LED Build 29 Biocube - NEED SOME ADVICE

[JChap]

I'm looking at purchasing rapidled.com's 20 Ultra Premium LED Nano Retrofit Kit and I'm looking for some advice on the LEDs. Should I swap out the cool whites for the neutral whites and if I do what ratio do you guys recommend. Also, is there anything that you guys suggest I do or consider befor purchasing this kit? By the way, I'm planning on getting the dimmable drivers and there new DIY 2 color dimming kit.

 

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Justin

[malawian]

i say dont get that kit...

 

look at nanotuners large heatsink

http://www.nanotuners.com/product_info.php...products_id=632

 

then buy whatever LEDs you like (i suggest LEDgroupbuy.com to save some serious $$$)

 

your drivers can be whatever you like, I suggest the TRP drivers at nanotuners, theyre awesome (and dimmable).

 

the heatsink is great, you can fit up to 54 star LEDs on it (not that you need to) and do whatever ratios of colors you like. especially if you are planning on changing out LEDs anyways, you might as well get what you want from the ground up! also, the nanotuners large heatsink will be a direct bolt in from the stock shield/reflector. you probably wont need any extra fans either, although I do suggest replacing your stock ones jsut cuz they are going to break (and soon if they havent already) and you might as well get it over with now while youve got your hood open.

[JChap]

I looked into that option and I'm going back and forth on it. If I went with a more DIY build and got the nanotuners heat sink it sounds like getting their new TRP drivers would be the way to go. Just to make sure I'm going about this right, I would need one of the TRC-040S070DS for the blue LEDS and one of the TRC-040S105DS for the white LEDS correct? Also, after reading for a while about the different colors of LEDS, I'm somewhat confused in regards to the whites. Should I go 1:1 RB and NW, 2:1 RB and NW or should I split the whites in half with NW and CW? I understand that it's all personal preferance in the end, I just would like some suggestions.

[malawian]

personally i would go with the 04070s all the way around, you dont need to run them at 1A anyways and with the 700mA versions you could add a ton more LEDs later if you want to. as for color preferences, Im actually using 16 RB 4 NW and 4 CW, I havent gotten my LEDs in yet so I cant tell you what the color ended up like =P

 

I can tell you that the nanotuners heat sink is VERY well made and the TRP drivers are pretty awesome, you can keep them up to 70* C and 100% humidity, meaning they can go in your hood. and they have their own 10v power supply so all you need to dim them is a pot.

[JChap]

I think you are right about getting (2) TRP 04070s. I'm going to kick around the LED layout some, but the 16 RB 4 NW and 4 CW seems like a nice blend to me. Another question I have is how specifically do you wire the pot to these TRP drivers?

[JChap]

I figured out what I'm going to go with. Everyone please let me know if something doesn't make sense, this is kind of a way for me to double check everything before I start purchasing stuff.

 

1 - Nanotuners biocube heatsink

2 - TRP 04070s TRP drivers

2 - Pots for dimming - If someone could chime in on how these tie in with the dimmers that would be great!!

16 - Cree XP- E Royal Blue LEDs

8 - Cree XP-G Neutral White LEDs

 

I'm planning on purchasing an enclosure from somewhere for cheap and mounting all of the drivers etc inside. Another question, I upgraded my stock fans to the silentx ones, will I need to upgrade them again or will I be covered?

[noobwithatank]

if you are in no hurry for your leds you should check out http://ledgroupbuy.com/

[JChap]

I was considering that, but I coudln't figure out when the next buy was taking place. I noticed that it said every 21 days, but I wasn't sure currently where it's at. That is also dependent if the heat sink and drivers are in stock, if so I might just bite the bullet and buy the LEDs immediatley. If they are on back order, then I'll for sure go the group buy route.

 

Can anyone help me with wiring the pot to driver? Do I just wire in series with the LEDs, on the line side from the driver I wire the pot, then I wire up all of the LEDs?

[evilc66]

There are three wires coming out of the driver for the pot. The details on what connects to what can be found in the datasheet

 

http://www.thomasresearchproducts.com/2010...%2011-15-10.pdf

[malawian]

yea its very simple, but you do NOT wire the pot with the LEDs, there is a set of 3 wires (in addition to the 2 for AC power and 2 for DC output) you connect the pot to.

 

also, next group buy ends tomorrow 2/12

[andru24]

You can check out my build for a step-by-step guide though it would be more pertinent with your original plan of the RapidLED kit. It may be of some use though.

 

I will say that I have a 10-8 ratio of blue-whites and wish I had gotten a higher ratio of blue. I wanted to be able to keep them completely separate which is why I had to go with 8 whites since the minimum # of LEDs for the meanwelll drivers is 8. Though with the dimmers I can still get the color I am looking for.

[JChap]

Thanks for the link evil, that makes a lot more sense! I just purchased 16 xp-e rb and 8 xp-g nw from group buy! Next is the heat sink and drivers!

[harleybmw73]

I am running rapidled nano kit with an additional 4 leds for a total of 24. I am using dimmable drivers. The heatsink was a perfect fit in my aquapod 24. Great customer service and everything came out great. I wouldn't hestitate ordering from rapidled again.