Todd's 125g Build (Part 3 = DIY East-to-West Linear LED Lighting)

[TJL]

Well.... here we go... finally onto the LED build. Just a teaser to get started as will be working on this between tiling the fish room, redoing fireplace and remodeling powder. So... many months ago I came up with this idea to have a true East-to-West lighting scheme using LED's and some aluminum stock I already had lying around 3/4"x3/4" channel and 2"x1/4" French Cleat flatstock. Drew it all up cut it out and assembled on a welding jig like so:

detail pic

Had no idea it would be so dificult to TIG or MIG weld aluminum project sat at a idle for 6 months or more. Thanks eventually to DJ for getting it done a couple weeks back now. So here it is all welded up and just needing a good clean up before continuing build.

This is my planned layout, 7 circuits: 6 front-to-back parallel pairs of channel containing 11-13 LED's and the 7th being spread out over entire framework. The parallel circuits #1 thru #6 will be fired in a East-to-West direction with 20-30 minutes separation on & off, #1 & #6 channel pairs are angled into tank to further sunrise/sunset effect while #7 is all 6500K chips for a mid-day PAR blast and will only be on a few hours each day. Thought that I had finalized the LED dispersement but now with all the new chips and bin differences will need to build a quick tester to see what whites I actually have before soldering and glueing down.

I built a trap-door in back of my cabinet to safely keep the drivers on outside and a away from sump etc... I've already changed to having six of the drivers be dimmable and only the 7th circuit and Fuge lights be on constant current driver.

Thats all for now... Cheers, Todd

 

[eww]

Whoo Hoo!!! You finally got it on the board. This will be an interesting way to see the lighting work with the east to west "sun" movement.

 

[Peppie]

What no storm lighting mode? LOL

 

[TJL]

What no storm lighting mode? LOL

Not yet Dave, though Guerry sent me the link to a very cool DIY controller that just might accomplish that and then some. I'm already looking into upgrading some of diodes before soldering in all the ones I already have. As time allows between tiling I can start the canopy build now and hopefully all complete before I need to move the corals into the 125g.

Cheers, Todd

 

[trido]

I'll be following this one closely..........

 

[Guerry]

looks very nice, I assume your passive cooling with this design. If you want to really get casy on the controller setup I know guy that building weather based controllers, he uses constant feed weather data from great bairer reef such as cloudy,rain and so on.

 

[Somethings Fishy]

that light is going to be bad a**, looking forward to seeing it come together!

 

[TJL]

Thanks guys, it has been a long time in the works and very happy to finally begin the build. My Man Ego has been on edge for the past year seeing all these LED builds come about and many using the multi-colored diode approach that I had planned to incorporate for so long, so at least my East-to-West theme is still unique.
Guerry, I have two ultra-quiet (13db) 80mm fans to push/pull air through the canopy but may add two more to double up. This framework will be stand-alone and be hinged off of two 1x2 aluminum channels mounted vertically to back of stand and will be similar to most canopies in being able to lift & prop hood for feeding. The canopy itself will be just 3-sided (front & ends) with internal bracing and be able to be slid off of tank and out of the way for maintenance. A 1/4" plywood top attached to frame to keep light in, pictiures will be worth more than a thousand of my words here and will post them as the canopy build comes together.

Cheers, Todd

 

[Skimmy]

excellente!! you have my attention...
between you and mojo im almost contemplating building
the fixture for my next project instead of buying it...

 

[user 2204]

Awesome, glad to see the aluminum weld up for your light build Todd. Now you just need to clean them welded areas up and get to the wiring. :lol: Really looking forward to seeing the East to West lighting in action soon.

Cheers,
Alex

 

[TJL]

OK, a little update on my LED build finally. Needed to have the framework up to be able to start on the canopy so cleared a spot in the garage to this show on the road.

Three hours with a dremel in hand to clean this darn thing up

then get the uprights installed

mark & drill for hinges

check for fit with brace

then install LED frame to get some measuements for the canopy build

Next up, the layout of LED chips and a day of soldering


Cheers, Todd

 

[eww]

Looks great Todd. How far off the water are your lamps going to be? It's hard to tell from the pics but it looks like about 6"?

 

[Peppie]

Todd it is good to see you got your honey do list all done. What has it been? 4, 5 mos? LOL
I know how that goes. I have a bunch of ideas I would like to try out in the shop, BUT, Santa hasnt yet finished his work there yet.

I hope you garage is heated since you will be spending some time out there.
Looking forward to see your build move forward.

 

[Somethings Fishy]

i like the hinge design looks good!

 

[trido]

Moving along.

I like the hinge and upright design. Are you going to be able to adjust for height if you are unhappy with the blending of each color due to optics?

 

[Guerry]

lookin good are you planning to hinge canopy and lights as one unit

 

[user 2204]

Very nice looking so far. I like how you have the hinged door for the electronics. I'm curious too if you are going to be able to adjust the lighting assembly height if necessary? Hate to see you get this far in the game and be stuck with a fixed height unit and not be 100% happy.

FWIW, If you ever need to clean up weld joints on future projects I have a nice Mac Tools die grinder. I also have a nice set up for polishing metals and acrylic too.

Cheers,
Alex

 

[TJL]

Thanks,

Eric ~ approx 7" off water surface.... for now/plan A

Dave ~ six or seven months but what does it matter now that the Honey-Do's are finally checked off the list. Door to house open for heat, at least until I get to the finishing part.

Fishy ~ hinged for easy access to feeding etc...

Duane ~ I can/may drill adjustment holes in aluminum channell if needed to raise up.

Guerry ~ separate, the fascia of canopy will have inside structural ribs and can be slid off and out of way for maintenance. The bottom rib will be the rails it sits on and top rib will
help support the LED framework plus a matching Shaker Crown so should be fairly rigid. I may skin the top of frame if needed to contian light.

Alex ~ I can adjust if neccessary but also have multiple options in optics to choose best blend with...and... NOW YOU TELL ME! just getting feeling back in hands


Now back to it, Todd

 

[tat2z_21]

Todd, looks good. Really good. Just a thought though, since you are only using aliminum runners for the heatsink, and the amount of power that you will be dissapating will be extreme, have you thought of possibly adding more fans to aid in the convection process of your thermal management. The only reason I say this is because the runners you are using are flat and not finned, which in a traditional heatsink Fins, or combs efficiently take advantage of all three aspects of thermal management. Radiation (fins drastically increase the surface area, where most of your heat will be dissapated), convection (heat transfer from a solid to a moving fluid, for most LED applications the fluid will be air), and conduction (heat transfer from one solid to another). Since you have the flat runners increasing the amount of fluid (air) that you have across your runners to assist your cooling to keep it at the proper temperature operating limits would extremely beneficial. Just a thought though. I am not sure of the size of fans you have running across the hood but I am sure that the more air you have the better convection you will have.

 

[TJL]

Hey Floyd, I'm planning on using four ultra-quiet 80mm/32cfm fans to begin with and have room for two more if needed. Also having the drivers down low and on outside of cabinet should help abit to. I'll be having a SOLDERING PARTY and your invited buddy....

Cheers, Todd