My DIY LED build

[frakthem]

I have been following all of the great advice from the various LED gurus on here and have gone ahead and built my own LED setup. I can't say enough how helpful the howto's were in creating my array. Everything so far has worked exactly as described!

 

I have a question though:

 

I have made an 11 LED array w/ 6 white and 5 blue. 2 buckpucks running 6 LEDs and 5 LEDs respectively. I have a 24v 2.1amp power supply (50w max). Is this enough to power it safely? I have it wired up and everything is working well just wondered if my PS is big enough for this setup. I believe it is right on the cusp of being just enough but not sure.

 

Thanks!

[evilc66]

It will be fine for what you are doing. It might be a bit tight if you decide to run two fans on it (in series). I usually like to give myself a 10% or better capacity overhead. I know 100mA doesn't sound like much, but it's another 100mA of wiggle room.

[frakthem]

It will be fine for what you are doing. It might be a bit tight if you decide to run two fans on it (in series). I usually like to give myself a 10% or better capacity overhead. I know 100mA doesn't sound like much, but it's another 100mA of wiggle room.

 

 

I don't plan to run any fans off of the lighting PS. I will see how things go with the stock fans. I used a bit of a larger heatsink than WaterProof's (everything else is about the same) so I am hoping it will compensate for the stock fans. Some day I will upgrade those and just use the PS that powered those. I can't wait until I can pop it into the hood. I am doing some bench testing to make sure my connections are good and the heatsink doesn't get really hot etc, just letting it run on my desk for several hours w/ a small fan blowing across the heatsink.

 

Thanks!

[evilc66]

Testing in open air, and testing in an eclosed area will yield very different results. Make sure you keep an eye on the the temperatures.

[frakthem]

Testing in open air, and testing in an eclosed area will yield very different results. Make sure you keep an eye on the the temperatures.

 

 

good point.. though I really just wanted to make sure my electrical work wasn't going to burst into flames! I will have to monitor it in the hood when I retrofit it in there.

[Waterproof]

frakthem,

 

I'm excited to see how this turns out. Do you have a pic of the heatsink? What dimensions did you go with?

[frakthem]

frakthem,

 

I'm excited to see how this turns out. Do you have a pic of the heatsink? What dimensions did you go with?

 

I meant to order the same size as you did. I actually ordered one that was 8.5x8. I didn't realize it until I saw you said that you wished that had gotten a bigger one. I went back and checked my order and had subconsciously ordered a bigger one thinking I was getting the same thing! Anyhow it was way to big so I cut it down and ended up with 8.5x6, which looks like it will just fit. I haven't retrofitted it into my hood yet so I am hoping it will fit! Nonetheless I will make it fit one way or another.

 

Everything turned out pretty clean. I should have taken your advice about the kobalt taps though. It broke not even half way through the first hole! Went with Vermont American, it worked beautifully (also forced myself to be extremely careful). Not so hot on how the light side of the HS turned out though but didn't want to run the wires through to the finned side of the HS for better cooling. Honestly couldn't think of a better way to do it.

 

It's been on for ~8 hours on my desk with no spontaneous combustion or solder joints failing, so I am pretty happy. Besides with the lights on you can't see the wires anyhow.

 

 

Pics!

 

Heatsink Fin Side:

 

Light Side:

 

Control Box:

 

Hood Connection:

 

Still trying to figure out inline pictures...

[evilc66]

Looking good. Need some action shots next

[Minadin]

I love your control box (like the peto's on top) and the cord ends are the BEST I have seen to date. May I ask what these ends are called exactly & where I can get them? I know they are fittings of some kind. I do not want to have to hardwire my setup if I can get it as good looking as yours.

 

 

Thanks so much

Scott

[frakthem]

I love your control box (like the peto's on top) and the cord ends are the BEST I have seen to date. May I ask what these ends are called exactly & where I can get them? I know they are fittings of some kind. I do not want to have to hardwire my setup if I can get it as good looking as yours.

 

 

Thanks so much

Scott

 

Hey thanks! I thought it looked pretty snazzy myself!

 

The control box to the hood: "male" ends are Philmore "DC Coaxial Plug" No. 210 and the Female ends are Philmore DC Power Jack No. 247. These are meant to go together.

 

The PowerSupply plug just happened to fit perfectly into the Philmore DC Power Jack No. 248.

 

I purchased them from Fry's Electronics. It was all they had as far as plugs go. And only a dollar each!

 

I just used heat shrink tubing instead of the plastic cover that is supposed to go over the wire connections as I bought 16guage wires which were a bit big for those plugs, 18guage would probably work better. Then covered all four wires with that stuff for pc modders that covers cables to make them look pretty, a little more heatshrink and presto!

 

The box was also purchased at frys.

[Minadin]

Thanks I am headed to the Fry's website now. I was going to take earlier advice about using an old computer power cord and cutting one end off, but my "junk box" is filled with coax cables not old psu cords I threw them away.

 

Thanks so much

Scott

[gunguy05]

If you don't mind me asking.

 

1. What type of tank are you going to put these over. I have a NC6 that i am researching a 3.18 upgrade vs. LED. and this looks like it might be how i want to go .

2. What kind (brand) and type of LEDs are you using?

[frakthem]

If you don't mind me asking.

 

1. What type of tank are you going to put these over. I have a NC6 that i am researching a 3.18 upgrade vs. LED. and this looks like it might be how i want to go .

2. What kind (brand) and type of LEDs are you using?

 

 

They are going over a BC14. I modeled it directly after WaterProof's design as he has the same tank as I. They are cree 3w xre's royal blue and cool white. Check out his thread and others in the lighting forum for some really good pointers and designs.

[frakthem]

Here is a pic with it installed and running! It looks good definately some shimmering going on unlike the PC's I had before. There is also some dark spots in the corners and you can see some blue in some of the areas. I like it, I just hope the inhabitants like it as much.

 

Next I have to figure out why my heater is fluctuating so much. 75.5 with the PC's off and 80 with them on. The setpoint is 80 so I am kinda confused.

 

LED FTS:

 

 

Let me know what you think.

 

Thanks!

[evilc66]

Looks good so far. Turn the brightness down to about 50% to start acclimating the corals. It will be a pretty big shock for them to go from PCs to LEDs.

 

If I hadn't just got my Sunpod, I would be converting the hood to LEDs now too I'll just have to do my planted tank.

[Waterproof]

Looks good. How's the brightness compare to the stock bulbs? The blue showing is interesting. It only seems to be obvious in the shadows or cracks of the rocks. Remember, you can easily adjust the amount of shimmer by increasing/decreasing the amount of surface agitation. If you pointed your return or that koralia towards the surface, you'd get crazy amounts of shimmer. Surface agitation is really a good thing for your tank as well.

 

I didn't really understand what you said about the temp.

[evilc66]

I wouldn't trust the dial on the heater. Bump the setting up a little and see if the temperature doesn't drop as far.

[frakthem]

Yeah it is interesting it is almost like looking at a 3d movie w/out the glasses in some spots. I pointed the return towards the top of the tank it does look nice with the added shimmer. I have to move the koralia somehow to stop it digging a hole in the sand in the front left of the tank. I added the stock moonlights back in as well.

 

The heater is something I have been experiencing for a while even after I bought a new one. Basically when I had the PC lights in there and they were on, the tank would hit 80 deg. and stay there. Turn the lights off it would be 75-76. So I am confused why the heater doesn't keep it at 80 regardless of external heat sources. The heater setpoint is 79.5 (it's digital) and dunno why it won't keep it there over night essentially.

 

My corals the Xenia and Frogspawn especially are not to sure about the new lights just yet. I turned them down to ~50% and will gradually bring it up over the next week. They could be freaked out about the "frigid" temperatures in there as well.

 

I can't say enough about how awesome your and evil66's writeups have been in getting this done successfully on the first try. Everyone should read those first before asking anything because it helps A LOT! RTFM it's the best place to start!

[evilc66]

How big is the heater?

[frakthem]

How big is the heater?

 

 

It's a 100watt Fluval e100. One of those digital ones. I had a 100w stealth before which was doing the same thing so I figured I would just get a new one. Are they just crap? I have it set for 82 right now and it is slowly climbing up to that point *I think*. The tank temp is 78.5.

[Waterproof]

You said with the "PCs" the tank temp was 80-deg. Rather than recalibrating your heater to 80-deg, you might want to run the LEDs for a day and see what temp the tank hits. My stock PC lighting kept the tank at 80-deg, but the LEDs run cooler and only get the tank up to 78. My point...you might be able to set your tank temp a little lower.

 

BTW, do you have a pic of the hood setup. I'd like to see how the 8.5x6 heatsink looks.

[frakthem]

You said with the "PCs" the tank temp was 80-deg. Rather than recalibrating your heater to 80-deg, you might want to run the LEDs for a day and see what temp the tank hits. My stock PC lighting kept the tank at 80-deg, but the LEDs run cooler and only get the tank up to 78. My point...you might be able to set your tank temp a little lower.

 

BTW, do you have a pic of the hood setup. I'd like to see how the 8.5x6 heatsink looks.

 

 

I think I figured out the heater.. I bumped it to 82.5 and it is holding steady between 79.5 and 80 at the moment. I will see how it does over night when everything is turned off. I think the heater's thermometer is a bit off..

 

Also noticed that the hood quite cool. I dunno how hot it will get with the lights bumped up to full bore. Hopefully not enough to change out the stock fans. I will probably have to do that anyhow because one of them is starting to make noises every once and a while.

 

Yeah no prob.. You can see everything installed in the attached pic.

 

 

I had to make the clear plastic cover mount a bit lower becasue the LED's were hitting it when mounted, that's the weather striping around the plastic lens. I didn't want to re-drill things to get it mounted. The only ghetto thing is the switches have a part of the HS fin running right through the center of them. Luckily the spade terminals that were in there had a rubber jacket so they won't short out. I figure that should be ok, not sure what I can really do about it besides relocating the terminals or dropping the heatsink down another inch or so.

[evilc66]

As long as the terminals are insulated, it will be fine. Not the most ideal way to do it, but it works

[frakthem]

I think the heater issue is sorted.. You can't trust the "digital readout" as well as the dial on heaters. It is set for 82 and the temperature over night leveled out at 78.5 and yesterday with the lights on it made it to 79.5. That should work. My Xenia is looking better this morning as well.

[evilc66]

Figured as much.