MOJOEJOEJOE Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 I have been about 90% done for a year now LOL. This project never seems to end. I sort of want to keep the design of the edge the same as stock with the square hood over the center of the tank. The biggest problem is coverage. I cant seem to get good coverage so I decided to build my own hood. Im just not sure how many leds I should use. Heres what i have to work with. 3x 3 up cree 2x OCW 3X HYPER VIOLET 3X NOCHIA WHITE. Im really not sure what I should use at this point and how to spread them out. If it was possible I would retro the original hood and keep a stock look but that seems doubtful. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 CNCReef has the old Nanocustoms heatsinks for the Edge if you want to keep the stock look. What's on the Cree 3-ups? Link to comment
MOJOEJOEJOE Posted July 17, 2014 Author Share Posted July 17, 2014 CNCReef has the old Nanocustoms heatsinks for the Edge if you want to keep the stock look. What's on the Cree 3-ups? 1 XT-E Neutral White with 2 XT-E Royal Blue 455nm The fluval edge is only 6 gallons. Im just not sure what combo and how many of each I should use. I have tons of heat sinks, fans, wires and drivers. So what combo of my available lights would you use? Link to comment
Neill.w Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 I have been about 90% done for a year now LOL. This project never seems to end. I sort of want to keep the design of the edge the same as stock with the square hood over the center of the tank. The biggest problem is coverage. I cant seem to get good coverage so I decided to build my own hood. Im just not sure how many leds I should use. Heres what i have to work with. 3x 3 up cree 2x OCW 3X HYPER VIOLET 3X NOCHIA WHITE. Im really not sure what I should use at this point and how to spread them out. If it was possible I would retro the original hood and keep a stock look but that seems doubtful. Hi Mojojo, Is this on the 12gal or 6gal? On the 12g it is possible to get nice even coverage across the bottom of the tank without modifying the hood because of the added height but you are going to need some diffusing optics to help avoid a hot spot in the middle of the tank. Also group your LED's together tightly because the lack of height above the water means a more pronounced 'disco effect' (though diffusing optics will help with this to) On my design I can hit 330par across the entire bottom of the tank with only 20par variation from the outer most edge to the center of the tank. Kind Regards - Neill Link to comment
MOJOEJOEJOE Posted July 17, 2014 Author Share Posted July 17, 2014 Hi Mojojo, Is this on the 12gal or 6gal? On the 12g it is possible to get nice even coverage across the bottom of the tank without modifying the hood because of the added height but you are going to need some diffusing optics to help avoid a hot spot in the middle of the tank. Also group your LED's together tightly because the lack of height above the water means a more pronounced 'disco effect' (though diffusing optics will help with this to) On my design I can hit 330par across the entire bottom of the tank with only 20par variation from the outer most edge to the center of the tank. Kind Regards - Neill I have the 6. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 I think I would use all three Cree 3-up, one OCW, and all three hyper violets. The Nichia 219's are nice, but the 3-ups will be more useful. Just do yourself a favor and give yourself better control over the OCW. At the very least, run the blue with the royals, the green with the whites, and the red by itself. Or you could run them all on separate drivers. Link to comment
MOJOEJOEJOE Posted July 17, 2014 Author Share Posted July 17, 2014 I think I would use all three Cree 3-up, one OCW, and all three hyper violets. The Nichia 219's are nice, but the 3-ups will be more useful. Just do yourself a favor and give yourself better control over the OCW. At the very least, run the blue with the royals, the green with the whites, and the red by itself. Or you could run them all on separate drivers. Thanks guys, Do you thin I could squeeze them on a small heat sink 5" x 5" or am I asking for serious thermal issues? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 With a fan, you should be fine. The Nanocustoms setup was 18 LEDs at 700mA and kept fairly cool. Link to comment
MOJOEJOEJOE Posted July 18, 2014 Author Share Posted July 18, 2014 Well I'm quickly finding out that it's going to be difficult to make a fixture that maintains the same size as the edge hood. I'm really thinking about making a nice wood fixture. I might use poplar or oak. I need to think about it for a day or two. Link to comment
risk1994 Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 I have a Heat sink the same width as the opening up top....Tank looks much better if you place the lights in FRONT of the opening angle inward like this... Here is the business end... 3 x CREE XT-E 3UP - same ones you have 2 x Cool Blue - 475nm 1 x Ocean Coral White 2 x Exotic Hyper Violet LED - 430nm Colors are all individually controlled by a bluefish controller (The OCW has separate channel for red only) Nothing goes above 35% With hood on it gets fairly warm, I need a bigger opening. What do you think evil? This required the modifications you can see below... I did this all with black acrylic. Leaves me 3 chambers, one with media basket, then skimmer, then return pump. After all that work I now only use one chamber for floss and thats it. Link to comment
farkwar Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Looks good. Lose the huge MagFloat though. All that work to make it look sexy, with a big boil on the butt. The insulation on the pink wire looks like you burned it with your solder iron. Link to comment
risk1994 Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Looks good. Lose the huge MagFloat though. All that work to make it look sexy, with a big boil on the butt. The insulation on the pink wire looks like you burned it with your solder iron. I hesitated posting that pic and putting my horrible solding skills on display but that was the OP's question. Best I could do with those teeny tiny leads. Link to comment
farkwar Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 You "tin" the solder pads first. It should look like a little bead of liquid mercury. Then "tin" the tip of the wire. It should take just a little tap of your solder iron tip to both to join them. You have some that look almost cold soldered. The melted back insulation belies a long soldering time. Im not critcizing to criticize, bad technique may be just a future malfunction, to at worse can be dangerous-arcing can occur. Link to comment
MOJOEJOEJOE Posted July 20, 2014 Author Share Posted July 20, 2014 I ended up buying some cedar. I'm making a wood hood housing slightly bigger then the original. Pics to come later Link to comment
MOJOEJOEJOE Posted July 22, 2014 Author Share Posted July 22, 2014 I just found out I suck at wood work. Link to comment
risk1994 Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 You can get acrylic sheets cut to exact dimensions fairly cheaply. Glueing them together is easy with the correct tool. I think tap plastics is one. Link to comment
farkwar Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 You can get acrylic sheets cut to exact dimensions fairly cheaply. Glueing them together is easy with the correct tool.I think tap plastics is one. I love this place. I accidently bought extruded acrylic.Make sure you get cell cast acrylic for everthing you make. It was an expensive mistake for me. I just found out I suck at wood work.Lot of the same skills go into acrylic work. Same tools too. Link to comment
risk1994 Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Lot of the same skills go into acrylic work. Same tools too. If you let them do the cutting for you its not bad. Link to comment
MOJOEJOEJOE Posted July 24, 2014 Author Share Posted July 24, 2014 Im sort of stubborn so Im sticking with the wood work for now. I got some woood filler for the small gaps. Now I need to trim it down a little bit. All home Depot had was 6" stock and I want it to be about 4" or so (tall). I built it jas is ust to see how it will look on top of my tank and I think when I cut it down it will be nice. If I leave it as is , it`s just too tall and takes away from the tank. Link to comment
farkwar Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 Imagine that trimmed out of mahogony instead of acrylic. Oiled to darken it a bit, then some min wax paste. Would be beautiful. Or walnut or rosewood. Home Depot Mahogony, delivered free to the house..not one imperfection... Link to comment
farkwar Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 ... All home Depot had was 6" stock and I want it to be about 4" or so (tall). I built it jas is ust to see how it will look on top of my tank and I think when I cut it down it ... They have a vary varied variety... http://www.homedepot.com/b/Mahogany/N-5yc1vZ1z11xlt/Ntk-All/Ntt-appearance%2Bboards?Ntx=mode+matchall&NCNI-5 Link to comment
MOJOEJOEJOE Posted December 10, 2014 Author Share Posted December 10, 2014 They have a vary varied variety... http://www.homedepot.com/b/Mahogany/N-5yc1vZ1z11xlt/Ntk-All/Ntt-appearance%2Bboards?Ntx=mode+matchall&NCNI-5 I moved on to a manufactured light for now. I ended up with the kessil a150. The first light I had was a MicMol that looked great but the program was all messed up. It could not tell time lol so sometimes when I came home the lights would all be on at 100%. Sometimes they would be on at 10% or not at all and then all of a sudden a thunderstorm (program) would happen and boom back to 100%. It`s a shame because the light looked real nice and the color was great when it worked. Link to comment
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