1MP3R1AL Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Fixture: 6 bulb T5. (from front: Blue+ | Purple+ | Coral+ | LED | Blue+ | Actinic | Blue+) LED: 2 Nano Box V3 13UP's, 2 Mean Well ELN-60-48D's controlled from Apex. Unmolested T5 fixture awaiting surgery. Poor guy. Let's get busy! After cutting off the middle divider, this is where the 13UP's will go. Bracing the fixture frame so my custom bent 1/2 tubing can be installed. Notice the center is aluminum. This is where the 2 13UP's will be installed. Test fit with the reflectors on, looks good! More to come! Link to comment
evilc66 Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 I hope there is going to be a heatsink mounted to that center bar. Curious to see how this turns out. Link to comment
1MP3R1AL Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 Yes sir. A 1.5" heat sink CNC'd by a buddy. Just waiting on that, the 13UP's, and the Noctua fan to get here. Link to comment
1MP3R1AL Posted February 12, 2015 Author Share Posted February 12, 2015 Went to Home Depot to pick up some 1/2" pipe. I found the pipe bender convienitnly right next to the pipe. During my second bend I also found a wide eyed Home Depot employee come running towards me. As soon as he made it to me I was already done bending. Also picked up a few 1/2" clamps to hold the pipe in place. Here it is mocked up. Everything fits nicely. Next comes a test fit. I'm also going to swap out the 2 metal pieces for 2 Aluminum L pieces for more stability. Link to comment
andiok Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 As soon as he made it to me I was already done bending. hahahahha LMAO i know what u mean. hahahaha great build btw Link to comment
1MP3R1AL Posted February 12, 2015 Author Share Posted February 12, 2015 Haha, you would have thought I was robbing the place for the guy to run over so quickly. If the floors were wet it would have been so much more fun. Link to comment
1MP3R1AL Posted February 12, 2015 Author Share Posted February 12, 2015 Thanks Dave! Flawless. Link to comment
Sailfish Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Clean build!Can't wait to see this hung over a tank Link to comment
itzju Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 hows the build quality on those t5 fixtures? i am assuming those are the ones you can get on ebay for pretty cheap. please correct me if i am wrong. Link to comment
1MP3R1AL Posted February 14, 2015 Author Share Posted February 14, 2015 Actually I got it from Amazon. I'm not sure if it's the same thing you would get from ebay. The quality is great, this thing is very sturdy and extremely well built. The ballasts are top notch and the reflectors are great. Overall so far very happy with it. Link to comment
1MP3R1AL Posted February 14, 2015 Author Share Posted February 14, 2015 So it turns out I gave my buddy the wrong specs for the heatsink. I was originally planning to use the 1.5" X 1.5" old version of the 13UP Dave makes. The new version is 1.9" X 1.5". :facepalm: Oh well, waiting on the new ones to be made. I removed the steel 1" plate and replaced with aluminum L bracket. Much sturdier! This is the main piece of aluminum that the heatsink will mount to. The heatsink will be underneath. These are the pieces that hold the 13UP in place. Mounted. The pole mount is much sturdier now. No twists or bends at all. Test fit Almost there. Cmon' heat sinks and fan! Link to comment
Reefkid88 Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Damn,this build is crazy nice !! Did you finally finish everything ? Link to comment
Sancho Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Sweet build. What size T5's is that? I am still waiting for a 6 to 8 inch T5 to hit the market. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Why are you mounting the MCPCBs to a sub-plate, that's mounted to a sub-plate, that's mounted to a heatsink? You know that any time you add a mechanical interface like this, the thermal resistance rises considerably? At the very least, mount the MCPCBs to the long strip that the heatsink is going to mount to. The LEDs will thank you in the long term. Link to comment
1MP3R1AL Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 Reefkid88 - Thanks, and yes it's finally done. I tried to take pics during the rest of the build but for some reason they all came out black. I should have used my phone. Sancho - Thanks, it's a 6 bulb 24" T5. I ended up using blue+, actinic, coral+, blue+, purple+, blue+. I really like the color. Evilc66 - I kept it the way it is in the pics, and mounted 2x6" heatsinks under it all and a Noctua fan cooling them inline. I have had all channels at 100% running for 12 hours to test heat and they are surprisingly cool. As in you can put your finger on the actual led board and feel a little warm. Aluminum plate, and heat sinks are doing their job. If I run into problems down the road I will mount the boards directly to the heatsinks. But for now this is working perfectly. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 With enough airflow, yes, this can work. With how thin the fixture profile is, I was worried that you would have limited airflow, and heat would become an issue. But like you said, it's working, so leave it alone. Out of idle curiosity, what was the reasoning for doing it this way? Link to comment
1MP3R1AL Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 I needed a support to run across the entire fixture to mount the pole, and mount the leds and heatsinks to. That's what the long aluminum plate is for. But if I mounted the boards directly to the long plate, they sat almost a half inch lower than on the risers I made. The t5 bulbs sit significantly lower than the LED board, and without the spacers the LEDs don't throw light side to side. Meaning the LED light wouldn't stretch from the front and back of the tank, only straight down. I hope that makes sense, lol. I could have just made spacers to lower the long aluminum plate flush or pass the bulbs a bit, and if I feel they are getting to hot I will definately do this. But I like the look better this way, and so far I can't complain at all. Link to comment
VW_TDI_02 Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 It could help to throw some TIM in between the plates and then just pinch it down. Same way you add a heat sink onto a CPU.Then again, if you aren't having any problems then it may not be worth the hassle. Link to comment
1MP3R1AL Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 I thought of that as well. The only stuff I have used is more like a paste material and never really hardens. With my luck, I can just picture it melting and dripping into the tank. Haha. I have used rapid led stuff in the past which hardens and literally glues the LED down to whatever you are using it with, but I really disn't want to glue them down. Link to comment
1MP3R1AL Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 The fan fits perfectly though. The hole I cut is a little rough, but I plan to redo it and repaint the fixture. One of these days. Link to comment
VW_TDI_02 Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 I thought of that as well. The only stuff I have used is more like a paste material and never really hardens. With my luck, I can just picture it melting and dripping into the tank. Haha. I have used rapid led stuff in the past which hardens and literally glues the LED down to whatever you are using it with, but I really disn't want to glue them down. Yea, the stuff you use for CPU heat sinks is just a paste and not a glue. The key is to use very little grease and then apply even pressure. For a CPU (~1.5"x1.5") you are looking at a tiny dot the size of an uncooked grain of rice and that's all you need. As you apply the heat sink, you do even pressure and that pressure spreads a very fine layer across the entire surface. Too much and it will pour out the sides and onto the motherboard where it is a pain to clean off. I've always used Arctic Cooling MX-4 and it has done really well on my CPUs and GPUs. Link to comment
1MP3R1AL Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 I'll definately keep that in mind, thanks! On a side note, and not to drag this into a led vs t5 battle, I am seeing way more growth and color with the t5 compared to the Kessil that was previously over top of the tank. I'm logging growth and the color shift with detailed pictures. I'm thinking in a few more months I'll share it. I just want to give everything the appropriate amount of time to settle in. Link to comment
Paleoreef103 Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 It looks good, but I also am worried about the cooling of those pucks. Keep an eye on them! Also, Kessils are surprisingly weak fixtures. They LOOK good, but the single point source with a small reflector leads to a relatively small hot spot (where shadowing is pretty prevalent especially on branching corals) and the rest of the spread is pretty under lit. They also don't have a particularly compelling spectrum which often equates to less vibrant colors. Basically, treat them like PAR 38 bulbs with much better color mixing. Compare this with T5s where the lighting is much more even (especially for branching corals) and it is entirely unsurprising that you are getting better color and growth with them. This is not to say that T5s are superior to LEDs, just that they are superior to Kessils. I think you'll love the nanobox pucks, but I also think you'll be much happier with both than either by themselves. Are you trying to fit a full 6 T5s in that fixture with the dual nanobox pucks? Link to comment
NanoFever Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Hey Imperial do you have a build thread? Link to comment
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