Cree LED Fixture

C

ctaylor81

I decided to switch from my Evolution LED's to a custom LED setup that would give me more control over my colors. I tend to like a more natural look, and the Evo's were just too blue for me. I had Wayne (ImageX) build me a fixture with a 50/50 mix of Cree XP-E and XP-G's with dimmable Meanwell drivers. I picked up the fixture on Tuesday night have been getting it ready to mount over the past few days. I still need to pull my canopy off and prep it for mounting, but here are some pic's and a small description of what went on.

Prepping

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Wired Up

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White Only

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Full power white and blue

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Looks a bit blue at full power, so I'll be dialing back the blues once I have the whites going pretty strong.

I decided to mount a shield on the fixture to avoid splash. I had a piece of 48"x10" acrylic made as the shield.

I first drilled a 1/4" hole through the heatsink in all 4 corners.

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I laid the shield on top of the fixture and drilled matching holes in the acrylic. Put a washer in between the bolt and the shield, then the shield, rubber stop, heatsink, and finally a washer and nut to tighten the shield on.

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So, that wraps up prepping the fixture to mount it. I still need to take my canopy off and figure exactly how I'm going to lay it in there, but I picked up a few different sizes of wood today, so I'll make a few cuts tomorrow evening and hopefully wrap this up.

The one thing I did not account for was support for the acrylic shield in the middle of the fixture. Given that it is 48" long, it sags in the middle. I'll stop by HD tomorrow and pick up another rubber stop, bolt, washers, and nut.

If anyone is interested in the parts I used, let me know. I'll post them up if anyone wants to do something similar.
 
About $100 more than when I originally bought the Evo's, which is cheaper than they are selling them for now. Those prices have gone up with their popularity. I wish I would have gone this route in the beginning, but I didn't know enough about LED's at the time, so I went with an easy fixture that was plug and play. This has been a fun process and I've learned a lot! It's not fun when you are stuck with a color you don't like. With my new lights, I can adjust the blues back and get the perfect color for my liking. I should have them mounted by Saturday, so I'll post up some pic's of them on the tank.
 
Your diy fixture looks great. Where did you get your heat sink? Leds? Also what driver did you end up using. I'm looking at building a led light also. If you want pm or I'll keep an eye on this thread for any updates. Thanks

Justin
 
Ricky, I wouldn't hesitate to have Wayne build me another fixture. Actually, he's building my dad a very similar fixture next week for his new 120. It looks like you are getting a new tank going, so if you are strongly considering LED's, I'd go for it. The shield was my idea and it just took some time in HD playing around with a few ideas. I really like how the shield and mounts turned out, so we'll probably do the same on my dads.

@rickyb wrote:
 
A few early shots. I've only messed with the colors a little bit, but they are pretty good. The pic's really don't show the true color though, so I'm not sure how accurate it really is. It is definitely no where near as blue as the Evo's though. Wifey is happy cause it doesn't look like a bar when you're standing in front of the house, lol. I'm still an amateur with the camera.

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As you can see, I've lost some of the "POP" with a whiter setup, but it's nice when the sand actually looks white. The shimmer is incredible though and much better than the Evo's. The good thing is I can always add more blue to the heat sink if I want to. This is the type of play I was looking for. I'll post up some actinic shots when I get a chance later.
 
I've had LED's since October, albeit they weren't as strong as these. I have the whites turned all the way down and the blues a bit higher. Corals seem to be doing fine and the only bleaching I see is on brand new growth on a frag plug on my green slimer. The main stalks are looking great and seem to love the lights.

On this 50/50 mixture, the whites are much stronger than the blues, so I really only like the look of this setup with the whites at the lowest power option, and the blues at full power. Wayne and I are throwing around a few ideas right now to get a bit more blue in the tank so I can turn the whites up later on and get more life out of them. With the whites on at 50-75% power, it's a color that is closer to 10-12k, which is not really what I'm wanting. The original pictures are misleading, as the blue and whites at full power aren't nearly as blue on the tank as they are lighting up the room ceiling. I'll keep you guys updated on what we decide to do...
 
chance i might just take it off your hands cause i need to get a light for my tank anyways.. still deciding if i'm going to do t5 and led still or not.. also since your dumping the one fixture you only need 24 optics now right?? lmk before i place the order on monday..
 
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