Current USA Sunpaq Dual LED mod [ pic heavy ]

[HumblePie]

I thought I would put a quick post up here in case any of you were considering modding your Current USA or Coralife canopies.

Basically I wanted to boost the output of my light so I could maintain corals that required higher light. This mod added at least 50% more light (probably closer to 75%) to my pico tank.

Here's a few pics. For a ton of other pics and the full build, you can check out my blog.

And for the results...
Actinic only

Actinic and white

Actinic, white and LEDs

 

[MrGone]

wow, very impressive! I'm going to check out your blog, I have a couple LED projects I want to do but haven't worked with them in a few years and haven't looked into all these new high powered ones that are now available. The before and after pictures are amazing.

 

[HumblePie]

wow, very impressive! I'm going to check out your blog, I have a couple LED projects I want to do but haven't worked with them in a few years and haven't looked into all these new high powered ones that are now available. The before and after pictures are amazing.

Thanks! If you haven't played around with the new LEDs, they are very impressive. However, they do come at a premium since you need a driver for whites and one for blues (and their about $30 ea). The best part is that you can "tune" your spectrum, save on power and overal heat dispersal. While LEDs do produce a lot of heat, it is mostly directed through the heat sink as opposed to metal halides which radiate heat all around the bulb and ballast. This allows you to build ultracompact high output lights.

If you are lookig for a super easy solution for hig output you might want to check out evil66's PAR38 5x3W light. that was the direction I was going until I found the Sunpaq.

 

[scottmdebord]

Were did you find the leds I am thinking about doing some moon lights on my 60g

 

[HumblePie]

I bought them online from ledsupply.com

Here are the supplies I used:
Blue
Royal Blue
White
12v Power Supply
700mA Buckpuck driver w/ potentiometer
1000mA Buckpuck driver w/ potentiometer

One word of warning. While this site was basically an all in one stop for my purchase it did take a long time to arrive. I think it was around 3 weeks.

 

[HumblePie]

Oops I should add that you would not want to use a 3W LED for a moonlight. These LEDs put out a lot of light. You'd be better off with a couple 1W 450nm - 470nm blue LEDs. Ideally, these could be on a potentiometer so you could dim them to the right level. If you buy a driver for the LEDs most will come with the option for a pot. If you go with a resistor instead of a driver, you should be aware that the resistor will get hot and that getting the right one for your brightness level might be a bit of a trial and error...

Please let me know if you have any questions and I'd be happy to help where possible.

 

[scottmdebord]

Very good thank you

 

[Steve B]

very cool...my brother inlaw makes full size ones and also sunrise and sunset light controller

good work

 

[mcoomer]

Thanks! If you haven't played around with the new LEDs, they are very impressive. However, they do come at a premium since you need a driver for whites and one for blues (and their about $30 ea). The best part is that you can "tune" your spectrum, save on power and overal heat dispersal. While LEDs do produce a lot of heat, it is mostly directed through the heat sink as opposed to metal halides which radiate heat all around the bulb and ballast. This allows you to build ultracompact high output lights.

I'm looking over your parts list and bouncing it off the sites information and the datasheets and have a question. You say that a separate driver is needed for blue and white but checking the site it looks like the 1000ma driver will power up to 6 3W LED's. Do you use a separate drive to allow you to fine tune the color balance or is there another reason?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[HumblePie]

Sorry for the delay. I use two drivers for two reasons. The first is that the Blues run at 700mA while the Whites are 1000 mA. The second is so I can dial in the color of the LEDs.

Each driver can power up to 6 3W LEDs but if you try and drive the Blues off of the 100mA driver you can overrun them if you don't turn down your potentiometer. Unfortunately the drivers are the most expensive component so adding a second driver increases the overall price by about $30.

One last recommendation, get good quality, high flow and low db fans. These LEDs put out a lot of heat. Without good cooling you can dramatically shorten the lifespan of them.