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Wavelengths, A Full Spectrum Controllable LED Array


ajmckay

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I've titled this project Wavelengths and the following thread is based on actual events.
Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

It all started when my wife & kids made plans to go on a trip for a weekend in February. Not knowing entirely what I would do with myself that weekend I started devising a plan which would end up changing the course of history, as my aquarium knows it.

T-5 HO and metal halide lighting are good, but LEDs just give me that funny feeling in my coffee that's hard to ignore. I only had 2 weeks until the target weekend to get all the materials. I needed to make a plan and act quickly to set fire to any expectations of being productive and getting other things done around the house that weekend. Instead of partying, hanging out with friends, or working on other projects I decided to geek out big time and build an LED array for my fish tank.

The subject tank is a 40B, 36Lx18Wx16H. It came down a year ago but will soon be set up again (Just finished a remodel and had to replace the floor). The plans for this tank are to follow a visually minimalist approach. I'm going for more of a zen experience vs. the natural reef look. I'll have a few colorful fish and maybe 1-2 larger coral colonies as the centerpieces. Possibly a clam as well.

Goals:
1) "Full spectrum" for visual pleasure and photosynthetic benefits
2) Have 4 independently controllable channels (using an Arduino generated PWM)
3) Budget of $400 for everything (I actually came in at about $350, but I already had the components for the controller and most of the cable/wire)
4) Look professional - sleek, minimal wires, NO noise, and high performance (meaning powerful enough yet expandable for future needs/wants)

To keep this first post from being huge Ill post a few pictures here and links to other posts which show the various stages of the build.

Here is the final cluster layout optimized for the t-slot heatsink and solderless LEDs:
IMG_1864_zps176a7f6b.jpg

Here is the finished array turned on 100% (Bright as hell):
IMG_1908_zps53aaeb54.jpg

Here is the finished array powered off:
IMG_1893_zps1f590eaa.jpg

Here are links to the various stages of the build, some are in this thread and some are in other threads. I'll write "new" by any parts which have recent updates.
1) Pre-order design stage and some discussion on LEDs
2) Final Materials list
3) Preparation
4) Assembly
5) DIY arduino-based PWM controller build - cheap
6) Tips, tricks, troubles and future plans/still to complete

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Materials (not including the controller)


LEDs (from LEDgroupbuy)
- 16 XT-E Royal Blue Solderless
- 8 XT-E Neutral White (4500K) Solderless
- 2 True Violet (405nm) Solderless
- 6 Hyper Violet (430nm) Solderless
- 4 Deep Red (660nm) Solderless
- 4 Turquoise (Cyan) (495nm) Solderless
- 6 XP-E Cool Blue (465-485nm) Solderless
Total: 46 LEDs (divided into 2 clusters of 23) Purchased at LEDgroupbuy

 

IMG_1856_zps2a04390b.jpg

Heatsink:

- 24" t-slot heatsink from HeatsinkUSA 8.46" wide (big hunk of aluminum)

IMG_1853_zpsb426aac2.jpg

Drivers:
-2 Meanwell LDD 1000HW drivers
-2 Meanwell LDD 700HW drivers

PSU:
- 48v 7.3A eBay power supply

IMG_1907_zps96331aac.jpg
1 Cooler Master MegaFlow 200mm Fan (110CFM at 700rpm and generates only 18dB)


Other materials:
- 100 pieces 4-40 x 3/8" machine screws, nuts, and nylon washers (do yourself a favor and order these online and get extras!)
- A few different lengths of 4-40 machine screws, like 1", 1-1/4" 1/2", along with extra nuts (home depot sells the small 10 packs for like $1)
- Arctic silver thermal paste
- 12 position terminal block (also called barrier strip), cut into 2 pieces one with 4 slots and another with 8 slots (Lowes)
- Lots of 22 gauge solid core wire (RadioShack has a pack with 3 colors that is pretty nice)
- PC power cord
- Piece of scrap metal (for driver bracket)
- Adhesive cord mounts & zip ties to attach fan to heatsink
- 18ga extension cord to take apart


Tools:
Wire strippers w/ #4 small screw cutters
Small screw driver
Soldering Iron
Sharpie markers that correspond to the LED colors
Masking tape/labels

 

IMG_1850_zpse4f45ac1.jpg

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Preparation:


It was exciting to get everything in the mail on or before the target weekend. The heat sink came particularly fast since Heatsink USA is in Michigan. I also like ordering from LEDgroupbuy as their shipments always arrive very quickly. I decided to just pick up the machine screws, nuts, and washers at the local Fastenal - which I've had pretty good luck with in the past. Unfortunately though they were out of the nylon washers! So it took me like 3 hours of driving around to various Home Depots and ACE Hardwares to find 100+ #4 nylon washers! That's why I say to do yourself a favor and just order them online. It will be cheaper and easier even with shipping. You can buy the screw kit at LEDgroupbuy as well.

Upon un-packing the LEDs I first used sharpie markers to label all the LEDs with small dots so I knew which colors were which. This may not be as important depending on which LEDs you get, but the LEDgroupbuy solderless LEDs all look the same so it was just easier to label them all. I also used a simple 2x AA battery holder with leads to test all of the LEDs and success they all lit up! If you get black LEDs, you can use the marker on the bare aluminum on the side of the star, or simply color in an unused soldering pad.


To prepare I simply gathered all my materials and set up my workstation. Oh, and I got a new album "The Heist" by Mackelmore and Ryan Lewis to jam out to while I worked.

Make sure to spend plenty of time contemplating the layout and how your wiring will be run. Try to physically lay out the LEDs so you can visualize the spacing you want and how the wires will pass between them. Also consider things like driver placement, and how it will hang/sit/hover over your tank. I decided to keep the drivers on the heatsink. They're small enough that they won't stick out too much and the heatsink can help dissipate any heat they generate. Another reason I wanted the drivers up near the LEDs is to minimize the # of wires going up to the heatsink. I know you can just use some cable wrap or zip ties, but I wanted to keep this as sleek as possible.

wiring_zpsf8206030.jpg

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Assembly:


Building the array was about as straight forward as it can get with the t-slot heatsink and the solderless LEDs.


1) Assemble all the screw/washer/bolt pieces and slide them onto the heatsink according to the layout diagram so that each LED gets 2 screws. Note that it's a good idea to slide in a bunch of extra nuts in the middle so you can do other things like hold down wires/drivers or expand in the future without having to take your LEDs off. Another tip is to use just the right amount of thermal grease (not too much - like 1/4 of a pea). Once the star is placed on the heatsink press down slightly and twist it around a bit to distribute the grease - otherwise when you tighten down one side the grease will have a tendency to squeeze out the opposite side like the jelly in a full PBJ and not cover the bottom of the star properly. Also be very careful not to tighten the LEDs down too much. You really don't need a lot of pressure. If too much pressure is applied it can actually deform the LED star and cause the middle portion to flex upward, allowing an air gap under the star which reduces the heat transfer.

2) Once I had one cluster screwed down and I was comfortable with it, I just copied the other side as a mirror image.

3) After all the LEDs were screwed down it was time for wiring. Like attaching the LEDs the wiring was pretty straight forward, strip a small amount, and plug it into the LEDs. No tinning or twisting or anything so really it couldn't be easier. Be careful with putting much pressure on the wires though, I wasn't pushing too hard but 2 of the solderless connectors popped off of the LEDs. I was able to carefully solder them back on and they tested fine though. I wired the LEDs in series, the where the (+) on one LED connects to the (-) on the next LED and so on until the strings are complete. I tried to keep the amount of excess wire down to a minimum. The solid core wire was nice in that it stays put for the most part. Sometimes you can also tuck the wire underneath a screw to hold it in place. while you're wiring it up I found it extremely helpful to have some masking tape or little labels or something handy to mark the wires with which channel it is and whether it's (+) or (-). Not necessarily for the wires connecting the individual LEDs (because I wired only 1 channel at a time), but for the end wires that will hook up to the drivers.

 

IMG_1896_zpsfd1ab0fb.jpg

 

OOPS! Not sure how this happened as I was pretty careful - I was able to carefully re-solder it back on.

IMG_1872_zpsdd97a5f4.jpg

4) Time to mount the drivers and terminal blocks. I really like the type of terminal block I used. I also got another one, but I didn't like it as much because the screws were exposed on top. This terminal block has all the metal contacts tucked away in the plastic housing so you can't accidentally touch anything. Plus it has small holes in the middle which are perfect for attaching to the heatsink using the same method as the LEDs (again, the importance of sliding in some extra nuts). To hold down the drivers I just cut a piece of scrap steel down and drilled some holes in it. Then I painted it black to keep it from corroding. This is where the longer screws come into play. You still may need to cut them down a little bit though since there's not much wiggle room with the heatsink. if your strippers don't have screw cutters you could probably use a dremel just as well.

 

IMG_1884_zps059ee8c9.jpg

The power cable comes into the 4 position terminal block and I just used a small piece of wire to piggyback 2 negative terminals and 2 positive terminals. I then connected the drivers to power (not yet plugged in!). I also cut off the PC connector end of a PC power cord, stripped the wires, and connected them to the power inputs on the power supply. Then I used a cut up 18ga extension cord (normal one for lamps and such) and used that to make the connection from the PSU to the drivers.


IMG_1899_zpse540c825.jpg

5) Now time to wire the individual channels. The channels are divided into a blue channel, white channel, violet channel, and OCW (ocean coral white - deep red, cyan/turquoise, and cool blue). Since each driver has a (+) and a (-) coming off it the 8 position terminal block worked perfectly. So the connections from the LEDs to the drivers were made in this terminal block. Please make sure that everything lines up properly, I think the drivers have some form of protection against reversing the polarity and stuff, but I think you really want to make sure that the right wires are connected. Also make sure you're connecting the proper channels to the appropriate driver. Since the drivers look the same but some of them output 700mA and others 1000mA it would be potentially bad to connect LEDs with a 500mA or 700mA power rating to a driver that puts out 1000mA and not catch the mistake quickly.

 

IMG_1898_zps5c58c5e3.jpg

6) Once the LEDs are connected to the drivers slap some e-tape on the white PWM signal wires coming from the drivers (or the pins if you have the model w/out wires). If you feel like doing any testing, now would be the time to do it (checking for loose wires, grounding issues, ets...) I was pretty careful and methodical when hooking everything up so I looked over the wires to make sure everything was good and plugged it in! IT'S ALIVE!!! AHHH MY EYES!! It's fricken bright as hell too... I need a welding helmet or something working with these things. Seriously though, don't stare at these high power LEDs, especially the blue ones.

IMG_1910_zps5d75ab07.jpg

Now it's time to move on to the controller build so I can start dimming this biatch.

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Tips/Tricks/Troubles and future plans for completion

Tips/Tricks:
1) - Buy what you can online except where shipping is prohibitive. Besides the stuff I listed at Radioshack, the rest isn't easy to source locally depending on where you live. I spent wayyyy too much time trying to find stupid little nylon washers.

2) - Buy a few extra things if you can. Just in-case you mess something up (burn out an LED/driver, strip a screw, etc...) it will cause a lot less headache and if you don't screw it up, then maybe you can be a hero when someone else messes up and you can bail them out with some extra parts.


Troubles
1) I accidentally blew up one of my drivers. No seriously it started making fizzing and popping sounds and shot smoke out the back like a firework. The cause? Like much of this project I was just testing things and I was having trouble trying to get the PWM to work. Well in a brilliantly stupid move I touched the arduino ground to the (-) wire on the OUTPUT of the driver. Never do this. My LEDs were flashing and going nuts, I'm very happy that nothing burned out except the driver. Fortunately I live close to Evilc66 and being the awesome guy that he is was able to sell me another Meanwell LDD driver. Apparently he likes these drivers too ;) Otherwise I would have been looking at another week to get a new driver in! After getting so close that would really suck to have to wait. Fortunately later that night I figured it all out and made everything work.

 

IMG_1886_zps88c63810.jpg

The only difference was his drivers didn't have wires out the back as they're designed to be mounted to a circuit board or IC socket. I went to Radioshack and picked up an IC socket and cut up some circuit board and made myself a cheap, ugly, but working wiring harness.

2) Not really a trouble, but I did have to re-do one cluster after I had screwed everything down. I had it in an oval pattern and that didn't work as well for wiring and for the solderless LEDs. Just another reason to really spend a lot of time in the design/planning phase to make sure things are right. Then again sometimes you just have to see it all hooked up to know if it's going to work out.

3) With my wife gone and my dedication to this thing I ate nothing but Taco Bell and McDonalds for 2 days... Not good for the healths, know what I mean? On a side note I've been extremely disappointed with the new XXL grilled stuffed burrito. I really wish they would go back to the way it was made up until last year or whenever it changed...


Still to-do/future plans:
1) I still need to figure out how I want to mount this thing. The light weighs in the neighborhood of 15lbs. It's pretty heavy and awkward. I don't really want to hang it so I'm thinking of making a bracket out of angle aluminum and bolting that to the wall, then I can use the t-slots to hold it in place on the brackets (would need to drill some holes in the brackets of course).

2) I still need to make a splash guard - but that will be sooo easy. I'll just cut a rectangular piece of acrylic and use some standoffs and longer #4-40 screws to hold it in place using the t-slots.

3) The heatsink has been spending most of it's time on it's back, so when I get ready to mount it I'll attach the fan. This is the method I'm using: http://reefledlights.com/attaching-fans-to-heatsink/ Cheap, easy, effective, removable, and no drilling/holes.

3) I was thinking about making an acrylic box to encapsulate the drivers and terminal blocks in the middle of the heatsink. Not sure if I'll do this or not since it won't be waterproof anyways, but then again it may help reduce corrosion and also hide the wire mess some. It would be easy enough to construct a small acrylic box.

4) Oh yeah, let's not forget that I need to finish setting up my tank still :P

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I ordered a bunch of to-220 bushings and insulators online from ebay in 100-packs for $5 when I realized how much I used the to-220 mounts lm317 chip.

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Cool idea! I'll have to see what I can price out with that stuff. The only downside is the shipping is a bit high, but then again it's for 8', which should be plenty.

 

 

I ordered a bunch of to-220 bushings and insulators online from ebay in 100-packs for $5 when I realized how much I used the to-220 mounts lm317 chip.

Yeah you can always use stuff like that it seems. One thing I was annoyed to hear is that home depot is phasing out their nylon stuff at most stores. Lowes is not stocking anything less than #6 either. I was only able to find the ones that just hadn't been sold yet. The nice thing was that the little packets were sold to me pretty cheap. Not quite eBay cheap, but still.

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If all goes well this week I plan to finish the splash guard, create a small cover for the drivers and terminal blocks (with cord holders for the power and PWM cords), and I'm still thinking about how best to mount the unit.

 

I'm trying to decide if I want to have a "wrap around" for the light or not. I'm thinking either black acrylic or oak (same wood as the stand).

 

I need to get some black acrylic for the sump re-design anyways, so it might be cheap to get a little more to cover up the heatsink. It's only about 2.5" thick.

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For the splash guard I'm just going to use a sheet of 1/8" acrylic. I'll drill 4-6 small holes in it and use the same t-slot screws to hold it onto the heatsink. I'll use standoffs to keep the acrylic splash shield away from the heatsink so it doesn't get too close to the LEDs. The standoffs will be made from RO tubing cut to about 3/4" or so.

I do plan on enclosing the drivers using an acrylic box to hold it all in with some cable supports out the back for the power and PWM cords.

Here's a visual representation of what I'm planning to do. Note that the orientation of the drivers is wrong, they're actually running the length of the heatsink vs. the width but this was a better way to show essentially what I am planning.

 

heatsinksplashshieldajm_zps3ec3f139.jpg

So while nothing will be waterproof, the splash shield and angle aluminum should protect the LEDs while the drivers get a little more protection and also a place for cable relief.

The controller itself will simply go in a project box or tupperware or something cheap. I'm going to clean up the wiring a bit though so that I can have my breadboard back.

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have you thought about drilling some holes to thread the wires to the rib side of the heatsink? Then you could collect the wires to one side.

No need IMO. The wires from the LEDs are stuck into the T-slot channels and they all accumulate right in the middle. The drivers are in the middle as well so 2 wires will come out the back of the heatsink, the power cord and the PWM cable which I'll fish down to the controller.

 

Wait, scratch that.. I suppose I'll need the 12v fan power supply too. So 3 cords unless I can figure out a different way to power the fan.

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Please excuse me for this probably dumb question. I'm new to reefing and LED's and trying to gather as much info as possible. Does your power supply supply power to all four drivers? By doing it this way are you able to go with the less expensive drivers rather than the meanwells I have seen in most other projects? Can your LED's still be dimmed using pot's with your setup? Thanks

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The controller itself will simply go in a project box or tupperware or something cheap. I'm going to clean up the wiring a bit though so that I can have my breadboard back.

 

I've got mine currently in a snap-top clear box I found at Staples (yea who would have thought . . . LOL) . It was the perfect size for the board. I only had to make a hole for the power supply for the board on one end and the pigtail on the other. It looks pretty cool being able to see the display but it could look a lot better. I'm waiting on a fellow reefer to get his laser cutter in and I'm going to have a custom protective enclosure made for the controller hopefully in the next couple of weeks.

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Please excuse me for this probably dumb question. I'm new to reefing and LED's and trying to gather as much info as possible. Does your power supply supply power to all four drivers? By doing it this way are you able to go with the less expensive drivers rather than the meanwells I have seen in most other projects? Can your LED's still be dimmed using pot's with your setup? Thanks

The LDD Meanwell drivers cannot be controlled with pot's. You have to use PWM input like, for instance, from the Typhon controller that BoostLED sells (or that you can build yourself out of Arduino parts).

 

The difference between the LDD's and most other drivers are that these are just the driver, not the power supply. So you'd buy one large power supply that can supply 48v (or lower, but these can take up to 56v) and the amount of power (voltage * current) you're trying to use and you can wire a bunch of the LDD's up to the single power supply.

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Well, one of these is about as big as everything you've got, and totally overpowered for a couple fans, but it's pretty cheap and can get fed directly from the 48V DC supply along with the LDD's.

 

http://www.mpja.com/48V-Input33V-5V-and-Dual-12V-DC-to-DC-Converter/productinfo/18248%20PS/

 

Generates 5V for an arduino and 12V for fans from a 48V supply.

That's a thought... I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do though. One thought is to use a relay and just have it so the fan is running when the lights are on. That would require some custom coding probably beyond the simple copy/paste experience I have so far, but I'm up for the challenge.

 

The LDD Meanwell drivers cannot be controlled with pot's. You have to use PWM input like, for instance, from the Typhon controller that BoostLED sells (or that you can build yourself out of Arduino parts).

 

The difference between the LDD's and most other drivers are that these are just the driver, not the power supply. So you'd buy one large power supply that can supply 48v (or lower, but these can take up to 56v) and the amount of power (voltage * current) you're trying to use and you can wire a bunch of the LDD's up to the single power supply.

@ B2smoov see Alan's comment. No pots, only digital dimming. I have all 4 drivers connected to this single power supply.

 

Here's the relationship as I understand it:

The power supply is rated 48v DC output @ 7.3 amps (actually it's adjustable up to 52v since there is some loss in conversion).

 

The Meanwell's are rated at 56v but typically you want to stay under that. For example my Royal Blue channel has 16 LEDs each with a 3.0v forward voltage. 3 x 16 = 48v. I think it's recommended to run between 1 and 16 LEDs (assuming a 3.0v forward voltage).

 

Since each driver draws either 700mA or 1000mA (1 amp) you could technically run 7 drivers @ 1000mA off the power supply (each with up to 16 LEDs on it - or 110+ LEDs!!) or 10 drivers @ 700mA, again each with up to 16 LEDs on it.

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For example my Royal Blue channel has 16 LEDs each with a 3.0v forward voltage. 3 x 16 = 48v.

 

I was going to stick to 15, but 16 would be nice. You have 16 Crees on one channel? Have you driven them at 1000 to see what the total voltage drop is?

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