# DIY LED lighting help !



## lil-lynx

Hey guys im looking to take the plunge in to the DIY led lighting, im looking to light a 1ft cube, just need some advice !
What type of LEDs ?
How many and of which colour , blue  to white ratio 
Which driver ? 
What to mount them on ?
Where to buy from !


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## flygja

A very open-ended question! There's so much experimentation with DIY LEDs, which is kinda the fun part. I'd recommend something like 5x 3W LEDs from Cree. Optics/lenses might be needed depending on how high up you want to suspend the unit. You'll need a heatsink or at least an aluminium plate to mount them on, preferably blow with a fan as well. As for drivers, reputable ones are like Luxdrive or Meanwell. You should get the dimmable ones. As for where to buy from, I can't advice because I'm not from the UK. I got most of mine from DealeXtreme - Cool Gadgets at the Right Price - DX Free Shipping Worldwide which ships worldwide for free, but there's quite a bit of wait, 2-4 weeks usually.

Here's my DIY LED lighting retrofit thread: My DIY LED retrofit | UK Aquatic Plant Society

Also a link to one of my journals which shows what my LED lighting unit looks like now: flygja's 60cm NAC | Page 2 | UK Aquatic Plant Society


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## foxfish

The easy way would be to buy 4 x GU10 fittings from B&Q & then choose from the many bulbs on offer, perhaps a combination of colours in 9w?
You would just need a wooden box to install the fittings = very simple.
You could fit dimmable bulbs (GU10 dimmable bulbs are readily available)
I dont doubt Flygia method is a better methods but the Gu10 route works extremely well.


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## Vanish

There is lots of information around on DIY led setups. The reef guys have lead the field with this. With a lot of the using an arduino board to control the brightness and fade different colours in and out. There are some real good write ups out there. Just google it.


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## flygja

I agree that a plug-and-play setup like what foxfish recommended would be the easier way to go.


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## greenink

I've found it doesn't come out much cheaper than buying one 'finished' last time I looked into it. But maybe that's not the point!


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## foxfish

4 x GU10 fittings & 9w bulbs from B&Q about £60 but then you need to build a box to hang them from & it has to look nice.
If you are handy then thats fine but if you have to pay a carpenter £25 per hour then that would probably be another £75 -100 + materials maybe another £30!
If it were me, I would want independent timers on all four dimmable bulbs & that would bump up the cost with another £100.
However you could buy a wall mounted 4 x spot light from B&Q add some bulbs & be done for £80 total!


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## Vanish

Without loosing the point of the question that the OP asked. He was after LED. Deal extreme has some very cheap LEDs and drivers, although they may be of questionable quality. Personally I'd buy the cheap LEDs as you can buy many of them from DX cheaply and then replace if necessary. As for the drivers, they can be the major stumbling block, and buying better quality would be advisable. 
Ultimately whether using dichroic lamps or LED the end result is the same I suppose, which is light. But it depends on what you're after.


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## Vanish

this may be of interest

2-Mode 32x3528 LED White Light + 4-LED Blue Light Aquarium Lamp - Free Shipping - DealExtreme
or
3.5W 54-LED White + Blue Light Aquarium Top Lamp w/ Holder (AC 100~240V / EU Plug) - Free Shipping - DealExtreme

i know it's not DIY but is cheap and takes out all of the hassle


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## foxfish

Vanish, who was loosing the point about DIY LEDs?
I thought we were all talking about the subject?


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## Vanish

Thanks or the correction foxfish


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## lil-lynx

Hey guys I was looking at 3w cree leds, looking for  around 6, 3 rows of 3. 

Iv seen reef people using 10w leds , I was wondering if one of these would be decent , if so what driver would I need  ?


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## korakot

i got my diy led too
i bought LED from LED-TECH very quick deliver (black one) and the Deal Express (round white one)
so many choice of led you can pick royal blue for reef or white for plants or red and blue for grow light.
i just glue the LED on the heatsink connect to the Constant current driver from Maplin



for last longer of your led you can put the fan on but have to use another transformer (12v dc)
and you can buy hanging kit from all pond solutions.








you can try the GU10 9w LED but i'm not recommend due to very low output


here is the VDO from my last diy hope it will help.


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## timbob1387

Really like the above idea, already got a fan and heat sink in a unused desktop computer and some sheets of acrylic so think will give that a go!


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## lil-lynx

Right guys got a lil shopping list going but need help ! 

 10pcs 3W High Power SMD LED 240LM + 20mm PCB base Cool White 3.0-3.6V 700mA | eBay Will cool white be ok in colour wise , or shall I use better LEDs  , Cree ? 

 Different Power 10W/ 20W/ 30W/ 50W/ 100W Waterproof Power Supply LED Driver | eBay 30w driver to run 3 rows or 3 (27w) , 3w LEDs

Some cable 
A heatsink to mount the LEDs on 
And a CPU fan 

Or I was looking to use the same driver or the 30w and run these 
 10W LED Pure White 6500K 9-11V, 1100Lm 1050mA for fish tank light led floodlight | eBay run 2 or 3 of the 30w led driver , and just link these to the heatsink ? 

Am I missing anything


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## Vanish

For the price of the 3w LEDs you could get some Cree LEDs if you shop around. 
The colour temperature or K (kelvin) is a hot topic of debate. Purists argue that 6500 is good for plants. But there are some very knowledgable folk here that say the plant just don't care and the colour temp is up to you. So choose one you like the look of. 

The driver looks good, but maybe you could consider one with PWM, so that if you decided the light output was too high you could dim it. Or use two lower wattage drivers to have the option to switch half of the LEDs off. 

I recon those 10w LEDs are going to get real hot which reduce the lifespan considerably. Also you'd need to consider light spread as LEDs give a more direct light, unless optics are used.


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## biffster

this is what i made my home made LED out of LED on a roll


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## Kogre

Any developments with how this went or is going?


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## Samjpikey

Hey guys , 
I have just made my own led light , 

Cost me £67 in total 

I used bridgelux 30 x 1 watt LEDs (actually work out at 1.2 watts ,+ 10 royal blues which I haven't used , 
Pln 48 60 mean well driver 
Some thermal compound 
60 degree lense which I haven't yet added , 
All bought from a sound guy from eBay apart from lenses which are from china , the lenses seem exactly the same quality as some I got from maplin previously , 
I will post pictures 
, I used scrap aluminium from work , I have tons if any body wants some  
I don't think I will use any other kind of light again , 

LEDs are definitely the way forward. , so versatile and good fun to build


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## Kogre

Great to hear!

What about if you have absolutely no experience with making things that use electricity? Will you be doing a guide?


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## Samjpikey

I had no experience with electricity in the slightest ,  I was a bit nervous actually , just incase I blew something up lol , but it worked 1st time  
I done a bit of research online and the chap I bought the LEDs off did me a rough sketch of the circuit which helped. 
But honestly I have so much aluminium at work   that if anybody wanted something I could sort some out for a heat sink  
Think I may put the lenses on to day as well. 
I will do a guide yes  .  
My tank isn't running at the moment though 
I broke it all down and planning a new scape , getting everything set up and making sure I have everything I need to keep me going for a while , 
Starting a dsm after Glastonbury festival  I think I will do a journal on it .


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## Vanish

Sounds good. Have you got a link for your eBay guy? I'd be interested to take a look.


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## Samjpikey

Just checked his eBay and seems to have taken his stuff off there , 
I got other means of contacting him though , 
Be good to get hold of a par meter and see what reading i get but not sure where I would get one from :/ 
Just finished putting the lenses on , 
Major Time consuming as I had to notch each one to sit flush onto the star board , my horrific soldering and wires lol , nah it's not that bad !! 
But they do make a huge difference


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## Samjpikey

http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/2092/imagemws.jpg



This is all work in progress , the LEDs are 10k as I prefer the very white look , 
But I have got some warm white and day white LEDs ready to be included in the circuit just waiting for some drivers , I am thinking of timing it all so I have the warm/day white LEDs creating a low dawn and dusk setting with the 'main' lighting period in between consisting mainly of the 10k LEDs , As I recall reading that at noon the sun emits more of the blue spectrum, 

As I said its all work in progress , the rocks I just temporarily placed in etc, I am going to use ada Amazonia , 
But I have used cat litter in the bottom to gain some depth and covered that with a fine mesh to stop the substrates from mixing, thought I'd ad that before someone think 'what the hell' 

Could really do with a par meter though :/ not sure where to get one, 

Cheers


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## Samjpikey




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## Samjpikey




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## Samjpikey

Sorry to hijack the thread :/....
 I am not sure if this has been discussed but i have Also looked into this : 
led track lighting 
You buy the frame and rail to suit your needs. 
Options of 90 degree corners etc etc , all come with mounting cables and brackets .
Then you just clip the LEDs onto the rail where ever you want and unclip as you please , there is a copper wire running in the rail which the current runs allowing a number of lights to be fitted anywhere on the rail . 
You see them being used in shops etc over reception desks  
Doesn't seem to costly either , just an idea


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## Samjpikey

There are different led lights but the ones shown i have chosen randomly


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## Kogre

Look up makersled too. The "rail" bit is actually an aluminium heatsink and LEDs slot in as you need them.

If you use a dimmable driver on your LEDs, I'd suggest looking into Apex controllers for that added automation of programmable ramps.


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## foxfish

I am sure this type of design would work very well - if you like the look!


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## lil-lynx

Hey guys  got my self some 3w Crees (12 of them)  and some PCB to mount them to , I now need a driver , can anyone recommend one ?


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## Samjpikey

Hi, 

This is the one you want unless you want to dim but they do a dimmable version as well  
I got mine from eBay for £22 incl post 
Cheers 
http://www.meanwell.com/search/PLN-60/PLN-60-spec.pdf


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## Kogre

*Sam* beat me to it. Reading around, the Meanwell ELN-60 LED drivers seem to be the recommended driver of choice for DIY LEDs. What are you using to automate dimming?

The PLN allows control of current only, whereas ELN allows control of the output of current and voltage.


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## Kannu

biffster said:


> this is what i made my home made LED out of LED on a roll


 
Hi biffster, where did you get these from and how did you fit the roll to the power supply. What is the power supply? (12V dc I presume)


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## Kannu

korakot said:


> i got my diy led too
> 
> i bought LED from LED-TECH very quick deliver (black one) and the Deal Express (round white one)
> 
> so many choice of led you can pick royal blue for reef or white for plants or red and blue for grow light.
> 
> i just glue the LED on the heatsink connect to the Constant current driver from Maplin
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> for last longer of your led you can put the fan on but have to use another transformer (12v dc)
> 
> and you can buy hanging kit from all pond solutions.....


 
korakot, Looks good. Whats the advantage of having the acrylic between the LED and the tank? Is it just to protect LEDs from water splash etc.? The hanging kit could be bolted to just the top acrylic plate I suppose, thus having no light loss as a result of 2nd acrylic plate?


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## korakot

Kannu said:


> korakot, Looks good. Whats the advantage of having the acrylic between the LED and the tank? Is it just to protect LEDs from water splash etc.? The hanging kit could be bolted to just the top acrylic plate I suppose, thus having no light loss as a result of 2nd acrylic plate?


 
The advantage of having the acrylic between the LED and the tank is protect LEDs from water splash,that's right.

And put the hanging on the front will made sure that my light won't fall down into the tank.
Hanging kit on the front just like you place heatsink on the acrylic and you know how strong it does
but if you put hanging kit on the rare side you have to made sure that you fix the rare side and heatsink properly.

Acrylic just clear as glass and light output very bright, so i have no concern about light lossing.


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## Samjpikey

Most people use the acrylic on marine tanks where you have a lot more water movement and suface splashing ,acrylic has actually got a better transparency rate then glass , but I took my acrylic off as mine does tend to gather dust on the top side and an extra thing to clean/wipe just a thought


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## biffster

Kannu said:


> Hi biffster, where did you get these from and how did you fit the roll to the power supply. What is the power supply? (12V dc I presume)


 
i got them from a place called electric base they have a 12 volt driver and the fix with a special clip
that as wires coming out of it


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## lil-lynx

Right guys thanks for the help im looking at the Meanwell ELN 60 48D dimmerble driver this is the one you all suggest right ?


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## Samjpikey

I think that is the dimmable version of the one I'm using , 
I have the PLN 60 48


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## nbaker

I plan to use 12x Cree XLamp XT-E LED 5W (cool white) over my D&D 24g Nano cube, how do I work out which driver I will need?


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## Samjpikey

You need to look at total wattage and the total voltage of LEDs 
12x 5 = 60 watts 
Looks like the voltage is 2.85v x 12 =34.2 (that's if the voltage is 2.85) 

So you need a driver that will do over 60 watts really . 
Looks like the PLN 100 48 meanwell would do it check this list here and drop down to the PLN series list  
MEAN WELL LED Power Supply
Hope this helps


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## Samjpikey

The PLN 60 48 ( i currently have thos driver running with 37watts of leds) would just do it but that's running the driver at its max capacity (output wattage) so it's always best to go a bit bigger with drivers  
Or you could get 2 smaller drivers and split the load  
Hope this helps


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## Tim Harrison

This works well and is very easy and cheap to put together The Dark Side or What Lurks Beneath | Page 3 | UK Aquatic Plant Society bottom of the page. And I've posted PAR values here LED on the cheap | UK Aquatic Plant Society. The original thread can be found here http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=195589 and I think some of the guys have been using the 10 watt version for small tanks.


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## nbaker

Samjpikey said:


> The PLN 60 48 ( i currently have thos driver running with 37watts of leds) would just do it but that's running the driver at its max capacity (output wattage) so it's always best to go a bit bigger with drivers
> Or you could get 2 smaller drivers and split the load
> Hope this helps


 
Would this be suitable?  Mean Well ELN-60-48D dimmable LED power supply driver - NEW | eBay 

or is there anything a bit cheaper that would do? would prefer dimmable in case leds are too bright, does the dimming function work as is or do I need anything else for it to work?

And am I right in thinking these have built in PSU?

Sorry for all the questions but led's are new to me

Nige


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## Samjpikey

Yes this is the psu  
I have that one but non dimmable . I personally haven't used a  dimmable driver but as far as I am aware you can dim via a trimmer , the same kind of trimmer for adjusting voltage and current. Easy and straight foward to adjust  
As that is 60 w and your LEDs total 60 w it will be running the driver at its maximum and will probably get very hot , I would personally go bigger but that is up to you , you can buy other cheaper drivers from eBay , I did find one before which was 100 w but I decided to go with mean well as they have very good reviews . I have an exact clear easy to read plan of the whole circuit which I followed and used for my set up , i will upload it as it may help  
Cheers


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## Samjpikey

You may know exactly how to do it but I like to help so if it helps then....


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## ian_m

Samjpikey said:


> You may know exactly how to do it but I like to help so if it helps then....


You will find (and unlucky) without any form of current balancing one string of LED's will hog the current. Normally you never run LED's in parallel as one string will have slightly different characteristics and take say 1.2A (out of 2A) and other the remaining 0.8A. If you LED's are rated 1A this is bad news.

Here is a picture of 3 parallel strings of LEDs, running top to bottom. The string on the right is current hogging at expense (and reliability) of other two. In fact so much has been taken one of the LED's is not lit.




However in your defence you may be lucky, especially if strings are longer (than my 3 above), so that variations balance out. Quite a few people have done your circuit above, however some have had issues especially if mixing red, white and blue LED's in the strings.

All LED's fixtures I have designed (for work) have has only one LED driver per string of LED's, thus LED characteristics and current hogging is not an issue.

The way the "big boys" ie Cree, Osram achieve current balancing in their multiple chip solutions (other than electronics) is having clever temperature (& current) dependent resistors in each string, thus if one string starts to current hog its resistance increases limiting the current. All the current limiting resistors are in thermal contact with each other thus end up balancing out the current.


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## Samjpikey

I have no experience in electrical circuits what so ever well apart from making this led light  , 
This was the circuit I was given by the chap who supplied me with the LEDs and psu  , 
He suggested this was the circuit I needed to do and what is generally used with these kind of leds , i guess the psu does all the work , my LEDs run at 350 ma , so the psu should be set at no more then 700ma I've actually set it at 610ma so I currently have 305ma running down through each string , I've put the multi meter in line on both strings and the reading is the same , the psu adjusts to suit  I know that if one LED was to fail then I would have to much current running down one string and the LEDs could fry within seconds , I have thought about fusing it so I could avoid this but until it happens then I will carry on as it is  it wasn't expensive to make so I'm happy


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## Samjpikey

Has it got something to do with the psu being constant current ???


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## nbaker

Samjpikey said:


> Yes this is the psu
> I have that one but non dimmable . I personally haven't used a dimmable driver but as far as I am aware you can dim via a trimmer , the same kind of trimmer for adjusting voltage and current. Easy and straight foward to adjust
> As that is 60 w and your LEDs total 60 w it will be running the driver at its maximum and will probably get very hot , I would personally go bigger but that is up to you , you can buy other cheaper drivers from eBay , I did find one before which was 100 w but I decided to go with mean well as they have very good reviews . I have an exact clear easy to read plan of the whole circuit which I followed and used for my set up , i will upload it as it may help
> Cheers


 
Many thanks for your help. 

I think I will go with a LPC-60-1050 for 10 cool white XT-E and an APC-16-700 for 4 warm white XT-E

Hopefully this will give me plenty of light and a pleasing colour.


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