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DIY LED lighting help !

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



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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.....
Click to expand...

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?
 
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?
Click to expand...

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.
 
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 🙂
 
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)
Click to expand...

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
 
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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