nick's led build take2

[mygolfisslow]

just doing some thinking/planing on a new led build.

the tank is a marineland 45 cube

23x23x18

to start its more or less a few Qs for the led god............

so the plan is

 

10x12 heatsink from heatsinkusa

 

2 or the Thomas Research TRC-040S070DS drivers

 

30 leds broken down to

14 xp-e royal blues

6 xp-e blues

for whites im not to sure what to do

 

option 1

6 xp-g cool whites

4 xp-g neutral whites

 

option 2

6 xm-l cool white t5s or t6s

4 xm-l neutral white t5s

 

not sure how i will lay them out.

 

so the questions are is it worth the few extra $ for the xm-ls?, how should i lay them out so i get an even coverage with all colors?, will i need optics with a tank 18in deep i do have some sps about 10in from the surface???

[saltwatercoral]

I have no clue what u just said there. Thats why I just got the AI SOL super blue led lights! :lol: I hope u get the answers you need. Check with ecilc66, he knows it all with LED's

[evilc66]

Please don't sperm with me. I'm married

 

XM-L's are more efficient, but do you really need them? Not really. XP-G's are more than powerful enough, and at this time, have more optics options available if you need them. I would stick with neutral whites throughout, and ditch the cool whites at this point. There is no real advantage from mixing the two.

 

You are going to run into problems with the blues though and the driver you selected. At 700mA, the 40W drivers can only support up to 15 LEDs in series. That means that you either have to move up to the 75W driver for the blues only, or add another 40W driver and split the royals and the blues on seperate drivers. I would actually recommend that aproach, as you now have control over the color that can do the most damage to the overall appearance of the tank.

[mygolfisslow]

evil...

so i should ditch the cool whites all together? the last lamp that i built i was running all royal blues and all cool whites. is there an advantage to running the neutral whites over the cool whites?

 

should i run less of the blues like 4 and put them on the channel with the whites

or should i just stick with the royal blues and neutrals in a 2-1 ratio and skip the added colors?

 

i was planing on running 15 of the royal blue/blue on 1 driver and then the whites and remaining rb/b on the second driver.

i would like to stick to just the 2 drivers, as i have already ordered them. from you

[mygolfisslow]

thinking this

[evilc66]

evil...

so i should ditch the cool whites all together? the last lamp that i built i was running all royal blues and all cool whites. is there an advantage to running the neutral whites over the cool whites?

 

should i run less of the blues like 4 and put them on the channel with the whites

or should i just stick with the royal blues and neutrals in a 2-1 ratio and skip the added colors?

 

i was planing on running 15 of the royal blue/blue on 1 driver and then the whites and remaining rb/b on the second driver.

i would like to stick to just the 2 drivers, as i have already ordered them. from you

 

Mixing whites and blues on the same driver is fine. It just doesn't offer as much control over the color. It can still work well though.

 

Cool whites work, and everyone knows that. Some people though have found that cool whites don't bring out certain colors in certain corals. Neutral whites seem to fix the vast majority of that issue, but you have to run heavier on the blues to compensate for the increased red output. Neutral white is the white of choice right now, but there is nothing wrong with going cool white if you feel more comfortable with it.

[mygolfisslow]

does this plot work. is it enough royal blue to run the neutral whites 14rb 4b 12nw

 

or should i just run the cool whites/ maybe supplement with the neutral or warm optic free

[saltwatercoral]

Sorry bout dat, my spell check corrected that and I missed it

[blasterman]

or should i just run the cool whites/ maybe supplement with the neutral or warm optic free

 

I strongly suggest choosing either cool whites or neutral whites. Using both is just adding complexity with no real benefit. If you really can't decide then build a small scale light with both combos and see what works.

 

Remember, if you use neutrals you'll need to increase your ratio of blue to about 2:1.

[mygolfisslow]

so i was doing a bit of research in to AI sol and sol blue and from the tech specs on there sight the sol runs a 2-1 cool white and blue and the sol blue runs a 1-1-1 blue, royal blue and cool white.

the part numbers for the leds are the same as the xp-e blues and the xp-g cool whites that ledgroupbuy sells. i cant seem to find any good pics of these two lamps over tanks. i will keep looking.

im going to do a little more looking around for more info but it looks like i could make a cube friendly lamp in a 3x3 setup with clusters of 3 much the way AI does.

i will post a few light plots tomorrow when i get back from the frag swap..

[mygolfisslow]

wow no chatter at all......

so the new plan is to set it up like the AI lamp.

10x10 heat sink

9 neutral whites

5 blue

13 royal blue

 

i will run all the royal blues on 1 driver and the whites and blues on the other.

like this

 

any thoughts??

[mygolfisslow]

no one has any thoughts

[Milad LEDGroupBuy.com]

tight grouping like your last image is the best way to go but I think you are going to get a really blue look with that many blues. I would reduce the blues.

[mygolfisslow]

tight grouping like your last image is the best way to go but I think you are going to get a really blue look with that many blues. I would reduce the blues.

Which blues the royals or the blue? Evil stated that I should use a 2-1 ratio of blue to white if going with the neutral whites.

[fishyj]

You may want to run the blues and white on different controls. It will give you better adjustment to color.

[Milad LEDGroupBuy.com]

Royal Blue to Neutral White is 2:1

Royal Blue to Cool White is 1:1 (or 60% RB and 40% CW)

If you use too many "Blues" it will make your tank look like a windex bottle. I would at least cut it down to 4 Blues if not less (or none).

[mygolfisslow]

Thank you

So maybe 2 blues one on each side. I only want them to get a little wider spectrum.

Once I finalize my plan I will be getting in on the next group buy.

[jcieutat]

I have no clue what u just said there. Thats why I just got the AI SOL super blue led lights! :lol: I hope u get the answers you need. Check with ecilc66, he knows it all with LED's

 

 

+1!

[mygolfisslow]

So I got my Trd drivers today they are a nice small unit very happy.

I have a few questions concering them. When I connect a 10 pot and turn it all the wat down my test string of 8 LEDs gets real dim but does not turn off. This is normal?

In the end I plan to use the alc to control dimming. The switch kit wires are a two wire. In which case I just want to use the signal and ground from the driver correct?

I plan to use RCA cables between the driver box that I am building and the lamp itself will this be ok?

[DirtyC]

how tight are you gonna space your leds??

[malawian]

i would kill the blues...consensus is they look terrible

[evilc66]

So I got my Trd drivers today they are a nice small unit very happy.

I have a few questions concering them. When I connect a 10 pot and turn it all the wat down my test string of 8 LEDs gets real dim but does not turn off. This is normal?

In the end I plan to use the alc to control dimming. The switch kit wires are a two wire. In which case I just want to use the signal and ground from the driver correct?

I plan to use RCA cables between the driver box that I am building and the lamp itself will this be ok?

This is normal. Most all drivers will not dim the LEDs down to 0%. Some of it also depends on the LEDs used. I have seen Luxeon Rebels dim lower than Crees in the past on the same driver.

 

When connecting to the ALC, just use the ground (green) and the input (purple) to the 0-10v channels. RCA connectors will work fine, but make sure the outer contact is the ground.

 

i would kill the blues...consensus is they look terrible

They just need to be used in moderation. Ideally, they would need to be on a seperate channel to control the brightness, but if they are tied into another color channel, the fewer used the better.

[mygolfisslow]

This is normal. Most all drivers will not dim the LEDs down to 0%. Some of it also depends on the LEDs used. I have seen Luxeon Rebels dim lower than Crees in the past on the same driver.

 

When connecting to the ALC, just use the ground (green) and the input (purple) to the 0-10v channels. RCA connectors will work fine, but make sure the outer contact is the ground.

 

 

They just need to be used in moderation. Ideally, they would need to be on a seperate channel to control the brightness, but if they are tied into another color channel, the fewer used the better.

thanks Evil, will the alc dim them down all the way.

 

i guess i will try two of the blues, but i will get a few extra royals in case i dont like the blues.

 

i started building even though i have yet to order the leds.

some pics

 

[evilc66]

The issue is with the driver and the LEDs, not what is controlling it. The ALC will still have the same issue. If you want to shut the LEDs off, you have to kill the AC power to the driver.

[mygolfisslow]

Lamp is pretty much finished all holes drilled and tapped, fans mounted. I placed my order with ledgroupbuy. So now all I have to do is finish wiring the control box and wait for he LEDs to arrive.

ill post pic when i get home from NY on sunday