Thinking about doing a masive DIY solaris. Prototype Built!

N

Nazrac

Well i have been doing major reserch on lumileds and have come up with an idea. Basicly i want opinions and advice. Here are the leds i want to use. http://www.componentsuperstore.com/Store/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductIdentifier=LXK2PWC40160LUMILEDSLIGHTING1339589 at 1500mA they make 220 Lumens each. Using this as my power source http://cgi.ebay.com/MASTECH-VARIABLE-REGULATED-DC-POWER-SUPPLY-0-30V-0-20A_W0QQitemZ130237847844QQihZ003QQcategoryZ58288QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem I could easily do around 120 driving each one at 1333mA which would max out the ps at 20A. It would be 15 parralel paths of 8 each. solaris is using the same LED's in their new I4 line but only driving them at 1000mA. I dont know if i will have the same amount of power they are claiming but I think it would work well enough. The led's are only $3.50 each when you buy at least 100 so 120 would cost 419.47 pick them up in dallas then the power supply would cost 235 some alluminum bars to mount them would be too bad. wire and solder are at my disposal. SO for around 650 i could have a solaris. Now how do i convince my wife to let me do it :twisted: Then i figure i could get some blues and add a much smaller ps to drive them but the cool whites i have seen in flashlights (same emmiter) Look pretty blue to me. :lol:
 
From what I could see in the pdf, the spectral range varies from 3500K up to 10,000K. The Spectral distribution chart shows a peak at around 430nM and then a nice range from around 500-800nM. That should give you a decent color white. I would be real tempted to order a couple of Eng. Samples from Philips and maybe check a few other vendors.
Just like my controller design, do a couple of small simulations with various parts to see what works best for you. I would also suggest adding in several Red and several Blue LED's that could be controlled seperately.
Ordering in maybe 20-25 LED's per paycheck will take longer, but keeps you under radar til it's too late :twisted:
 
my plan was to do 100 cool white and 20 royal blues. I haven't decided on any reds yet. still in the design stage. wish I could find a cheaper PS or make my own which I am working on. If anyone can help me with a Current regulated DC PS I would appreciate the help. (I do have a strong working knowledge of electronics.)
 
From what I've seen, the Power supplies for LED's are high frequency Switching power supplies. you control the intensity by the pulse width. Check the web for design ideas.
 
1. you need way more than 2/10 blue to white ratio.
2. you will get great growth from your light but need to factor in tank depth to get the right spacing between the LEDs or you will have poor penetration.
3. you will need to supliment the LEds with some super actenics to get the sub 400nm spectrum for coloration enhancement. (UV range)
4. Only drive the power supply at about 50% of its rated power output if you can. 75% max.
5.you will need to dicipate quite a bit of heat so keep in mind you need to add some direct cooling to your aluminum bars to draw heat away from the LEDs. Even though they are LEDs they get hot when driven at full capacity.
6. I would only drive the LEDs at about 90% capacity if they will be on all day. Keep in mind it will shorten the lifespan if they get hot.
7. Use arctic alumina epoxy to mout them. It will electrically isolate the star plate from the sink.

Any other questions...PM me. I have a little experience in this area ;-)

-Brad
 
btw...I am not so sure they use K2s in the I4. I think the original Solaris (I had one) had Luxeon III LEDs in it. (3W) I thought the K2s were only 1W or 2W. I am wondering if the I4 uses Luxeon Rebels? Anyway, I would strongly suggest looking at rebels for your project. More light output per LED by as mush as 4 or 5 times. Even though they cost twice as much i would think you would save lots of money in the long run. There are also tons of sites that sell Phillips Luxeon LEDs. luxeonstar.com comes to mind. Get the star form factor with a lambertain pattern. They are easier to mount and have the best beam shape for deeper penetration without mounting optics.
 
The K2's are the 3w+ but w/TFFC you can get almost 6w out of them. I am an electrician/electronics tech I have a new plan on a PS and I am going to make my own current limiter. as for the colors why so many blue? and I do plan on keeping 2 96w PC bulbs for actinic.
 
If you are going to add actinics then you will be fine with fewer blue LEDs. I think I used about a 4 to 1 ratio the fist time I did this and liked the spectrum. (Similar to a 12K MH color) The cool white LEDs already have a fairly bluish tint anyway. If you ever get down to Dallas and want to see what they look like lit up on a nano cube, you are more than welcome to stop by. I was going to light my larger tank with these but it was cheaper to buy a chiller and MH setup so I just opted to go that route. BTW...I had, and know others that had issues getting color from SPS under LEDs, that is why I suggested suplimental actinic lighting. Softies did fine though.

-Brad
 
I used this one - http://www.luxeonstar.com/luxeon-iii-star-led-royal-blue-lambertian-340-mw-700ma-p-286.php

And this white LED - http://www.luxeonstar.com/luxeon-iii-star-led-white-lambertian-65-lm-700ma-p-287.php

Now I am running 10 white and 6 blue all at about 80% to 85% of their rated peak current and voltage on the 12G nano.

I used a 12V computer power supply rated at 20A to drive them in groups of 3 LEDs in series. (2 with a bit larger resistor on the blue ones) I just calculated what kind of voltage I needed to drop across the resistor in the circuit to drive the LEDs at a constant level.

Here is the PS I used. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153037

It looks nice setting out on its own and is in its own case etc. It provides 2 sets of 12 volt leads with power indicators. Works like a champ and doesnt get hot at all. I am running it at around 6 or 7 amps on my DC circuit.
 
Ok so here is what i can take from your set up. You have LED's that at 1000 mA will output 80 Lumens. The ones i am going to use put out 220 lumens at 1500 mA The powersupply i am going to use is a computer power suppply but i am going to use a true current limiter with NFET's and npn transitors with a feedback loop. I am going to use the 12v rails for my whites and the 5 volt rails for my royal blues. i am pretty good at wood working so i figured i would make a Power supply box to go on top of my canopy since its 7 foot tall you wont see it. I realize you would need a lot to do a 265 but with as bright as they are 100 of the whites should be pretty darn impressive. One last note is that yours are the 5500k whites and the ones i want are the 6500k. I think it will look good. The only thing that is disapointing is that they dont come in stars yet just emmiters. And as for the rebels they are very small you can get 3 to a star to make lots of light but they are really expensive that way. The K2 with TFFC are the best lumen/watt/dollar.
 
I am sorry if I came across rudely and truly apologize. E just wanted to he sure we were on the same page about which ones and capabilities of the ones I was using. I dont even know when they will be available. The more I' look at a DIY the price aint so bad.
 
No offense taken. The original K2 were about the same lum output of the LuxIII. Actually I think it was around 50lum for Blue and 100 or so for white at spec current, so the white ones were a hair brighter but they took a bit more current to drive them at spec. Are they releasing a new K2 LED or are you planning to overdrive (drive to max capacity) the current K2 models? I did this to some LuxIII when I was testing the initial design and they didnt last very long. (I think I needed larger heat sinks on those) So when I built my heatsink for the hood in my nano, I way over-engineered it. I am running my LEDs at somewhere in the 750 to 850 mA range. If you drive them hard you will need to cool the rails or whatever they are mounted to. My old solaris used an aluminum circuit board and mounted the leds to the aluminum structure and then to a heat sink with fans. My design were stars. (Way easy) I think you can get K2 stars from www.luxeonstar.com. They are mounted Lux K2s on a pre fab LED Dynamics star board. (I dont think LumiLEDs offered the K2 in a star. And they sure didnt exist 2 years ago back when when I built mine) You will probably be better with the electrical parts than me. My background is in Mechanical Engineering but I did take a couple of circuits courses. Maybe your FETs will make them run a bit cooler??

-B
 
dont work for ratheon. I dont think i will be able to go thru with this now that my tranny in my windstar is broke. Looking like it is going to run my 2000 to fix it :shock:
 
well I am bringing this back to life but with a different spin on things. I have been doing massive research on LED's (I mean massive.) So the New spin is I am pretty sure I can make them for a fraction of the price of a Solaris just w/o the bells and whistles an then market them. I really don't want to give away details yet but they will be brighter and much cheaper. I was thinking I could Sell a 2 foot section for around 500-700 not exactly sore yet but at 700 thats still less than half. I would love to get some feedback on what everyone thinks about this Idea.
 
I have tried to mimic what a 10K with actinic, would be like but I think it will end up more like a 20K. That's why I am building a prototype to see if I want to make adjustments.
 
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