Another led light.

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That heat sink looks a little bigger. Why didn't you spread the LEDs out to get more coverage? Looks like you could fit at least four LEDs on this one. Please share the link. I'm most likely going to build one or two for my 40b.

Mcreefer: What seller are you buying the LEDs from? There are tons of them on ebay.
 
I don't really stick to one. It really depends. I try and find someone shipping from inside the states at the overseas price. A lot of times you will find some in the US but they want 9.00 a pop. But if you don't mind waiting you can buy some cheaper from China. I've never had issues buying them from China. And if I do order some from there I'll get at least 10. If anyone wants some right away i would always be open to trade my own stock for a frag =D
 
This is who I buy my 3W LEDs from if it helps you any. http://www.ebay.com/usr/string-lights

I have about 100 of them and have not had any problems with them so far. I put them onto a variable power supply and they are withing 5% of the rated value. So, 3.4VDC at .750mA and it might float down towards .710 but it really depends on how many volts you push into them.

So far I have been happy with them, and considering the fact that they come to .57 cents each in a lot of 50, with free shipping, the cost is great. Just don't expect fast shipping from them. To the US it's 10 to 25 days and it took around 18 days for mine to show up. If you check the US import tax tables you will also find that with loose diodes there is no import tax, so what you pay on ebay is all it cost you.


Tim
 
McReefer,

How has the depth on your lights been working for you? The tank I am building my lights for is 29" tall so I am going to need some extra lights for it. I know that you are running 10W LEDs so I am going to be running 3:1 on lights compared to your design but I can work with that. I am just not sure how many I should put on the fixture. Right now I am just thinking that I will put up a ton of LEDs and then just dim them down. However, I would rather use what I need and then use the extra LEDs for other light fixtures as I also have a 55Gallon FW tank, and a 20 Gallon tank that I would like to replace the lights on. Right now I have leads soldered to the following LEDs;

10 - 20K White
10 - 10K White
10 - 520nm Green
10 - 455nm Blue
10 - 465nm Blue
10 - 410nm UV

That comes to 180W and does not meet the rule of thumb of 3W per gallon, but I know that was for MH lights. What have you found is needed for your reef tank when it comes to the LEDs?

If I have to run them all my printer power supply will not cover them all (it's around 100W), so I will end up either having to find another power supply or run three power supplies for my design. I plan on running at least two power supplies, one for the LED circuits and the other will be for the Arduino. As you know the Arduino does not draw much power it's self, and the only shield I will have on it at first is my RTC. The RTC draws so little power that the 3.3V coin battery on it will keep it running for 1 year without any external power to it.

Tim
 
I can't really tell you what's going to work as far as depth. I will say that even if you like a nice white blue balance your going I want to have 75% blue and 25% white. At 29 inches I'm guessing a single 10W chip running full blast would have enough penetration to support palys and chalices on the sand bed but with very little spread. So I would definitely have tight clusters. What's the rest if the dimensions on the tank?
 
I don't think I have the experience to advise you on something that big. It doesn't help that I've never used 3W chips. I would say that if it was me, I would definitely go with at least 10W chips.
 
Well, since I already have the 3watt LEDs I am going to set up a light or two anyway. If they don't work out for the 150 then I can move them to my 55 and 20 gallon tanks.


Also, I dropped by Tanners Electronics today to pick up some TIP122 Transistors and ran across 3 different type CPU heat sinks. All three of them were less than $10 with fans mounted. One of them was for server class processors and is made out of copper which should be the best at cooling down any LEDs we could throw at them. They also have a slew of odd ball heat sinks one one of the shelves. I picked up a few to see how well they are going to work with the 3Watt LEDs.


Tim
 
The hard part is finding a heatsink that can hold more then 1-2 chips. So far the 478 style is the only ones I've found. I would LOVE to find a modern style copper one that could hold 4 chips. But a CPU foot print is to small.
 
@Guppy Breeder wrote:
http://bit.ly/1c3SVTj here ya go. I'm planning to redo my 3w LEDs with 10w ones on my dt said:
When I say modern I mean something like this.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103189

With no hood on the tank. It's pleasing to my 2 geeky eyes.
Click to expand...
 
That would look sweet, but with the price of copper these days you would have to triple the price of it. But grab some small 1/2Watt LEDs and mound to the side of it on on a flashing cycle and you would have your self on geek inspired lighting system that I would probably pay admission to see. [smilie=lol.gif]



Tim
 
@McReefer wrote:
The hard part is finding a heatsink that can hold more then 1-2 chips. So far the 478 style is the only ones I've found. I would LOVE to find a modern style copper one that could hold 4 chips. But a CPU foot print is to small. said:
I am actually thinking about mounting all of my LEDs to a sheet of 1/8th inch aluminum with thermal paste and then mounting a few heat sinks to the back of the aluminum. Then adding a fan to the enclosure to move air across the back of the sheet to help remove the heat. In essence I am making my own large heat sink with smaller (read that more affordable) heat sinks. Since I'll be putting them in an enclosure I can, and probably will, be using mismatched heat sinks on the back.

For my enclosure I am going to take some red oak, which matches the stand, and using my router to cut a dado for the glass on the bottom and then another one up higher to hold the aluminum sheet and then one last one for a sheet of red oak to close it up. Once stained the light fixture should match my stand so i would be able to use it with or without the canopy.

Tim
Click to expand...
 
@McReefer wrote:
[I]@Guppy Breeder wrote:[/I][quote="http://bit.ly/1c3SVTj here ya go. I'm planning to redo my 3w LEDs with 10w ones on my dt said:
When I say modern I mean something like this.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103189

With no hood on the tank. It's pleasing to my 2 geeky eyes."]

That is a beast!

I'm planning my next LEDs Gunna run 140 for 120w
Click to expand...
 
I was able to take my light to a friends house to compare to his 250w MH. Thought I'd post the pictures up for anyone who's thinking of building this light themselves so they know what to expect. My light is on the right and the MH is on the left.
Blues only
[attachment=2]ImageUploadedByTapatalk1388342456.400566.jpg[/attachment]
Whites only
[attachment=1]ImageUploadedByTapatalk1388342495.908561.jpg[/attachment]
Both
[attachment=0]ImageUploadedByTapatalk1388342519.252961.jpg[/attachment]
The light is penetrating some salt create covered glass that you couldn't see through at all. I'm very happy with the outcome.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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