit on it with the help of Bond-Ply adhesive tape.

 

some updates

 

I will start with boxing up the acrylic sheet first.

 

Process and progress of boxing up the acrylic sheet of 3/4 done and will do the wiring once completed.

 

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M@rine_lover
Thats a kickass acrylic box!! but i think some kind of fins/fans are needed for the leds.

Good work!

 

Yes...2 LCDTV fans are incorporated to disperse heat. You can see 2 round big holes on one of the acrylic panel in my 1st post.

 

 

 

Some updates...

 

Drilled 5 holes at each side of the acrylic panel for ventilation.

 

DSC02818.jpg

 

Glued the side panel. Glass panel inserted for testing.

 

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Top view.

 

DSC02823.jpg

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Fans, good. No heatsink, not so good. I would do something to increase the mass and surface area. Bolt a few PC heatsinks to it or something. A 3mm plate will not be able to adequately cool 130W (assuming you are running at 1000mA). You simply don't have enough mass or surface area to dissipate that much heat.

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reeftankguy

I noticed in the OP that this was your second DYI LED fixture... And you had success with the first one... Did you mount those LEDs to just an aluminum plate? I like the fixture... Nice job!

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M@rine_lover
I noticed in the OP that this was your second DYI LED fixture... And you had success with the first one... Did you mount those LEDs to just an aluminum plate? I like the fixture... Nice job!

 

Yes. All LEDs sit on the 3mm aluminum plate with 2 fans.

 

For this project, I improved the design by reducing the height of 8mm to 6.8mm(slimmer), more LEDs and includes 4 UV (better coverage), large Alumin plate( better heat dissipate), internal & external box layout with refreshing WHITE acrylic compare to 1st LEDs fixture which I'm using it now.

 

The conclusion is .....I like WHITE..hehehe :D !

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M@rine_lover
Fans, good. No heatsink, not so good. I would do something to increase the mass and surface area. Bolt a few PC heatsinks to it or something. A 3mm plate will not be able to adequately cool 130W (assuming you are running at 1000mA). You simply don't have enough mass or surface area to dissipate that much heat.

 

Hi evilc66,

 

Thanks for your advice.

 

I have successfully using just 3mm Alumin for my current 22 LEDs fixture which is running 10hrs/day and the temperature is lower than 30 degree measured with Fluke digital handheld gun thermometer. As such, I would like to try the same method with large size of alumin plate and monitor closely.

 

What I'm going to do once the project completed is...2 reliablity tests. First, I will be let it run for 16~20 hrs non-stop with fans on and measure the temperature end of the day. If the temperature increases to 45~50, I may consider add in proper heatsink but I doubt it needed.

 

Secondly test is to run for 8~10 hrs without fan, but I have to monitor very closely,(every 10~20 minutes) as I do not want my LED to be cooked.

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Seems awfully risky to me to be running with so little mass and surface area. Good luck, but keep a very close eye on it. How much air flow are you running through the housing?

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M@rine_lover
whoa thats awesome, its like some kinda new step in sleeker led design, i guess as it turns out a fin heatsink is not required?

 

Not really...I think you still need fin heatsink if it's more than 80 LEDs :mellow: !

 

My design is lookin into 2 area, first is slim, light and durable N Secondly is "Easy access for repair, maintenance and upgrade" :P .

 

As you can see...my design do not use metal or alumin to box up as I prefer light weight. With fin heatsink, it look very bulky and also put on weight which is against my design concept and personnel liking :angry: .

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M@rine_lover
Seems awfully risky to me to be running with so little mass and surface area. Good luck, but keep a very close eye on it. How much air flow are you running through the housing?

 

Thanks bro. Your point noted :) !

 

btw, how to measure the air flow rate? fan RPM?

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M@rine_lover
put some of these on there Heatsinks400.jpg

space them out evenly. right below a LED is nice.

 

I have many those spare small heatsink that used for LCDTV board at my working place. However, i'll not using it unless it's a most which currently I'm not sure till my testing completed for this new project.

 

For my current 22 LED fixture, I would said "NO" need as the temperature is below 30 degree and the air blow out is cooler than I expected.

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M@rine_lover
Seems awfully risky to me to be running with so little mass and surface area. Good luck, but keep a very close eye on it. How much air flow are you running through the housing?

 

Hi evilc66,

 

Just checked and found that the fan's airflow that I'm using is 22 CFM :o .

 

I do not know how to measure the airflow internally inside the case. So I'm using traditional way by digital thermometer measuring and feel the air that blow out from the 10 ventilaion holes.

 

Do enlighten me if you have any easy and good way to measure.

 

Thanks.

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I was more trying to get an idea how much air you were pushing through there based on the fan ratings. 22cfm in is 22cfm out.

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M@rine_lover
I was more trying to get an idea how much air you were pushing through there based on the fan ratings. 22cfm in is 22cfm out.

 

22 cfm/fan so 2 fans are 44cfm...am i right to say that -_- ?

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M@rine_lover

Progress updates.

 

I have completed the acrylic case and from now onward, I'll be working on soldering, wiring the LED.

 

Top panel

9.jpg

 

Top panel with Fan

8.jpg

 

Rear cover

7.jpg

 

glued the top panel to the main body.

5.jpg

 

top view

3.jpg

 

Front view

2.jpg

 

Completed view.

1.jpg

 

4 DC input connector, White, Royal Blue, Fan and 1 spare.

cee0a837.jpg

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M@rine_lover
Looking sharp.

 

Thanks :happy: .

 

Btw, I will post it to your "Comprehensive DIY LED Project List" once i completed this white series fixture.

 

Am i welcome :rolleyes: ?

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M@rine_lover

Tentatively LED layout.

 

Plan may vary after phyiscal testing.

 

Layout.jpg

 

or this one...

 

LAyout1.jpg

 

or...even this one

 

Layout2.jpg

 

Which one is the idea one?

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