24 DIY LED Budget build

[marinoob]

so i decided to do a 24 LED budget build for my 14" Advance Acrylics Cube for a zoa grow out tank. I kept a little log on my local reef club website and decided to bring it over here to get some criticisms. im going to write out a list of materials and pictures.

 

-12" x 6" Heatsink from heatsinks USA - Total: $36.50

 

----2x 1000ma buckpucks Total 101.94

-1x 24v 2.5a power supply

-30 thermal pads so i didnt have to drill and tap heatsink

-4' of 4 different colors of wire.

 

-12x stevesLED's 3w 10,000k leds (actually bought 20) - Total : $96.70

-12x stevesLED's 3w Actinic leds (actually bought 20)

-24x 30* optics (only angle steve has, wanted to just test it to see but claims the leds have 90* lense built in)

 

-medium project box Total : $3.00

 

-solder - Total: $4.00

 

 

-male and female dc connectors from radioshack - Total: $10

 

-4" PC Fan wired to a 5v cellphone charger - Total: Recycled

 

-Wood - Total: $4.00

 

- i think that is it but their might be more that i will add later

 

Grand Total: $256.14

 

Savings:

-2 1000ma Dimmable Buckpucks = $40.00

-1 24v 2.5a powersupply = $29.99

-steve's led's ($2) instead of crees($6)x40pcs = $160.00

 

Total Savings: $229.99 almost a 50% savings

 

 

 

 

 

 

im running 12 led's per buckpuck in 2 paralell series of 6 wired in grid fashion for safety reasons. that way if one led blows i will only loose 2 led's theoretically

 

heatsink with fan sitting on it

parts from ledsupply

paper drawn out in cad used for spacing

dots on the heatsink from holding a sharpie on the paper i made :-)

12 white led's mounted with thermal pads ( steve ran out of blues :-(

white led's wired up and project box with buckpuck inside

all wired up blues and whites with a wooden box i made up.

top view with wooden box.and my wiring mess

[Dasani]

I thought buckpucks could only drive 6 3w LED's?

Other than that, great job!

[marinoob]

they are 1000ma buckpucks running 6 leds in series with 2 strings run in paralell also with grid wiring. and since they are paralell they get 500ma per string instead of the full 1000ma

[Dasani]

they are 1000ma buckpucks running 6 leds in series with 2 strings run in paralell also with grid wiring. and since they are paralell they get 500ma per string instead of the full 1000ma

O, I did not know that.

[marinoob]

O, I did not know that.

 

most people run theirs around 30-40% and are keeping high light corals. im only planning on keeping soft corals. zoa's/palys/frogspawn/etc. with my leds running at max power which is 500ma they will be running at 71.4% of their actual full power of 700ma. i think that most people dont go that high.

 

if this goes well im thinking of doing a 48 led fixture for my main tank with 2 dimmable mean-wells when adjusted mean-wells run at a max of around 1300ma from what ive heard so 1300 divided by 2 for 2 parallel strings of 12 in series all the led's would be getting 650ma each which is 92.8%

[marinoob]

here is a wiring diagram i just drew up to describe how i wired these. i beleive it is correct. but this is grid wiring

 

[fly*]

Very neat

[Zeadon]

awsome, love it

[noobwithatank]

where did you find the prices for his leds on his website.. i cant locate them or anything related to them...

[marinoob]

where did you find the prices for his leds on his website.. i cant locate them or anything related to them...

 

 

his LED's are $2.15/each for 10,000k or actinic and 30* optics are i tihnk $0.50/each shipping is flat rate of $5 for most stuff

 

his website is a mess but he is a great guy to order from.

 

i want to run this unit for like 6 months as a tesat and if i like the way it performs with these cheaper led's i will be building a unit for my 36" tank i tihnk it will be a t5ho/LED hybrid i found a guy local that will machine me a custom heatsink to house everytihng for a reasonable price. i really wish i could find someone with a Quantum(par) meter semi close to me so i could get some measurements. my local club is pretty new so none is available to barrow. and i can see paying $300+ for a meter to measure the light output of a $250 light

[marinoob]

was really hoping for a comment from evil :-) he helped me with this through dozens of PM's about 2 months back.

[sammy113]

Very cool lamp. I didn't know in a series parallel you had to bridge each LED to other (orange and green wires in diagram) I thought you just needed to make two series strings and run each (-) and (+) at each end together to the - & + on driver.

 

Then I don't get why the first two Whites and Blues from left to right are not bridged to the other? They just go from (-) to the next in series

 

As long as it works for you its good, but I want to understand this for future builds. You are very right in using Meanwells ELN which goes higher than 1000mA and divided by two still runs at high mA each string.

 

Very interesting

[marinoob]

this image is of the wiring for the whites. from the looks of things i have them all connected. are you seeing something im missing? everything works and lites 100% but the grid wiring is designed to loose only 2 leds if something were to go wrong with one led you would only loose one other led instead of a whole string.

 

if one led dies in the lower string and im running at 100% the 1000ma will travel through 1 led instead of being split between the 2 strings of led;s but then after passing through the one led @ 1000ma it will then split back to the 2 strings @ 500ma. so the 1 led that is running @ 1000ma will probably overheat and blow also. but you only then loose 2 led's not the whole string.

 

the wiring diagram is on the bottom of the meanwell spec sheet as one of the possibilities of how to wire the led's. evil doesnt recomend this method with 3w led's. but i thought i would give it a try. if everything works as planned this will be scaled up with meanwells running 24 per meanwell @650ma max. and will only need 2 meanwells for 48 led's my only question for the meanwells is are they really rated to run at 1300ma like most people say they run at if you crank them up? am i shortening their lifespan by running them at 1300ma? if so by how much? i dont have those problems because the buckpucks are designed to run at 1000ma.

 

when in doubt ask Evil :-) he is like a encyclopedia of LED knowledge.

 

 

[marinoob]

after posting my response to your post i reread your post and i kinda understand what you are asking i cant find the spec sheet that shows that grid wiring and dont have any good drawing programs on my home computer. but the grid wiring could also be wired up like a H between 4 LED's instead of me wiring the jumper directly onto the led star i could have connected it anywhere on the wires between the led's i will draw something up tomorrow when i have time.

[B.C.]

Interesting,im following along as im looking to do something for my 40 gallon and need all the help i can get.Thanks for sharing your build.

[sammy113]

Thanks Marinoob. That explains everything. I don't really know if meanwells go up to 1300mA. I know they do go a little more over 1A but not sure if 1.3 There's gotta be some way to test for current by hooking up something to the driver so it detects that there is a load and adjust the SVR2 to max and see what it does. I believe you can't take accurate readings of there is no load on them

[marinoob]

the 1300ma was what evil said they will run at. i have no experience with them it might even state on the spec sheet what max is also.

[thewire]

where and how is the stevesLED compared to Cree?

[marinoob]

one day when i can find a quantum(par) meter in my area i will let you know what kind of numbers i get. if someone reputable wants i can send them one of my extra whites to compare to a cree white. with a controlled test like 12" from led with meter and both using the same type of power supply. i dont know anyone with a par meter so im up for suggestions. even if i had a par meter i dont have any cree LED's wonder if i could buy one for a week and return it :-)

[autopro]

Any updates to this? I am also interested in buying some LED's from Steve and was wondering how you like the 10k's? I know you don't have a meter but how does the light output look to you compared to the Cree’s?

 

Thanks,

[marinoob]

i havent bought any cree led's yet but do plan on it. i absolutely like the 10,000k led's they look good by them selves and then when i turn the actinic on it is just amazing. i plan on having water in the tank by tomorrow.

 

last night i gutted my 20" 2x40w current light and i cut it down to 15" those lights are meant to be cut to any length they are adjustable. it looks 100x better than my POS wood box. will post more pictures tomorrow when im adding water into it. all i need to do is plumb my drain and im done.

[lohitha]

Instead of buckpucks, why not use these? They are adjustable per description.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/DC-12V-2A-Switching-Po...8#ht_3437wt_911

 

12V/2A/24W. I suppose you can hook two series of LED to get 1A current through each circuit. They are super cheap (<$12) and you dont need 12V power supply. Please let me know what you think. I am thinking of using them for my LED build and my plan is to build sub $100 fixture for 14g biocube.

[marinoob]

Instead of buckpucks, why not use these? They are adjustable per description.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/DC-12V-2A-Switching-Po...8#ht_3437wt_911

 

12V/2A/24W. I suppose you can hook two series of LED to get 1A current through each circuit. They are super cheap (<$12) and you dont need 12V power supply. Please let me know what you think. I am thinking of using them for my LED build and my plan is to build sub $100 fixture for 14g biocube.

 

 

im not good with LED's i just know what i have learned from this site. the 24v 2.5a power-supply i bought was toooo expensive i tihnk around $40 i had 2 available at home from old laptops. and there are better options on ebay. to buy a new on ebay could be around $20. don't go too cheap on your build

 

if you like the 50/50 blue/white ratio you could do the 1 meanwell with 24 led's

 

before you do anything i would ask evil. even though he wouldn't do it this way he will let you know if it will work or not. he is a great guy and knows his sh!t. he wont run them like this but he will point out flaws and let you know his concerns.

[marinoob]

some pictures of my setup updated with new housing on led light fixture. crushed coral in it and ro/di added. need to make 1 more 5gallon bucket of water before i can start.

 

back of the tank plumbing

 

fts with leds on the lowest settings with camera setting changed

 

whites on 100% blues on 0% camera on auto

 

whites on 100% blues on 100% camera on auto

 

top down shot with leds as low as i can get them

 

just a cool macro shot i took

 

top down fixture shot

[evilc66]

Looking good marinoob, but with all that room in that housing, you couldn't have put the drivers internal to clean it up a bit?