DIY High Power LED Retrofit

[Waterproof]

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?

You'd probably have to cut notches out of the back corners to allow room for the fans. "Ideal" is a tricky word. If you're willing to drill the top of the hood, then the largest heatsink that will fit is "ideal". If you can't notch out the back corners then I'd recommend 8.5" x 5". Otherwise, the extra 2-3" width would be nice. If you plan to set up your fans like I did, then you'd want the fins to run front to back. HeatsinkUSA only has 8.5" width, so you'd need to piece two heatsinks together.

 

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 would use 1000mA buckpucks. The blend of LEDs will depend on the color you want to achieve. A 50/50 mix will get you a little higher than 14,000K. For a 20,000 K look, you'd need a couple more royal blue LEDs. On my heatsink size, I think 6 RB and 6 CW LEDs would work well. You can always use the potentiometers to dial in the desired color. If you get a 3" wider heatsink, then you may want to add another 3-4 LEDs. This will require a 3rd buckpuck. You might be able to get away w/ 11-12 LEDs. I'm not sure w/o seeing it. Aside from the desired color temp, you also need to decide what you want to stock your tank with. Soft corals, shrooms, zoas, and LPS won't need too much light. SPS and clams are a different story.

 

Does the "white" = "cool white"?

correct

 

So if I want more than 6 cool whites and 6 royal blues, I'll need another a total of 4 (or more) drivers?

It's up to you. If you want the blue and white completely separate, then yes. Otherwise, you could have 6 RB on one driver, 6 CW on a 2nd driver, and a mixture on the 3rd.

[mdavis203]

Aside from the desired color temp, you also need to decide what you want to stock your tank with. Soft corals, shrooms, zoas, and LPS won't need too much light. SPS and clams are a different story.

 

Well, when I first ordered this cube, I was initially thinking just softies and LPS with a Nanocustoms 3.24 upgrade. I didn't want to go to MH because of the heat and having to keep an open top (wife has cats). However, after getting excited about LED's, I'd really like to be able to keep SPS or a clam, if I get the urge. Will a setup like yours, with 11 LED's be plenty if I pay attention to placement? Or should I plan on enlarging the heat sink and adding more LED's?

[Waterproof]

Well, when I first ordered this cube, I was initially thinking just softies and LPS with a Nanocustoms 3.24 upgrade. I didn't want to go to MH because of the heat and having to keep an open top (wife has cats). However, after getting excited about LED's, I'd really like to be able to keep SPS or a clam, if I get the urge. Will a setup like yours, with 11 LED's be plenty if I pay attention to placement? Or should I plan on enlarging the heat sink and adding more LED's?

 

I don't know anything about clams, but based on my PAR readings, you should be good for SPS. I bought an SPS frag on Saturday, and it seems to be doing great. If you wanted a clam, you'd, at the least, need to elevate it a bit. WIthout optics, you won't have enough light on the bottom.

 

My PAR readings dropped off pretty quickly once I went outside the footprint of the heatsink & LEDs. If you'd like more freedom in placement, then maybe go w/ a few more LEDs on a slightly wider heatsink (maybe 3 rows of 5 = 15).

[mdavis203]

I'm thinking your layout would be every bit of what I need. Would you mind showing the spacing on your LED's? I could probably get close just by eyeballing it, but if you had the spacing off the top of your head, it'd be a shortcut.

[Waterproof]

I'm thinking your layout would be every bit of what I need. Would you mind showing the spacing on your LED's? I could probably get close just by eyeballing it, but if you had the spacing off the top of your head, it'd be a shortcut.

Here you go. I ended up w/ option #1. Option #2 didn't provide enough light. You could also use 3 rows of 4 = 12 total. As you can see, in my middle row, I have my white LEDs pinched inwards. If you did 3 rows of 4, you'd be getting better lighting towards either side.

 

[deepdvnarq]

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!

 

sorry man i didn't see your pst until today. i keep forgetting to bring my camcorder to rec a video of the tank. still pics dont do it justice. i'll do it on saturday. at first, when i fired it up, i was like holy s**T! i'm going to see some xray fish. i'm really glad i went with the dimmable drivers. i think i'm going to hold off on the bc14 and start on my 37gal first. i'm going to build a canopy and intergrate the LEDs into the canopy. i see that i stirred mdavis203 into the LED world.

[mdavis203]

If you did 3 rows of 4, you'd be getting better lighting towards either side.

 

True, but I can't think of a way to balance the blues. My OCD self would always be worried that one side was more blue than the other.

 

 

Thanks for the measurements!

 

 

 

i see that i stirred mdavis203 into the LED world.

 

Hehe... Yep. Thanks, dude.

[deepdvnarq]

don't spend your money too quickly!

[mdavis203]

don't spend your money too quickly!

 

Too late... Just ordered LED's and drivers.

[ccostel]

I like what you have done very much. So much in fact, I have just ordered my heatsink...

I went with the same size because I am putting it over a NanoWave 9.

 

I do have a few questions if you don't mind.

Are your LEDs 3W or 1W... I think they are 3W, but wanted to be sure.

What made you go with Crees vs say the Rebels?

Do you run any of the lights at night, possibly one of the blues or something outside of these?

 

Thanks in advance.

[mdavis203]

Do you run any of the lights at night, possibly one of the blues or something outside of these?

 

I'm not sure what these guys did for lunar lights, but I'm planning on installing a 5-LED R2 lunar light from nanotuners on my build. I'll run it on a separate power supply, so I can set it up on a reverse cycle from my other LED's.

[Waterproof]

Are your LEDs 3W or 1W... I think they are 3W, but wanted to be sure.

What made you go with Crees vs say the Rebels?

Do you run any of the lights at night, possibly one of the blues or something outside of these?

 

Thanks in advance.

They are 3w Cree XR-Es. Actually, there is no real wattage designation for the LED. At 1000mA, they are about 3.7w; at 350mA they are only using about 1w. For all intents and purposes, they are 3W.

 

I have only used the Crees. I think evilc66 has experience with both.

 

Right now, I have no lights running at night. I'm still trying to figure out how I want to go w/ this. A few of us are working on a controller that would allow the LEDs to automatically dim. It would be possible to have the blues dim to about 3-5% as a moonlight effect. I've also considered using a single blue dimmed down as a moonlight. There are a lot of options for this.

[Kraylen]

AWESOMEEEE

[mdavis203]

Waterproof,

 

I noticed the fins on your heatsink run shortwise (is that a word?). With the stock fan placement, would it work better if they ran lengthwise? I saw on heatsinkUSA's site that they will do custom sizes. I'm wondering if it would be better to order one your size but cut so that the fins ran lengthwise. I'd like to get away with doing basically your exact design but not add a fan. If course, that might make mounting it a problem.

 

What do you think?

[deepdvnarq]

to run the fins lengthwise, you need to have 2 heatsinks put together if they can't make it that way. it would be ideal to have airflow going through the fins.

[mdavis203]

The more I think about and look at it, you really do need the fins running shortwise (still not sure if that's a word) to allow for mounting to the hood. Thus, you will need a third fan. So, how's the wiring work on this if you want to go with a single power supply for lights and fans? With just the two stock fans, you wire them in series, since they're 12V each. However, throwing a third fan into the mix seems to throw a kink in the plan, but I'm no wiring expert by any means.

[Waterproof]

The more I think about and look at it, you really do need the fins running shortwise (still not sure if that's a word) to allow for mounting to the hood. Thus, you will need a third fan. So, how's the wiring work on this if you want to go with a single power supply for lights and fans? With just the two stock fans, you wire them in series, since they're 12V each. However, throwing a third fan into the mix seems to throw a kink in the plan, but I'm no wiring expert by any means.

 

Having the fins run front to back, in my opinion, makes it more likely that air will flow through the fins and towards the in-out flow of the stock fans. You guys have me confussed with the "lengthwise, shortwise" talk. If you wanted the fins to run side to side, then a single heatsink wouldn't be a problem, assuming you didn't need a width (front to back) of more than 8.5". I recommend using a 3rd fan, but if you really didn't want to, you could do this:

 

Flip one of the stock fans so they both blow out. Then, drill a couple holes in the hood towards the front of the waterproof shell. This would allow air to passively be pulled in through the holes, flow across the heatsink, and out the back of the hood. For this, you'd just wire them in series. I'm not sure about the wiring of a 3rd fan. I have all three of mine on a separate 12v supply.

 

You'd have to get the 3-fan answer from someone else. I wouldn't want to tell you wrong. If I were to take a guess, I'd say run 2 in series and then run the 3rd separately with a resistor. Maybe someone can help with this.

[mdavis203]

Sorry, WP. "Lengthwise" (side-to-side) and "Shortwise" (front-to-back) was a product of my reef-surfing after a few Michelobs.

 

Yes, I was kicking around the idea of trying to get a heat sink custom cut to the size you used but with the fins running side-to-side. I was thinking this would draw enough air with the two stock fans and I could get away with not adding a third. However, on further thought and conversation, I decided that a third fan was really the way to go. It's better to plan on more air flow than I need, in case I want to add more LED's to the array later. So, my remaining question was about how to wire the third fan in.

[deepdvnarq]

wire two fans in series and then wire the 3rd fan with the "pair of fans" in parallel.

[Waterproof]

wire two fans in series and then wire the 3rd fan with the "pair of fans" in parallel.

 

Wouldn't the 3rd fan be getting 24v with this configuration?

[rean_jem]

i was thinking the same thing, maybe the third fan should be wired in parallel with one one of the fans of the pair.

[Lutra]

You could wire two of the fans in parallel. so you have

 

				  -[Fan]-[power supply]--|		  |---[Fan]--- back to powersupply.				  -[Fan]-

[Waterproof]

You could wire two of the fans in parallel. so you have

 

				  -[Fan]-[power supply]--|		  |---[Fan]--- back to powersupply.				  -[Fan]-

 

The voltage would be good, but would this push double the current through the single (3rd) fan?

[evilc66]

No. Half the current through the parallel fans.

[Waterproof]

No. Half the current through the parallel fans.

So, evil, is there a way to get three fans hooked up to a single 24v PS to run at their intended current & 12v each?