Neto Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Hello Everyone! I built a LED fixture for my 10 gallon. It has 4 Luxdrive Drivers running 18 LEDS. 2 drivers are running 4 leds each and the other two drivers are running 5 leds. Its been running for three days now. This project is not complete yet. I still need to find something to keep the led drivers. I also need to cut the rod and paint it black. Here are some pictures: Problems: Actinics: Current problems: One driver gave up on me, or maybe a LED died.. Since they are in series, if one fails then maybe the circuit is open and thats why its not starting. Im kind of upset because it was working for two days now and suddently it broke... and I keep hearing people having problems with luxdrive drivers so here we go. Another problem is that there are allot of bubbles in the rocks... dont know why, nitrate is 0, phosphates are 0.5, PH is 8.4 Link to comment
rollei Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Looks amazing despite your problems. Keep it up . Link to comment
cptbjorn Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 How long has the tank been set up? First thing to check when LEDs start malfunctioning is to double check all the wiring to make sure nothing has broken, and then to start checking for shorts between any points of the LED strings and the heatsink with a multimeter. Then check to make sure all the led's still light individually using a couple AA batteries in series (or a multimeter on diode test mode if you have one). Link to comment
deepdvnarq Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 How long has the tank been set up? First thing to check when LEDs start malfunctioning is to double check all the wiring to make sure nothing has broken, and then to start checking for shorts between any points of the LED strings and the heatsink with a multimeter. Then check to make sure all the led's still light individually using a couple AA batteries in series (or a multimeter on diode test mode if you have one). +1 to what Cppy said. also, if you remove all of the screws from the leds and they light up, you have a grounding problem. Link to comment
Neto Posted October 28, 2009 Author Share Posted October 28, 2009 How long has the tank been set up? First thing to check when LEDs start malfunctioning is to double check all the wiring to make sure nothing has broken, and then to start checking for shorts between any points of the LED strings and the heatsink with a multimeter. Then check to make sure all the led's still light individually using a couple AA batteries in series (or a multimeter on diode test mode if you have one). I have the rocks for like 3-4 years, sand 5 years and tank has been running for a year. When I builded the fixture, I checked for continuity between leds and heatsing to see if there was a short. I did this with a multimeter... I will re-check again but I think that maybe a led gave up or a driver. Link to comment
Waterproof Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Looks good, but I suggest you add some sides to the assembly to block side-view of the LEDs. As you've noticed, they are crazy bright. Even looking from the side, they can be bad for your eyes and distracting at the least. Maybe add some edging that would extend ~3" on every side, or at least the front and two sides. Also remember, if you have children, you need to arrange this so they don't look up into the array from the floor. They don't know to look away and can harm their eyes. The same goes for MH bulbs. Link to comment
Neto Posted October 28, 2009 Author Share Posted October 28, 2009 Looks good, but I suggest you add some sides to the assembly to block side-view of the LEDs. As you've noticed, they are crazy bright. Even looking from the side, they can be bad for your eyes and distracting at the least. Maybe add some edging that would extend ~3" on every side, or at least the front and two sides. Also remember, if you have children, you need to arrange this so they don't look up into the array from the floor. They don't know to look away and can harm their eyes. The same goes for MH bulbs. Yes, thanks for the suggestion I will think of something. Maybe a painted acrylic around the border. Link to comment
Neto Posted October 29, 2009 Author Share Posted October 29, 2009 I checked the continuity between the heatsink and all leds today and it seems to be fine. I did not find any continuity between these so there is no short in the circuit. I also checked the potentiometer resistance and its 5k. I am almost sure its a driver problem.Tomorrow I will switch the drivers to see if thats the case.... Do you guys think that I can exchange this? Its been like one month and a half since I bought it from ledsupply but It only ran for 3 days... Link to comment
redfishsc Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 The bubbles are from algae that's probably just going to happen with a drastic upgrade in light. Also, phosphate at 0.5ppm is PLENTY of phosphate for algae to thrive. Link to comment
Neto Posted October 29, 2009 Author Share Posted October 29, 2009 The bubbles are from algae that's probably just going to happen with a drastic upgrade in light. Also, phosphate at 0.5ppm is PLENTY of phosphate for algae to thrive. Yeah, I have been getting some algae lately. I think its cyano so I need to solve this issue prior buying sps or other corals Link to comment
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