LED DIY

mow said · 13 Jun 2018

rebel said:
@mow said , My tank will be a 4 footer. It will be high tech and I need to hang the light high above the tank potentially. At least 60cm above the tank. My plan is to use 45 degree lenses.

I am also up to the challenge of such a build but I need it to be very neat like yours as it will be a display tank. I am very finicky with colour rendition and don't know exactly what I like. I think I will like a purple tinted crisp white look. Probably more heavy on the blues.

Dimensions in cm h/w/l please

rebel · 13 Jun 2018

mow said said:
Dimensions in cm h/w/l please

@mow said , 120x45x45 cm most likely. Tank is in planning stage.

mow said · 14 Jun 2018

https://www.tme.eu/en/details/rad-p3698_1000/radiators/stonecold/

3w leds i would go for.
And dont hang up the light too far you will loose par 65cm is too far.
I would use 60degrees lenses for the front let's and back with 90 degrees lenses in the middle for a good spread. The heat sink is 15cm w , your tank is 45cm so I would use 60d for side to get the tank lit properly.

lazybones51 · 15 Jun 2018

I've just ordered my leds, heatsink bases and thermal adhesive. I have got the other bits and pieces required, including the Arcadia i'll be repurposing. As the Arcadia is a decent sized heatsink I opted for 3w leds, hopefully it'll be able to displace the extra heat OK, there's one way to find out :lol:

rebel · 15 Jun 2018

mow said said:
https://www.tme.eu/en/details/rad-p3698_1000/radiators/stonecold/

3w leds i would go for.
And dont hang up the light too far you will loose par 65cm is too far.
I would use 60degrees lenses for the front let's and back with 90 degrees lenses in the middle for a good spread. The heat sink is 15cm w , your tank is 45cm so I would use 60d for side let's to get the tank lit properly.

Thanks for your links and recommendations. I wont need too high light. Just need fairly even light through the tank; top to bottom . By lifting the light, this becomes easier .

That heatsink is good! I will see whether they can deliver to Australia .

mow said · 15 Jun 2018

mow said · 15 Jun 2018

Place the thermal pad and use the silicone thermal glue to glue the lm317 simple. The black pad is foam pad as you dont want the resistors touching the heatsink.

mow said · 15 Jun 2018

Important you need one of these. I too had no clue how to use one. Had to learn and make sure you test voltage on all leds once your build is complete. When you do a bad soldering and you trying to figure out which led is not connected out of 100leds its not fun at all. This will make your job easy and buy any multimeter you want but this is what i used.
https://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-mas830b-digital-multimeter-600v/75337

mow said · 16 Jun 2018

I will be updating this thread . People have been messaging me for a non dimmable version. I will make a new project on adobe illustrator and add all the parts needed for a non dimmable version. Do not use the previous project if you are not going to dimm the leds. i have a simple way for people that want a non dimmable led unit thanks.

mow said · 14 Aug 2018

Building a pc at the moment once my build is finished i will update this thread for you folks that want a simple non dimmable led unit.

lazybones51 · 14 Aug 2018

It took a while (i've got too many DIY projects on the go...) but my light is up and running

I started by breaking down the failed/failing 23w Arcadia stretch unit in to it's component pieces. The circuitry is mounted to an aluminium flat bar which can be pulled out of the heatsink once the end caps are removed. Removing the old circuitry was tedious and I did result to using a fine grade flap disk to clean up the area.

Once clean and polished assembly was pretty straight forward. As you can see I crammed a lot in to not much space, power wise it's running on 12v at around 50w on full power.

Unfortunately the original perspex cover no longer fit in it's slot due to the height of the new components. I temporarily attached it using elastic bands but will come up with a more permanent solution soon. Only the cables are touching the perspex and it's not getting hot, should be ok... :lol:

I'm not sure why but the LED's I got appear to have different colour characteristics to what @mow said has in his photos, none of them are pink/purple. You can't see it in the photo but there are three different colour temperatures in there.

Trial fitted to my rather bare tank. This was more of an practise run for when I upgrade to an EA Aquascaper 900...

I'm not running it much over 70% and it's slightly warm to the touch. During a full power test it does get hot, but not so hot you can't touch it. It's a bit Heath Robinson but it works :lol:

mow said · 14 Aug 2018

@lazybones51 wow that is amazing also you could of put 6 leds per Lm317 +resistors as these do get hot the lesser the better . If you can upload pictures of drivers and information about the resistors and controller you using as it would help others too.And when are you building the light for aquascaper 900.

lazybones51 · 14 Aug 2018

@mow said Thanks!

This is the parts list from my build, based on the original list @mow said posted:

1.8 Ohm 2w Metal film resistors
LM317T Variable voltage regulators
3w Epistar LEDs - Colour range is: full spectrum, 10000k and 6500k. However I don't trust I got the colours I ordered.
3w LED aluminium heatsinks
Thermal paste

I'm using a Mean Well PWM-60-12 driver. This is a 12v constant voltage driver which I was using with the original Arcadia Stretch unit as the standard driver didn't offer any dimming. This driver accepts a PWM signal for dimming, which i'm supplying via a Raspberry PI Zero running on Reef Pi.

More information on the Reef Pi project here, information on the specific lighting controller aspect of the Reef Pi project can be found here.

mow said · 14 Aug 2018

Amazing i kinda guessed those were 10000k and 6500k leds. And i forgot you using 12v so only 3 x 3w leds per lm317 + resistor :banghead:

. Future reference though better of with a 24v for the 900 aquascaper tank you will have less lm317 to put which = less heat. But so far im impressed cannot wait to see your other light. When will it be ready :thumbup:

, will you use the pi if so please share full guide im intrested in a pi now got confused reading the project lol :crazy:

zozo · 14 Aug 2018

Nice build!..

But, without pun intended, it just surprises me and wondering about it!?.. Why do you guys still hangon to that old fashion HP LED?.. Since development in the led industry goes at such a fast pace..

Take for axample the <2B#C COB unit>, also already a few years on the market.. It outperforms the regular 3 watt Epistar quite a bit, almost a factor 2. And is about equal in size by surface but 4 times as flat and doesnt get as hot.

lazybones51 · 14 Aug 2018

mow said said:
Amazing i kinda guessed those were 10000k and 6500k leds. And i forgot you using 12v so only 3 x 3w leds per lm317 + resistor . Future reference though better of with a 24v for the 900 aquascaper tank you will have less lm317 to put which = less heat. But so far im impressed cannot wait to see your other light. When will it be ready

Yeah, when I make the fixture for the Aquascaper 900 i'll use a higher voltage power supply. I was using what I had to hand this time around :thumbup:

Next time I might use Meanwell LDD constant current drivers, paired with a higher voltage power supply. Similar to this build over on one of the Reef forums, https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/to...ntroller-on-the-cheap-seriously/#entry4214446

The next build won't be happening for a while, as the new tank is dependant on redecorating and getting new carpet for our living room. I've got a few other things which need doing first.

lazybones51 · 14 Aug 2018

zozo said:
Nice build!.. But, without pun intended, it just surprises me and wondering about it!?.. Why do you guys still hangon to that old fashion HP LED?.. Since development in the led industry goes at such a fast pace..

Take for axample the <2B#C COB unit>, also already a few years on the market.. It outperforms the regular 3 watt Epistar quite a bit, almost a factor 2. And is about equal in size by surface but 4 times as flat and doesnt get as hot.

I used them because they're cheap and this was my first time attempting to build a light unit like this. If I made a mistake it would only cost pennies instead of pounds

Ten Epistars cost just over £1, where as 1 COB cost £2.

zozo · 14 Aug 2018

lazybones51 said:
I used them because they're cheap and this was my first time attempting to build a light unit like this. If I made a mistake it would only cost pennies instead of pounds Ten Epistars cost just over £1, where as 1 COB cost £2.

I'm not from the UK, but i always order from Asian Wholesale sources.

https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/Outs...108.1000016.1.42686a59RIhVkH&isOrigTitle=true

https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/Big-...108.1000016.1.41ec76a4RlB8EK&isOrigTitle=true

I must confirm, buying overseas finding a proper quality source can take time and patience. It requires a small batch order first to check quality. Buying this from a local vendor easier to contact, reflects in it's price ofcourse, for in most cases the very same product.

mow said · 14 Aug 2018

zozo said:
Nice build!.. But, without pun intended, it just surprises me and wondering about it!?.. Why do you guys still hangon to that old fashion HP LED?.. Since development in the led industry goes at such a fast pace..

Take for axample the <2B#C COB unit>, also already a few years on the market.. It outperforms the regular 3 watt Epistar quite a bit, almost a factor 2. And is about equal in size by surface but 4 times as flat and doesnt get as hot.

Hey @zozo there is many reason why im using these other than cobs leds. First there is not allot of range when it comes to cob leds. You cant mix and match to get the colour you want maybe in the future but not now. Another option is to use SMD leds but the problem is you need a board for it, many companys such as Ada , twinstar and others are using SMD. Its not easy to solder SMD leds without proper manufacturing equipment.Maybe in the future i will make a SMD when the boards are easy to get. You can email Chinese people with the designs you want and they will make you a PCB board which is not cheap and you will need a PCB soldering machine. Anyways my point is cob leds are good but they are not cheap and they do not have many colours. Also advantages of cobs are not that much.

As for lumens not that much difference with the one you linked . MCOB is a new led type which i have not seen before.

And as you can see not much diffence with the ones you linked as they are aluminium . The ceramic cobs are good but expensive.
( 10pcs Cree XLamp CXA1507 15W Ceramics COB LED Array Light EasyWhite 5000K Warm White 3000K with or without Holder
http://s.aliexpress.com/fEZrQjQr?fromSns=Copy to Clipboard )

My point is the best leds you can use in an aquarium right now for diy are SMD if you can source a company that can make you a pcb and solder the leds for you. If you live in china then its like walking to a corner shop. For now 1w 3w leds are the best for a DIY unit with colour mixing. As @lazybones51 said cheap to replace.

zozo · 14 Aug 2018

@mow said

Thank you.. It makes sense.. Just was wondering..

mow said said:
My point is the best leds you can use in an aquarium right now for diy are SMD if you can source a company that can make you a pcb and solder the leds for you. If you live in china then its like walking to a corner shop. For now 1w 3w leds are the best for a DIY unit with colour mixing. As @lazybones51 said cheap to replace.

I absolutely agree, my last build was from the SMD 8520 Dual chip.. After using this a few years i don't think i ever need anything else.. They are extremely durable, stay rather warm than hot in comparison. Are absolutely strong enough with 65 lumen per chip it's also enough for a high tech setup up to 40 cm tall tank. Awfully simple to drive and control with a 12 volt constant voltage and PWM. Already come from factory on a rigid aluminium PCB.
https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/50cm...108.1000016.1.109511f8AOoVUg&isOrigTitle=true

Must say afetr using 4 metre of this strip vor 3 years above an open top tank. I feel like done searching for beter.. It doesn't need to be.. :thumbup:

But that's a mater of personal perception and preference.

SIngle led PCB version is 72 chips p/m ot so long ago i saw the 120 chip p/m double row on 1 PCB version.
Yet not sure if the Double row comes in dual chip, not yet seen it.
https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/Kore...108.1000016.1.400e1b965pmsi9&isOrigTitle=true

And also this is already 3 years old, i wouldn't be surpised if there already is a beter performing SMD.

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