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DIY LED Mini Workshop

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by JB, May 15, 2011.

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  1. May 15, 2011 #1
    JB Marion

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    There's been a ton of interest in the DIY LED fixtures lately, so I'm going to have a mini-workshop to walk people through the basics of how it's done.   We will not have time to build an entire fixture, but I will try and hit all of the important points of construction and you will be able to see the LED's in action.
    It's will be next Sunday (May 22nd) at Noon.   Please RSVP via PM if you plan to attend (club members only please) and I will send you the address information.
    Note that If I don't have any solid RSVPs by Friday, I will probably just cancel the workshop.
    Thanks
    -JB
     
  2. May 15, 2011 #2
    FishBrain New London

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    Man i would love to go to this but i will be busy all day :-(
     
  3. May 15, 2011 #3
    JB Marion

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    By the way, I could switch it to the same time on Saturday the 21st if that works for more people. Pet's Playhouse is having their big K9 fundraiser that day and I didn't know how many people were planning to go to that. If Saturday works better for you, let me know.

    -JB
     
  4. May 15, 2011 #4
    AJ

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    Due to prior commitments, I'm not able to attend, but I was over at JBs the other day and saw the current fixture he was was working on. I've been following LED build threads for a while, but seeing things first hand while JB assemble it really took a lot of the fear out of taking on a project like this. In the 3 hours I was there, he went over everything. From showing how to tin the wires and LED stars to attaching the LEDs to the heatsink using thermal resin, wiring them together, testing and tuning the output of the dimmable LED drivers, how to connect the circuits of LEDs to the drivers, the differences between wiring serially and in parallel (white LEDs were wired serially while blues were wired in parallel and explained why), troubleshooting issues, and explained the electrical concepts behind everything. Along with all that, he showed one of his current fixtures that was already done and how he controls it with his Apex and iPhone app. There were only a few things that were not covered like attaching the hanging kit, fan, etc, but he covered the important things that intimidated me the most. I consider it time very well spent and would strongly encourage anyone considering assembling their own LED fixture to attend and learn. Thanks for doing this JB! If someone could take some pictures of the steps while he's doing the workshop next Saturday, I'll see about getting them into a DIY doc for the site.
    --AJ
     
  5. May 15, 2011 #5
    FishBrain New London

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    These's no way i could do eather day. saterday is my daughters birthday party and sunday is totaly booked as well. Someone should bring a video camera and record it.
     
  6. May 15, 2011 #6
    bobsfish

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    That's a great suggestion JB. I hope I can make it. Next weekend got filled when we moved the CR Tank Tour...but, I'm hoping to juggle the day to make it work.
     
  7. May 16, 2011 #7
    Troy

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    I will be there, if its on sunday.
     
  8. May 16, 2011 #8
    JB Marion

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    I think it will probably be on Sunday. That works better for me than Saturday too.
     
  9. May 18, 2011 #9
    JB Marion

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    Ok, it sounds like 2 or 3 people can make it on Sunday, so Sunday at Noon it is...

    Still have room for a few more if anyone else is interested.
     
  10. May 21, 2011 #10
    JB Marion

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    Last call for anyone who wants to attend the workshop...
    I've got 2 of the 3 display tank fixtures built  and tested already...   I'll be building the final fixture tomorrow.
    /Portals/0/activeforums_Attach/Fixtures-1.jpg
    /Portals/0/activeforums_Attach/Fixtures-2.jpg
     
  11. May 22, 2011 #11
    JB Marion

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    Well, it's 12:30 and nobody has shown up yet, so I'm starting the build.

    Had I known that nobody would show up I would have build the fixture yesterday and put them all over my display tank today... /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/sad.gif
     
  12. May 22, 2011 #12
    MXC207 Cedar Rapids

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    I was gonna show up but I had to pick up my frag tank in Walcott. I thought I sent you a txt saying that, hope I did /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/sad.gif. Sorry man!
     
  13. May 25, 2011 #13
    Actuary Adel, IA

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    Would it be painful to build a DIY LED that had dimmers on different color strings so you could control the spectrum? What kind of LED setup would be needed to light a 180g (72x24x24) SPS dominant tank? Currently moving from a 125g lit with 2x400w MHs into a 180g and considering switching to LEDs at this time. I have read some mixed opinions about the long-term viability of LEDs for SPS tanks over on RC though.
     
  14. May 25, 2011 #14
    JB Marion

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    No, that's very easy to do. That's how all mine work. They can be dimmed with a 10v power supply with potentiometers or a controller like the Apex.

    How may you need varies depending on your tank and how you do your fixtures, but you probably need at least 3 fixtures with 48 LED each. As for coral growth, they are working for me over my frag tank. And even if they didn't grow SPS quite as quickly (which I don't think is the case), it's sure a lot easier on the pocket book than Metal Halide. For me, there was a lot more to consider than just SPS growth.
     
  15. May 25, 2011 #15
    Actuary Adel, IA

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    Yikes that many LEDs would be about $3,300 if I purchased a complete 72" AI Sol system. Hopefully a DIY system would be a little less brutal?
     
  16. May 26, 2011 #16
    JB Marion

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    LOL yes, probably around a 3rd of that depending on what you decide to go with.
     
  17. May 31, 2011 #17
    Actuary Adel, IA

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    Okay how does this sound over a standard 72x24x24 180g SPS reef? Three panels with 36 LEDs each (108 total LEDs) running 2:1 RB:NW.

    Each module would contain:
    24 XP-E Royal Blue LEDs
    12 XP-G Neutral White LEDs
    3 dimmable meanwell drivers ELN-60-48D
    3 potentiometers
    36 XP 60 deg optics
    36 thermal tape stars
    12" x 12" heatsink
    2 120mm fans
    Power supply for fans
    Hanging kit
    A couple feet of wire

    The materials for each module comes out to be a bit over $400 (around $1225 for all 3). Is there anything I'm forgetting? Any advice or suggestions? Where would you recommend ordering from?

    Thanks!


     
  18. May 31, 2011 #18
    JB Marion

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    That list looks pretty good.

    Personally, I'd go with cool white instead of neutral white because I really like the 14K look.

    You could get away with 2 drivers, but 3 will work too. If you do dedicate a driver to each string of XP-E's, you will need to be sure and tune the driver down.

    Thermal stars should work fine. The adhesive would be a bit cheaper, but it's more messy.

    I'd go with an 18" x 8.5" heat sink and use 2" spacing with 80 degree drivers. This is essentially what I have on my 125. I think if you saw them on my tank, you would agree that they would be a really good setup for a 180 (there's only 6" difference front to back). My 125 is almost too narrow.

    2 fans is probably overkill, but it won't hurt anything.

    For the wire, I'd recommend 2 or 3 different colors and get twice as much as you think you need (it's cheap). Having the multiple colors makes things a bit easier when you're wiring things up...

    -JB
     
  19. Jun 1, 2011 #19
    Actuary Adel, IA

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    Yeah I prefer the 14k temp as well but I've heard that a 2RB:1NW gives the same overall temp but the NW helps broaden the spectrum a little bit. I haven't seen how any of these compositions look in person so it's all based off of what I've read but it seems that 1 RB:1 CW washes out certain colors. I've also been considering doing something like mostly RB and CW but then throw in a few blues on the RB strings and NWs on the CW strings. I feel like this would help a bit in avoiding certain colors washing out. But would I have to be careful about mixing different generations of LEDs on a certain string if I did this? Your thoughts?

    Also, if I were to put 36 LEDs on each panel wouldn't I need 3 drivers since each would have a max of 14 LEDs? I'm not an electrical engineer by any means so please let me know if I'm off base on this.

    Thanks again!
     
  20. Jun 1, 2011 #20
    JB Marion

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    No, you shouldn't mix different generations of LED on the same driver. You can run more than XP-E LED's on a single driver, but you can't do more than 14 (absolute max) in series. The way you run 24 XP-E's off of a single driver is by running 2 series of 12 in parallel with each other. When you run series in parallel, the current from the driver is split between the different series. This works well for XP-E's because their maximum current is a lot less than what drivers like the Meanwell 60-48 are capable of delivering.

    Case in point: The meanwell 60-48D delivers about 1.3 Amp out of the box. This is way too much for a single strand of XP-E's, so you would probably need to tune the driver down to about .9 Amp so you would be running the LED's at 90% of their max power. However, if you instead tune the driver up to 1.6 Amp, and hook up 2 series of 12 LED's in parallel, you will get half of the current through each series (or .8 Amp). In other words, the additional driver only gets you another 10% output.

    Take a look at the examples here for a better description of what wiring up LED's in parallel really means: http://reefledlights.com/wiring-diagrams/

    As for the color, that's entirely up to you. I'm pretty happy with the cool whites, but I'm not overly concerned about crazy growth.

    -JB
     
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