Zombo's FrankenWave9: Mirrors and LEDs

[KDris]

Looks Amazing! I hope mine turns out half as well. Thank you very much Zombo.

[jager]

Zombo, Have you found a box for the PS yet? I have the same PS and I'm looking through the mpja catalog and there are a few that might work. I'm going to be mounting my BPs in separate box with the dimming controller and a few other things. So I may go with this box:

 

http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=15521+BX 8.8x5.5x3.6.

 

There is a couple of ones in that catalog that are bigger like this one:

 

http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=17398+BX 10.43x7.28x3.74

Plus there are two other boxes like this one that are 11.81W and 14.17W.

 

Good luck with the house.

[Zombo]

jager, thanks for the links!

[Zombo]

Well, I found a cheap-ass wood box at the local craft store, and today was spent drilling mounting holes for the fans and the PS, test fitting, and now coating the box with polyurethane to make it (at least) water resistant. The poly will take at least three coats, spaced 24 hours apart -- I want to make sure that in a saltwater environment, that the PS enclosure remains as dry as possible

Pics as soon as the urethane process is done and I start mounting stuff and doing the final wiring

[Zombo]

Well, the retro was working great, but then, out of nowhere, the Q5 string died. I check the input voltage on the puck (35v), but no output voltage -- I'm pretty sure I fried the 1000mA puck by oversupplying it, as they're only rated for an absolute Vmax input of 32vdc

Why the blue string on the 750mA puck is running fine, I've no clue. At least I got pix before the whites died -- I'll post them tonight.

So, either I need to find a 32vdc PS, or add a resistor inline to drop the 36vdc down to 32v. This sucks.

 

FAILING Q5's are FAIL.

[evilc66]

Man that sucks. I'll look tonight to see if I can mod the power supply to bring it down a little further.

 

32V power supplies are really hard to find in the right size and the right price.

 

To drop the voltage to about 32V with resistors, you need a 2.4ohm, 10W resistor. You can do this easily with four 10ohm resistors from Radioshack. Wire them all in parallel to get about 2.5ohms (@40W). That will get you about a 4v drop @1.7A.

[coolwaters]

i hate resistors...

 

why dont u get a different and cheaper regulator like a constant current?

 

a 35v power supply is pretty insane...i perfer the standard 12v.....

 

at kaidomain they sell efficient constant current regulators that takes 5-16v (18v max)

i have about 6 of them and their great. at 12v they power 3 LEDs at 3w and at 16v they can power 4.

 

never liked those powerbucks...too expensive.

[evilc66]

Coolwaters, the Buckpucks are a constant current regulator. The problem potentially was that the output voltage wasn't adjusted low enough and the regulator popped from too high of an input voltage.

 

I recommended resistors to drop the output voltage to a slightly more manageable level for the regulators, not to limit current for the LEDs. This was a recommendation before we had a little discussion and found that the output voltage could be brough down to below 32V.

 

32V is required to run 8 LEDs (8 x 3.4Vf + 2V = 29.2V). The Buckpucks are great because of the dimming feature. I'd much rather spend the extra on that. By the time you buy 3 of the KD regulators, you are almost to the cost of the Buckpuck, but no dimming.

[Zombo]

Okay, time for more pictures! WHEEEEEEE!

 

The 110VAC terminal block

 

Power supply and block wired up

 

The whole shebang, including the DC supply side lines

 

The 32VDC terminal block

 

Yes -- this array is DONE!

 

Now, hold on to your hats, people -- the next set shows this bad boy FIRED UP

[Zombo]

Okay, one last shot of the power supply enclosure - all dressed up prior to the first test firing...

 

Blues fired at lowest possible setting (sorry for the bluriness)

 

Blues cranked up!

 

Cree Q5's at lowest setting

 

Crankin' Crees!

 

Think these are bright?

 

Next two shots are just to demonstrate the luminosity of this array in a pitch black basement setting:

 

Impressed yet? More to come!

[Zombo]

FINALLY - Shots of this wonderful retrofitted array above the FrankWave.

 

This is the DT with the 96W quadtube 50/50 (a stock Coralife):

 

I then swapped out fixtures - and fired up the blues:

 

Turned off the blues and turned on the 5 Cree Q5's:

 

Now, the creme de la creme, the completed piece de resistance (8 x Cree XE-R Blues and 5 x Cree Q5's)

 

These were all take prior to the self-inflicted frying of the 1000mA BuckPuck -- I have a replacement on its way, and the power supply has now been adjusted to 31.8VDC. I owe a huge debt of thanks to evilc66 (especially you!), coolwaters and the other pioneers of DIY LED lighting. I could not have done any of this without their paving the way for myself and others who are pursuing this path.

I learned tons from this project, and to stifle the naysayers, I have purchased 4 stony corals to evaluate their growth potential under this lighting scheme -- I guarantee the next build will be much more refined and will have the lessons learned from this fixture applied

 

Thanks for reading, and I'll get shots of the individual corals as time progresses.

[pismo_reefer]

bravo on the build! its cool to see people really doin this stuff.

[Aqua newbie]

Inspired although seems soo complicated. Wish I were a handyman.

[evilc66]

FINALLY

 

Dude, looks sweet. Can't wait to see some sps corals in it.

[Zombo]

Inspired although seems soo complicated. Wish I were a handyman.

Believe me, I'm no handiman -- just perserverance and being anal retentive! Go for it!

 

FINALLY

 

Dude, looks sweet. Can't wait to see some sps corals in it.

 

Thank you, evilc66 -- as I stated above, you were extremely helpful in both the technical and motivational (chop chop!) aspects of this build

[Lalani]

It's about time!

[spanko]

so excuse the uninformed question but this array will have the PAR and the color needed to grow SPS - Clams etc???

[Zombo]

so excuse the uninformed question but this array will have the PAR and the color needed to grow SPS - Clams etc???

Oh yes. The photos do this array no justice (thanks to my crappy ass camera) -- I'm sure it's more than sufficient. Time will ultimately determine that, hence my experimenting with 4 little sps frags (blue acro, pocillopora, frogspawn and turbinaria).

[jager]

So what solution did you use to drop the volts down to 32? Just the four resistor approach or something else?

[Zombo]

So what solution did you use to drop the volts down to 32? Just the four resistor approach or something else?

Like I dumbass, I totally forgot that the power supply has this:

 

 

Worked like a charm.

[chazde3]

So about how much did this project cost.

[Zombo]

Well, let's see...LED's and, hrmm....pucks, old fixture, and....errmm, wires and tools, heatsinks.....uhmmmm, old case fans, beers......power supply, bribes to evilc66....

 

Parts:

(1) dead Coralife 20" Light fixture -- $15

36VDC/150W power supply -- $26

5 x Cree Q5 LEDs -- $30

8 x Cree XR-E Blue LEDs -- $35

1000mA Buckpuck -- $20

750mA Buckpuck -- $18

3 x evilCink™ Heatsinks -- $40

 

subtotal $184.00

 

Equipment (these are things I needs to do the assembly, but will use again)

75W soldering iron, solder -- $12

100pcs, crimping terminal kit -- $5

RotoZip power tool (used) -- $40

 

subtotal $57.00

 

Wires, zip ties, various washers

and other sundrie BS -- $50

 

So, all told? About $300 rounded up. The learning experience was worth that, and now my cost for the next will be lower, as I know WTF I'm doing and I have the supplies I need in house already.

[evilc66]

I'm digging the evilCink name there Zombo.

 

If you have the tools already, $184 is pretty reasonable for a good LED DIY.

 

 

 

Not to pimp my own stuff on someone elses thread (Zombo is doing a good enough job of that already), but these heatsinks are available for anyone who is interested in doing their own DIY. They are 10" long, drilled and tapped to your liking, and comes with all stainless hardware. PM me if you are interested.

 

[/end_shameless_sales_pitch_and _hijack]

[onefish2fish]

ok ok ok, so nice moonlights - where are the display lights at?

 

lol

[Zombo]

ok ok ok, so nice moonlights - where are the display lights at?

 

lol