300 LED Build

[DaveFason]

After taking a day off at work I brewed a pot of coffee, put on Pandora and went at it. Half a day later I mounted 297 LED's with optics. My hands are raw and I smell like silicon but its VERY close to being finished.

 

I am doing a 2:1 ratio of RB to NW in rows. Spacing is 1.5" apart with 40 degree optics. The fixture will be 12" off the surface of the 3' tank. I mounted the LED with Bond Ply and Gap Pad which are both AMAZING products. Not having to worry about drilling and tapping eases the mind

 

Bond Ply

A Few Optics

It has Begun!

All Mounted

The 300 Army with there shields

 

Hope you enjoy. When I am finished I will make sure to add a video. This will be dimmable from 40-100%.

 

-Dave

[GiantBen]

[DaveFason]

Also here is a great break down for running LEDs in a parallel. Thanks to Kcress on RC. There are a few good men over there

 

 

-Dave

[redfishsc]

Were you playing Pandora or Pantera?

 

 

I like the sticky pads.

 

 

But I do not envy you at all having to stick 300 optics on XP's. All the XP optics I've used were total pains in the @$$ to get to fit (they overlapped the solder pads by way too much, and the optics didn't fit over the LEDs well at all)

[JeffYoshiyuki]

fuk, you need to turn this into a DIY tutorial XD

[DaveFason]

Matt - I know. I put the optics on first before soldering Only because they are the work of the devil!

 

-Dave

[Genj]

Were you playing Pandora or Pantera?

 

Hah, no idea I had even thought of it, but I clearly read "Pandora" but my brain immediately thought of Pantera as well.

 

Something about mounting 297 LEDs bring out a little rage/open a vent?

[evilc66]

Also here is a great break down for running LEDs in a parallel. Thanks to Kcress on RC. There are a few good men over there

 

 

-Dave

I don't particularly like the comment that you can mix various types of LEDs in a single string. You can, but each string has to be identicle at that point. Different LEDs of brand, series, and color can have different forward voltages. Matching forward voltages in parallel strings is absolutely critical. Dave, in your case, it's not a problem, but I wanted to point that out for anyone else looking at that diagram.

[redfishsc]

Matt - I know. I put the optics on first before soldering Only because they are the work of the devil!

 

-Dave

 

Now there is one helluvan idea. Not sure why I never thought of that.

[DaveFason]

Clive - You are correct, I forgot to point that out too.

 

-Dave

[blasterman]

Yeah...strings can have mixed LEDs (provided they can handle the same current), but the strings need to be symetrical.

 

Dave, figured out how to build a splash guard, or did I miss something above? Can't wait to see this mutha' in action.

[ajmckay]

Awesome build.. Definitely the largest one I've seen.

 

I think I just

.

[DaveFason]

I dont have a splash guard but the lights are hanging 12" above the tank.

 

-Dave

[blasterman]

Dude....be carefull. Even at 12" salt corrosion will eventually wreak havoc on the LEDs. I had my light about 8" above my tank with no shield and in about a month the LEDs were corroded beyond recognition.

[evilc66]

Splash guard is key.

[roushinator]

Is there a reason the LEDs are not more evenly spaced on the heatsink?

[DaveFason]

They are all an 1.5" apart. The thermal tape makes it look like they are uneven but they are.

 

Splash guard it is! Should be easy, screws, spacers and some acrylic. Thanks for the heads up blaster and Clive.

 

-Dave

 

EDIT : Are you taking about the lager gaps in between each section? If so I broke them into "pendants" because there are 3 large braces. No need to waste light!

[roushinator]

I was talking about how they are all mainly in the center of each Heatsink and not spread evenly accross the entire heatsink. Just curious.

[DaveFason]

Color blending. I want to make sure to have zero shadowing.

 

-Dave

[roushinator]

Color blending. I want to make sure to have zero shadowing.

 

-Dave

 

So you dont think the color would blend if they were spaced another .5"-1" apart?

[DaveFason]

I know they will be fine at 1.5". After that I dont feel that it works as well. I could have spaced them closer ( Like I normally do ) but with the tank this size I thought this would be best. With it being 3' high and hanging them 12" above should work great.

 

On my 3Up boards I have them spaced 3/8" apart.

 

-Dave

[blasterman]

Dumb trick for color blending, but what I do with a finished light is set it on the floor and hold a large piece of white power over the array at various distances to see how smooth the mixing is. Hold the paper at various distances representing the tops of corals to the bottom of the tank, and this will give you a perfect view of any mixing problems. This way you've got it licked before mounting the light and start to notice disco shadow problems and start cussing. Otherwise, I think you're fine with this, but certainly try my paper test to confirm.

 

I think I speak for everybody in that we want your client to pee himself when that light fires up due to uber_awesome-ness.

[DaveFason]

blaster - Thats the same thing I do! We should post something for others to see what we are talking about.

 

I know the guy will be awe struck once its finished. I just cant wait to take pictures of it blasting away. Its hard to put in perspective of how large and how many LED's are on here. 300 HP LED's is a TON of light.

 

-Dave

[roushinator]

Why did you decide on 1 - 8ft fixture instead of maybe 2 - 4ft fixtures.

 

Again just curious. I am building a fixture for my 75 with a somewhat similar design.

[Hans Dorn]

This is madness!