6"x20" nano LED fixture

C

CaravanShaka

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Well, after the meeting I decided I wanted to try a full spectrum LED fixture and see how it did compared to the old fixtures I have built that were strictly blue/white. I don't have a tank for this to go over, yet....but I have been eyeing the innovative marine 16g Nuvo so I may talk my wife into letting me have that in the bedroom so she stops complaining that I am always in the office with my tank, lol.

So I went to RapidLED first, but decided to try some luxeon colors since I wa already getting te royal blues there for $2.50 each. Anyways, here is my total parts-list:

<u>RapidLED</u>
- 6x20 black anodized heatsink with acrylic shield
- Y shaped hanging kit
- 5x Cree XP-E Blue LED's
- 6x Violet UV LED's
- 2x Cree XP-E Red LED's
- 3x Rapid Branded dimmable Nano Drivers, 1-10 LED's, 0-700ma
- Berquist Thermal Pads (have liked these so far with after using them a couple times)

<u>Steve's LEDs</u>
- 5x Cree XT-E Royal Blue LED's
- 4x Luxeon Cool White LED's
- 2x Luxeon Neutral White 5000k LED's
- 2x Luxeon Warm White 4000k LED's
- 2x Luxeon Warm White LED's
- 2x Luxeon Cyan LED's

I plan on documenting the build on here once all of the parts arrive later this week :)
 
Sounds cool. I wish I could have caught that meeting but I have Wednesday schedule conflicts.

I will definitely be following along because i am also debating doing the same thing and was trying to see how much the project would cost. Not sure if you will be posting total cost or not but if you don't mind letting me know via PM it would be appreciated.

edit: What spread do you think a 6x20 fixture will cover? I was hoping it might come close to covering a 60g 36x18 foot print.
 
Do you have a 60g already? When the fixture is done, maybe we could test it on your tank? ;)

I am actually planning on sticking it over my 75 to see how it looks. I will get a better feel for coverage after that. I expect my 75 would need 2 of these pendants to get coverage though.

I will PM you the rough cost of the fixture a bit later


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@F1SH wrote:
Sounds cool. I wish I could have caught that meeting but I have Wednesday schedule conflicts. I will definitely be following along because i am also debating doing the same thing and was trying to see how much the project would cost. Not sure if you will be posting total cost or not but if you don't mind letting me know via PM it would be appreciated. edit: What spread do you think a 6x20 fixture will cover? I was hoping it might come close to covering a 60g 36x18 foot print. said:
I have a 60g with that footprint, and I just pulled a 36led fixture off because it wasnt enough light. The spread wasnt bad it just needed more light for corals. You guys are welcome to test it over my tank if you dont have one and want to see how it looks.
Click to expand...
 
just ran the numbers, I think it ended up being pretty cheap with the current sales going on :)

Got my tracking from Rapid, thanks to the heatsink and it having to go UPS, I won't get the parts until monday.

I did draw up my wiring and LED placement though (you can see my accounting excel skills hard at work here, lol):
 
@niteowl03 wrote:
I have a 60g with that footprint said:
did you have the fixture I made for the Solana on that tank? If so, I'll bet directly under it you had plenty of light for the corals, but it was missing some on the sides. The width on that fixture was only 16"
Click to expand...
 
Got Steve's LEDs in yesterday. Kind of neat having 4 colors of whites.

Also, a fair warning, the Luxeon Cyan looks nothing like the Cree Cyan, way more green than cyan. I was worried about not having green in my fixture, but not worried now. Although I may get a couple cree cyans and just use the luxeons as green.


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My box from Rapid finally arrived, shortly after UPS used it in a game of hot potatoe!! Damaged heatsink after waiting 10 days for it :(

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Going to work with what I have and put the damaged corners in the back :(


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Oh, and probably going to build this tonight and document it on here with pictures if anyone cares to follow along


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Ok, driver box is wired, and heatsink mods are done!

Regarding the heatsink, if you know you want to drill or do any modifications, get them done BEFORE you mount LEDs. I have done the opposite before and busted an LED or 2 from random bumps typical of working on it.

Notice I am using RCA plugs on both ends, this is my experiment ;)

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And now for the driver box. I mentioned in another thread, I love these rapid nano drivers! They have terminals for Every wire coming into them, making it easy to do a clean install. Not only that, but their pots don't require a power source!! Less wires is always nice!

The female RCA jack panel was all soldered before mounting, which is why you will see the 4th jack with a short wire going nowhere. I soldered it in case I ever felt the need to add another LED array so I wouldn't have to pull the jack out to solder 1 more driver in. For now it will go unused.

Everything is in order in the box. The Left power cord powers rhe left driver which uses the left pot and goes out of the left jack, etc..

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Now on to the LEDs!


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And now the rough layout of the LEDs.

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After that, i take the time to map my wiring to face the +/- in logical spots for each LED. You want your wiring to flow, not a bunch of loops cause you didn't spend the extra time.

Now I have the blues and colors all mounted, and got a few soldered up before my daughter woke up, effectively ending my night :(

It looks like I ran out of thermal tape pads, so the whites may have to wait until later this week anyway.

A quick shot of the current status:

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^Ditto looks good. I like the RCA plug idea for a cleaner install. Are you going to use a fan to actively cool the heatsink or do you think it will be able to passively dissipate those hot spots where you have LED's lumped up.
 
I always go fanless to start, and test it as-is before adding a fan. I have only ever added a fan to a steves led setup with the tubing. But I also never run fixtures in a canopy, which makes the passive cooling a lot easier due to it being open for general airflow in the house

Since the clusters are mainly white/color, i doubt they will be at 100% power, and probably won't produce a ton of heat. At least that is my expectation :)


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Wiring finished

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It's Alive!!!

Whites:

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Blues:

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Colors:

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All on low:

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