AI FrankenSol: Converting AI Sol Blue to use neutral white LEDs and more!

[slinger]

Anyone care to join me on a warranty-voiding journey into the heart of the AI Sol Blue, whereupon we will swap out LEDs with the intention of creating the AI FrankenSol? I realize that I may be a day late and a dollar short with this post given the recent announcements and leaked info concerning the AI Vega and Vega Color, but I thought there still might be some of you who would find this interesting and/or useful.

 

Anyway, the intent of this modification is to swap out some of the LEDs in the AI Sol Blue to create a more visually (and hopefully photosynthetically) pleasing appearance. There are two phases to this project:

 

Phase 1: Remove all the Cree cool white LEDs from the white channel and replace them with Cree neutral white LEDs (possibly a misture of neutral white and high CRI white).

 

Phase 2: Remove some (or possibly all) of the regular blue channel LEDs and replace with a combination of single color LEDs (red,green,ultraviolet).

 

When this modification is complete, the white channel will remain white but will be more neutral in color, the royal blue channel will be untouched and remain all royal blue, and the regular blue channel will now control a mixture of single colors. In this way we retain the programability of the AI sol fixture, along with the form factor.

 

--------------------------------------

 

PHASE 1-A: Ordering the replacement LEDs for the white channel

 

Given all the discussion going on about the appropriateness of the cool white LEDS when paired with the royal blues, and the general washed out color that combination produces, I decided to try replacing the cool whites with neutral whites. In the course of disassembling the AI Sol and examining the individual "pucks" that each LED group resides on, it became clear that the easiest way to proceed was to stay with Cree XP LEDs as much as possible. The LEDs on the pucks are all bare Cree LEDs flow-soldered directly to the puck, so I needed to find a place to source these LEDs. Ultimately I wound up purchasing the replacement LEDs from Mouser Electronics (www.mouser.com).

 

Now, if you've looked at Cree LED information before, you know that there is roughly a billion different combinations of bins, flux levels and color temperatures for the white LEDs, so it can be a little daunting. I used the Cree XP Family Binning and Labeling document located here as a source of data for what LEDs are what:

 

http://www.cree.com/~/media/Files/Cree/LED...g/XLampXPBL.pdf

 

I decided to narrow down my choice of replacement LEDs to the following range, and in stock availability from Mouser:

 

neutral white 4500K - Order code: XPGWHT-01-0000-00GC2 - $4.57 each

High CRI white - Order code: XPGWHT-P1-0000-009E7 - $4.00 each

I messed up a little on the neutral white in that I searched Mouser for the 4500K Cree xpg, and ordered the one that showed up assuming it was in what Cree calls their "neutral white" range of tints. In actuality, order code XPGWHT-01-0000-00GC2 is actually a part of their "outdoor white" range, which seems to be a sort of happy medium between neutral white and warm white, but for our purposes I think it will work fine.

 

Specs for the LEDs I purchased:

 

XPGWHT-01-0000-00GC2 - Outdoor - Group R4, Flux 130 , CCT 4500K

XPGWHT-P1-0000-009E7 - 85-CRI - Group P4, Flux 80.6, CCT 3000K

So, I ordered 9 of the outdoor white LEDs and 5 of the 85-CRI white LEDs from Mouser, as I wasn't sure if I wanted to do all outdoor white or a mixture of the two, and I wanted an extra of each in case I screwed one up (and I always screw one up). 3 days later the following arrived in a deceivingly large package:

 

Not pictured: $60 dollars evaporating into the wind

 

If you're wondering why one is missing from each strip, it's because at the time of this writing I have already completed test reflows on two of the pucks.

 

-------

 

Coming up next:

PHASE 1-B: Disassembling the AI Sol Blue and re-flowing the LEDs

[siwelk]

Lurk much?

 

[kgoldy]

I'm interested to see how this goes.

[CalmSeasQuest]

Following along. I've always preferred the neutral/warm white option rather than the disco ball, add-every-color-until-we-get-it -right approach.

 

I've got AI SOL Blues that were converted from SOL whites...

 

 

Which means I've got leftover SOL white pucks if you end up needing more.

[nivekid]

Lurk much?

 

 

Hahaha.

[JamesHL88]

Im following for the simple fact that it took you 6 years to work up the courage to post this.

[dling]

Good luck man. Theres a lot of money at stake by voiding the warranty. Hope you get what you want out of this.

[jedidad]

great ideal. i'm guessing the ai vega color won't be out for quite a while still.

[tam]

moar!

[slinger]

Im following for the simple fact that it took you 6 years to work up the courage to post this.

 

I had to drop out of the hobby for about several years during the first part of my kids' lives, which is why there is such a large gap between the time I joined and this first post. I only recently (two months ago) got back into the hobby, and this is really my first trip down the nano road.

 

 

moar!

Moar is coming... moar is coming!

[AquaticDiscounts]

I want more pics of you re flowing the leds

[blasterman]

Goes to show that we need more commercial fixtures out there that use neutral whites in the first place.

 

Seems we've leaped from cool-whites and their crappy, anemic color to more colors than a ferris wheel.

[CalmSeasQuest]

Goes to show that we need more commercial fixtures out there that use neutral whites in the first place.

 

Seems we've leaped from cool-whites and their crappy, anemic color to more colors than a ferris wheel.

+1

 

I did note that Maxspect is using some warmer whites in their latest. Hopefully the trend will continue.

[Krazy_Karl]

Def following along on this one. I've been thinking about trying this for a while now. Good luck and take plenty of pics for us not so LED savvy.

[slinger]

Just wanted to let those who are interested know that I'm still preparing the next portion of this project, so thanks for being patient...

 

One of the primary reasons I'm attempting this mod is because of this:

 

 

That little ultra acan frag was extremely expensive for its kind. Why, you ask? Well, because in its original color at the LFS, it was the purest, deepest, glowing red of any acan I've ever seen. As you can see from the picture above, that red has faded completely to the far less spectacular yellow-orange that you see in the picture. This happened over the course of a couple of months, and the LFS I bought it from still has some of the same frags from that group, and they are still just as red in their tank, which is using t5 and mh lighting.

 

Why did this happen? I blame it solely on the color spectrum produced by LED lights to date. You can google for things like "red coral turns orange under LED" and see plenty of examples of this happening to others using LED lights. I think the current de facto standard of mixing cool white and royal blue is at fault for this situation due to the lack of longer wavelength support. Surprisingly (at least to me), I don't think it's the lack of red wavelengths that is causative of this, but rather the lack of green.

 

One thing I really wanted to point out was that when I first added this acan to my tank, it did not show the same red as it did in the store. Instead it was skewed slightly into the orange spectrum, causing it to appear a sort of flourescent orange-red. At the time I just figured it was the difference between the two lighting methods, but it should have been a warning message that the coral was going to change its color to adapt to the available spectrum. So if any of you find yourself with a coral that shows markedly different coloration at home than it did at the store, beware that you may find yourself in my situation.

[jedimasterben]

Just wanted to let those who are interested know that I'm still preparing the next portion of this project, so thanks for being patient...

 

One of the primary reasons I'm attempting this mod is because of this:

 

 

That little ultra acan frag was extremely expensive for its kind. Why, you ask? Well, because in its original color at the LFS, it was the purest, deepest, glowing red of any acan I've ever seen. As you can see from the picture above, that red has faded completely to the far less spectacular yellow-orange that you see in the picture. This happened over the course of a couple of months, and the LFS I bought it from still has some of the same frags from that group, and they are still just as red in their tank, which is using t5 and mh lighting.

 

Why did this happen? I blame it solely on the color spectrum produced by LED lights to date. You can google for things like "red coral turns orange under LED" and see plenty of examples of this happening to others using LED lights. I think the current de facto standard of mixing cool white and royal blue is at fault for this situation due to the lack of longer wavelength support. Surprisingly (at least to me), I don't think it's the lack of red wavelengths that is causative of this, but rather the lack of green.

 

One thing I really wanted to point out was that when I first added this acan to my tank, it did not show the same red as it did in the store. Instead it was skewed slightly into the orange spectrum, causing it to appear a sort of flourescent orange-red. At the time I just figured it was the difference between the two lighting methods, but it should have been a warning message that the coral was going to change its color to adapt to the available spectrum. So if any of you find yourself with a coral that shows markedly different coloration at home than it did at the store, beware that you may find yourself in my situation.

It is definitely caused by the cool white LEDs. I have never had a color shift (not a negative one, anyway) when under a full-spectrum LED setup, and now that I have put neutrals in instead of cools, I am seeing corals regain coloration like nobody's business

 

Very interested in this project, and I wish you the best of luck!!

[slinger]

Thank you all for the kind words of encouragement! On with the show...

 

------------------------------------------------

 

PHASE 1-B: Disassembling the AI Sol Blue and re-flowing the LEDs

 

WARNING: Doing any of the following could potentially ruin the unit, and may cause physical damage to yourself. You do so ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK! I accept absolutely zero responsibility for any damage to your AI SOL or to your physcial person.

 

Now that that's out of the way, let's get to the good stuff. I wrote this section as a sort of "HOW-TO" for modifying the AI SOL. Not sure why I wrote it that way since I doubt anyone will be duplicating this, but here it is anyway! For this next section you will need several tools to be able to complete all of the steps. Here are the tools that I used:

 

 

The AI Sol isn't exactly an iPhone in terms of complexity, so taking it apart is pretty easy. You'll need a hex head screwdriver or hex key of appropriate size. Lay the unit on its back with the lenses facing you and remove the 4 screws from the corners of the unit, then take the cover off being careful to slide it around the power and data receptacles on one end. Remove each of the circular lenses and place them to the side. Try to keep them in order as they are not all the same, and you will probbly want to put them back the way they came. You don't need to keep rotational alignment the same, just the actual location of the lens relative to the others. The corner lenses have 70 degree optics, while the 4 central lenses have 40 degree optics. Incidentally, I replaced the 40 degree optics with all 70 degree optics, as I really need more spread than penetration.

 

 

With the lenses removed you can see the central power and control circuit board, as well as each of the eight "pucks" that make up the actual lighting components. To get to the pucks we will need to remove the circuit board, which is easily done by removing the 3 black philips-head screws holding the board down and disconnecting the cooling fan power supply cable. The circuit board is connected to all the pucks by means of standard pin and socket connections, so all you have to to remove it is pull it straight out perpendicular to the face of the heat sink. It may take a little pressure, and you may have to work your way along the board to get it to release from the pucks, but ultimately it should come off fairly easy.

 

 

The pucks them selves are now ready to be removed, so you'll need a Torx T10 screwdriver to remove the screws the secure the pucks to the heat sink. If you remove all of the screws off a single puck and find that it doesn't move, it's because each pair of pucks that sit across from each other are still physically connected to each other due to the fact that the metal puck material hasn't been completely cut through. Just remove the screws from the connected puck and remove both pucks at the same time. You can then bend the pucks back and forth to break the metal bridge connecting the two. It will not hurt the individual pucks or break the unit.

 

All the pucks are now removed and ready to be modified. The AI Sol is actually a very simple device, with a central circuit board that functions as an RS-232 backend for receiving light intensity commands from the external controller, and converting those commands into control data for three seperate 24V constant current dimmable drivers. The makeup of the puck is very simple. There are three LEDs placed as shown in the following picture, and the copper traces for each LED lead the 6 pin standoff connector at the end of puck.

 

 

There are 2 pins for each LED (+ and -), and when the pucks are all connected to the main circuit board, they form a simple series connection where each pair of pins from each puck is connected to the next puck. As a result the entire unit will fail to light if one of the pucks is removed. The goal now is to remove each of the cool white LEDs and replace them with neutral versions.

 

------------------------

 

Now we get to the process of removing the existing cool white LEDs and replacing them. The Cree xpg leds are surface mount devices, or SMDs, and removing them from the puck will involve SMD reflow processes, so if you are attempting this yourself and you are unfamiliar with home SMD reflow techniques, I suggest you take a moment and look at some of the information on the web and YouTube regarding various reflow techniques using hot plates, hot-air guns, etc. Please do not try to remove the LEDs using brute force as you will rip the trace right off the puck and ruin it. You must use some sort of reflow desoldering technique.

 

Before starting this post, I took the first puck and began the process of trying to remove the existing LEDs. There is a hot air reflow work station where I work, so I thought it would be simple process to heat up the individual LED and remove them. I set up the reflow station, cranked the blower up to 800 degrees and tried to head the LED up enough to remove it.... didn't work - the LED wouldn't budge no matter how long I applied the hot air. I changed course and tried heating the puck from the backside.... nothing. I then tried using dual soldering irons applied to both sides of the LED.... nada.

 

I went home in defeat and was ready to give up, but then I managed to pull my head from my ass and realize that the puck was simply too large and effective a heat sink for regular desoldering techniques to work. I needed more power! Well, in this case I needed more heat, specifically enough heat to overcome the thermal inertia of the puck and make the surface underneath the LED hot enough to cause the solder to flow, so where could I turn for such a thing? The kitchen stove of course!

 

PICTURED: High tech reflow device

 

Using the stove as our heat source we can now begin the process of desoldering the white LEDs. Obviously you are not going to want to hold the puck by your bare hands unless you enjoy feeling your flesh melt. I suggest a pair of locking needle nose pliers or similar to grip the puck between the connection ping and the actual LED area. My reasoning for this is that the pliers might act as a heat block to prevent melting the plastic around the connection pins.

 

 

Grab a good pair of electronics tweezers to actual grap the LED from the puck, and we can get started. Light the stove and set to about 3/4 burn. Place the puck over the flame as shown:

 

 

The idea here is to have the flame splash over the area directly underneath the LED, but no further, so if you see that the flame is spreading towards the other LED areas, raise the puck a little or back off on the flame. After about 20 seconds begin trying to pull the LED off of its traces. It probably will not come off yet, so keep the puck in the flame. Keep trying to remove the LED every few seconds until the solder finally melts and the LED comes off easily. Remember how long that took, because we're going to use that duration when we solder the new LED in its place. When the LED comes off set it to the side and take the puck from flame and set it where it can cool down, preferably while still clamped by the pliers. The puck is absolutely still hot enough to give you a terrible burn, so please be careful. Allow the puck to cool before attempting the folliwng steps.

 

 

Once the puck has cooled to the point where it can be handled without causing burns, we can prep it to accept the new LED. Take a look at the copper traces where the LED once sat:

 

 

The traces should be slightly mounded in appearance to accept the new LED. IF the traces look too flat (or the underside of the removed LED shows that it took too much of the solder with it) you will need to re-heat the puck to the point of melting the solder, and lightly dab each trace with solder wire to add a little solder.

 

 

Again, allow the puck to cool. Once it has cooled completely, coat the traces with a VERY LIGHT coating of flux. Do the same thing to the under surface of the new LED. Place the LED on the traces being careful to observe the correct polarity (use the other LEDs as a guide). The top surface of the LEDs have two silver pads in the lower left and lower right corners, and the LED should be placed with those two pads on the side facing the connection pins. Place the LED as accurately as you can, but don't be concerned if it isn't perfect. Surface tension from the solder flow will draw the LED into the correct position. Note in the following picture that the LED isn't aligned very well, but I went ahead and re-flowed the LED from this alignment to prove the point that the LED will draw itself into the correct position:

 

 

Now comes the moment of truth. Start the stove back up and place the puck back in the flame. Keep an internal count of the number of seconds that have passed, and observe the LED. As you approach the duration you originally noticed when desoldering the original LED, the first thing you will see is the flux begin to melt and bubble, followed by the solder traces within a few seconds. When this happens the LED will shift on its own into the correct position, though you may need to press slightly on he top of the led to get it to flow correctly on all traces. Hold the puck on the pad for a couple or seconds longer and then remove it and allow to cool. Again, notice in this picture that the LED is now perfectly aligned. I didn't do that - surface tension did!

 

 

Test the LED by tracing the connectiosn back to the appropriate pins on the puck header, and then apply appropriate power to those pins. I use a 9 volt battery with a 100-ohm resistor in series. If everything was worked correctly, you should be rewarded with the following:

 

 

Rinse and repeat as necessary for all of the LEDs you want to change!

 

-----------------------------------------------

 

Ok so now you can see how I did the re-flow process for all of the LEDs. As I stated earlier in this thread, I decided to use a mixture of high CRI and neutral white LEDs for the white channel. I thought it would be illuminating to see the actual difference in white tint generated by the different LEDs. These pictures do a fairly good job:

 

Top Down View - From left to right: original cool white, neutral white, High CRI white

 

White card View - From left to right: original cool white, neutral white, High CRI white

 

As you can see form the above pictures, there is a considerable difference in the appearance of the three LEDs.

 

Moving forward with this project, I re-flowed 4 of the pucks with the High CRI white, and the other 4 with the neutral white LEDs, tested each puck, and screwed them back on the unit. I arranged the LEDs in a criss cross pattern, and reconnected the circuit board and fan. It was time to fire it up, so I connected the controller cable and the power cable. The white channel came up with no problems, and the end result was this:

 

 

I put the lenses back in place, reassembled the unit and put it back on the tank...

 

-----------------------------------------

 

Coming up next:

 

PHASE 1-C: Results comparison: Old cool white vs new neutral white.

[jedimasterben]

[Flexin5]

Great read and awsome write up!

[CalmSeasQuest]

Great Job! Can't wait to see the difference

[Krazy_Karl]

Wow, that was definitely more difficult than I was hoping for! Haha. Either way, awesome job! Looking forward to some pics over the tank, what's your opinion of the new "look"?

[Alkamist]

nice write up, the difference in the white leds is pretty crazy

[slinger]

Thanks all for the kind words!

 

The picture of the white LEDs next to the white card kind of exaggerates the difference between the different tints, but its still very noticeable. I would say the 4500K LED in the middle is more neutral (and less yellow) than it appears in the picture, but the high CRI white is definitely very warm in color. I'l have some before and after comparison pics this weekend, but in general I think the mod produces an overall better look to the tank. Moving forward, I may remove the high-CRI whites and replace them with all 4500K whites.

 

One thing I have definitely noticed is that the Cree royal blue mixed with the neutral white causes a very noticeable purple tint to the tank. I have read that this is a common problem, and mixing in the regular blue color helps to diminish it, but I think in order to balance it completely it will require more of a turquoise or cyan shade.

 

At this point, I am debating between two options:

 

1. Replace the High-CRIs with 4500Ks, and then modify the blue channel with a mixture of blue, cyan and deep red.

2. Put the cool white LEDs back, sell the AL SOL at a heavily discounted prices, and use the MakersLED heat sink setup to create my own custom LED fixture.

 

I have to say I'm leaning towards number 2, with a custom 7-channel driver based off the same driver chip that Steve's LEDs uses.

[firebirdude]

Updates?

[jedimasterben]

2. Put the cool white LEDs back, sell the AL SOL at a heavily discounted prices, and use the MakersLED heat sink setup to create my own custom LED fixture.

 

I have to say I'm leaning towards number 2, with a custom 7-channel driver based off the same driver chip that Steve's LEDs uses.

Do this.