coolwaters Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 didnt feed like posting this on a 2 year old thread...so made this one. this is what it looks like all powered up side view my failed heatsink thing... /\ || ------------------ | do not do that | ------------------ ok i did a short test on it without the fan. (didnt instal one yet) after 2 mins no heat is noticed. after 5 mins minimal heat was felt. after 10 mins was getting really hot. (not painful) after 15 mins really hot...almost unbearable. after 20 mins cant touch it... so after about 30 mins or so a fan is much needed. no hood is built yet....planned but not built... more updates soon with more and better pics... Link to comment
yankeereefer Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 tagging along What are you putting this on? I am looking at LED for my .3g pico: May I inquire as to your source for hardware? Yankee Link to comment
coolwaters Posted June 7, 2007 Author Share Posted June 7, 2007 basically just wires and heatsinks. for something that small u just need one LED...or u can do one white and one blue. what r u putting in that .3g? Link to comment
coolwaters Posted June 7, 2007 Author Share Posted June 7, 2007 right now im testing it with a 12v fan powering at 7.5v. so its very quite but still pretty strong. btw since this is a DIY. i'll walk the people that are interested through the proccess. keep in mind that its fairly expensive. so this is ideal for pico or small nano tanks. im playing it safe and using only 4 LEDs. btw for people that already did it please test it out during the day so there wont be a fire and everyone is asleep... Link to comment
yankeereefer Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 .3g will probably only be zoas, shroom or rics I was thinking about a rock anenome, but I think I could cram better color and variety in the little thing with the others. I don't really have the skills for electrical DIY (although I did do my own ATO's) - I've been looking at a couple places online and scouted out a couple different auto supply shops - PepBoys had a pretty bright 4x5 array of white bulbs for $30 and I also saw a 3pk of blue ones for $7 - This may be the way to go for me. Link to comment
coolwaters Posted June 8, 2007 Author Share Posted June 8, 2007 just make sure thos are good LEDs bulbs and you know the specs of them. i recommend (personally) getting a 3-12v transformer so u can change the output. if needed. from the stress test. i highly recommend the fans. without it...it got soo hot just after 15 mins that it was burning up my hand... right now its been on almost an hour with barely any heat. fans make a huge difference. btw if u want to go large scale i would invest money on duel fans or on a water cooling system. (like the ones on the computers.) btw the array with a 12v fan running on 7.5v is probably at 100 degrees fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) at most. the max on these LEDs is 85 Celsius Link to comment
yankeereefer Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 appreciate your testing and posting - saves us others the heartbreak - I have access to adapters of varying degree, so I should be covered there Link to comment
coolwaters Posted June 8, 2007 Author Share Posted June 8, 2007 just be sure they the adapters that u use is reliable. and the voltage is constant (amps too). my arry is running cold and strong. very confident on this. if anyone have any questions im more then happy to help u with it. Link to comment
coolwaters Posted June 8, 2007 Author Share Posted June 8, 2007 ok i got bored and took apart my moonlight from coral life. this thing turns out that all there is in there is a luxeon hex star I in it.... that surprised me the most was that the current was 4.5v while the average was 3.42v. my thought that it was caculating the resistance on the wires... and the worst part was that theres no heatsink on it...so after a day or so it gets pretty hot. i paid about $24 for it...while the parts were around $10... i found the same LED for around $3-5 and the transformer shouldnt be more then $10 this goes to show how much thos reef companys are making off us... Link to comment
coolwaters Posted June 11, 2007 Author Share Posted June 11, 2007 i dont have anything to acutally measure the light output of my array...buts its very dense and even far away looking at it directly hurts your eyes. and i calculated giving the amperage and volts there should be at least 20 watts of light. its going to be on my 3g tank which i'll be testing it by growing Ricordeas. most likely the light is going to be 3" above the surface of the water and ricordeas are going to be 3-5" away from the surface. the light is very blue and im thinking about adding another white LED to even it out a little. (but blue light makes plants and coral grow faster but i dont know) Link to comment
riotj Posted June 11, 2007 Share Posted June 11, 2007 interesting but what about the kelvin of the leds? Link to comment
coolwaters Posted June 11, 2007 Author Share Posted June 11, 2007 the higher the kelvin lvl the more blue it is right? studies have shown that blue (470nm or more) has the highest growth rate on plants. i heard that red is pretty good too but has a different effect (still grows pretty fast) but i'll see what my coral looks like under the light before i change anything. Link to comment
Carinya Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 tag. I'll be interested to see if the light output keeps up for you past a couple months. Fingers crossed... Link to comment
coolwaters Posted June 12, 2007 Author Share Posted June 12, 2007 they said that the LEDs should last more then 50,000 hours. and still have 70% of its full power. but i pretty much stressed them out with my crappy power supply. i ran it for 3-4 days straight and its just great. live the effects that i had on my chaeto. (need to cut it back now...) i'll be ordering more later. its about $3-4 per LED a pretty good deal. Link to comment
coolwaters Posted June 12, 2007 Author Share Posted June 12, 2007 here some picture updates btw from this "test" it turns out that the blue light makes my chaeto grow a bit faster. just a little FYI this is where i tested my LEDs right next to the chaeto xP the aiptasia population exploded on my tank glass... see the difference? and heres the thing inside coral lifes moonlight wat a waste of money on my part... oh and heres my array. as u can see i wired them in series of 2s because im setting my adaptor at 7.5v so each LED will get 3.75v. just perfect. Link to comment
coolwaters Posted June 12, 2007 Author Share Posted June 12, 2007 sorry for my half @$$ DIY thread. but if anyone wants to throw in about $100 and give this a try i'll try to throw together a better DIY with steps that i took. Link to comment
coolwaters Posted June 14, 2007 Author Share Posted June 14, 2007 hey im planning to add 2 more lights to my array and change the output to 4v per LED. (hope my AC adaptor can take it...it got pretty hot with just 4 *running for 4 days straight*) anyways im always having a hard time placing the LEDs on my heat sink. i was thinking about using 4 white and 2 royal blues but im scared that it wont be blue enough...but with my 2 royal blue and 2 white it seems too blue... any suggestions? Link to comment
coolwaters Posted June 14, 2007 Author Share Posted June 14, 2007 this is my combination that iv just came up with. i might go with the bottom left corner and im not so worried about it getting patchy since the LEDs has a wide angle. need inputs people. Link to comment
coolwaters Posted June 14, 2007 Author Share Posted June 14, 2007 heres another test update. i killed 2 of my LEDs because they fell of my thermal tap...piece of crap dont use it.... i added 2 more LEDs to my 4 LED array. so i only have 6 left which im using on my 3g. it seems to me that i'll be needing more then just 10 LEDs for my 10g tank... or lense so the LEDs wont be so dense and create a flashing shimmer. i found that in the 6 LED array works great in my 3g. im getting all excited. heres some pics sorry if there not as bright as then should be. 6 LEDs under a 3g tank still need to add a hood with reflectors so the light will be more intense. (this picture doesnt justify the brightness of the array. heres it in action on a 10g AGA as u can see its very dense. my camera didnt catch the shimmery static like waves on the live rock and sand. it kind of hards my eyes... Link to comment
The Propagator Posted June 14, 2007 Share Posted June 14, 2007 So whats the cost per bulb? Transformer cost ect ect ect...? Link to comment
coolwaters Posted June 15, 2007 Author Share Posted June 15, 2007 well my heat sink was about $0.75 each (found that one heat sink per LED is great.) well let me sum it up. $.75 heatsink $4.00 per LED $15 for transformer at walmart $10 silver 5 heat sink compound (recommended) $1/free wires. 22g is good enough $1/free for duct tape so about $60 shipped to your door IME. im rethinking about using 6 LEDs on this array cuz the transformer was burning up at 20 mins... i might have to get another transformer to split up the work.... Link to comment
The Propagator Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 Sweet ! when I get my mini mill and lathe we should partner up and get in on this new "solaris" kick with one of our own LOL!!! At $750 - $1500 - $2500 per fixture I am seriously thinking about trying it and offering it at half that LOL!!! I KNOW it can be done cheaper. The problem will be finding reliable parts suppliers though I think. Input? Link to comment
coolwaters Posted June 15, 2007 Author Share Posted June 15, 2007 i get all my bulbs and maybe later lenses at www.lumileds.com to me its more direct then www.luxeonstar.com/ which overprices then bulbs. and theres a big price difference. btw if u want more blue go 60-75% royal blue and 30-25% cool-white but im satisfied with 50-50. not too blue not too white. since the LEDs without the lense are so dense with light its great with pico tanks but if u want to make one of thos huge arrays your going to need a pretty expensive power supply and lots of lenses. refector wont do anything. Link to comment
The Propagator Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 Got that covered. Individual round or square lenses over no more than a 6 bulb cluster. As for the power supply I am working on that LOL! I don't see why it would have to be huge though? Link to comment
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