Never implied that. All I said was a 16x4 arrangement would work pretty well over that tank. You are still limited to 13 LEDs, no matter the version of the Meanwell driver.

Hey Evil,
Another LED application question for you. After getting my a$$ burned for running my 150w MH over my 5.5 @ 14 above the surface, I decided I that was enough to push me into building a LED fixture for it, that I had been wanting to do anyways. I want the tank to be all most all SPS in the long run and I want to have the lighting in the 14-20k area. Enough for great growth and a fully lit look. What do you think and are there other things I need to consider? I know all the obvious things I need to consider (heat sink, power supply, driver, etc.) I just wondered how you would setup it up for what Im looking to accomplish. Also a side note I do work in a metal fab shop with break press and laser cutter, so if there is anything I can do myself with those things to better the situation or make it any cheaper.

If you are pretty handy with a laser cutter and break press, you should be able to come up with some pretty slick parts for an enclosure.

A 5.5g should be pretty easy to set up. 16 LEDs total in an 8x2 array, with 2" spacing on a "small" 14" long HeatsinkUSA heatsink. Great coverage and lots and lots of light.

If I had enough fans built into the enclosure, could I build it to fit right on top of the tank for a clean look. Also I know that various leds are available on stars and not on stars. Does that effect the price? lol I have a decent amount of questions obviously.

I appreciate your tireless effort to help people here. We're lucky to have you here. Evil, you are an angel.

I'm starting to build my led fixture. I'll go with 65 cree xr-e (13x5 series driving by ELN-60-48D with dimming controlled by a RKE). Just placed the order for ELN-60 today with powergate, 8-10 weeks delivery. Still having plenty of time to learn more from you.

You only need one fan for an array that size. Try and make it as big as you can though. Bigger fans move more air quieter than smaller ones.

You won't want to get LEDs that aren't mounted. Thats a lot of hassle. They are cheaper, but not by much. It's not worth the headache.



No problem. Keep the questions coming

[quote name='evilc66' date='Jun 25 2009, 12:03 PM' post='2315164']
You only need one fan for an array that size. Try and make it as big as you can though. Bigger fans move more air quieter than smaller ones.

You won't want to get LEDs that aren't mounted. Thats a lot of hassle. They are cheaper, but not by much. It's not worth the headache.

So 4 inch computer fan would probably be plenty enough then? I am really trying to be redundant on this setup.

And ok mounted leds it is. As far as company's I know whats available by who, but from experience who for what would you recommend for my setup? If you feel comfortable stating. I really just wanna use the best of everything as far as quality for this. I just wanna do this once and do it well lol.

You're not going to hit the minimum order for ETG, so going with LED Supply is going to be your best bet. Little more expensive, but same quality. They buy all their stuff from ETG.

OK awesome! Thanks for the help. I was going to draw this up on the computer first, is there any models of any of the leds or heatsinks that you know of?

Anyone know what method ETG ships by? FedEx? UPS? USPS?

They shipped my order out (finally, after 2 weeks) yesterday, curious when the LEDs will arrive.

UPS ground typically. They normally send tracking numbers. If it shipped yesterday, you probably won't see it until Monday.

On my 5.5 setup I would be ok if bumped it up to 18 leds instead of 16 right? maybe throw a UV in there?

Sure. You have to run the UVs at no more than 700mA though, so plan accordingly.

Ok. I may just end up with another cool white and another blue. I just figured if im gonna need 3 pucks I may as well use up it potential.

How many CREE's would I need for a 24 gallon Nano Cube? I am trying to figure all of this out and want to get a list together so I can figure out prices!

what are the dimensions of the cube

Minadin has a good build thread for a 24 Nano Cube,

LED Retrofit for JBJ Nano Cube 24 DX

Thanks man I was looking for a thread that had a 24 cube but I couldnt find one on here thanks a lot for providing me with that link!

what's the best thing to use between the leds mounted to the heatsink & the water???

i was thinking about using a piece of 1/4" acrylic cut to fit in the upeer tank frame recess where a glass top would fit. then make something to space the heatsink face where the leds are mounted about 3/8-1/2" off it. think that should work or would glass be a better option??

i like the acrylic cause i could also make cutouts around the heatsink for gas exchange w/ the water & also water cooling (maybe w/ a fan or 2 aimed at the water surface)

thoughts?? suggestions??

glass or acrylic doesnt matter. acrylic is a little more workable. you just need something to keep the salt creep and moisture off. when you are done soldering and tested, you can put clear nail polish over the solderjoints to seal it but you still need a splash guard.

Ok so Im thinking maybe this would be a good setup for my 5.5g. 17 leds in a crisscross pattern.

B B W W B B
_W B W B W
B B W W B B
Kinda hard on here to get the letter where I want them to stay lol but I think you see im showing the center 5 offset to the middle of the outside rows.

Do you think this would be a good spread of light? or would the 8x2 be better?

Would a maybe wanna run a medium sized heat sink instead?

I guess I just dont know what the spread of light from each led is at a certain height.

the 8x2 array is plenty for that small tank. it is better to have better coverage side to side than front to back. as evil posted earlier the 8x2 will be more than enough. for comparison, i am doing a 10 gal with only 18 leds(9x2)

Well I sent Evil a PM on this, but just browsing around I found this PWM dimmer. Thoughts on it controlling the Meanwell drivers?

http://www.superbrightleds.com/specs/dimmer.htm

I have a question, not sure if it was already discussed here but there are a lot of pages. I was wondering if there is a way to have a Dusk/dawn effect with LEDs but not the On (actinics), On (daylights), Off (daylights) Off (Actinics). I was thinking more like a electronic potentiometer that could dim the intensity of maybe both Blues and whites at the same time or maybe first actinics and then whites but dimming before and after each reach full output and completely turn off. Perhaps any electronic device like aqua controllers or reefkeepers or something like that could do the trick?

Ok well this sounds like the setup I am deffinatly going to go with:
1- 14" Small Heatsink
3 - 1000mA Buckpucks
8 - Royal Blue Cree LEDs
8 - Cool White Cree LEDs
1 - 24w 6.7V power supply
1 or 2 large quality fans
1- well designed aluminum housing to throw it all in!

Does this sound like a powerful and quality fixture in the making? Just making sure I didnt miss anything or mess anything up. Thanks!

for the moment the reefkeeper elite but very soon the reefkeeper lite will be able to also. you will need the ALC unit to go with it. in addition, isaw somewhere in another thread here that it would work with buckpucks too, not only the meanwells


on the power supply did you mean 24v 6.5/7A. if it is 6.7v it will not do. this power supply?

I don't see any reason why that wouldn't work but it is $40 per dimmer which would be pricey for more than one. You could probably even power it up off the output of the Meanwell.

24v 6.5/7A is exactly what i meant. i had been up for like 20+ hours when i made that post. So other than that it all looks fine?

everything looks fine

Awesome! Also, in the future if I wanted to run LEDs as a fuge light would I be able to attach 1 more buckpuck to that setup to run a few Cree Cool Whites?

yes you could. that power supply would run up to 6 buckpucks at 1000mA

since the dimmable meanwells are all but unavailable for next month or 2 from so many orders for them, what are your thoughts on these????

Someone here a while back used these and they said they were ok. You need to treat them like the Meanwell "D" drivers, but with an external 5v power source and pot for dimming control.

Little pricey though.

better version here,,,

http://www.lightechinc.com/pdfs/LED-36%20D...0mA%20rev2c.pdf

Needs a triac dimmer to use the dimming function. Not sure how much those will end up costing in addition to the driver. They seem to be fairly simple to build though.

how many 1w LED's would it take to light up a 2.3 gal fuge, 4?

Maybe, depends on the dimensions.

sorry, its 11.5 x 11.5 x 4.5 but the macro is only about 2-4 inches under the water

It could work. The spacing would have to be pretty wide to make it worthwhile (about 3-4")

Hi guys, I just bough 3 LEDs in the latest group buy for a pico. I will be installing 4 total in a 700mA Buckpuck (non dimmable). Question is: I have a spare Macbook power supply with the end that connects to the computer damaged and was wondering if I can use this for my 4 LEDs

Here the specs:

85W
Input: 100-1240v- 1.5A 50-60 Hz
Output: 18.5V --- 4.6A
16.5V --- 3.6A

Looks fine

For you folks craving the Meanwell "D" and cant get your hands on them, James found these a few post back at $55 which Evil thought was a bit high. I chatted with the vendor and lined up two of them for $30 each plus shipping which seems a lot more reasonable. I was going to use these myself but since they are 700ma and I do not feel like acquiring 5V wall warts, I am going to go the buckpuck route and I thought someone could use them.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=360172801022

Hope this is useful to someone,
-Darren

Thats not a bad deal.

i only need 2 for my build....too bad i'm broke or i'd be on both of those like a fat kid on a piece of cake

I'm looking to do a BC14 build, and while browsing ledsupply's website or LED's, I came across the 107 lumen Q5 cool whites. Are these ok to use in a 12 LED setup with two 1000ma buckpucks at 50/50 with the RB led's?

Would it be more beneficial to do another driver and add a few more LED's? Or would heat become an issue?

Everyone uses the Q5s. There isn't much need to add any more than 12 LEDs to that tank. You aren't going to be able to cover any more area, and the increased intensity is wasted.

I was going to fit a slightly larger heatsink in my hood than waterproof used, then I could squeeze some more light in the edges of the tank. But you've seen this done more than myself, so I'll trust your opinion

Can one dimmable meanwell driver power my RB's seperate from my CW's? Or is there no way to adjust the color sway on a meanwell? If not, then two 1000ma buck pucks are the way to go?

If you want adjustable color, you have to use two drivers, no matter which one you chose. For just 12 LEDs, Buckpucks are more cost effective.

Sweet! I appreciate the response! Do you think it's possible for me to cool these with the stock hood fans? Or I was thinking I could drill one 80mm hole in the hood right behind the heatsink, and remove the stock hood fans and just use the hood vents as an air exit. Or would it work better to have both the stock fans blow outward? Those fans are just really loud, and I would prefer them not be in use if I don't need them to be.

Do the buckpucks need heatsinks? Or will they be ok in a small project box of some sort? I figured it would be better not to mount them in the hood, as to decrease heat.

While the fans produce enough flow, they just aren't in the right spot. It's better to just remove them and use an 80mm fan directly over the heatsink.

Buckpucks don't need a heatsink, but ventilation is a good idea. There have been many others that have mounted them in the hood with success. They don't add any appreciable heat to the setup.