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DIY LED lighting?

Chuffing hell I'm impressed! Fancy retro fitting my luminaire into a LED one?!
 
When you say you have 42W is that actual led wattage or T5 equivalent?
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I am basing the 42W on the LED output. They use 3.7V at full power and these are only getting 3.5V after the driver has had its 1.5V so I just divided 3.7 by 3.5 and came out with 2.8W per LED. This calculation may be wrong as I am just using a non electrician's logic here :lol:

When all of these are on the tank is probably 25% brighter than the T5 even though they are a further 6" away and a glass sheet between them and the water!!!

What's was the total cost (excluding breakages etc.)?
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Approx £110 not including glass, mounting board or screws.

Chuffing hell I'm impressed! Fancy retro fitting my luminaire into a LED one?!
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I would ask one of the electrically minded. lol. This has 7 power leads coming out the back and a Homer Simpson style extension that wants to come ofthe mountings :lol: They could probs for a little more money get 1 power cable to do this with some sort of timer on their board doing the timing.

Thanks for the compliments and remember on the link to that other forum's setup the LEDs started frying after a few months so time will tell if this one will work. I have done things differently though using the drivers and heatsinking properly.

One change I will make is to set the timings to a lesser amount. Probs 30 minutes between each change to get the left 4 on and then 1 hour later the fifth. Leave the full 5 for 3 hours then the 1st off for an hour and then half an hour interval for the other 4. It doesn't really look like 'sunrise' with the length of time to get decent brightness the way it is but at the same time I don't want the full power for too long.

AC
 
SuperColey1 said:
Approx £110 not including glass, mounting board or screws.
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Its actually a good price considering its about the same cost as a 12W Aquabeam. Will keep an eye on your updates to see how well they do in the long run. I would also suggest you get this written up properly in a separate thread for a complete DIY tutorial, might encourage others to try it too. Keep up the good work 🙂
 
The temperature of the heatsinks, and the ambient temperature inside the hood should give you a good indication whether they will last, or burn out. Are the heatsinks red-hot? You're looking for the actual LED junction to be around 60oC (too hot to touch for long, but not instant skin-graft heat). If you want longevity, the ambient temperature in the hood should be at or below 30oC.
 
Awesome job Andy. The light is so bright and I love the shimmering effect. I have to do one of these in the summer now! I think it might take me the 6 weeks though with my electrical skills!!! :lol:
 
To make the whole assembly smaller could you not mount the LED's on a curved base so that you have a narrower hood and also lower than 12" above the tank.
 
LondonDragon said:
SuperColey1 said:
Approx £110 not including glass, mounting board or screws.
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Will keep an eye on your updates to see how well they do in the long run. I would also suggest you get this written up properly in a separate thread for a complete DIY tutorial, might encourage others to try it too. Keep up the good work 🙂
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I said on TFF that I think warts and all threads are much more useful then write ups. They show you mistakes and therefore you can avoid them rather than making the same mistakes as the original without knowing it. They also show other (more knowledgable) input too!!!

The temperature of the heatsinks, and the ambient temperature inside the hood should give you a good indication whether they will last, or burn out. Are the heatsinks red-hot? You're looking for the actual LED junction to be around 60oC (too hot to touch for long, but not instant skin-graft heat). If you want longevity, the ambient temperature in the hood should be at or below 30oC.
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No idea on the 'ambient' temperature inside the hood nor the temperature of the heatsinks as it is all enclosed but there was no warmth in the air being emitted from the 'out' fans nor was the top (2cm thick wood) warm either!!! When I tested these 4 fans each side (4 in and 4 out) they made my hand feel really cold after a minute!!! p.s. If you hold the Alt buton down and type 167 you get º <---------the degree symbol 😉

The light is so bright and I love the shimmering effect. I have to do one of these in the summer now! I think it might take me the 6 weeks though with my electrical skills!!!
Ed - This is my first ever attempt at soldering things!!! I have zero electrical skills :lol: As for shimmering I am thinking about reducing my turbulence. It is similar to a constant strobe effect at the mo!!!!

To make the whole assembly smaller could you not mount the LED's on a curved base so that you have a narrower hood and also lower than 12" above the tank.
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Of course Garuf the design is of the user's intention. I just fitted them in what I have. As (almost)always DIY has risks regarding cost but compared to the retail of the equivalent units you will always be the winner with something you want rather than setlling for something close.

AC
 
SuperColey1 said:
p.s. If you hold the Alt buton down and type 167 you get º <---------the degree symbol 😉
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That only works with Microsoft OSs. I'm using Linux. It has a different procedure for ➧ ➨ âž© ➪ âž« ➬ âž­ âž® ➯ ° 🙂
 
I should say that I would not have gotten this done without the help and advice I have received on here and on TFF so thanks have to go out to Apstys, Rabbut, SteveyG, SmithRC, Binksy, Schmill, Scottturnbull, Rooster and everyone else who has helped me get this right with no knowledge behind me. I was taking advice from several sources on this one so that I didn't end up following the wrong path 😉 Group hug time here 8)

😀

I will have to add to my opinions on the lighting. Looking into the tank with all 5 series on at the moment and it is a lot darker than with the fluoros!!!!

However that is because in one day the needle Java has gone mad and is blocking light all over the place 🙂 (This is a low light, slow growing plant remember 🙄 )

Going to get my shears out tonight.

Another change I have noticed is that the Corys and Otos seem much more playful than before. Maybe because they are in spawning mood at the moment but I think the shimmering on the substrate may be much more natural for them.

AC
 
Andy,

I must say fantastic work mate it looks super cool.

I do hope that for all the effort you have put into this project it is a great sucsess.


Im hoping to get some cash together soon to do something for my 2ft tank. Apart from the reflectors acting as an extra heat sink do you think they are reflecting any light back towards the tank?


Thanks for sharing.

Gordon.
 
A little I guess but not much. The actual LED is about 2mm x 2mm below its die and it then has the star plate behind it which is 20mm diameter.

However with the die being lambertian (hemisphere in shape) it means light goes equally sideways and downward so some of the light emitted sideways may be redirected.

AC
 
How many of those little led's do you think you'd need to light a 12"(l)x10"(w)x8"(h). Do you think I could retro fit one into a superfish 18w clip on light? I'm thinking it'd be perfect for an experiment.
 
Thats what I am doing for my 10ltr nursery when I set it up. Am using 1 series of 3 so potential 9W probs nearer 8.4W

I'm using collimators, lenses and the proper heatsinks and then fixing it to a homemade luminaire. lol

AC
 
Reckon 4 would be enough then? I'd be using 18w so is it as simple as halfing it?
 
I would say so. these things are very bright and so far plants growing very well even though LEDs are 42W -12 inches above the water compared to 48W fluoro 4" above the water.

AC
 
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