Pico LED Array

[strangelove]

OK, I'm not going to beat around the bush, I have very little electronic expertise here, but I've got most all the tools and access to materials, parts and hardware needed to do this. All I need is a pat on the back and some inccouraging words.

 

This build will be for a 12" x12" inch LED array using Luxeon 1w LEDs. I'm thinking of using 20 white LEDs, 20 Blue LEDs and 10 cyan LEDs. Hoping to intigrate a dimmer to control the light output.

 

This will be a light source for a 7.5 gallon cube tank which will house mostly low light reef inhabitants. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

Here's some photos of the LEDs I'll be working with.

 

[evilc66]

Have you decided how you are going to power it Strangelove? If you want a dimmer, the Luxdrive buckpucks have options for a version that is dimmable from an external potentiometer. I think they even sell the wiring harness with the pot attached.

 

You can use this Boostpuck driver with a 12v power supply and run up to 13-14 LEDs @ 350mA (I'm assuming the 1W LEDs are driven at 350mA). You can see the harness here.

 

Then you can get a power supply like this. You will be able to run two Boostpucks on this (they require 1.5A max).

 

That should set you up quite nicely.

 

If you want to use a slightly cleaner execution, I can set you up with the drivers mounted to a PCB and a single pot controlling everything, all mounted in a box if you want.

[coolwaters]

try 4 LEDs per gallon.

[evilc66]

If you use 20 white, 20 blue, and 10 cyan, you are going to have a very blue light. Probably more than a 20k MH. Try cutting it back to 20 white and 10 blue for the moment. You can always add more later, just make provisions for it on your mounting surface like I did. I can add up to 5 more stars (15 LEDs) if I want to.

[strangelove]

Have you decided how you are going to power it Strangelove? If you want a dimmer, the Luxdrive buckpucks have options for a version that is dimmable from an external potentiometer. I think they even sell the wiring harness with the pot attached.You can use this Boostpuck driver with a 12v power supply and run up to 13-14 LEDs @ 350mA (I'm assuming the 1W LEDs are driven at 350mA). You can see the harness here.Then you can get a power supply like this. You will be able to run two Boostpucks on this (they require 1.5A max).That should set you up quite nicely.If you want to use a slightly cleaner execution, I can set you up with the drivers mounted to a PCB and a single pot controlling everything, all mounted in a box if you want.

OK that sounds cool, I can see how it wires up now, so I'll need 4 of the buckpucks to control 50 LEDs right.drivers mounted to a PCB might be the way to go. I'd like to do a clean build if possible.

If you use 20 white, 20 blue, and 10 cyan, you are going to have a very blue light. Probably more than a 20k MH. Try cutting it back to 20 white and 10 blue for the moment. You can always add more later, just make provisions for it on your mounting surface like I did. I can add up to 5 more stars (15 LEDs) if I want to.

That's a good idea. One of the reason why I'm thinking of using so many LEDs is because I want to use a frosted glass to diffuse the light before it reaches the corals. I have no way of figuring how much light loss I might get, but I just figure that it would be better to go for overkill and have the option to dim the lights.But building it with room to grow is a good idea too.

try 4 LEDs per gallon.

So at 7.5 gallons that would be 30 LEDs. Maybe I'll scale back to 20 white LEDs and 10 Blue LEDs with room to add 10 more LED's

[coolwaters]

look at mine.

 

 

i can fit 4 more blues on that. and if i get those small round LEDs i can do 6 more.

 

total wattage is 44watts.

 

and thats for a 4g tank O.o i wonder wat can i have in it...

[strangelove]

look at mine.

 

 

i can fit 4 more blues on that. and if i get those small round LEDs i can do 6 more.

 

total wattage is 44watts.

 

and thats for a 4g tank O.o i wonder wat can i have in it...

 

NIce.

[coolwaters]

i cant get the blue LEDs up and running but the 10 white LEDs are staying really cold when the fan is at 6v.

i want to add more blue and white LEDs along with some UVs.

there should be plenty of room if the LEDs arent on boards.

[strangelove]

i cant get the blue LEDs up and running but the 10 white LEDs are staying really cold when the fan is at 6v.

i want to add more blue and white LEDs along with some UVs.

there should be plenty of room if the LEDs arent on boards.

 

Great

[coolwaters]

hope some new type of LEDs come out like every wavelength 400-700nm.

theres plenty of room for this to expand.

[evilc66]

The next step for that would be a multichip LED that would incorporate multiple colors to make a full spectrum LED. I'm sure that is not an easy thing to do.

[coolwaters]

u sure i got this 3 chipped LED. RBG. its slightly bigger then a regulator LED but still 3 chips?

i bet balancing them would be hard. also 1 chip per color? thats like 6 chips.

 

if anything i thick luxeon would come out with it first seeing that they're specializing in small LEDs.

[evilc66]

I'm not talking RGB. I'm talking a full spectrum LED that would be white light output, but adds the missing UV, red, and cyan to fill out the color spectrum. This would be non-adjustable and pre-calibrated by the factory. This is exactly what we are talking about in Gomers thread.