uxdesigner Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 (edited) Inspired by the Aqua Illuminations (AI) Sol Blue modules. I decided to build my own retrofit into my existing Red Sea Max 250 hood. Specs: 48 3 Watt Cree LED's 16 Cool White 16 Royal Blue 8 Blue 8 Neutral White 4 Meanwell Drivers running 12 LED's each Dimmable on a blue and white channel Package Arrives: Wiring and layout specs complete. I will be building 2 of these 16 x 6 (24 LED) modules. Carefully gutted the hood. (Available for sale, PM if interested) Installed the horizontal aluminum brace that will be used for mounting the modules. (You can also see I upgraded the fans to the Silenx) Used connector bolts attached with epoxy to create the mounting hardware. LED's attached (Thermal Adhesive) All wired up. Lit them up to test and damn these are bright! Was able to fit the 4 Meanwell drivers in the hood and retain the stock LED moon lights. Installed the dimmer potentiometers under the timer lid (1 controls white, 1 controls blue). I really like the ability to mix the colors as well as slowly acclimate the tank. Shot of the hood without optics for now as I still have a few things to clean up but needed to get some light on my corals that have been deprived for 3 days All I can say is wow these things are bright! Really happy I decided to go LED, the shimmer is awesome! This is a FTS with the LED's running at 15%% without optics and they are equal to the 6 stock T5's in brightness. Next I'll be adding the optics. I've heard of people burning their corals so I'm going to be safe and slowly acclimate. To be honest I don't think I will ever be able to run them at full brightness but we will have to see. Heat is zero, the air coming out of the side fans is cool compared to hot when the T5's were running. It's a great design as the fans blow air through the heat-sink fins from left to right. Edited October 13, 2011 by uxdesigner Quote Link to comment
Zackb911 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Nice job! Congrats. What did the whole build cost you? Quote Link to comment
nickjqz Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 That is sweet! What ma are you running the leds at? Quote Link to comment
uxdesigner Posted October 13, 2011 Author Share Posted October 13, 2011 Nice job! Congrats. What did the whole build cost you? Thanks! Everything was roughly around $500. That is sweet! What ma are you running the leds at? Thanks! The XP-E's can handle the drivers max but with the dimmers I'm at around half. The XP-G's are rated at 1000man max and I set the limit to 990mah and run those also at about half. Quote Link to comment
sammy113 Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Looks great! I built something like this too for my 40b. Well done Quote Link to comment
Kyclops Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Looks awesome! Makes me wish I did a diy build! Quote Link to comment
halcyonism Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Very clean looking, nice work! Quote Link to comment
metrokat Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Your LED's rock. Quote Link to comment
gwcreefer Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I did a 38 led upgrade in the hood as well. I used the kit from aquastyle leds. The colors really pop over the stock lights. So far everything has been opening bigger then ever. There was plenty of room in the hood for everything after you remove the stock lighting. I keep the stock moon lights, just had to move them in front of the heatsink. Quote Link to comment
uxdesigner Posted March 22, 2013 Author Share Posted March 22, 2013 Looks great! I built something like this too for my 40b. Well done Looks awesome! Makes me wish I did a diy build! Very clean looking, nice work! Your LED's rock. Thansks everyone! Quote Link to comment
Tiberius1985 Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 What are the details on the LED drivers? I'm about to start this same build. Thanks Quote Link to comment
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