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Innovative Marine Aquariums

MY GU10 LED Hood


MiReef

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Hi Guys,

It looks like I got an early Christmas. I was planning to do a GU10 LED hood for my small frag/grow-out tank and I got all the parts. Hoping to finish before Christmas.

 

I got 5 blue (3x1W) LEDs

5 cool white (3x1W) LEDs

and 10 GU10 holders. These LEDs are 110V.

 

There are pros and cons when you compare this with a regular high power LEDs (Cree, Bridgelux, rebel etc).

 

Pros:

Cheap

can run on AC 110V

easy to swap out if need arise

 

Cons:

Non-dimmable, but can run on timers

Risk with electricity

optics built in (modification may cost more and defeat the whole idea of doing it cheap)

 

Photo 1: white and blue LEDs and GU10 holders

Photo 2: Wood for the hood is all routed out from 1x4 pine

Photo 3: This is how the hood going to look like when assembled. roughly 6"x14"

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Progress

I already have the hood running but here how I did it step by step.

 

Photo 1: Top plate painted black

Photo 2: All the GU10 holders laid out

Photo 3: Wired half-way (I soldered them and use shrink tubes. This way it is cleaner and less trouble with short-circuits

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Progress 2

Here all the parts assembled with the box

 

Photo 1: Box part assembled and painted

Photo 2: All wired and there are 2 strings for white and blue

Photo 3: Box attached

Photo 4: another view of the box

Photo 5: All LEDs are installed

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Progress 3

Last few pictures:

I was impatient so you can see some paint run-offs that need to be sanded down in the future. May be for the next one I'll use ABS or acrylic for the box so that I don't need to worry about painting.

 

One regret: It looks like white is over-powering and need to swap-out two whites with blue. But for the moment I am happy with the outcome. After about two weeks I'll have 7blue+3white but for the moment it is 5blue+5white.

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Hi.

 

Happy New Year!

 

Looks good. Considering something similar myself soon.

What size tank do you have?

How far above tank is the unit?

How much space between your bulbs?

 

Cheers

Dave

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