isidro0 Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 I wonder if you can connect 2 psu in series and get +24v 800watts. I stack them at work, but there 600v industrial power supplies, to get 1200v. Link to comment
sialkoti Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 Lovely setup.... I think you should consider placing a small fan over you buckpuck and power supply since it does get quite hot too. From you design I cant see any plan to keep these parts cool, juts a thought.....Good luck Link to comment
evilc66 Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 I wonder if you can connect 2 psu in series and get +24v 800watts. I stack them at work, but there 600v industrial power supplies, to get 1200v. You can. PC power supplies are as "clean" as a good dedicated switching power supply. They are cheap and plentifull though. Get a power supply with multiple 12v rails and you should be able to tie them in series for the same effect. Depends on how the grounds are isolated though. I haven't messed with them enough to say for sure. Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted August 23, 2009 Author Share Posted August 23, 2009 Lovely setup.... I think you should consider placing a small fan over you buckpuck and power supply since it does get quite hot too. From you design I cant see any plan to keep these parts cool, juts a thought.....Good luck I will be either adding a fan to the centre section or covering the top in mesh or perhaps both depending on how hot it gets during testing. Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted August 27, 2009 Author Share Posted August 27, 2009 Small update: I now have all the parts except for the LEDs and Fans. Im very impressed that my buckpucks arrived on Tuesday morning after ordering them on friday.. Well done LEDSupply.com! I thought while I was waiting for the LEDs I would make a start on the heatsinks so here they are. Just finished drilling them and i managed to only break one bit The extra holes on one of the heatsinks are not a mistake, they are for attaching a temp sensor... honest Next step is to tap the holes. I think this is going to keep me busy for a while as it took me over an hour to tap 20 holes in my last array and now I need to do 98 Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted August 27, 2009 Author Share Posted August 27, 2009 I will need to make splashguards at some pont. Any suggesgtions on how thick the acrylic needs to be to not bend under its own weight and not block too much light? Each peice will be about 20" x 8" and will be supported on every edge. Also, is extruded ok for this application or do I need to use cell cast? Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted August 28, 2009 Author Share Posted August 28, 2009 Got all the holes tapped today.. what a PITA! WD40 was a real help though. Anyone got a suggestion about the splashguard ^^^ Link to comment
evilc66 Posted August 28, 2009 Share Posted August 28, 2009 Considering the width of your fixture, you could get away with 1/8" depending on how frequently it's fastened to the fixture, if not permanently bonded. Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted August 28, 2009 Author Share Posted August 28, 2009 I cant bond it to the fixture as ive decided to use ply wood. but it will be resting on a lip on all edges. Does it matter if I use extruded acrylic or should I go for cell cast? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted August 28, 2009 Share Posted August 28, 2009 Cell cast is a lot stronger and more scratch resistant. Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted August 29, 2009 Author Share Posted August 29, 2009 ok, thanks. I will order 3mm cell cast. Link to comment
solonavi Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Watching ur thread closely with much interest. I'm designing and planning for my 5 feet tank.I'm wondering what are the spacing between ur LEDs and each group of 12 LEDs. Do you forsee any spot light effect where certain area will be dim? Great thread. Cheers JC Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 Watching ur thread closely with much interest. I'm designing and planning for my 5 feet tank.I'm wondering what are the spacing between ur LEDs and each group of 12 LEDs. Do you forsee any spot light effect where certain area will be dim? The LEDs will be spaced 2" apart and the heatsinks will be next to each other so in effect there will be 2 groups of 24 LEDs. The idea is to highlight the 2 piles of live rock and Im hoping the spotlight effect will give a nice look to the tank but I am allowing enough space in the fixture to be able to increse the number of LEDs by 50% if I need to. Link to comment
solonavi Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Just curious, in ur opinion the group of 24 LEDs with 2" spacing will be sufficient to light up how big a space? Cheers JC Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 It will depend on which optics are used. I will be using 60 degree optics which wont give as intense a light as 40 degree optics but will give a better spread. Im hoping the 2 24 LED arrays will give good coverage on each side over each pile of rock with dimmer areas in the middle and at each end but until I test it I wont know how good (or bad ) it will look. Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 Yaaaayyy!! My LEDs arrived this morning. Looks like im going to be busy for the next week or 2. Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 Yaaaayyy!! My LEDs arrived this morning. Looks like im going to be busy for the next week or 2. Looks like I spoke too soon I started testing the LEDs tonight and it looks like cutter have shipped the wrong ones. I ordered R2's WC bin which is what I orderd for the last array but the ones they have shipped appear to have a much lower colour temperature. I had a R2 WC left over from the last batch and I have tested them along side each other and the new ones are much more yellow. I dont see how these would be any good for lighting a reef tank. Anyone else had similar problems? Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 Here are some photos. I took them with a camera phone and I couldnt capture the LEDs well but you you can see the colour from the light beams. WC bin from last order LEDs that arrived today Link to comment
evilc66 Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 They may be the more common WG bin. We all use those with the Q5s. I personally like the slightly warmer tone on the WGs. I actually kind of like the neutral whites in some instances. Gives a warmer, deeper tone to the tank. The cooler color temps make everything look more washed out. WCs are about the limit I would use. Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 Is there any way to tell what bin they are? They look very yellow to me. I would estimate around 4000k but I could be way off. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 Not by looking. Contact Cutter and see what their pick list was. Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted September 2, 2009 Author Share Posted September 2, 2009 I just got a reply from cutter:- "Please return the LEDS and we will replace with the R2 WC which we have been out of stock of so we replaced with a similar type." Ive emailed them back asking what type/bin of LEDs they sent and Im hoping they are something that I can use as it would be a pain to have to send them back and wait for replacements. Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted September 2, 2009 Author Share Posted September 2, 2009 GRRRRRRR!!!!! I thought I would get on with wiring up the royal blue LEDs while I wait for cutter to sort the whites out and would you believe it... the power supplies I bought are faulty.... Both of them with different faults!!! One just flashed with no output and the other has a broken jack. I think I must be jinxed Link to comment
Dave_uk Posted September 3, 2009 Author Share Posted September 3, 2009 I just popped in to maplin and they had some 150w 24v psu's on sale for £39.99 so I bought 2 of them which means I can get cracking with the build tonight (at least the blue part anyway) I'll just have to get my money back later on the dodgy ones. They were a bit more expensive than the other ones but I will be able to run 50% more LEDs if I need to in future without having to buy another power supply so its not all bad. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted September 3, 2009 Share Posted September 3, 2009 Bummer. Lets hope this trend doesn't continue. Look at the bright side. You ended up getting better power supplies anyway Link to comment
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