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

[user 2204]

The amount of LESs is dependant on how much voltage you have. Not the amperage. The voltage is the only thing that is going to drop.

Ditto, and should add that the voltage drops across each LED in the series run. Only reason I asked for amperage was for fans. Fans should not be run with a higher amerage as it may cause damage to the fans. Example would be the three fans I plan on running in my canopy, rated at .37A and 12V and my plug is rated at 12V output with a 1.0A which will under drive the fans by 0.11A. Just an example and each is always different.

Cheers,
Alex

 

[tat2z_21]

Would the fans be ran in series or parallel. As I am sure you know the amperage in a series circuit stays constant and is accumulative in a parallel.

 

[TJL]

OK, thanks Guys for the great advice learn a little more every day and as my youngest son used to say "just got a new crinkle in my brain" I should get to these fuge lights sometime today hopefully. Transferring some coral off top of aquascape into holding tank to get at base rock this morning so need to keep this LED train rolling as to be ready for move into 125g shortly. Alex/Floyd if either of you have time next week to help me out with the circuit wiring would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Todd

 

[tat2z_21]

Would love to help you out. I am not back in town until around the 29th. After that I am open for anytime because I am of for a bit.

 

[user 2204]

I might have sometime this week to swing by and check this out and chat about my creations.

Cheers,
Alex

 

[TJL]

Thanks again Guys. Alex, anytime thats convenient for you would be great just shoot me a call. Floyd, hopefully will be well on way to wiring this Bad Boy up to Apex controller by time your back so would also be great to have you help out with this phase of build. I'll owe both of you BIG. North Sound Reefers Rule


Cheers, Todd

 

[user 2204]

Sounds good Todd. If you could PM your number and address as The paper that I had the info on is gone from my desk at the moment. *lol*

Cheers and Happy Holiday,
Alex

 

[TJL]

Practice build done and now ready for the real thing.

jigged up the circuit for soldering

close up, not as pretty as some... oh well

wired up with quick-connects

lit up

updates on main unit to follow


Cheers, Todd

 

[user 2204]

Very nice Todd. They were very bright when you fired them up the other day too. Now on to the bigger and better lighting system. :lol:

Cheers,
Alex

 

[tat2z_21]

Looks good Todd, one recommendation though. Not sure from the pictures , but it looks like you solderrd to the LED itself. This is not a good idea. The pads on the LED stars are what you need to solder to. Three things can happen here, One you burn up the LED because alot of the junction is exposed to that pad, they are flowed on and not actually soldered with an iron. Next the chip can actually become loose and well any air that gets between the pad and the chip can cause a huge heat issue and not allow for proper thermal management, and third it is much easier to solder to the pads.

 

[tat2z_21]

The set up looks awesome.

 

[tat2z_21]

And depending on what you aredoing in your sump, pretty sure there is enough growing power in those LEDs that you dont need the lenses, just my opinion though.

 

[TJL]

Thanks Guys, and finally starting on the main lighting today. Floyd I did solder to the tinned pads of stars and LED's will be suspended approx 10" off water surface in fuge but could easily pop off lenses if needed.

Cheers, Todd

 

[TJL]

Well and WOW do I ever owe Floyd a GIGANTIC THANK YOU my friend for all the time and effort you spent helping me out with my LED project yesterday/early this morning. Floyd helped me to finalize and layout the 92 chip / 7 circuit system then we cleaned up frame and tinned about 1/2 of the chips that weren't. A epoxy thermal adhesive Party of two then on to soldering.... quite alot of soldering

Floyd hard at work

We did each circuit in a different color for easier trouble shooting and hookup

hours later all circuits complete and tested (ohm meter) we ran leads out back of frame in two groups for better cable management

about 1:30am tested out 1st circuit

and 2am something last 'mid-day PAR blast' circuit (10x 6500K & 2x XM-L Cool White chips)

We put together a nice dual-dimming unit for circuits 3 & 4 with Rapids 2-color dimming kit but still need some additional info to hook up circuits 1,2,5 and 6 to the Apex's VDM Module then a crash course in programming the complicated lighting schedule I have in mind. The 7th mid-day circuit will be ran on a Mean Well LPC-35-700 constant current driver for just a couple hours a day and probably not for a month or so until acclimation to the LED's is complete. So once I get everything cleaned up and the info from Neptune will continue and just maybe have lights over tank by tomorrow.

Cheers, Todd

 

[justforfun]

are no heat sinks needed on dt light rack?...i see you put them on fuge?....open top you dont need them?

 

[user 2204]

Very nice work Floyd and Todd. Looking awesome and I may just have to swing by sometime again and check the lighting out first hand.

are no heat sinks needed on dt light rack?...i see you put them on fuge?....open top you dont need them?

I think (correct me if I am mistaken) that Todd does not need heatsinks on the DT lighting because there is enought sq. in. of aluminum that will dissipate the heat. That along with the open top design and the four fans should keep the LEDs running cool for a good long time.

Cheers,
Alex

 

[TJL]

Hey DJ, the whole welded aluminum frame is a big open heat sink plus will have 4-6 80mm fans pushing air accross it.

Cheers, Todd

 

[user 2204]

Hey Todd, Did you use cyano to put the led lens on the chips? If you did, be sure not to use cyano for lens attachment on the DT lighting as it can fog up the led. Better to a tiny amount of the heatsink paste to attach the lens to the chip.

Cheers,
Alex

 

[eww]

Nice work guys and wow that was a long day/night. I'm curious how the east/west dimming is going to look and I can't even imagine the programming that will be needed to do it.

 

[TJL]

Hey Todd, Did you use cyano to put the led lens on the chips? If you did, be sure not to use cyano for lens attachment on the DT lighting as it can fog up the led. Better to a tiny amount of the heatsink paste to attach the lens to the chip.

Cheers,
Alex

Thanks Alex, yes a lil bit of the Gorilla Glue on the fuge light optics but will use a dab of silicone or ? on DT lights if needed. For now I'm planning on going without any optics for the acclimation period.

Eric, already have a morning headache going through the Apex's VDM modul Setup Guide but determined to have it figured out by tomorrow.

Cheers, Todd