taichimaster
Well-known member
Nice thread. Sorry if I missed it but are you planning on having a fan?
DIY "LED" build "Linear Design"
- Thread starter Katchupoy
- Start date
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Katchupoy
Well-known member
Taichimaster, Right now, no plans yet. Will try to start very low (dim) and keep checking for temp. I am not really sure if the square tube will handle the heat well.. But based on diff projects from the web, specially the one i link in page 1, the 100 dollar LED project used a flat bar. If it becomes too hot, yes we can easily add fan.
Somethings Fishy
Well-known member
Poor mans LED setup
It may be cheap but i have to tell you for the price it is extremely effective. it uses LED Christmas lights inserted into predrilled holes in plexy. light is spread evenly and looks outstanding at night. second picture shows better. let me know what you think!!!!
It may be cheap but i have to tell you for the price it is extremely effective. it uses LED Christmas lights inserted into predrilled holes in plexy. light is spread evenly and looks outstanding at night. second picture shows better. let me know what you think!!!!
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Katchupoy
Well-known member
very nice.
Thats amazing setup. I wish we can measure the par on those lights. Maybe extremely effective for moonlight? but effective as a supplement? we dont know, since we dont know its lumen or par reading. I really like it though....
BTW, have you been welcome? WELCOME to RF !!!
Thats amazing setup. I wish we can measure the par on those lights. Maybe extremely effective for moonlight? but effective as a supplement? we dont know, since we dont know its lumen or par reading. I really like it though....
BTW, have you been welcome? WELCOME to RF !!!
Katchupoy
Well-known member
Update. All glued up!
Here is the update for today.
I were able to glue them all up. All 24 of them. Here are some of my suggestions.
1) Make sure that the aluminum surface (heat sink) is very clean. I cleaned mine with alcohol and cotton balls.
2) When you mix Part A and B, make it on small batches. Maybe a 1/4" diameter of part A and 1/4" diameter of Part B. You only have 5 minutes to work on the mix before it starts to harden.
3) On that 1/4" diameter A & B, mix it in a circular motion by the included spatula.
4) On that same mix, maybe you can divide it to 4-6 LEDs. You only need small amount, enough that when you press the LED on the heatsink, you will see some oozing out on the sides.
5) Push and then twist. I did a push then twist it slowly 360 degrees while pushing. this will evenly spread the adhesive and squeeze the extra on the sides.
6) It is very important that you arrange it in such a way that all polarities are oriented the same way. So that when you start soldering, you just connect left then right, left then right, etc. or + then -, + then -, etc.
Remember, it is suppose to just fill up the imperfections of both sides, the LED and the heatsink.
Here are some pics...
Here is the update for today.
I were able to glue them all up. All 24 of them. Here are some of my suggestions.
1) Make sure that the aluminum surface (heat sink) is very clean. I cleaned mine with alcohol and cotton balls.
2) When you mix Part A and B, make it on small batches. Maybe a 1/4" diameter of part A and 1/4" diameter of Part B. You only have 5 minutes to work on the mix before it starts to harden.
3) On that 1/4" diameter A & B, mix it in a circular motion by the included spatula.
4) On that same mix, maybe you can divide it to 4-6 LEDs. You only need small amount, enough that when you press the LED on the heatsink, you will see some oozing out on the sides.
5) Push and then twist. I did a push then twist it slowly 360 degrees while pushing. this will evenly spread the adhesive and squeeze the extra on the sides.
6) It is very important that you arrange it in such a way that all polarities are oriented the same way. So that when you start soldering, you just connect left then right, left then right, etc. or + then -, + then -, etc.
Remember, it is suppose to just fill up the imperfections of both sides, the LED and the heatsink.
Here are some pics...
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dieden
Exocoetidae
Looking good so far!!! I'm at the same point with my LED build for my nano, I ran into a money wall before I could get the solder materials. I'm definitely going to watch this thread for pointers.
Katchupoy
Well-known member
Dieden, I really like what you did with your tank build. Maybe I will ask you with acrylics in the future. About your plan on having 6 crees, if you bump it to 8 then it would be perfect for those mean well drivers. I believe minimum of 8 is required for mean wells. But if you go buckpucks then yes because it can do 3 for each buckpucks.
Katchupoy
Well-known member
Ok guys! I have been very busy for the past 2 days and I did it. I was able to finish the whole thing... BTW, Merry Christmas to all of you... Peace be with you all....
Ok time to continue this and post pics....
The last time we did was attach the LED's to the aluminum bar. With twist and push motion.
Next was the wire stripping and soldering time. With the spacing that I have, the wires that come with the package is of no use to me. They are a bit short than what i needed. I ended up buying some ga#20 wires from radioshack. Problem... I only have an old 30 watt soldering gun and since these are already attached to the heatsink, it was a pain. Solution... Buy a more powerful soldering gun, or connect all the wires to the LED before you attach to heatsink. I dont know how youre going to twist and push those with wires already connected. What I ended up doing is to wait at least 30 seconds before i solder each wire contact to LED... What happens is that the second you connect your soldering gun with the STAR, it absorbs all the heat on the gun, thus making it useless. So I have to wait for the temp to go up again.
Here is the finish product.
Since we need a little bit of flexibility when we are soldering the wires, I ended up cutting a little bit longer than what i really need and make an "S" curve like in the picture. This way it will act like a spring that you can pull and push while soldering it.
Another note... The optics are does not lock to the LED's by itself. So you need to manually attach it by means of adhesive or glue. Do not use... superglue because there are anecdotal evidence that it fogs up the LED inside the optics. They suggest that you use the same two part thermal adhesive that came with the package. Use a toothpick as applicator, so you only use very very tiny. So in the future you can easily remove them without problems.
Ok time to continue this and post pics....
The last time we did was attach the LED's to the aluminum bar. With twist and push motion.
Next was the wire stripping and soldering time. With the spacing that I have, the wires that come with the package is of no use to me. They are a bit short than what i needed. I ended up buying some ga#20 wires from radioshack. Problem... I only have an old 30 watt soldering gun and since these are already attached to the heatsink, it was a pain. Solution... Buy a more powerful soldering gun, or connect all the wires to the LED before you attach to heatsink. I dont know how youre going to twist and push those with wires already connected. What I ended up doing is to wait at least 30 seconds before i solder each wire contact to LED... What happens is that the second you connect your soldering gun with the STAR, it absorbs all the heat on the gun, thus making it useless. So I have to wait for the temp to go up again.
Here is the finish product.
Since we need a little bit of flexibility when we are soldering the wires, I ended up cutting a little bit longer than what i really need and make an "S" curve like in the picture. This way it will act like a spring that you can pull and push while soldering it.
Another note... The optics are does not lock to the LED's by itself. So you need to manually attach it by means of adhesive or glue. Do not use... superglue because there are anecdotal evidence that it fogs up the LED inside the optics. They suggest that you use the same two part thermal adhesive that came with the package. Use a toothpick as applicator, so you only use very very tiny. So in the future you can easily remove them without problems.
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tamarindthai
Well-known member
very interstesting project,,,great job,,smart built,,you always thinking to do it better all thetime,,just can't wait to see when it turn on,,,cheer Cesar
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Katchupoy
Well-known member
Thanks Dang. I cant wait to show you these LED's...
Lets continue...
I need to think of something to use so i can easily plug and unplug these lights, I have thought of those audio plugs, or headphone plugs, etc. But they are expensive compared to what I ended up using. I bought these 14' telephone extension cables for $2 something. And the end looks like these.
I was worried about the gauge of these wires, so what i did was use two wires for each. What Im saying is since you have 2 pairs or 4 wires inside the phone chord, I used two of them for (+) positive, and the remaining two for (-) negative. Since they are have I think gauge 28 for each wire, doubling it should give me at least equivalent or more to gauge 20 of copper wire.
Here is the plastic shoe box (less than $2 @ Target) that I used to make it a little bit nicer to look at. It houses two meanwell drivers and the variable voltage adapter (less then $2 @ RE-PC) that i used.
Note... We need a 10 volt power supply to provide signal to our mean well drivers. And if you recall, I am using two Mean Well ELN-60-48D dimmable driver. One for each strip of LED. And the 48D needs analog signal of 10 volts. The 10 volts will not need to be powerful, just milliamp's of signal to tell the driver that it will go full blast. So it means you can use one (1) 10 volts power supply to many mean well drivers. If the driver senses 10 volts then it will give off 100% of power. And if it senses 5 volts, then it will give of 50% of power, etc, etc, etc.
Lets continue...
I need to think of something to use so i can easily plug and unplug these lights, I have thought of those audio plugs, or headphone plugs, etc. But they are expensive compared to what I ended up using. I bought these 14' telephone extension cables for $2 something. And the end looks like these.
I was worried about the gauge of these wires, so what i did was use two wires for each. What Im saying is since you have 2 pairs or 4 wires inside the phone chord, I used two of them for (+) positive, and the remaining two for (-) negative. Since they are have I think gauge 28 for each wire, doubling it should give me at least equivalent or more to gauge 20 of copper wire.
Here is the plastic shoe box (less than $2 @ Target) that I used to make it a little bit nicer to look at. It houses two meanwell drivers and the variable voltage adapter (less then $2 @ RE-PC) that i used.
Note... We need a 10 volt power supply to provide signal to our mean well drivers. And if you recall, I am using two Mean Well ELN-60-48D dimmable driver. One for each strip of LED. And the 48D needs analog signal of 10 volts. The 10 volts will not need to be powerful, just milliamp's of signal to tell the driver that it will go full blast. So it means you can use one (1) 10 volts power supply to many mean well drivers. If the driver senses 10 volts then it will give off 100% of power. And if it senses 5 volts, then it will give of 50% of power, etc, etc, etc.
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Katchupoy
Well-known member
Since it is very tricky if not hard to find a 10 volt power supply, I ended up using a regulated variable voltage power supply. Those types that have 3, 6, 9, 12 volts selection. We need regulated so that we can make sure that no matter how many drivers we connect to it (load), it will stay on the correct voltage that we want it to be. I adjusted mine to 9 volts, and put tape over it so i dont accidentally adjust it in the future, which might be catastrophic if we accidentally adjusted it to 12 volts.
Once were done with the 9 volt signal, then its time to connect everything and adjust the drivers. Remember early on that we opened our drivers and turned it down (counter clockwise) so we dont accidentally use these drivers with more amps than we need to. 750 milliamp or 0.7 amps for XR-E, and 1000 milliamp or 1 amp for XP-G. These are just recommendations. If you look at the spec sheet of these LEDs, XR-E can go max of 1 amp. and XP-G can go max of 1.5 amps.
Now this video will explain to you how to adjust your mean well drivers using 9 volt power supply. From Reef Led Lights website.
Once were done with the 9 volt signal, then its time to connect everything and adjust the drivers. Remember early on that we opened our drivers and turned it down (counter clockwise) so we dont accidentally use these drivers with more amps than we need to. 750 milliamp or 0.7 amps for XR-E, and 1000 milliamp or 1 amp for XP-G. These are just recommendations. If you look at the spec sheet of these LEDs, XR-E can go max of 1 amp. and XP-G can go max of 1.5 amps.
Now this video will explain to you how to adjust your mean well drivers using 9 volt power supply. From Reef Led Lights website.
Katchupoy
Well-known member
There are many ways how to check your milliamp reading thru your tester, one example is from the video above. Another one (the one i used) is by means of a resistor. I used a 1 ohm resistor connected inline with my LED circuit. Why? On the video above, you need to break the circuit to put your tester inline to know the amps. That is fine, but with the resistor technique, I dont have to break anything. Just put your tester in volts, and then connect it to both ends of the resistor, and tadaa!!! there is your milliamp reading. You can always do this and check your reading anytime you want.
So why not just break it and put your tester inline, like what they did on the video???? Well, there is a danger to that, specially like me, I keep forgetting stuff.... Remember... that when you are breaking off the circuit, you need to turn off the driver first, then put your tester inline, then turn it on. The same thing when removing the tester. If you dont and you forgot to do this, then say bye bye to your LED's.
Here is a pic of my temporary setup showing the resistor (1 ohm 2 watt @ frys $1 for two resistor) connected inline with the circuit.
So why not just break it and put your tester inline, like what they did on the video???? Well, there is a danger to that, specially like me, I keep forgetting stuff.... Remember... that when you are breaking off the circuit, you need to turn off the driver first, then put your tester inline, then turn it on. The same thing when removing the tester. If you dont and you forgot to do this, then say bye bye to your LED's.
Here is a pic of my temporary setup showing the resistor (1 ohm 2 watt @ frys $1 for two resistor) connected inline with the circuit.
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Katchupoy
Well-known member
Here is the picture of how I arranged my resistor permanently... it also shows how i connect my meter to test it.
Tadaaa!!!!!!
The picture above shows 60 degree optics on the royal blue, and 45 degree (tighter) on the cool whites.
Showing temporary installation using zip ties mounted on my existing T5 bulb.
My observation...
Compared to my 6 bulb T5 setup, all i can say is wow... I highly recommend LED for their tank even if its for actinic supplement.
Tadaaa!!!!!!
The picture above shows 60 degree optics on the royal blue, and 45 degree (tighter) on the cool whites.
Showing temporary installation using zip ties mounted on my existing T5 bulb.
My observation...
Compared to my 6 bulb T5 setup, all i can say is wow... I highly recommend LED for their tank even if its for actinic supplement.
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Krish
RF STAFF
Very nice work and write up Cesar!! Very clean install. Looking forward to seeing how this thing lights up a tank!
Katchupoy
Well-known member
Here is a pic of the connection already mounted on my light hood. Notice the black tape I used? Well that tells me which one is Royal Blue. This is very critical, since we can easily plug the wire for cool whites on the blues. You ask why not? they use the same drivers right? Well they do use the same drivers but they dont have the same amp usage. Remember that the RB's will have a maximum of 1 amp... and then we accidentally plug the cable for cool whites (which has 1 amp settings), then it should be ok correct? actually yes, but just dont want to risk it. What if for some reason you have more than 1 amp on that plug, then there goes your RB's. This is just a precaution.
what template did you use for fish tank?
Katchupoy
Well-known member
Pyton, you can use this model. Its amazing because the author almost drew all the traditional dimension tanks.
Standard Aquariums by ROFLbeaver - Google 3D Warehouse
Katchupoy
Well-known member
Very nice work and write up Cesar!! Very clean install. Looking forward to seeing how this thing lights up a tank!
Thanks Krish, trying my best to make it as clear as possible so others can easily follow.
Katchupoy
Well-known member
Ok, I dont have access to par meter or something similar, so the best method of comparison i can think of is to do a side by side camera shot/s. At least by our naked eye (un-scientific) we can actually see or tell the difference.
So here is the side by side shots.
Setup: All shots were taken on these settings.
Nikon D50 camera on full manual setting. ISO 800, Speed is 40, Aperture is f8, white balance is flash.
Intentionally made my T5 shot darker (as a base test). No photoshop adjustments, just image cropping.
12" above water line....
First shot is 4x39 watt T5 (1 Fiji purple, 3 blue+) + 2x54 watt T5 (2 blue+). Total of 6 bulbs.
Second Shot is all LED running on 50% power.
Third shot is all LED. 50% white. 100% Blue.
Fourth shot is LED. all running on 100%.
So here is the side by side shots.
Setup: All shots were taken on these settings.
Nikon D50 camera on full manual setting. ISO 800, Speed is 40, Aperture is f8, white balance is flash.
Intentionally made my T5 shot darker (as a base test). No photoshop adjustments, just image cropping.
12" above water line....
First shot is 4x39 watt T5 (1 Fiji purple, 3 blue+) + 2x54 watt T5 (2 blue+). Total of 6 bulbs.
Second Shot is all LED running on 50% power.
Third shot is all LED. 50% white. 100% Blue.
Fourth shot is LED. all running on 100%.
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Katchupoy
Well-known member
Lets do a comparison of the T5 and LED....
T5 (264 watts)
LED (72 watts)
Just a note:
The pics may look dark or dimmed to you, but this is not true. I just made my settings in such a way that we dont have over exposure on the images. It is very deceiving, I know, but on camera, you can make your pics really bright or really dark....
The most important thing here is that all shots are taken on one setting as listed above.
Another note, that these are only 24 bulb LEDs only. Based on my calculations, I should have 36 minimum on a 75 gallon. But to be honest, The 24 bulb setup is way more than enough to lit my softy tank... Im running on 50% only right now, so i dont shock my tank creatures. Its too bright....
T5 (264 watts)
LED (72 watts)
Just a note:
The pics may look dark or dimmed to you, but this is not true. I just made my settings in such a way that we dont have over exposure on the images. It is very deceiving, I know, but on camera, you can make your pics really bright or really dark....
The most important thing here is that all shots are taken on one setting as listed above.
Another note, that these are only 24 bulb LEDs only. Based on my calculations, I should have 36 minimum on a 75 gallon. But to be honest, The 24 bulb setup is way more than enough to lit my softy tank... Im running on 50% only right now, so i dont shock my tank creatures. Its too bright....
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