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matts 2 gallon pico reef Dymax IQ3


gimptastic matt

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Cheese-Lover
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any advice lads

 

Yes. You can use other drivers.

 

If you want to use the boards that the LEDS are soldered to they are 12v 350ma. Or you can cut the traces and solder jumpers to make them parallel rather than series and treat them as one 3v 750ma led.

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Do you have a Volt Meter? Is there power coming from the power supply? Also, any pics of how you have it wired?

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gimptastic matt

Cheers guys

Which drivers are good i want to run 2 rings on a 1 driver

and 2 on another so 6w 0n each driver

 

i have no pics atm but ill sort sumthing out

 

andrew the reason i havent gone with the par 30 / 38 is solely cost

atm the total cost of this light will be about £30 / $48 thats with buying the new drivers

plus i like tinkering with stuff i shouldnt :)

 

Attached it to an oak stand i made for it

post-73168-1336498141_thumb.jpg

just waiting for a project box and sum switches oh and sum new drivers

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gimptastic matt
All LEDs are dimmable. The problem is that not all drivers are dimmable.

So what dimmable drivers do you recommend

and is it easy to wire together

cheers for getting back so quick josh

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So what dimmable drivers do you recommend

and is it easy to wire together

cheers for getting back so quick josh

 

 

It is hard to recommend any without knowing enough about your particular LEDs.

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gimptastic matt

Right theres 3 1w leds on each ring and they came out of sum cheap chinese gu10 fittings

 

 

Cheese lover says above that there 12v 350ma

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Right theres 3 1w leds on each ring and they came out of sum cheap chinese gu10 fittings

 

 

Cheese lover says above that there 12v 350ma

 

 

The only way I can think of for the 3 leds to run on 12v at 350ma is if there is an inline resistor. You will need to determine the Vf (Forward Votage) for each LED at 350ma. My guess is they are somewhere in the 3 to 3.3 volt range. Which puts you at roughly 9 volts per 3 led cluster.

 

To play it safe the VF range is probably between 2.8v to 3.3v Not much of a swing, but too much v can reduce the life of your LED.

 

With all that being said, if you want to run all LEDs on 1 driver. Then you are looking at a constant current power supply that pushes no less than 27v.

 

If you want to make these dimmable you might have a hard time finding a driver for this. Most of the drivers current far exceed that of your max current for this setup. But a Buckpuck might work for this application

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gimptastic matt

Not to bothered about dimming

but could i run 2 drivers so i can switch off 2 rings

thanks again

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Not to bothered about dimming

but could i run 2 drivers so i can switch off 2 rings

thanks again

 

 

Of course you can. Just need to find the drivers. do a good search for buckpucks, that is probably going to be your best bet

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Cheese-Lover
The only way I can think of for the 3 leds to run on 12v at 350ma is if there is an inline resistor. You will need to determine the Vf (Forward Votage) for each LED at 350ma. My guess is they are somewhere in the 3 to 3.3 volt range. Which puts you at roughly 9 volts per 3 led cluster.

 

To play it safe the VF range is probably between 2.8v to 3.3v Not much of a swing, but too much v can reduce the life of your LED.

 

With all that being said, if you want to run all LEDs on 1 driver. Then you are looking at a constant current power supply that pushes no less than 27v.

 

If you want to make these dimmable you might have a hard time finding a driver for this. Most of the drivers current far exceed that of your max current for this setup. But a Buckpuck might work for this application

 

 

The LEDs themselves are rated for 3.6v running. Testing with both of my multimeters showed that they were being run at just short of 12v instead of 10.8v... Which would mean that they are being run at a higher voltage than spec. (Take this with a grain of salt if you want, that's just how it worked out when I was measuring.)

 

If you want to look at cheap ebay drivers:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dimmable-3-7-X1...=item1e64c8e3ba

 

240v

 

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3-7-x1W-LED-Dim...=item1e64a57c67

 

110v

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The LEDs themselves are rated for 3.6v running. Testing with both of my multimeters showed that they were being run at just short of 12v instead of 10.8v... Which would mean that they are being run at a higher voltage than spec. (Take this with a grain of salt if you want, that's just how it worked out when I was measuring.)

 

If you want to look at cheap ebay drivers:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dimmable-3-7-X1...=item1e64c8e3ba

 

240v

 

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3-7-x1W-LED-Dim...=item1e64a57c67

 

110v

 

 

Good data. I purely speculating based on LEDs I have seen. These things are quite different, a little more inefficient. Any idea what current they were running at?

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Cheese-Lover
Good data. I purely speculating based on LEDs I have seen. These things are quite different, a little more inefficient. Any idea what current they were running at?

 

They are very inefficient. Driving them lower actually makes them look better.... But this is what I found:

 

The whites were being driven at 350ma. Which I guess means ~1.4watts (3.87x0.350=1.3545w)

The Blues were being driven slightly less at 310ma. Which means ~1.2watts (3.87x0.310=1.1997w)

 

Personally. I'd run them at 3-3.6v and anywhere from 280-340ma. (When I was playing around with mine, that was really where they ran really cool and looked about the nicest colour-wise.)

 

 

*Edit:

That is a non-dimmable driver. It'll work if you don't want any dimming, but I'd personally aim for a ~300ma driver rather than a 350ma driver... Just because I didn't like the colour that the blues went at full 350ma. (Looked best 300-310ma @ 3.3v)

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Cheese-Lover
Cheers ill look for a 300ma

 

Sorry to bother you guys again but would this run all 4 rings?

Check out this item I found on eBay:

 

8W 12W 8-12X1W LED Constant Current Driver for High Power LED 300mA UK Stock

 

Link: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8W-12W-8-12X1W-L...k-/280832948141

 

(Sent from eBay Mobile for Android)

 

Yes that would run all of them. But it looks like its non-dimming.

And you would not have the ability to turn any off. It'd be all on or all off.

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gimptastic matt

I think thatll be fine

it doesnt need seperate switching anyway or dimming

cheers cheese lover and josh u guys really know what you doing

and have given great advice thankyou

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I think thatll be fine

it doesnt need seperate switching anyway or dimming

cheers cheese lover and josh u guys really know what you doing

and have given great advice thankyou

 

Before you pull the trigger on ordering that, are you sure you want to run that many LEDs?

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Cheese-Lover
Before you pull the trigger on ordering that, are you sure you want to run that many LEDs?

 

He will be fine... He will just have his SPS corals under 4 inches of gravel.

 

 

But seriously. Look at getting a dimming one. You'll kick yourself otherwise.

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He will be fine... He will just have his SPS corals under 4 inches of gravel.

 

 

But seriously. Look at getting a dimming one. You'll kick yourself otherwise.

 

 

They still might bleach. LOL.

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gimptastic matt

Im gona try it first because im hopefully upgrading my

tank in few weeks or so because cleaning the tank the other day and not paying attention

ive scratched the hell out of the front

so looking to change for a 12" cube or bigger

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gimptastic matt

Jusy ordered a dimmable one aswell

just to keep u guys happy lol :P

 

So how do i dim them whar ate my options?

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gimptastic matt

Wired up my driver today

and when o turmed it on the leds flashed for a bit then burnt out

the diodes have black inside them now

Dont know what ive done wrong

really confused as what to fo next

any suggestions

Oh and with a testing sctewdriver i was picking up a ligjt current on my heatsink

so ive messed up somewhere

:angry:

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