Waterproof Posted February 27, 2009 Author Share Posted February 27, 2009 Nice. A little higher than I was expecting, but very good. With PAR numbers like that, you can keep anything you want sps wise. A lot higher than I was expecting! Just switching from the 700mA to the 1000mA driver on the cool whites made a big difference. The tank got a bit brighter, but the PAR shot up big time. With 2 x 700mA drivers, I was only getting around 500 PAR at 4" deep in the center. I'm completely cluless about SPS. If there a type you or anyone else recommends for beginners? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Montipora (any), birdsnest, pocillopora. Link to comment
fiction101 Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Thanks for the diagram! Do you know how you would hook up two fans to a setup like this? Link to comment
npain316 Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Very nice work. What kind of heat are you getting...on the HS to be specific? The reason why I ask is 8.5x5" seems a tad on the small side. Link to comment
Waterproof Posted February 27, 2009 Author Share Posted February 27, 2009 What kind of heat are you getting...on the HS to be specific? The reason why I ask is 8.5x5" seems a tad on the small side. I put the wire of an indoor/outdoor thermometer in the heatsink fins, where I assumed the highest heat would occur and monitored the heat for a few days while using two 700mA drivers. With the fans running, the temp hit a max of about 101-deg F. This was after about 8 hrs of runtime once things had equilibrated. I haven't re-tested it now that I'm using one 700mA and one 1000mA driver. There will be a slight increase in heat, but not enough to be concerned about, or so I would guess. Bottom line, the hood seems to be cooler than with the stock PC lights. Remember, this is with fans running. I wouldn't want to run the lights for too long w/o some circulation in/out of the hood. Link to comment
Waterproof Posted February 27, 2009 Author Share Posted February 27, 2009 Do you know how you would hook up two fans to a setup like this? I'll let evilc66 chime in. I remember seeing a thread where he recommended a little piece of equipment to drop the voltage of your power supply down to 12v. I have my fans on a separate 12v PS. Why? I originally thought it would be nice to run the fans for a few minutes after the lights went off. After testing the temp, this really isn't necessary. I had feared that the heatsink would hold onto the heat for a while, but in reality it dissipates the heat very quickly, and the hood temp drops by about 20-deg in just a couple minutes. Link to comment
reeftankguy Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Excellent Job! Nice write up! Can't wait till my stuff gets here! Thanks for the look see... Jon... Link to comment
npain316 Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 I'll let evilc66 chime in. I remember seeing a thread where he recommended a little piece of equipment to drop the voltage of your power supply down to 12v. I have my fans on a separate 12v PS. Why? I originally thought it would be nice to run the fans for a few minutes after the lights went off. After testing the temp, this really isn't necessary. I had feared that the heatsink would hold onto the heat for a while, but in reality it dissipates the heat very quickly, and the hood temp drops by about 20-deg in just a couple minutes. You have a 24V powersupply right? Then its easy, with no extra equipment necessary. A fan runs on 12v. Wire 2 of them up in a series and you are at 24volts. Barring you have enough current from your powersupply, but fans draw very low amps. Good deal on the temp. nick Link to comment
Waterproof Posted February 27, 2009 Author Share Posted February 27, 2009 You have a 24V powersupply right? Then its easy, with no extra equipment necessary. A fan runs on 12v. Wire 2 of them up in a series and you are at 24volts. Barring you have enough current from your powersupply, but fans draw very low amps. Good deal on the temp. nick You can always count on me to overcomplicate things! Thanks npain316. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Dropping voltage always increases heat. Something as simple as wiring two fans in series is a great way to get the job done with minimal fuss. It is still possible to drop the voltage to change the fan speed, but generates much less heat when only dropping a few volts instead of 12. Link to comment
Enzo0000 Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Is it possible to run 6 blue, 3 white LED's and a fan on 1 24vdc power supply? Also...When wiring does it matter if the buckpucks are before or after the on/off switch? I want to use one switch to control all the lights and the fan. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 You can run as many Buckpucks as the power supply will allow. They are wired in parallel, so the current adds. You want to put the switch between the power supply and the Buckpuck. Link to comment
Waterproof Posted February 28, 2009 Author Share Posted February 28, 2009 You want to put the switch between the power supply and the Buckpuck. Hey evil, I've got both my swtches (in the hood) wired up to the + leads of each LED leg after the buckpucks. I don't see the harm in this, but maybe I'm missing something. Whatcha think? Link to comment
rean_jem Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 wouldnt that make the buckpucks hot as its still energized? Link to comment
Waterproof Posted February 28, 2009 Author Share Posted February 28, 2009 wouldnt that make the buckpucks hot as its still energized? I don't know. They get pretty warm during normal use. I only use the switches to kill the lights when I lift the hood (so I'm not blinded). I use a timer to control the on/off settings. Link to comment
akhan0485 Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Great Job so far. I've actually gotten the whites but i cant seem to find the exact name for the royal blues. Did you purchase them from dealextreme or another location! Thanks! Link to comment
evilc66 Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Deal Extreme doesn't carry royal blues. You will have to buy them from LED Supply. Putting the switch after the Buckpuck won't hurt anything, but keeps the driver live. Putting the switch between the power source and what you are powering is a much more common practice. Link to comment
phaze5 Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 I may have missed this but why are you running the leds in series rather then in paralle, I know that you add up the current(amp) but this way it will not limit you on voltage drop... just asking questions Link to comment
evilc66 Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Higher voltage is easier to deal with than higher current from an electronics standpoint. Link to comment
phaze5 Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 so I take it you are not all that burdened my the extra unused voltage(over voltage on leds) like you are in the applicances that I deal with Link to comment
truepercs Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 I have the same tank, this is a project I would like to do in the future... Now that you have been through the experience did you find anything you would have done differently? The LED setup you have what would be comparable MH set up? At the MASM conference I believe I seen an LED setup through a vendor that ran on small program that simulated the day, days with cloud cover, etc... Nice thread, Link to comment
evilc66 Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 so I take it you are not all that burdened my the extra unused voltage(over voltage on leds) like you are in the applicances that I deal with In simple terms, a buck driver bleeds off the extra voltage. It's pretty efficient, regardless of the voltage differential between the source and the total LED voltage drop. It's not like a linear regulator that burns of power via heat. Link to comment
deepdvnarq Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 nice write up waterproof! very nice work. as soon as i'm done with the 3g, that's my next setup. thank you and evil for all your help. Link to comment
Waterproof Posted March 1, 2009 Author Share Posted March 1, 2009 I have the same tank, this is a project I would like to do in the future...Now that you have been through the experience did you find anything you would have done differently? The LED setup you have what would be comparable MH set up? At the MASM conference I believe I seen an LED setup through a vendor that ran on small program that simulated the day, days with cloud cover, etc... Nice thread, I would have used 1000mA buckpucks. Also, another 2-3" width on the heatsink would be good too, but then you'd want more leds and another buckpuck. Maybe 14-15 LEDs would be better. If you really want to maximize your light, you'd buy a heatsink that filled the entire hood. Then you could drill the top of the hood and mount an 80-120mm fan over the heatsink to suck air in. This would get better lighting in the corners and more balanced PAR numbers. This, however, is a lot more work. There are always more things you could do after completing a project. The PAR is better than I expected, and it's more than I need for what's in my tank. When I look at my project, I don't wish I had done anything differently. But there are always ways to make a system even better. nice write up waterproof! very nice work. as soon as i'm done with the 3g, that's my next setup. thank you and evil for all your help. Thanks man. I can't wait to see that 3-gal fired up. That would be a great office setup. I've got an extra buckpuck and a few LEDs. Ahhh, it never ends! Link to comment
mdavis203 Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Very nice!! I plan to do this when I get my BC14 in. You mentioned you would have used a larger heat sink, 2-3" wider. Would a 3" wider heat sink still work without major modifications to the hood... other than what you already did? What do you think the ideal heat sink size for this tank would be? Are you happy with the number and blend of LED's you have? Would you have liked more on the heat sink you have? Would you use more if you used a larger heat sink? I'd like to hear both your and evil's opinion on the ideal number and blend of LED's. Another question... LEDSupply.com lists warm white, neutral white, and white, but not a cool white for the Cree XR-E's. Does the "white" = "cool white"? One more... From reading the description on LEDsupply.com of the Buckpuck 3023-D-E-1000P, it says that they'll power up to six 3W LED's. Is this the case? So if I want more than 6 cool whites and 6 royal blues, I'll need another a total of 4 (or more) drivers? Link to comment
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