Couple of pics for my DYI LED build

[bfoleyiii]

Took me about 9 or 10 months of picking up an item here and there to get all the parts together but looking at the tank now I think it was well worth it. Here are a couple of pics I took and for some reason I didnt snap anything of the completed unit so I'll try to get one of those up.

First I went with two heat sinks 7.25"x20" and it looks like I'll still need to add some fans to keep the temps down where I feel ok. I have 14 XPG CW, 12 XPE RB, and 12 XP3 Blue on each heat sink for a total of 76 3w leds running off of 6 mean well ELN-60-48D that I picked up from someone here that decided to go another route. I picked up one of the Rapid LED two color dimming kits for now. If later on I decide to move to an different controller (RKL is pretty limited on how many modules you can run) then I might do something a bit more fancy with them.

The completed unit rests inside my hood and while I didn't weight it, it certainly is not light.

Here are some pictures:

Framing up he heat sinks with some angled aluminum:
http://www.maast.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=13692&d=1327301778

http://www.maast.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=13694&d=1327301805

I used the thermal pads from Rapidled, had to replace one LED part way through the build (must of smacked it) and they stick pretty good
http://www.maast.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=13695&d=1327301814

Here are the Whites attached:
http://www.maast.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=13696&d=1327301828

And the blues:
http://www.maast.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=13697&d=1327301845

And a power test:
http://www.maast.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=13699&d=1327301875


I dont have any shots of the drivers mounted on top of the unit so when I get a completed shot you can see how bad I buchered the measurments on that.
They have been on the tank for about 5 days now and I just turned them up a little. I really like the color and having them set nearly as low as I could to start could already see a difference in the light compared to the 4x54w T5s I was running. A Couple of week getting everything adjusted to the new lighting and I'll play around with the dimmers to make the color where the wife wants it.

It was a fun project. Not sure with the new price points of alot of newer units out there that I save much money over all but I would go this route again since I enjoy building stuff.

[reefreak]

nice where did you purchase the leds from?

[bfoleyiii]

RapidLed

[Bill S]

You might want to try spraying them with this after you are done:

http://www.ledsupply.com/9013-07.php

I use it on the boat for our LEDs. Any help from a marine environment is appreciated.

[bfoleyiii]

Thanks for the link Bill. I put a splash gaurd on it but every little bit will help.

[betiuminside]

That is so cool! How much did you spend? Can you teach me? :)

[rrasco]

Nice. What size tank is this on? I just tested out my custom drivers last week, getting ready to ramp up and get this build done in the next few weeks.

[bfoleyiii]

Out of pocket it was probably close to 650 or 700 when I tack on all the little things you forget about in pre planning. Considering that it gives me complete coverage over my 90 and is coming in under half of what it would have cost when I first started looking at LEDs a year ago the money seems well spent. The current EcoTech Radion XR30s would have doubled me up on the out of pocket. Although I would guess they provide better overall color than what I am going to get with just the CW/B/RB setup I'll gladly look to sink my extra 700 into the kids Karate or Taekwondo, some Frags, and maybe an MP40. As I put it down, yeah I'm ok with my cost DYI vs building.

If you can use a soldering iron and a screw driver you are already there skill set wise, and depending on how many leds you are installing you will get plenty of practice tinning your LEDs and wires.

It is sitting over my 90g 48x18x25, replaced 4x54 T5s. Still have a few weeks of ramp up to go but I like the difference. Nice shimmer, much better pop with these blues than I was getting; although I was limiting the tank running only 4 bulbs instead of six or eight. Eventually I'll pick up some type of lighting controller and that will allow for alot more effect than that simple two color dimming I have now, but since I have a RKL and the ALC can only really handle two drivers that will have to wait until I either replace the RKL or want to tackle a DYI controller. That would be something you need to know more than soldering and a screwdriver for so it might be more of a hassle for me than I want to deal with.

[rrasco]

DIY Arduino controllers FTW :D

[bfoleyiii]

DIY Arduino controllers FTW :D

Yeah, poked in a couple of the threads and it was more involved than I was upto at the time so I'll have a nother run at them in a couple of months and decide then.

<edit>

Yeah, just skimmed the first couple of posts about the software side of it and WHHOOOSH. Certainly not +-+-+-+-+-

[rrasco]

I work with a few guys who do this kind of stuff and I'm a software engineer, so it falls right into the realm of possibility for me. Same guys who helped me get PCBs printed, order parts from Mouser, and build my custom drivers. If I knew more about it at this time I could help you, but I don't....yet! I also really enjoy learning new stuff this way. FWIW, one day (and that could be a year or two from now) I hope to be building cost-friendly controllers that I plan to sell. Of course, there is a bigger plan to my madness as well. :innocent2:

Here is a test with one of the custom drivers capable of running 18 LEDs, in strings of 6. You'll have to trust me they turn on. :bigsmile:

http://www.rrasco.com/AquaticPics/210reef/IMAG0133.jpg

[Squiers007]

I'm curious how you are liking this build so far? Are your corals liking it? How is the color? I have been thinking about doing a very similar build for my 75. Any feedback would be great.

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[fjr_wertheimber]

You might want to check out the Reef Angel controllers... Good stuff, lots of dimming capabilities...

[350gt]

So much for LEDs being power savers....



Also curious to how your corals adapted to it..... I wanted to build a set up like this for my 110 but seems like to much work for what it's worth...

[350gt]

Oh and I am in no way talking down your DIY set up... Very good work....

How did it compare to your t5s?

[bfoleyiii]

When the whites are on the color is very nice, very crisp white. When the whites shut off it is REALLY blue.

I took about 3 weeks to bring the power up on the LEDs and everything adjusted great. Color on my sps really started to come out. I would probably change up the whites to a mix of of white leds and drop a few blues for something in the Violet UV for some of the other colors. But there really is no comparisson between these and the T5s I had up.

[Squiers007]

Not sure if I missed this in your writeup but I'm assuming you used optics on this build? If so what degree did you go with and I'm also curious how far apart you spaced the bulbs? Thanks! Just trying to get all the info I can before starting my build.

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[bfoleyiii]

Nope, I didnt use any optics. Since the unit is about 8" off the water I wanted to see how things looked before I added any optics. I get a very nice blend in the color with no spotlighting at all so for now I dont see adding any. Each LED is about 2" apart.

[Squiers007]

Hey bfoleyii, Just wanted to check in and see how everything had adjusted to the new lighting? Still happy with your choice of bulbs? Also, I noticed you ordered your led's from rapidled, but where did you get the heatsinks? Thanks!

[rrasco]

Rapid sells heatsinks, or you can get them from heatsinkusa. Or, depending on what you need, I have 3 that are 7x16 I'm not sure what I'm going to do with yet. I decided to use channel on my build instead due to size, so at this point, they are 'extra'.

[bfoleyiii]

Everything adjusted and improved considerably over the T5s. I think I would have used a wider variety of bulds, mixing WW, NW, CW instead of just the CW I have now, and I would have probably added a couple of the UV into the mix to try and get better color mix.

I picked up my heatsinks at Heatsinkusa.com, but as rrasco mentioned Rapid has some as well that seem to be priced reasonably.