AquaStyleOnline Club

[ReefDiva]

I'd say ditch the maxwellan drivers included in the kits and go with the dimmable meanwells they sell. Ray can swap those out and adjust the price of the kit. Those will be compatible with your Digital Aquatics controller.

 

As for color, it's probably well worth your time to read the LED aesthetics thread. There are differing opinions on what looks best but almost all agree that cool whites and royal blues by themselves look too washed out.

 

IMO, I'd say the following would be a good mix to start with:

 

4NW 4500k

6CW 6500k

14-16 Royal Blues

3 cyan

3 deep red

6 true violets

 

Look into creating a cluster design for the exotics and run them without optics. Go for a tri-cluster of red/cyan/royal blue and you will end up with a bright white light with less disco problems. Maybe even put them on their own driver.

 

SliceOReef,

Thanks for the advice. This is awesome info. I will opt for the Meanwell drivers you suggested. Also, I meant to say I have a Neptune Controller system, my brain was slow yesterday. Anyway, I plan on placing an order today and I think your lighting suggestions are awesome. I'm going to read a little more. Again, Thanks for your advice.

[BBOSS]

SliceOReef,

Thanks for the advice. This is awesome info. I will opt for the Meanwell drivers you suggested. Also, I meant to say I have a Neptune Controller system, my brain was slow yesterday. Anyway, I plan on placing an order today and I think your lighting suggestions are awesome. I'm going to read a little more. Again, Thanks for your advice.

 

Meanwell drivers are needed if you want to use your Neptune Controller, but Meanwell drivers are physically larger in dimension compare to the Maxwellen drivers, so make sure you take that into your plan. I would also purchase a few extra LEDs in different colours at same time to save shipping charges. With extra LEDs, you can play with the different colour mix once you have your retro up and running. Good luck.

 

Great DIY thread BBOSS!!!!

 

Its done, up and running! I tweaked his build a bit: Built my own heatsink with 3/4" U channel (lowes), mounted my Heatsink with a custom fab bracket screwed to the hood (into some existing screw mounts). Ditched the stock moon lights to be able to reuse my Truelumen strip (tried incorporating the stock moonlights to the transformer but it pulled too much juice and dimmed my truelumens), cahnged the layout to maximize heatsink contact, the fans come on with my Blues ( keep it cool start to finish).

 

Other than that follow his thread and its a great end result! And yes I got a bit disoriented while wiring but it WORKS! (the fish told me they thought it looked great!)

 

Like-fish,

 

Great, job well done. Your build looks really good, nice and clean. I like it very much.

[Ralgo]

Just intertwine the leads from the drivers you want on one pot and attach them like normal.

 

And no, you need a power cord for each, no way around that.

I have 2 power cords going into my light, each running two drivers. I chose to do that because the two power cords that came with the tek light fixture I used had a grounding wire while the ones from Aquastyle did not. Was I wrong to do this?

 

Why cant they be run with two wires? I need to know so I can change it if its needed.

[Tashar59]

I have 2 power cords going into my light, each running two drivers. I chose to do that because the two power cords that came with the tek light fixture I used had a grounding wire while the ones from Aquastyle did not. Was I wrong to do this?

 

Why cant they be run with two wires? I need to know so I can change it if its needed.

 

I'm interested in this too. As all communication I've had say you can use one cord for the two drivers. I also see store bought lights with two drivers and one cord. I have even seen it done here in a couple of different threads.

 

Now if it's because of really, really big drivers then I might see it. For smaller/average sized drivers. All I'm seeing is more needless cable management having a cord for each driver. And maybe I'm old school to think grounded cable is better as well.

[gwcreefer]

Has anyone come up with a good replacement for the dimmer pots? Mine were working pretty god until last weekend. If you wiggle it the brightness changes. I tried a few different one from radio shack without any luck.

[Iam King]

Are there stands anywhere for sale for these kits? I would like to have one but cannot drilling in the walls.

[Jspires688]

Aqua styles 24 kit over 10 gallon

[vash028]

My 72 LED kit is done woot pics will come tomorrow.

[d-bo]

Hi I'm new here and I just put together my 24led dimmable kit. but there seems to be a problem....

- when I dim it down fully its still bright! (did I put the connections incorrectly to the potentiometer?)

- how do I turn the unit off? unplug it everytime??

 

if anyone can answer my questions that would be great

thanks!

[Ralgo]

Hi I'm new here and I just put together my 24led dimmable kit. but there seems to be a problem....

- when I dim it down fully its still bright! (did I put the connections incorrectly to the potentiometer?)

- how do I turn the unit off? unplug it every time??

 

if anyone can answer my questions that would be great

thanks!

 

Post some pics of the lights and we can take a look. As for the on/off thing you either have to put the lights on a timer or wire in your own switch to turn them on and off. The pots only go down to about 30% power.

[Ralgo]

Has anyone come up with a good replacement for the dimmer pots? Mine were working pretty god until last weekend. If you wiggle it the brightness changes. I tried a few different one from radio shack without any luck.

 

I have 4 of the pots on mine. Only one has a problem. It will randomly change the power level while the lights are anything other than maximum or minimum power. I emailed Ray and he's sending me a new pot. I'd be interested in knowing if there are locally available options as well.

[moneyman6891]

I got a 24 led kit and put it together according to the directions. Soldered everything together, everything appears to hooked up correctly but no light. If I touch the heat sink tho I can see light in the diodes. Ive never heard of this and cant figure it out. I tried everything, resoldered all my connections, checked, checked and rechecked the leds to make sure they were wired in series. Has anyone else had this problem or know how to fix it? Im dieing to see this thing over my tank.

[d-bo]

what type of switch would I need for the maxwellen dimmable driver(7-12leds)

I went to the store and they said I needed to know the amperage to pick the correct switch.

 

can anyone help me with this??

 

Post some pics of the lights and we can take a look. As for the on/off thing you either have to put the lights on a timer or wire in your own switch to turn them on and off. The pots only go down to about 30% power.

[Ralgo]

what type of switch would I need for the maxwellen dimmable driver(7-12leds)

I went to the store and they said I needed to know the amperage to pick the correct switch.

 

can anyone help me with this??

Best bet would be to email ray. add a message to the order you placed. either that or check the driver label. It might say it on there

[d-bo]

Best bet would be to email ray. add a message to the order you placed. either that or check the driver label. It might say it on there

 

I emailed ray. he says the input current on my 24led kit is 0.6A. When I was at the electronics store most switches were 16a-18a,

If Ray's readings are correct, am I safe to use basically any switch?

[Zeadon]

hi guys, for those who ordered the meanwell driver with their kit, were you given a dimming kit with your bundle?

[plainrt]

i gotta say im impressed with this company so far.I ordered my kit last sundy nite and got it today already in wisconsin.Faster then many places in the states.Kit is better then i thought also.

[patback]

Hey, when I turn the dial on my dimmer, it makes an audible buzzing noise. Works fine tho, an stays cool. Any problems with this?

[vash028]

For just 3 3 wat LEDs what can I use to Power them like a simple power cord or do I have to have a driver?

[ajmckay]

Hey not to throw anyone off the aquastyleonline stuff... His DIY dimmable kits are a great deal. How he puts together a 36LED kit for $99 is beyond me...

 

Pricing it out though I'm looking at $37 in shipping! So $137 total for the DIY dimmable 36LED kit.

 

So being the frugal consumer I am, I figured out how to get a similar price, but better components (IMO).

 

From ledgroupbuy I can buy 36 bridgelux LEDs ($2 ea) for $80 with shipping. That's for 60 degree optics, and a great selection of colors.

Then I found out that it's not very hard to get a Meanwell ELN60D-48's for $24... So 2 of those is $55 with shipping (using google shopping).

 

So now I'm up to $135 shipped. That's about the same price as aquastyleonline but the meanwells are my preferred driver (if you want meanwells at AQSO, it's $137+shipping).

 

So basically for the larger kits that don't come with heatsinks it's not too hard to get the equivalent setup, maybe even with better components, for the same price. Granted you would still need to buy $15 in adhesive, pots, and wire, but that's not too bad. and you may end up with better stuff anyways since it seems like the pots from AQSO aren't all that reliable.

 

Again the reason for posting this isn't to throw anyone off AQSO, just to point out an alternative and help out people like me who think the pricing that AQSO offers is great, but they want a little more flexibility in choosing the specifics of their setup. The only thing I find strange is that ledgroupbuy doesn't stock CW in the bridgelux (at least online)... That would be ideal, maybe he can order them?

[Dauthi]

Holy crap, talk about shipping time! My 24 led dimmable kit order status changed to shipped at 1:11pm on the 18th and the Fedex guy just dropped it off!

 

Ray has been great with questions and suggestions, I couldn't be happier with Aquastyle Online.

 

I gotta wait to start building tho. I have too many blind spots from testing the LED's right now

[vash028]

What's the best thing to replace the pots with that's simple one of mine is messing up

[patback]

Are there stands anywhere for sale for these kits? I would like to have one but cannot drilling in the walls.

Hang it with shelf brackets. When you take it down, a fingertip of spackle will make it unnoticeable.

[kevlow]

Has anyone tried using thier strips?

 

Site says they come w/ red and violet. But states unavailable.

[wrx1908]

Has anyone tried using thier strips?

 

Site says they come w/ red and violet. But states unavailable.

I used them they work great but I did half strip half Stars