Electronics advice? (LED grow lights)

[mufasa]

Greetings everyone, i'm building a terrarium, and i'm working on some grow lights (i realise these forums aren't for terrariums, but pretty similar light electronics, hope it's OK)

anyway, i was hoping someone who has done this before can tell me if i'm buying the correct components, and if i'll need to buy anything else

 

so right now, my plan is to buy 10x red, and 10x blue/violet (420-430nm) 3w LED's, and attach 5x red, and 7x the blue ones to a strip of aluminium using thermal plaster, and wire them all up to a LED driver, i'll probably then attach a small fan somewhere near it hooked up to a different power source

 

anyway, the parts i intend to buy for it

 

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/120803380874 - Red LED's
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/261388084022 - Violet LED's - listed as UV, but i'm sure that the wavelength isn't UV so, all good
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Spot-Lights-LED-Light-Lamp-Waterproof-Driver-Power-Supply-9-12-X-3W-/191073673553?pt=AU_Lighting_Fans&hash=item2c7ce0e151&_uhb=1 - LED driver

 

So, my main concern is, i don't know exactly how LED drivers work, will i need to buy other components, IE heavy duty resistors or something to configure the driver? the LED's are also rated at slightly different voltages (perhaps i should find closer matching red LED's?)

and, is this the correct type of driver for this, will it work?, and is it as simple as wiring the LED's in series to the output?

 

thanks, any advice is appreciated

[jedimasterben]

I would recommend to stay away from ebay LEDs and drivers, first and foremost.

 

Next, if this is going to be a terrarium that will be viewed, you don't want to use those LEDs at all. Red and blue make purple, and will have a color rendition of zero. Color won't show up, so while plants will grow and grow well, you won't really be able to see them.

[zooman72]

Yeah, take a look at some LED "daylight" Par floods at Home Depot or Lowes, or consider a BuildMyLED strip as they have a bunch of different preconfigured options in several lengths.

[mufasa]

I'm perfectly fine with the purple lighting+ i could always add more colors later on, as for ordering off of ebay, i'm not sure what other options i would have/what difference it would make in my country, also i doubt i could find high power LED's at all offline, letalone ones that cover 425nm (they all come from china anyway)

 

i really would like to DIY this, mainly for experience, but also because i'd like to incorportate the grow lights into the terrarium case, and i doubt i could do that with a pre-made grow light