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DIY High Power LED Retrofit


Waterproof

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I recently completed a lighting upgrade to my Biocube-14 aquarium. I've received a bunch of help & advice from a bunch of people (e.g., evilc66, npain316, marteen, vancouver reefer, others). I'll try to keep this guide as brief as possible.

 

STOP - This project involves the use of electricity, power tools, and high power LEDs. Before you tinker with LEDs or any electrical materials, be sure you understand the risks involved. This guide was created simply to share what I've done. These are not verified instructions. I take no responsibility for any harm caused to you, others, or to your property as a result of the info contained below. Enjoy ;)

 

Refer to evilc66's Ultimate LED guide for useful info regarding LEDs, drivers, heatsinks, and other LED-related materials.

 

My old lighting was accomplished with two 24-watt PC bulbs. This is typical of most 12 to 14-gallon all-in-one aquariums. I found that the tank, while healthy, lacked a bit of "pop". The color of some of my corals had washed out, my mushrooms were over-extended, and any LPS had to be placed high in the tank. I also wanted the shimmer that is typical of MH bulbs. Enter the LED!

 

My system consists of 11 high power Cree XR-E LEDs, 6 cool white and 5 royal blue. The remaining parts will be mentioned below.

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I used 700mA buckpuck drivers with potentiometers. The potentiometers allow you to fully dim the LEDs. Depending on your setup, you can use these to fine tune your overall color. For example, my system has 2 drivers, one running the royal blue LEDs and one running the cool whites. This way, I can independantly control the output of each color. I used 700mA drivers. I'd recommend the 1000mA drivers. The drivers were purchased from LEDsupply.com.

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I ordered a heatsink from heatsinkUSA. The dimensions are 8.5" by 5".

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I created the LED layout on AutoCAD. The layout was taped to the heatsink. I then used a sharpie to bleed the ink at each place where I'd need a mounting screw. When I removed the paper, the ink screw markings remained. The layout has a few extra holes. This way I could test using 9 LEDs or 11 LEDs.

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I used a drillpress to drill the mounting screw holes. Additional holes were drilled to hide the connecting wires. I definitely recommend a drillpress for this. Each mounting hole was then tapped using a tapping bit. You will want to use a lubricating/cutting oil for this. I used a #43 drill bit and a 4-40 tapping bit. As an alternative, you can use a 3/32 drill bit. This will make a slightly larger hole, which will tap easier but have slightly thinner threads. This shouldn't be a big deal. I had better luck with Irwin tapping bits than I did w/ Kobalt bits.

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I connected the drivers in a small project box. I used DC adapter fittings so that the driver box would be completely self contained, clean, and easily connected/disconnected. The 2 drivers were run in parallel. The knobs on either side are the potentiometers.

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I used a 24v AC/DC power adapter. I might upgrade to 1000mA drivers, which would require a power supply with higher current.

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Note: You'll notice later that I switched out one of by buckpucks for a 1000mA driver. This was too much demand for this power supply (1.7A total), so I bought a 24v 5A model. As I'll say several times, I recommend 1000mA buckpucks, rather than the 700mA buckpucks I started with. I started with a 700mA when I was testing the LEDs with plans to supplement my PC lighting. There is a notable increase in light between the 1000mA and 700mA drivers.

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I used 4-40 stainless steel screws with nylon washers to secure each LED. Thermal compound was placed under each LED to promote efficient heat transfer. Here is the final LED array. The red wires run the royal blue LEDs. The black wires run the cool whites. Each LED leg was run in series (+-+-+-) to a buckpuck driver. Both drivers were then wired in parallel to a single power supply.

 

Keep in mind that the LEDs are connected to each buckpuck in series (+-+-+-). Therefore, the voltage to each is added, but the current stays constant at the rated amps. For example, if three LEDs run at 3.5v and 700mA were wired in series, the power draw would be 3.5v+3.5v+3.5v = 10.5v and 700mA. To wire more than 1 puckpuck to a single power supply, you will typically want to wire them in parallel, thus adding the total current required of the power supply. To expand on the previous example, if you wired two 3-LED legs in parallel, the draw would be 10.5v but now 700mA + 700mA = 10.5v & 1400mA. Don't forget that a buckpuck requires an extra 2 volts to operate. In this case, you'd need a power supply with at least 12.5v and 1400mA.

 

The purple tint is a result of my camera. The actual color is deep blue.

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Here's an initial fit test in the stock hood. Looks good.

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I had to grind down only a few posts in the hood to get the heatsink to fit.

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Using thin, aluminum rods, purchased from Lowes, I bent two brackes to hold the heatsink. Holes were drilled in each to match up with the existing biocube reflector screw points.

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I then drilled holes on each end of the brackets and corresponding holes in the sides of the heatsink. Once again, I used 4-40 screws.

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Here it is in place.

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I connected the positive wires from each driver to the original hood on/off switches.

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I added a 60mm Silenx fan to suck air through the heatsink.

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Here's a small terminal I added to connect the three fans in parallel. I used a 12v AC/DC adapter to power the fans.

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The LED power wires and the fan power wires were all run through the old power cord hole and cleaned up with black sleeving. This is much less bulky than the stock biocube setup.

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Here's the final product. Everything fits in the stock hood.

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Here's the hood in place. The blue rod on the side is holding the hood up. I have my tank very close to the wall, so I need this to keep the lid up. Keep in mind that the modified hood has a couple pounds more weight. Don't let it slam shut! It could crack your tank!

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Here is the hood closed. It looks exactly like a stock hood, which was the idea.

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The LEDs dimmed down low.

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Cranked up. My camera washed out the blue, but they are definitely still there in real life.

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Finally, the lights installed and on.

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Be sure to watch it in HD. The video quality isn't great.

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I'll add some lessons learned and extra tid-bits here as I think them.

 

Overall, I'm really happy with the outcome. The Cree LEDs are top-notch. The array is running fairly cool. I used an indoor/outdoor thermometer to test the temperatures that were occurring within the heatsink fins. The temperature never got above 102-deg F. This is cooler than I found with the stock PC lights (108-deg F). Before the upgrade, the temp in the tank would rise from 78-deg to 80-deg throughout the day. Now, it stays constant around 78-deg, which is where I have the heater set.

 

Notes:

Wiring diagram - see post #21

PAR measurements - see post #24

LED layout templates - see post #99

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Extra parts:

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Use a soldering iron that is at least 25w.

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Wow! Holy crap Waterproof... I hope you had as much fun making that as I did reading this!

 

Your pictures are great! I must say that this has to be one of the cleanest builds I've seen on a cube... The hood looks really great. I also think that the enclosure box for your buck puck and pot is genius.. Are those 2.5mm jacks on there? I'd like to see some pics of that too.

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Hope it's ok to start commenting...

 

Nice! What would one do if they didn't have access to a drill press? Is the thermal compound enough of an adhesive to hold the LEDs to the heatsink? Or is there some other way to attach them?

 

-AJ

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Looking really good there! Excellent write up. I see you decided not to go with optics, I suppose there wouldn't really be room for them with the stock splash guard. Keep us updated with the tank looks great! What did you use for that terminal for your fans? I need to get one of those.

 

Hope it's ok to start commenting...

 

Nice! What would one do if they didn't have access to a drill press? Is the thermal compound enough of an adhesive to hold the LEDs to the heatsink? Or is there some other way to attach them?

 

-AJ

 

You don't necessarily need a drill press to drill the holes, if you have a steady hand you could do it by hand. If you don't want to do that you can use thermal epoxy to secure your LEDs to the heatsink.

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What would one do if they didn't have access to a drill press? Is the thermal compound enough of an adhesive to hold the LEDs to the heatsink? Or is there some other way to attach them?

 

If you never plan on re-arranging the LED's you could use a thermal adhesive instead of a thermal compound... Arctic silver makes a good one. Also, since the aluminum is thin you could just use a steady hand drill.

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WOW! very nice step by step

 

EDIT: mind if i ask cost for something like this?

 

$7.50 each for the LEDs + shipping = ~$90

Drivers are $20 each = $40 total

Heatsink was $25

Fans were ~$20

Misc parts = ~$50

I had a power supply

 

I spent about $225.

 

Hope it's ok to start commenting...

 

Nice! What would one do if they didn't have access to a drill press? Is the thermal compound enough of an adhesive to hold the LEDs to the heatsink? Or is there some other way to attach them?

 

-AJ

 

You can hand drill, but you might snap a few bits and have to redrill some holes. The thermal compound isn't an adhesive. It just transfers the heat. The screws hold it in place. You can buy thermal epoxy that would permanently attach the LEDs to the heatsink. I guess you wouldn't have to drill the heatsink then, but you'd be stuck with where you placed the LEDs. By drilling the heatsink and using the thermal compound, I can remove the LEDs at any time, move them to a different setup, flip-flop colors, etc.

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Wow! Holy crap Waterproof... I hope you had as much fun making that as I did reading this!

 

Your pictures are great! I must say that this has to be one of the cleanest builds I've seen on a cube... The hood looks really great. I also think that the enclosure box for your buck puck and pot is genius.. Are those 2.5mm jacks on there? I'd like to see some pics of that too.

 

I really had a good time building this. Unfortunately, I wish I could say I've scratched my itch. I haven't!

Yeah, I used type N and M 2.5mm jacks (all radioshack had). The 2 different sizes were used so that I couldn't accidentially plug the power supply into the wrong jack. Here are some additional pics:

 

Close-up of jack.

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Project box with power input at end and one LED power connection on side.

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+/- power wires connected to DC jack. I've reconnected/cut/spliced the male jacks a few times throughout the testing process, so I keep adding more and more heatshrink. It's a bit out of control! Once I buy more male connectors, they'll be cleaned up.

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If I were to do this again, I'd put both potentiometers on one side and both output jacks on the other side. Space was pretty tight though, and this is the best way I got the 2 pots and the 2 buckpucks to fit.

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Nice writeup Waterproof. Good learning experience wasn't it? ;)

 

AJ, Cree actually recommends (and so do I) bolting the LEDs down. It creates a far better thermal path than epoxy. Clamping pressure and a very thin layer of thermal interface is the best option short of soldering the LEDs to two pounds of copper.

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Nice writeup Waterproof. Good learning experience wasn't it? ;)

 

Thanks, evilc66. I got just about all my info from you, so you should probably take the credit!

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Bah, you did all the work :)

 

Might I make a suggestion about the images? Use the IMG tags so the pictures are larger without having to click on them.

 

[img=your_pic_here.jpg]

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Might I make a suggestion about the images? Use the IMG tags so the pictures are larger without having to click on them.

 

[img=your_pic_here.jpg]

 

How do I do that with the existing text and images? Can I tweek the code? My images are currently coded like this:

{attachment=54548:DSCF0355.JPG}

 

It doesn't work if I change the code to:

 

{img}DSCF0355.jpg{/img}

 

Replace { with [

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You will have to put the original link in the IMG tags instead of listing it as an attachment. If you have the images in your gallery, the preformatted IMG link is under the image. Just copy and paste the link.

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AJ, Cree actually recommends (and so do I) bolting the LEDs down. It creates a far better thermal path than epoxy. Clamping pressure and a very thin layer of thermal interface is the best option short of soldering the LEDs to two pounds of copper.

 

Oh I completely agree that screwing (hehe) down is the better option, but if drilling aluminum and using a thread tap seems intimidating (or expensive) thermal adhesive is a better option than say... duct tape (or IS it? haha).

 

Also, waterproof, thanks for the pics of the connection box... that's a really great idea. I would definitely incorporate something like that into my future build.

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Great write up.....

 

I basically understand everything up to the point were its time to connect wires. You have 2 red and 2 black wires, 2 each from your white and blue LED's....im assuming that 2 reds are going to one puck and the 2 blacks are going to other one...is that right? If so, what next? Do the remaining wires from the puck go to your power supply (this is were it gets hazy for me). Do you have or can you post pics of the wiring...I'm almost ready to order for by BC29 and Pico...but want to make sure I know what the heck I need to do.

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Great job waterproof. I can see that the lighting is far better then the PC's they originally come with but are they strong enough to grow sps? Also if its the equivalent or just a bit less then the effects of a 70w MH, do you think you can keep clams? What color spectrum do you think this is under. 10k-14k-20k? Sorry about the questions. Great job once again. I'll be starting mine soon.

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Great write up.....

 

I basically understand everything up to the point were its time to connect wires. You have 2 red and 2 black wires, 2 each from your white and blue LED's....im assuming that 2 reds are going to one puck and the 2 blacks are going to other one...is that right? If so, what next? Do the remaining wires from the puck go to your power supply (this is were it gets hazy for me). Do you have or can you post pics of the wiring...I'm almost ready to order for by BC29 and Pico...but want to make sure I know what the heck I need to do.

 

What he said^^^^

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Great write up.....

 

I basically understand everything up to the point were its time to connect wires. You have 2 red and 2 black wires, 2 each from your white and blue LED's....im assuming that 2 reds are going to one puck and the 2 blacks are going to other one...is that right? If so, what next? Do the remaining wires from the puck go to your power supply (this is were it gets hazy for me). Do you have or can you post pics of the wiring...I'm almost ready to order for by BC29 and Pico...but want to make sure I know what the heck I need to do.

 

OK, the buckpuck has a total of 6 wires. Two go to the potentiometer, which will already be connected. This leaves 4 wires. Two wires are connected to the +/- of your power supply. The remaining two wires go to the +/- of your LEDs. You are correct about about my wires...two red wires (+/-) for the blues and two black wires (+/-) for the whites. Here's a wiring diagram:

 

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Great job waterproof. I can see that the lighting is far better then the PC's they originally come with but are they strong enough to grow sps? Also if its the equivalent or just a bit less then the effects of a 70w MH, do you think you can keep clams? What color spectrum do you think this is under. 10k-14k-20k? Sorry about the questions. Great job once again. I'll be starting mine soon.

 

I think I can get my hands on a PAR meter this weekend to test the output. Right now, I'm not sure how it compares to a 70w MH. I know the corals are responding in a way that indicates increased light. Also, and this may be a stretch of relationships (A=B, B=C, therefore A=C), but it is known that LEDs put out greater PAR than PCs. However, while putting out better PAR, they may appear dimmer (i.e. less lumens). I've tested my system (PC vs LEDs) and the LEDs are brighter than the PCs. Therefore, I think it can be concluded that the LEDs are putting out greater PAR than the PCs. This will be verified once I get the PAR meter. Finally, I used 700mA drivers, but I recommend 1000mA drivers. This will give you approximately 30% more output.

 

The system, in my opinion, looks close to 14,000 K. Tonight, I switched out my cool whites for different cool whites with a higher K chromaticity. The original cool whites were ~6,500K and I switched to ~8,300-10,000 K. This has pushed the color closer to 20,000 K. Remember, with the potentiometers, you can get whatever color you want!

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PAR readings are in! I finally took some PAR readings, and things look pretty good. I switched out one of the 700mA buckpucks for a 1000mA buckpuck. So, I had the blues running at 700mA and the whites at 1000mA. As could be expected, I noticed a significant dropoff towards the edges and corners of the tank. At this point, I was outside the heatsink and only recieving the light from the outter LEDs. I focussed my measurements to three main depths within the tank - 4", 8", and the bottom (12"). Towards the center of the tank, and at a depth of about 4", I hit a PAR of 780! Here's a diagram of some of my readings:

 

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I took readings directly over some of my corals. Here's what I found:

 

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I'm pretty happy with these numbers. The front of the tank had lower PAR readings b/c the LEDs are positioned closer to the back of the tank. This isn't a big deal since all my corals are shifted away from the front glass. I'd bet if I ran both LED legs at 1000mA, the readings would be even more impressive. I took some readings with all LEDs run at 700mA, and there was a definite decrease in overall PAR compared to 1 @ 700mA and 1 @ 1000mA. I think it might be time to try a little SPS frag. Any suggestions?

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