mdavis203 Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Cutting oil is your friend. No doubt about that. But it does need some clean-up afterward, leading to a conversation such as the following: "What are you doing with my hair dryer?" "I just finished wasking my heat sink, and I'm drying it so the LED's don't absorb moisture and get fried while I'm soldering them." ...awkward silence... Quote Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 17, 2009 Author Share Posted March 17, 2009 I recently set up an Eclipse 12 FOWLR. Looking for a lighting solution so I can turn this guy in to a reef tank I came across this awesome forum. I have not been able to get any help from my LFS and trying to figure out how to retrofit and safely fit lighting has been vexing. This thread has brought me some hope. To get me started in planning, my questions are: What sort of lights should put under the factory hood and in what configuration? Can/should I keep the standard filter assembly? I am afraid it is going to get in the way but I thought I would ask anyway. I can post a picture if you need. I have really enjoyed following this thread. Thank you for your help! 6 cool whites and 6 royal blues will just about do it. The 21" length on the tank will stretch things out a bit, but it should be ok. Ditch the stock filter and go with an Aquaclear HOB filter. They are much better suited for reefs than the in hood biowheel filter. The back chamber can easily be modified for a refugium, and to keep your heater and other equipment. Quote Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 17, 2009 Author Share Posted March 17, 2009 Added new Recom RCD-24 driver to the driver list on the first post. Go check it out. Quote Link to comment
Krash Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 (edited) So evilc66 Im looking at making a custom rimless tank that would be a 9 inch cube a little over 3 gallons. how many LEDs would i need to give good coverage over that area and what size heatsink would you recommend? thank for all the info. Edited March 21, 2009 by Krash Quote Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 20, 2009 Author Share Posted March 20, 2009 3x3 (9 LEDs) on 2"-2.25" spacing should be plenty. Get HeatsinkUSA to cut you a square heatsink 8.5"x8.5" (thats their "large" heatsink width). Quote Link to comment
Krash Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 (edited) Thanks Evilc66. I was thinking the XR-E 4 royal blue 5 cool white and two LUX Drive 3021 D-E buckpucks one 700 and one 1000. or do you think 5 blue 4 white?How do i figure out what i need for a power supply? any recommendations on where to get a power supply. Thanks for the help. Edited March 21, 2009 by Krash Quote Link to comment
sjmusic2 Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 Hi Clive (et al), I'm almost ready to start building my array (and I'll create a seperate thread when I do with pics & schematics), but wanted your thoughts on led placement... My aquarium is 48" x 18" footprint, I have 18 white P7's and 20 royal blue Rebels to fit on an aluminum plate 36" x 12". Initially, I will try it without optics (approx 22" deep) to see how it looks, all of my sps colonies are in the upper half of the tank, currently under 250w se mh and 150w de mh. Thanks for your help. Quote Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 21, 2009 Author Share Posted March 21, 2009 Thanks Evil66. I was thinking the XR-E 4 royal blue 5 cool white and two LUX Drive 3021 D-E buckpucks one 700 and one 1000. or do you think 5 blue 4 white?How do i figure out what i need for a power supply? any recommendations on where to get a power supply. Thanks for the help. Sounds fine, but you can run the blues at 1000mA if you want. http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=16854+PS Hi Clive (et al), I'm almost ready to start building my array (and I'll create a seperate thread when I do with pics & schematics), but wanted your thoughts on led placement... My aquarium is 48" x 18" footprint, I have 18 white P7's and 20 royal blue Rebels to fit on an aluminum plate 36" x 12". Initially, I will try it without optics (approx 22" deep) to see how it looks, all of my sps colonies are in the upper half of the tank, currently under 250w se mh and 150w de mh. Thanks for your help. The P7's could be interesting, but also a pain. The increased intensity will make it harder to offset the blues. Think of a P7 as 4 P4's/Q5's (same die) Evil we love you!!! Quote Link to comment
Krash Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 (edited) Thanks again evilc66 Edited March 21, 2009 by Krash Quote Link to comment
Marteen Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 This guide still isn't finished! Quote Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 25, 2009 Author Share Posted March 25, 2009 (edited) Don't you start with me To appease you a little, I added the Meanwell ELN series drivers to the list today. Edited March 25, 2009 by evilc66 Quote Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 25, 2009 Author Share Posted March 25, 2009 I had to chuckle a little and share with you guys. Reef Central is so behind us on LEDs it's not even fair. Soundwave has a thread going where he is showing off his fixture (and it does look very good, not bashing on him), and the discussion has turned to people asking recommendations. No-one there has the balls to give any kind of suggestions, because "the technology is too new" and "we don't know enough about setting these up yet". I guess we are doing things wrong then Quote Link to comment
deepdvnarq Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 I had to chuckle a little and share with you guys. Reef Central is so behind us on LEDs it's not even fair. Soundwave has a thread going where he is showing off his fixture (and it does look very good, not bashing on him), and the discussion has turned to people asking recommendations. No-one there has the balls to give any kind of suggestions, because "the technology is too new" and "we don't know enough about setting these up yet". I guess we are doing things wrong then yeah RC doesn't have the GAWD! 3 cheers for EVILC66! oops have to be a on this. they maybe spying! Quote Link to comment
Stevie D Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 (edited) First off i want to say it's amazing what you guys have done!! I don't have a reef tank yet, i've been preparing for the last few months reading and learning and soon i will be converting my 26 gallon bowfront to a nano-type reef. But i was also thinking about something a little smaller. As of right now I have 2 High Tech planted aquariums the 26 gallon and a 55 gallon discus tank. I also have a Eclipse 12 i might want to convert to a nano reef for a peacock mantis as well. All my tanks are hooked up to the Digital Aquatics Reef Keeper Elite controller and i have a question about dimming. The RKE controller has an advanced light module that can dim t5 and led light arrays. It has 2 ports for 0-10v outputs and a serial connector to interface with aqua illumination LED system. Do any of you DIY'ers have any knowledge about the 0-10v dimming ports or the aqua illumination serial ports so DIY LEDs can interface with this controller to implement dimming capability? To me it seems like this wouldn't be very hard for basic dimming using the 0-10v ports if it were something that could easily be made DIY, but i don't exactly know how they work. The advanced light module can also control things like Kelvin color, but this might be getting too complex. Any thoughts? And this is my first post and i just found this forum a few days ago and have been glued to it ever since! Thanks, Stevie D Edited March 25, 2009 by Stevie D Quote Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 25, 2009 Author Share Posted March 25, 2009 You just have to get a driver that is compatible with a 0-10v signal. The Xitanium and Meanwell drivers are compatible. The Meanwells are a little hard to get in the analog dimming version that you would need. Quote Link to comment
GaryR1984 Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Finally read the entire article. Nice post. Thanks for the information. Quote Link to comment
davce99 Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 Evilc66 i need to ask you about one test i received today 3 of this led's http://www.led1.de/shop/product_info.php?p...bceea1c1099c2f6 so i will like to make a short test about the light of this led's, i have a adapter input 220 volt output 9volt 1A i can use only 2 leds i parallel without driver? and i don't have a heat shink and without led star PCB so i need to do a quick test? Thanks!!! Quote Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 27, 2009 Author Share Posted March 27, 2009 (edited) See the other thread. Answered there. Edited March 27, 2009 by evilc66 Quote Link to comment
davce99 Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 See the other thread. Answered there. This is interesting schematic http://pdfserv.maxim-ic.com/en/an/AN3532.pdf Quote Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 28, 2009 Author Share Posted March 28, 2009 (edited) A buck-boost driver like that is great when the voltage varies, like automotive applications. 16.5v max input doesn't get us very far though when high voltage power supplies are readily available. Edited March 28, 2009 by evilc66 Quote Link to comment
davce99 Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 A buck-boost driver like that is great when the voltage varies, like automotive applications. 16.5v max input doesn't get us very far though when high voltage power supplies are readily available. Thanks for the answer, can you tell me about this schematic from your post http://www.instructables.com/id/1.5A-Const...-for-LEDs-for-/ how can be modified for 1A. And how can be changed every component with non SMT parts Quote Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 28, 2009 Author Share Posted March 28, 2009 Setup for that circuit is explained in the datasheet. http://www.st.com/stonline/products/litera...13415/stcs1.htm You can't completely build this cicuit out of through hole parts. The IC and the sense resistor are only available in surface mount parts. Quote Link to comment
Catfishboy747 Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 SMT is not exactly hard to work with, you just need patience, something alot of people don't have. Quote Link to comment
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