Diy led ?

[josh88]

So a buddy of mine told me it would be cheaper to buy the cree led lights. And the modules for brightness control. And just go to a computer shop and buy the heat sinks. And computer fans, and wire everything up using solder wire. That its way cheaper, and works just as good. Anyone have some input or better ideas? Maybe someone has done this?

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[Krish]

A lot of guys here have built their own led light fixtures. Seems to save you quite a few bucks as well.


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[josh88]

I've seen that except. They buy the diy kits all together. I'm trying to see if what my buddy said would be the same.

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[fishguy95]

A lot of people use LED kits from Rapid LED. Rapid LED I just bought my 24 led kit yesterday from them. I got the dimable kit with a dimming control that does a sunrise, daytime, sunset effect for 370.16. That included my heat sinks and a 6 extra LEDs. One tip, if you buy a kit from them and want to get the most bang for your buck. On the drives, you can run up to 14 LEDs each, I will be running 28 LEDs total, request that you get 14 cool white and only 10 royal blue. Then buy 4 more royal blues, this saves money because it will cost more to buy cool whites than it does royal blue, but the price of the kit will be the same.

 

[josh88]

Exactly what my buddy was saying. You save more if you go to q computer shop, and Buy the heat sinks there. They are way cheaper maybe smaller heat sinks And fans, But same concept

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[totem420]

I wouldent go the cheap route on the heatsink. The heat displacement is very important plus heatsinks aren't very expensive. Try heatsinkusa.com for reference

 

[josh88]

Oh cool. Thanks man. So it should be cheaper to just get the led And modules for the dim control. And watts right

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[tat2z_21]

Definately don't want to skimp on the heatsink. Proper thermal management is what is going to give you the proper spectrum, and the life of the chip. So do not skimp on the heatsinks.

 

[jrgilles]

Tagging along. Thinking of adding a tank onto my sump for wife to play with. Only thing really holding me back right now it the light

 

[josh88]

Why's it holding you back? Oh and the led would be for my 5.5 gallon tank. So that's why I was thinking of a computer heat sink. And if you think about it. Computers get really hot. Do You not think it couldn't handle a led?

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[jrgilles]

Deciding what to light with, and then paying for it, lol

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[josh88]

Yeah that's what I'm figuring out to. Honestly the diy kits seem really big for 5.5 like mine. Would you happen to know of any websites that sell smaller kits. My buddy keeps saying for me to buy the marineland 16" expandable to 24" But I don't know if That would be good enough for a dwarf sea horse tank

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[tat2z_21]

That would definately be good enough for a fish only tank. The lights that are sold as kits are typically going to be for your full blown reef setups. So If this is going to be for a sea horse tank then the lighting does not really matter.

 

[josh88]

Great that just cut my cost. But tell me why it wouldn't matter. It's my wifes tank. And once she see's the coral in mine. She's def going to want them to.

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[totem420]

5.5 gallon, you would probably only need 6 leds or get like a par 38 bulb from led wholesalers

 

[josh88]

Yeah you read my mind. I was just looking at them. Going to get to. I used to remodel houses. And do hardwood flooring. So I think I'm going to place them in The wall over the tank kinds like a flexable desk light. Should be cool.

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