XCUBE 26 LED upgrade -REPOST

[Dave_uk]

The orginal thread for my LED upgrade has been lost along with everything else posted in the last 2 weeks so I thought I would re-post what I could in this new thread. We can rebuild!

 

PS. for some reason I cant make seperate posts after each other so its all in 1 big post... sorry.

 

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Here are some shots of the xcube:-

 

 

This is the empty tank when I first bought it.

 

 

Hood/Light fixture.

 

This is the latest shot I have of the tank. taken about 6-8 weeks ago. The gsp and xenia have grown a bit but its pretty much looks the same as now (under the stock lighting)...a bit drab isnt it. it actually looks darker than in the photo.

 

 

 

I finally have most of the parts to start building my LED array to upgrade my xcube 26.

 

I will be replacing the stock 13w 50/50 PC fixture in my xcube with a small LED array. The main parts will be:-

 

5 Cree XR-E R2 White (WC bin) LEDs

5 Cree XR-E Royal Blue LEDs

1000mA buckpuck with POT (for whites)

700mA buckpuck with POT (for blues)

24V 2.5A PSU

100mm x 200mm black aluminium heatsink

2 Silenx 80mm x 15mm fans (If they will fit in the hood)

 

I will also probably be adding an arduino to the setup at a later date. Luckily there is a bloke at my work that is really good with that kind of programmig and he's doing all the hard work on this for me. He's using a test setup with 5mm LEDs and when he's finished I will be able to just disconnect the POTs and connect the buckpucks to an arduino using his code. At the very least this will allow a nice dusk/dawn effect and It may include temperature sensors as well.

 

I had a busy day with this yesterday and have drilled and tapped the heatsink, attached the LEDs and wired them up for a test run. Here are the photos from my progress so far...

 

 

I managed to borrow a drill press at work which was really helpfull. I used a 2.5mm HSS bit and then tapped the holes with a 3mm tap. Im pretty happy with the way it turned out. They holes are deliberately slightly unevenly spaced so I could drill all the way through without touching any of the fins.

 

 

I used nylon screws to attach the LEDs to the heatsink and Arctic Silver Ceramique thermal compund. I was a little concerned that I might not be able to tighten the nylon screws enough without them breaking but they seem to be more than strong enough. I think they look quite neat.

 

 

Close up of the LEDs

 

 

Array wired up ready for testing. I am waiting for a spare hood from the wave distributer so can't test fit the array yet and I still need to buy a small project box for the buckpucks and wiring. I will also be buying a couple of fans once I get the hood and know how much space I have to play with.

 

 

Let there be light... and lots of it! The array is a lot brighter than I thought it would be. I think its going to look amazing over my xcube. I will probably have to dial it down to about 50%.

 

I will keep the updates coming as soon as there is any more progress.

 

 

 

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This is a rough breakdown of what its cost and where I ordered the parts from.

 

- 6 White and 6 Blue LEDs (incl 1 spare of each colour), Cutter (AUS) approx £65

- Buckpucks, ultraleds.co.uk, £40

- 24V 2.5A PSU, ebay, £25

- Heatsink, RS Componets, £10

- Wire, connectors, other small parts - ebay & maplin, approx £30

 

Thats a total of about £170 but I still need to buy a couple of fans and a small enclosure for the wiring so it will proably end up costing about £190. Then there is the cost of the arduino but thats optional so Ive left it off for now.

 

Thats more than I intended spending at the start but Im pretty happy with it as the cost is similar to buying 2 aquarays and I think this array will be brighter and obviously I have the added benefit of being able to dim the LEDs, not to mention that the aquarays wouldnt have fitted in the hood anyway

 

 

 

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Update:

 

Still no hood so Im going to take the current hood home with me this weekend and use an old azoo 13w PC fixture for the pico temporarily. Its not as bright as the current PC though so I hope my corals are ok. I am concerned about the evaporation over the weekend with no hood so im just going to put some cling film over the tank.

 

I got the enclosure that houses the buckpucks, pots and wiring finished last night. Here are some photos

 

 

Inside shot. The blocks connect the buckpucks to the pots so I can easily remove the wires and connect to the arduino when I get to that stage

 

 

Outside shot showing the pots, power switch and socket for the 24v psu.

 

 

Finished.. with knobs on. I wanted white and blue knobs but couldnt find them small enough to take the shaft from the pots. I might replace these if I can find any coloured ones in future (if anyone knows where I can get the for a 3mm shaft please let me know)

 

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I have now fitted the array in the hood and I'm testing it on the tank. I will post some updated pics as soon as I get some spare time.

[evilc66]

Looks just as good the second time around

[trekbear]

Finished.. with knobs on. I wanted white and blue knobs but couldnt find them small enough to take the shaft from the pots. I might replace these if I can find any coloured ones in future (if anyone knows where I can get the for a 3mm shaft please let me know)

 

You could always buy Krylon Fusion paint (or the European equivalent). Adheres/bonds with most plastic and is not easily removed once applied/cured.

 

Just a suggestion, and I will probably be looking at doing something very similar myself. Maybe smaller cans of Model spray paint, but I think they actually cost more than the big (normal) sizes.

 

Hope I helped!

Tom aka TrekBear

[Dave_uk]

Looks just as good the second time around

 

Aww.. thanks Evil.

 

You could always buy Krylon Fusion paint (or the European equivalent). Adheres/bonds with most plastic and is not easily removed once applied/cured.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I probably will end up painting them when i get time.

[Dave_uk]

UPDATE:

 

Im pretty much finished with the upgrade now except for the arduino part but that might be a while. Here are some photos of the progress.

 

Hood - stripped out On close inspeaction the plastic seems to be of pretty crap quality... but I suppose the whole tank was only £49.

 

 

Fans I wanted to use 60mm fans but couldnt find any that were quiet enouh so went for these 80mm ones instead. They only cost about £4 each and are only 17dB. Im a bit dissapointed with their performance though.. not pushing much air at all.

 

 

Fans attached to heatsink I attached the fans at first with cable ties but it looked messy and wouldnt fit in the hood so I used some nylon screws and nuts I had left over. I was a little concerned about the amount of space left for air to flow away from the heatsink as the fans take up so much surface area and the heatsink is a tight fit in the splashguard but they have kept the array nice and cool so far.

 

 

Array in hood Its a tight fit but I think it looks quite neat.

 

 

Splashguard re-fitted With the 2 rubber feet, the array is just the right thickness to fit in the splashguard without neding to be fixed to the hood.

 

 

Top of hood I decided to drill the top of the hood but due to the rubbish plastic and my terrible diy a lot of the holes are chipped and it looks a bit messy so I will probably cover it in some sort of mesh at some point to improve the look.

 

 

Tank Shot This is the first photo I took of the tank under LEDs. They are only running at about 30-40% but look amazingly bright. The difference in the colour of the corals is unbelievable. The photo just doesnt do it justice. The LEDs seem to have really shown up how much I need to clean the rear wall of the tank

 

 

 

 

I was concerned that there is only a slight breeze of air coming out of the hood but I checked the temperature of the array after test running it at 100% for 6 hours and this was the result:-

 

Heatsink - 37 degrees C

White LEDs - all below 60 degrees C

Blue LEDs - all below 55 degrees C

 

These look pretty cool to me.. please correct me if im wrong!

 

 

 

The next step is the arduino but Im happy with the way it is for now so theres no rush to get this done.

[Dave_uk]

Heres a quick before and after shot.

 

 

Remember the after shot only has the LEDs running at 30-40%. I tried a quick burst at 100% and it was much brighter but my camera didnt like it. I will probably end up gradually increasing to about 50-60% as I dont think I will need it any brighter.

[deepdvnarq]

Heres a quick before and after shot.

 

 

Remember the after shot only has the LEDs running at 30-40%. I tried a quick burst at 100% and it was much brighter but my camera didnt like it. I will probably end up gradually increasing to about 50-60% as I dont think I will need it any brighter.

way cool dave, looks very nice

[Dave_uk]

My colleague connected his arduino to the array for the first time today. His code worked well and we simulated a dawn to dusk cycle.

 

I bought some temperature sensors, a RTC chip and cell battery today. The idea is that we will have a on-board clock with battery backup so powercuts/brownouts wont cause the arduino to reset its time. We will also have a temp sensor monitoring the heatisink and dimming the lights if it gets too hot. A LCD screen with control panel is also a possibility.

[Dave_uk]

Hi,

Sorry to bump the topic at the surface but I have a similar project of management for my LED lighting with an arduino board. I have already the Arduino, Ethernet shield and LCD shield.

 

Where are you with the arduino for your lighting. Did you finalize the project.

If yes, do you have pictures of the design and how this function (pwm fan, pwm led, LCD menu, etc ...)

 

Thank you

 

I decided to use the arduino for my other LED build as it seemed a little overkill for this one. My colleague is currently worink on the documantation and I will post as much as I can as soon as possible.

[sialkoti]

I decided to use the arduino for my other LED build as it seemed a little overkill for this one. My colleague is currently worink on the documantation and I will post as much as I can as soon as possible.

I think (sweevo)'s code may help you a bit

[Dave_uk]

Thanks but someone else wrote the code so its all done.

[deepdvnarq]

hey when can we get updated tank shots?

i hope you have been enjoying the LEDs

[Dave_uk]

I'll try to post some on monday. Not much has changed other than the addition of a candycane and the xenia and gsp have gone nuts.

[coolwaters]

Heres a quick before and after shot.

 

 

Remember the after shot only has the LEDs running at 30-40%. I tried a quick burst at 100% and it was much brighter but my camera didnt like it. I will probably end up gradually increasing to about 50-60% as I dont think I will need it any brighter.

 

Lets see them at 100% XD

 

also the LEDs hits 55-60C?

thats pretty hot. but i guess its the size of the heatsink.

how did u measure the temps? temp gun?

 

probably better air flow will be a good idea.

[Dave_uk]

Lets see them at 100% XD

 

also the LEDs hits 55-60C?

thats pretty hot. but i guess its the size of the heatsink.

how did u measure the temps? temp gun?

 

probably better air flow will be a good idea.

 

I used a IR thermometer. I have heard that 60 degrees C is about the highest you should run them if you want them to last and they stayed under that even when run at 100% for hours so Im pretty happy overall. Ive actually had to dial them right down as they were cooking my zoas and candycane so I dont think heat is going to ever be an issue. Even runing almost as low as they can they still kick ass compared to PCs

[gregzbobo]

I used a IR thermometer. I have heard that 60 degrees C is about the highest you should run them if you want them to last and they stayed under that even when run at 100% for hours so Im pretty happy overall. Ive actually had to dial them right down as they were cooking my zoas and candycane so I dont think heat is going to ever be an issue. Even runing almost as low as they can they still kick ass compared to PCs

Do you have both fans set to exhaust air from the hood? I was looking at your pics, and the top view of your hood after you'd drilled the holed and installed the heatsink/fans, and just from what I can see theres not much there in the way of intake. This may sound a bit odd, but have you tried flipping one fan over using it for an intake, and keeping the other as an exhaust? That might improve airflow quite a bit through your setup, reducing temps. Just an idea. Another idea might be to get some acrylic, and cut some of the rear part of the inner plastic wall out (the enclosed section where the heatsink is), and use the acrylic to make sort of a tunnel going to those vents I saw on the rear part of the hood, sealing it on the inside, that would let the fans draw fresh air from those rear vents to blow out the top.

[Jamo]

Hows the tank looking dave?

[Dave_uk]

Hows the tank looking dave?

 

The lights still working well but unfotunatrly the livestock isnt doing so well. A while ago a cleaner came into the office at the weekend and sprayed a cleaning product on the lid. It all went downhill from there and most of the livestock died. The only coral that survived was some GSP. Its a real shame as it had been thriving for several months and was looking great.

[evilc66]

Oh noez. What a disaster. My brother-in-law's mother did the same thing (deliberately) to his pirahna tank.

[Dave_uk]

Oh noez. What a disaster. My brother-in-law's mother did the same thing (deliberately) to his pirahna tank.

 

Yeah, tell me about it. I was gutted.

 

At least for my tank it was a mistake (however stupid). I dont know how someone could do that deliberately.