latteslave Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I am getting ready to put in my order but the more I read, the more confused I am getting. Here is the plan - please provide thoughts and tell me what you think: 6 XP-e royal blue 4 XP-e blue 6 XP-g cool white 2 XP-g neutral white 2 meanwell 48d dimmable drivers 3 rows of 6. Blues and whites on separate drivers. I leave it open to comments. Thanks B Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Keep it simple. I'd reduce it to just neutral white and royal blue LEDs. The cool whites mixed with neutral whites doesn't give you any real advantage. The neutral whites will help with overall color rendering though. The blue LEDs add very little to the overall color rendering, and if used incorrectly (like you were about to do), can easily windex the tank. Supplimental colors like that should always be put on a separate dimmable driver so you can adjust their effect on the tank. Go with a 2:1 ratio of royal to neutral. Link to comment
latteslave Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 You are always very helpful! So here is the dilemma. Going that route with the dimmable meanwells means I have to have a minimum of 8 led on each driver. Can I put 10 royal blue on one and 2 royal blue with 6 natural whites on the other? Would that be bad for the blue or whites being on the same driver? Otherwise I would have to increase to 24 total led. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 That's fine to do. You can mix and match whatever LEDs you like on the same driver, as long as the LEDs can all handle the same current, and the total forward voltage is within the limits of the driver. The other alternative is the TRP 40W drivers. Both the 700mA and 1050mA drivers will support the LED configuration you want. Just another option. Link to comment
73rsz/28 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Evil, If you suggest 2:1 RB:NW, why does your 5.6 cree system come with 1:1 RB:CW? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Because we haven't changed it over yet. Cool whites still work well, and are fine for 95% of colors that we see in corals. Neutrals just fill in the gaps missed by the cool whites. We will be revisiting the Cree setups soon with neutral options, but we have to make sure the configurations can be supported by the drivers without any drastic changes. It's just on the back burner for the moment, as we are still trying to catch up, and don't need more added to the list Link to comment
73rsz/28 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Very good, I'm just trying to sort through this like most others. So if you had 2 Meanwell ELN-60-48D's to work with, how would you set up your led mix (on a NC24)? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Depends on how you want to separate your colors. Typically, 24 LEDs is the recommended setup for tanks like that. The 1:1 cool white and royal blue ratio works perfectly here. If you want to try the 2:1 royal to neutral setup, then you will have to put some royals on the same driver as the neutrals. Not the best setup to give you the most flexibility in color control, but it can work. Link to comment
73rsz/28 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Still recommend the XP series with 1:1 RB:CW? Run the RB's at 700mA and the CW's at 1000mA? Plus dim to desired levels right? Link to comment
latteslave Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 Just to be clear, you would recommend the cw and rb over the nw and rb? Also, can't the XPe take the 1000mA Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Still recommend the XP series with 1:1 RB:CW? Run the RB's at 700mA and the CW's at 1000mA? Plus dim to desired levels right? You can. There is nothing overly wrong with that setup. I usually run both colors at the same current though. Just to be clear, you would recommend the cw and rb over the nw and rb? Also, can't the XPe take the 1000mA Yes/No The royal blue/cool white setup does work, and works pretty well. Neutral whites are gaining ground as being a more ballanced setup in terms of color reproduction. The only complication is that you have to run in a 2:1 ratio of blue to white. This makes layout on the heatsink a little harder, but not impossible. The 1:1 ratio of cool white to royal blue is easy to lay out. Link to comment
73rsz/28 Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Evil, What would suggest for a layout with 24 leds 16RB's and 8NW's? 6x4 pattern? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 That's the common setup for tanks like this. Seems to work pretty well. Link to comment
73rsz/28 Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 How would you stagger the colors? XXOXXO OXXOXX XOXXOX XXOXXO Something like this work? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 That looks to be about the best setup. Link to comment
latteslave Posted March 13, 2011 Author Share Posted March 13, 2011 OK. I have the order in and still some questions... 1. Am I going to be able to fit the drivers in the hood? And will this be safe? 2. The TRC dimmable driver has 3 wires for dimming but the pot has for posts (two on each side). How do I wire this? Is the ground and 0-10 on one side and the 10v on the other? 3. What spacing should i use with a 4x5 array? 4. The power cord has a ground, the driver does not. Should I use these and just cut the ground wire or should I go with power cords without ground or does it even matter? Now if I am not going to be able to keep everything in the hood I want to do the wiring where they are pluggable. Anyone build a box like this? I would like to have power switches for each driver, and I would LOVE to have the fans wired to one of the drivers power supply so that when they come on so do the fans... I know nanotuners has this, anyone do something similar that you can share? I would normally just wire the fans in to the DC out of one of the drivers but they are only 10v and I believe the fans need twelve. For the LEDs to the box, I am assuming i can just use standard connectors from radii shack so long as its the proper voltage? Thanks! Link to comment
latteslave Posted March 16, 2011 Author Share Posted March 16, 2011 Bump for a little advice? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 OK. I have the order in and still some questions... 1. Am I going to be able to fit the drivers in the hood? And will this be safe? 2. The TRC dimmable driver has 3 wires for dimming but the pot has for posts (two on each side). How do I wire this? Is the ground and 0-10 on one side and the 10v on the other? 3. What spacing should i use with a 4x5 array? 4. The power cord has a ground, the driver does not. Should I use these and just cut the ground wire or should I go with power cords without ground or does it even matter? Now if I am not going to be able to keep everything in the hood I want to do the wiring where they are pluggable. Anyone build a box like this? I would like to have power switches for each driver, and I would LOVE to have the fans wired to one of the drivers power supply so that when they come on so do the fans... I know nanotuners has this, anyone do something similar that you can share? I would normally just wire the fans in to the DC out of one of the drivers but they are only 10v and I believe the fans need twelve. For the LEDs to the box, I am assuming i can just use standard connectors from radii shack so long as its the proper voltage? Thanks! 1. I don't think you are going to be able to fit the drivers in the hood. If you can, they will be safe though, as they are sealed to IP68 (i.e. it doesn't get much better). Now, that doesn't mean that your soldering job to the pots, LEDs, or power cord will be ok. Use shrink tube over and wire solder connection to protect them. 2. Sorry, I ment to PM this earlier. Pin 1 is an outer pin (we connect that to the yellow wire), pin 2 and 4 is the wiper/center pin (connected to purple), and pin 3 is the other outer pin (green wire) 3. 2" works well. 4. You don't need to use the ground. Just cut it off the cord. Link to comment
latteslave Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 2. Sorry, I ment to PM this earlier. Pin 1 is an outer pin (we connect that to the yellow wire), pin 2 and 4 is the wiper/center pin (connected to purple), and pin 3 is the other outer pin (green wire) Awesome. Now there is only one purple wire so am I supposed to split it and run one to pin 2 and 4? Thanks, B Link to comment
Dnanoreefer Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Instead of running the blues with the whites on the same driver cant you split up the blues to run on separate drivers? Like 8 LEDs per driver, I'm trying to learn as much about the led scene for my own retros.. Also the power cords that rapid sells is all you need right? I was reading on some threads about power supplies like a computer would use? I have a bc14 that I would retro with LEDs and this thread has helped out a lot, I was thinking of running the 18 led retro in my hood. Latte you should post a few pics when you dive into your project. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Awesome. Now there is only one purple wire so am I supposed to split it and run one to pin 2 and 4? Thanks, B No, you can connect it to either pin. They are functionally the same. Link to comment
latteslave Posted March 18, 2011 Author Share Posted March 18, 2011 I think I have everything now. I battery tested all of the led and they work, mounted on the heatsink and ready for wiring. Now it will be a matter of getting everything wired up, tested and (hopefully) mounted in the hood. Have a back up plan just in case. The fans in the hood are back pretty far. I am wondering if I should try to mount them above the heatsink or if the heatsink will get plenty of flow leaving them as is. Let's see how far I get this weekend. Link to comment
latteslave Posted March 20, 2011 Author Share Posted March 20, 2011 Bump on the fan question. Anyone? Got all the LEDs wired, working on the box and then I am going to set it up. Link to comment
latteslave Posted March 20, 2011 Author Share Posted March 20, 2011 Ran into a snag last night... It would seem my nano cube hood is old enough for the screws that came with the heatsink to break the screw housing. A little improvising, acrylic, putty and screws and I got it to work. Not as clean as I would like but it will work for sure. THE LEDs ARE BRIGHT! The picture I took with them all the way up was washed out... Here they are at there lowest setting: And here they are over the tank... I ended up keeping all the drivers and dimmers externally. Here is a quick shot of the tank. I am going to need to re-learn how to get decent pictures. The shimmer is awesome but it plays hell with color balance. I am running the blues just under half power and the white at about 30% gives a nice overall color. Everything opened well and I will be keeping an eye out over the next week for any signs of trouble. The corals look amazing - with just the blues everything POPS and with the mix, you can see colors that were just not there with the PC lights. Very happy overall. Thanks! B Link to comment
Nickeleye Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Glad you got it working after all. Also note with those pots at "zero" the drivers are still running at 20% due to how the drivers are designed. Link to comment
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