moovinfast Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 Thought I would make a Build thread for the led light I made. My tank is 20x20x15". To figure out how many Leds you need, figure enough to have rows 2" apart front to back and 3" side to side. If you have a deep tank you might need to use optics and space the Leds a little closer to precent spotlighting. Such as a 80 or 60 degree lens. For my tank I went with 39 Cree q4s Leds. Most people do 1:1 white to blue, but I think the 2:1 turned out nice. I went with 13 royal blue and 26 white. The drivers I use are the Meanwell 48-60Ds. Each can run up to 13 leds in series. You will also need heatsinks (some people use a fan also). You can get almost everything from http://www.nanotuners.com/index.php?cPath=71 but if you look around you can find some of the parts cheaper. I got my Heatsinks from http://www.heatsinkusa.com/ I went with two 8.5" by 17". These are pretty nice heatsinks Here is the Driver. They come from the factory set to 1.3A, but the max the leds can handle is 1000ma. Just take the top of the case off. Its held on with 4 screws. And turn the knob all the way counter clockwise. It should be just under 1000ma then. The other knob is to adjust the voltage. You have to figure out how much you need depending on how many Leds you have. Figure about 3.7 Volts per led. These drivers run off mains power. I just used some old PC power cords to wire them up. The drivers have 3 wires, so do the pc power cords (White Black Green). I soldered the White to Blue, Green to Green, Brown to Black. These can also be dimmed from a 10v power source. I just used a old 12vDC wall wart with a cheap LM317 off ebay. Just wire the wall wart to the LM317 and turn the dial down to 10V. You can use 1 wall wart and 1 LM317 for all the Drivers. So I went from this to two (one for blue and one for white) 5k pots then to the drivers dimming wires. I drilled and tapped the heatsinks for the LEDs. Used 4-40 drill and tap. Also used stainless machine screws and nylon washers to prevent grounding. Also use thermal grease before screwing them down. You only need about a rice size amount on each led. So a small $2 tube goes a long way. I also connected the two heatsinks with a piece of aluminum angle. Excuse the messy wiring. But to wire them all you wire them in series. So pos of one to the neg of the next and so on. Here it is all together We have power now.... Here is all the leds at half power All at full power Full Blue Full white Here it is all finished. I have all the lights just under half power. Looks bright enough, but havent been able to borrow a PAR meter yet. Still debating if I need to build a canopy to cover the lights. Hope this helps someone if they are thinking about building one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beckie Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 Great thread. It would be great if you could post the par readings when you get them. Beckie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moovinfast Posted December 5, 2009 Author Share Posted December 5, 2009 Anyone want to come over with a par meter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 Could probably borrow one from an LFS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanz Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 You make it look so easy to build one! I think your lfs will be your best bet to get one...I remember the club was going to buy one to loan out, but not sure what happened to that idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nwcoralfarm Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 I will go in on a Par meter with you if you want. How much would you suppose you have wrapped up cost wise in this light and what is the bulb replacement cost, lifespan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moovinfast Posted December 6, 2009 Author Share Posted December 6, 2009 It was around $300 to $400 for everything. They say the lifespan of the leds are 50,000 hours. So if you have them all on for 12 hours a day, thats over 10 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moovinfast Posted December 6, 2009 Author Share Posted December 6, 2009 I was hoping I could just borrow a par meter or someone would want to come here with one. I think they're about $350 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nwcoralfarm Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 I was hoping I could just borrow a par meter or someone would want to come here with one. I think they're about $350 I was thinking of a LUX meter actually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 are those heatsinks the 10 inchers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moovinfast Posted December 7, 2009 Author Share Posted December 7, 2009 Each one is 8.46 x 17? They are These Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moovinfast Posted December 7, 2009 Author Share Posted December 7, 2009 Fixed the picture of the meanwell driver. I miss labeled one of the knobs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 ah I see . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanz Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 Any updates? I'll be ordering parts soon and I would really love your opinion on my setup. Here is my to buy part list, and I can you tell me what I'm missing? 12 Cool White Cree Q4 XR-E LEDs 12 Royal Blue Cree XR-E LEDs 2 Mean Well ELN-60-48D dimmable drivers I want it to be dimmable by the use of my reefkeeper lite...what do I need to achieve that? I want the blues and whites to be dimmed separately, that means I need 2 LM317 correct? Do I need 2 12v adapters too? Is this where you bought your LM317? ebay lm317 This is a rough of how I'm trying to set mines up. So I came up with this idea for multi-directional lighting since I don't want to spend the money to light up the entire tank. It's going to be a spot light of sorts. I'll start out with no optics, but if I do need to add them, it wouldn't be a problem to snap them on. I'll be doing 8 sets of the light pods. Each pod will consist of 3 - 3 watt crees mounted on a 5.375" x 2" heatsink from heatsinkusa, and I'll have to create some kind of bracket to hold it up with a wing nut to adjust angles. I'll have to find a way to attach acrylic shields too. What do you think, and is there anything you would change? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moovinfast Posted January 24, 2010 Author Share Posted January 24, 2010 Ive never used a reef keeper. But I think if you use one you can just hook the dimming wires from the meanwell driver straight to the controller. Maybe someone who knows how the controllers work can chime in. That is the person I got my LM317 from. It works great. If you end up doing manual dimming you would just need one 12v buckpuck, one LM317 and two 5k Pots. Thats how I have mine set up. Thats not alot of leds for a tank that big. You're going to get alot of spotlighting. It might work if you just use them to spotlight your corals, but it might look a little funny. And being 20" deep, you're more than likely going to want to use optics of some sort. Like 80 or 60 degree. Or maybe 40 degree if you're just spotlighting. My light has only been up and running about 2 months. But Ive had good results. Ive been able to keep some Millie, Birdsnest, Cap, and zoa frags. Also have been keeping a RBTA, and a LTA. Have even seen good growth from our purple haze just in the month and a half its been in. If the tank was any deeper I would defiantly be looking into optics. Right now Im debating about using some 80 degree ones to get a little more output. You're more than welcome to come check it out if you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanz Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Ive never used a reef keeper. But I think if you use one you can just hook the dimming wires from the meanwell driver straight to the controller. Maybe someone who knows how the controllers work can chime in. That is the person I got my LM317 from. It works great. If you end up doing manual dimming you would just need one 12v buckpuck, one LM317 and two 5k Pots. Thats how I have mine set up. Where did you get your 5k pots from? "one 12v buckpuck, one LM317 and two 5k Pots" is that for each color or both? For the reefkeeper...I think I have to get a module...the alc one I think. I'll have to read up more on it. Thats not alot of leds for a tank that big. You're going to get alot of spotlighting. It might work if you just use them to spotlight your corals, but it might look a little funny. And being 20" deep, you're more than likely going to want to use optics of some sort. Like 80 or 60 degree. Or maybe 40 degree if you're just spotlighting. That is just for the left side. I'll build another set on the right if it turns out to be successful. Okay...so I might pick up some optics to go along with it. I'll get a mixture of 60s and 80s. 80s for the blues, and 60s for the whites. Another question....does it matter how long the connection wires are between emitters to work? Since my blues and whites are all among different pods, I'll need to run wires all over the place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanz Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Another thing regarding heatsinks. What do you think about using this aluminum square tube? It's 1" x 3 ft for $12. You think this can disperse the heat? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moovinfast Posted January 25, 2010 Author Share Posted January 25, 2010 I dont think the square tube will be enough of a heatsink if thats all you're using. They get really warm without one. Most people use the same heatsink Im using and they put fans on it also to disperse the heat. I'm not running any fans and its still not warm when you touch it. I really like the heatsink i got from heatsink usa. Very nice producks for the price. You can dim the whites and the blues off of one 12v wall wart and 1 LM317. You just need a 5k pot for each color you want to dim. So you would need two. one for the white and one for blue. I got mine at radio shack, but you can get them online for cheaper. I got my 12v powersupply from a used computer parts store. Out of the $1 bin. Thats also where I got my power cords. Just used a computer power cable and cut off the end. Works great and was only $1. For cable length, Im not sure, but Id think it shouldnt be a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanz Posted January 27, 2010 Share Posted January 27, 2010 Wow, the D models are sold out everywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moovinfast Posted February 1, 2010 Author Share Posted February 1, 2010 you try nanotuners? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moovinfast Posted February 1, 2010 Author Share Posted February 1, 2010 Thought Id post a current pic of the tank the LEDs have been on. Everything seems to be thriving under the light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanz Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 I just placed my order through the group buy on nano reef.... ballasts are on back order for almost 2 months. I looked at nano tuners, and they were also on back order, but said they were going to get a shipment sometime this month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moovinfast Posted February 3, 2010 Author Share Posted February 3, 2010 cool, let me know how it goes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanz Posted May 7, 2010 Share Posted May 7, 2010 Just got my heatsinks and leds in! [language filter], that was a long wait. Now it's time to build this thing. Moovinfast, where can I pick up some thermal grease? Also, how do you test each LED to see if they are working? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted May 7, 2010 Share Posted May 7, 2010 You can get arctic silver at most computer shops. I think you can just wire the LEDs up to a battery to test em. Don't forget to take lots of pics and do a build thread!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.