10 gallon 12 DIY LED build

[porksoda]

Well I have been on the fence on what light to upgrade to.

Finally I decided to bite the bullet and do a DIY LED kit.

I looked everywhere and most places had real high dollar kits or premade LED kits.

Finally I stumbled upon RapidLED.com and noticed they had a 12 LED kit.

I emailed them for more information. The person (Mike) was very helpful and answered all my dumb/noob questions I asked.

Finally I decided this:

12 Ultra Premium LED Do-It-Yourself Retrofit Kit $95.00

 

Drilled and Tapped 4.25" x 9" Heat Sink for 12 LEDs $22.00

 

I will be keeping you all updated on this build as I go.

I do plan on getting a fan for the unit later down the road.

 

I even have more plans of adding a acrylic cover over the actual LED's.

 

Well here is what I received today:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The packaging was really good.

I also like how the actual LED's are pre-soldered to make it easier when I finally do solder everything together.

[Tyron]

Get'R done

[silversurfer96790]

I also ordered a 12 Diy LED kit with a dimmable driver from Rapid,went together with no problems. Just take your time with soldering everything up and check and re-check before you power it up.

[pico-reefer]

any updates?

[porksoda]

Sorry to keep you all waiting. I should get started on it with in the new few days.

Right now I am just finishing up finals for college and I really don't have the time now.

But I will keep you all updated as soon do anything.

[lecroj]

I am about to buy a 24 set from rapidled and was wondering how the optics attach to the LEDs?

Also, do you know if they will let you mix and match if you want 10 blues and 14 whites?

[porksoda]

I am about to buy a 24 set from rapidled and was wondering how the optics attach to the LEDs?

Also, do you know if they will let you mix and match if you want 10 blues and 14 whites?

 

Well I just grabbed mine to check and it looks like they just push on to the LED itself.

I am assuming if you wanted to perminently fix them on there you could glue them on there.

Also I am sure Mike over at Rapidled could fix you up with that 10/14 set up.

I would just call or email them and ask. I am sure they will do that no problem.

I plan on working on the fixture a little bit more tonight.

Its been very though with finals this week.

[bruce922]

Thanks for the info, I'm thinking about getting the same kit

[porksoda]

Couple of updates:

 

RB's are on:

 

Thermal Grease:

 

 

CB & RB all on:

 

 

 

I am working on it now. I will keep you all updated.

[porksoda]

Well after soldering everything up I decided to test it out.

All the lights turned on for like 3 seconds and then all of a sudden the lights turned off.

I then unplugged the light from the outlet.

 

After looking up diagrams and pictures on here on the way I soldered them together.

 

 

 

After doing closer observation I noticed that 2 of my RB's have little black dots in them now. Could this mean they are burnt out?

 

 

If so what could I have done to prevent this?

 

Also I got a AA battery and hooked a wire one each end to test out the leds.

 

The whole bottom row does not do nothing. The middle row will blink the led. And the whole top row except the top left one will turn on.

 

So does that mean the ones that doesn't light up are burnt out?

 

So weird how they just turned off.

 

I am just really frustrated now because of all this work I put into this fixture today and it only works for only like 3 seconds. With my luck burnt out half my lights and now I will be 6 leds in the whole and I have no idea why.

[porksoda]

Also guys I do have a multimeter so if there is a way to test them with the multimeter please let me know and Ill try that too.

Thanks.

[mad28gnc]

It looks like you might have shorted em out with the screws

 

Just a heads up don't use super glue ( coynocrylic ) spelling to attach the lenses

It will fog em then the LEDs are trash ( I found this out the hard way years ago )

Gotsta use epoxy

 

Also guys I do have a multimeter so if there is a way to test them with the multimeter please let me know and Ill try that too.

Thanks.

 

 

Check for cotanutiey between the LEDs and the heat sink also when you do this check both sides of the star + &-

[pico-reefer]

It looks like you might have shorted em out with the screws

 

just wondering how the screws could short it out? if there touching the wires or?

[thelovablebum]

Did you have the LEDs wired to the driver before powering on the driver, if not that would of burnt them out.

[porksoda]

Did you have the LEDs wired to the driver before powering on the driver, if not that would of burnt them out.

 

I wired everything up before plugging the driver it.

So everything was connected.

[thelovablebum]

I'm not sure what could of caused the problem, but it does sound like some of the LED are blown.

 

You said you've tested them with a AA battery, now I know that with mine (which are CREE XR-E, a little older then yours) that they will not light with a single AA, I have to use 2 AA in series to light them.

 

Testing each one individual should give you a on or off result. You shouldn't get any kind of blinking.

 

It's also a good idea to check for any kind of shorts by checking for continuity between the led pads and the heatsink.

[mad28gnc]

just wondering how the screws could short it out? if there touching the wires or?

 

If the screws touch the pads they can short

 

Also when they tinned the pads they leave them with a coat of flux so when you test them with a battery they don't always get a good contact so sometimes they blink not anything to worrie over

 

However it does sound like the LEDs that arnt working are toast sorry it sucks just check for continuity before you take it apart to see if that was the case. Sometimes when they are soldered the solder can toach the edge of the star and case a short as well

 

I hope this helps

[gabe_j]

you didn't use nylon washers it looks like. the screw contacted the tin and shorted the led against the heat sink burning out the spotted ones. take the old screws off get some washers and reattach the LEDs. if you want to test the continuity you can but they seem shot.

 

sorry dude.

[dling]

If you have a multimeter I think it will light the led's by setting it to continuity and reading through them one at a time . I seem to remember thats how I did the test on mine to find out the bad ones. Also the spots could come from being burnt from the soldering iron( be very careful). Also be sure to use a stiff brush and some alcohol to remove the flux from the solder pads before powering it up. Flux is conductive and will cause a short. As a suggestion,you could lose the screws and go with a bonding thermal compound to reduce the chances of shorting them out.Its easier to put them on and harder to get them off. Just a thought. Good luck. Build looks nice so far.

[dling]

btw in the last pic it looks like the red wire is not even on the star pad . It looks like its on the hs. And the black wire had a loose wire sticking out of it that could short out also.

[m.miller5589]

I just finished my rapidled project.. Do away with screws.. Buy some thermal compound adhesive and adjust the srv2 screw to 0 on your driver. Rapidled has an awesome pdf on how to set em up on the drivers specification page. Rr (only one turn counter clockwise.. it will strip.. You will need a multimeter with a 10a hookup.. Adjust current accordingly.. I have q5s so I went with a safe 900 ma.. Solder carefully with a high wattage iron otherwise you may have already overheated the led with the iron. Good luck.. Triple check before powering up.