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ILLUSN
Mon Mar 21, 2011, 12:12 PM
Hi All,
Quick DIY on my new light, the purpose of this build is to begin replacing all my CF and T5HO’s with LED’s, reasons being, for running costs (power consumption/ bulbs) and service life.

Heres a quick rundown of the parts list as you can see the total build cost isn’t cheep, but it uses ~70 watts of power and easily outshines a 2x40w T8 and to the human eye a 2x54W T5HO fixture. Once my par meter arrives I wont be surprised if it generates a similar par reading to my 4x54 grolux tubes with spider reflectors (even if the 4x54w's look bighter) but that will have to wait for another time. A massive plus that these particular LED’s are good for 50000-80000 hours (11-18 years @ 12 hours/day)

*DISCLAIMER: This build uses generic high output Chinese LED’s NOT high cost, high quality name brand CREE or Luxeon chips. The blues are a twin epistar chip but I have no idea and no way of finding out what the other are. Data sheets were provided for a baseline product but these LED’s have slightly different properties (viewing angle, wavelength out put, drive current) and so aren’t too usefull . With this in mind any results or measurements from this build are expected to be ~30% lower then similar builds watt for watt that you will read on various reefing forums. Cree and Luxeon do not produce a 430-450nm blue or a 660nm deep red the wavelengths I’m targeting for plant growth. You could build a similar light using a mix or name brand warm whites in place of the reds and name brand cool whites with royal blues but expect to pay $8-$10 per LED vs the price detailed below.

Drivers are all generic low cost Chinese items I’m not expecting a super long service life hence the entire build is based around a fast swap system for failed components. Using higher quality drivers such as Xitanium or Meanwell would get around this but budget at least $60 per driver vs the prices below. LED’s and drivers have been sourced direct from wholesalers in China freight must still be added to the individual unit prices below.


PARTS LIST

RED LED’s 660nm x8 @$1.06 $8.48
BLUE LED’s 440-450nm x4 @$2.70 $10.80
WHITE LED’s 6500k x12 @$1.27 $15.24
60w LED driver(85V 700ma) x1 @$18.74 $18.74
12v driver x1 @$3.95 $3.95
Heat sink x2 @$22.50 $45.00
Brackets 25mmx25mm x8 @$0.45 $1.80
Fans 80mm x4 @$5.95 $35.70
Hobby box x2 @$14.95 $29.90
WAGO connecters x9 @$1.00 $9.00
Aluminium angle 50x25mm x2m @$16.75 $33.50
Aluminium channel 20x20mm x0.4m(1m)@$6.95 $6.95
Wire x2m @$0.25 $0.50
Speaker wire x0.5m(1m) @$0.70 $0.70
Artic aluminia 5g x1 @$8.00 $8.00
Araldite x1 @$7.95 $7.95
Thermal compound x1 @$1 $1.00

Total $237.53

The build is over kill, the heat sinks and fans are way oversized for the LED’s buts its just a concept build the next light will use heat sinks and fans from discontinued CPU’s, plastic hobby boxes instead of aluminium and DIY thermal epoxy, this should bring the build down to ~$130. This will be more inline with a cheep 2x54w T5 unit ($90) and 2 decent plant tubes ($24 ea).

Building the housing was easy enough, I used my compound saw to cut the 20mm channel into 96mm lengths, I had enough from 1m to make 8 sections (enough for 2 lights).

Next I used thermal epoxy (artic alumina) to glue these together to the angle, this will serve has the housing, reflector and anchor points for the light, a few 12mm stainless screws were added for support. The housing was pre drilled to allow for wires to move around the channel as well as to and from the drivers.

The 2 heat sinks were cut in half on the saw and glued to the housing. To save expense I DIY’d the thermal epoxy by mixing equal parts of thermal compound (TIM) from the CPU my last PC build with araldite.
http://discusforums.com/forum/files/geolighttop.jpg

The hobby boxes had 3 and 4 holes drilled in each and were glued in the same manner. One houses the 12v driver used to power the fans, this also houses 5 WAGO’s 3 for ac power (1 live 1 earth 1 neutral) in from the wall to the LED driver and the 12v driver and 2 for the out put from the 12v driver (one for positive one for negative) to the fans. The earth WAGO has a short lead that goes to a screw that keeps the lid on, this serves as an earth point for the housing. The second hobby box houses 4 WAGO’s 2 for the led driver (one positive 1 negative) and 2 for the fans (again 1 positive and 1 negative). The reason for the WAGO’s is in the event of failure of any component it can be removed and replaced (assuming I have parts on hand) in seconds, at least as fast as changing a fluoro tube.

With the housing effectively done I tinned the solder pads on the LED’s before fixing them to the fixture with artic alumina.

http://discusforums.com/forum/files/red-white.jpg

Once glued on I stripped ~3mm of insulation off the end of a length of wire and tinned each end, these were then soldered to the tinned solder pads in series (from + on one LED to – on the next and so on). As the distance between each LED varied I had to do them 1 at a time in future revisions I’ll have the LED’s at a set distance so all the wire can be pre-cut and pre tinned.
http://discusforums.com/forum/files/geolight.jpg

As the blues hadn’t arrived yet these were spliced in after.

Once done I connected the driver to the power cord via WAGO’s and the output to the LED array (also via WAGO’s). Test fire worked a treat.

http://discusforums.com/forum/files/light_739.jpg

Next up the driver was mounted on the back and the 12v power supply hooked up in 1 hobby box.

The fans were mounted on brackets and the brackets glued with araldite to the heat sinks. For cooling I used artic cooling rear case fans these fans move 18+ cfm of air and have less then 16dB(A) when all fans are on they are silent. They have a MTBF of ~30000 hours and so will need replacing before the LED’s but this will be quick and simple. I could have gone with Noctua or Thermal take fans that have a MBTF of over 50000 hours but these would have cost $15-$28 each, with any build you have to do some cost/benefit economising.

Testing the (near) completed unit on the discus tank showed the work in choosing the spectrum of the LED’s paid off, the light is bright and crisp, the blues and reds of the fish are intensified and compared to grolux tube its still warm but not as harsh a “purple”, also there’s no green tint to the water as your get with the hagen lifeglo. With both T8 globes on (80w) the 70w LED light is miles ahead. The shimmer effect out of the tank is very impressive on the next version I’ll space the LED’s closer together so as to get the shimmer in the tank (like a metal halide).

Last stage is to fit the splashguard. I was going to use acrylic but I don’t like how fast it discolours, Lexan or glass will be better options. As this particular light will sit above one of my L number breeding racks on heavy metal brackets 6mm glass will most likely be a more economically viable option.

Next update will be the thermal testing using an IR thermometer to see how well the system deals with the heat from the LED’s, and finally will be the performance test with the PAR meter (when it arrives) to see how this light stands up to at 2x54w T5 with average reflectors and high quality spider reflectors.

ILLUSN
Mon Mar 21, 2011, 12:24 PM
did the thermal testing on the light using the super sensitve thermocouple at work, at an ambient temp of 23C the heat sinks after 6 hours of runtime reached a max temp of 27.4C the temp of the LED itself measured on the lens of the diode was 40.4C well below the failure mark.

I was a little worried about the disparity between diode and heat sink temps but when i measured the interface temp of the alumium star with the housing and found only 0.2C diffrence (27.6C) i felt much better.

Lets hope the CPU heatsinks fair as well as these over sized monsters on the next build.

ILLUSN
Sat Apr 16, 2011, 01:42 PM
Well the PAr sensor hasn't arrived yet but I've just finished testing the new big(er) LED light, this light will go on dads 4x18x2 tall tank it uses 4 jaycar 225mm heatsinks and 52 LED's in 2 26 arrays each array has
7 660nm red
3 440-450nm blue
8 10000k whites
8 6000-6500k midday whites

a couple of super low noise 120mm fans keep everyhting cool

ILLUSN
Sat Apr 16, 2011, 01:48 PM
as this light uses 2 driver i was able to set up a dawn dusk effect the way this works is the red and blue leds come on 1st these turn on the fans and start cooling the unit. after a set period of time (say 2 hours) the whites come on simulating the midday intensity.

as blue and red are used by plants photosynthesis starts with the dawn dusk set and continues through the entire light cycle.

the best part about this is for the frist 2 and last 2 hours your only using 1/2 power (60w) so over a 12 hour day you drop your consumption from 1440w to 1200w with no real negative impact on your plants

ILLUSN
Sat Apr 16, 2011, 01:56 PM
the best part about testing on this tank is i can use my 300w aqualins CF for comparison, my aqualina uses all ctalina plant/10000k bulbs (2x96w and 2x55w)

here are the head to head photos, as I'm a tight a$$ i usually only run 1/2 the bulbs (~150w)

as you can see from the photos the LEDs are similar to the 150w CF's maybe even a bit brighter, but no where near as bright as the 300w CF's.
to note though is that the CF\s are much more even then the LEDS which work more like a spotlight similar to a metal halide. I prefer this look as it gives a really nice shimmer to the tank like a halide, other people might not like it.

also notce how the reds give a slight pink tinge to the tank, at first i was nt too keen but once the fish came out the CRI of the LED light was amazing

ILLUSN
Sat Apr 16, 2011, 02:03 PM
i had to get some photos of the fish under the CF they look good nice and healthy, under the LED's they look AMAZING the colours were greatly intensified

ILLUSN
Sat Apr 16, 2011, 02:06 PM
some more these photos show the tiny leco i got off matzilla from hist first batch of Leuco's i sware its a Leuco x sinnous just look at the facial markings

Exotic Aquatic
Sat Apr 16, 2011, 02:10 PM
gday ILLUSN, my system is also running at the moment however im too busy right now to get the cam out n take pics!!!

Im using a "micro halide" style pendant made up of 3X3w superwhites per pendant (yes i did hanging pendants!!) looks super schmick on an iwagumi (which im building next out of starfire for the new shop).

right now i have 4X 9W pendants hanging over my 6X2 with a dimmer on the system to alter lumen output...... the shimmer is ridiculous!!

Really the best way i can explain it is a Metal Halide, only TINY (size of golf ball cut in half).

Mine dont have the pink, just natural Halide style lighting, looks like actual sun only not as yellow as i use cool super whites- still not blue/white though.... more natural.

Let me know if you want me to send you something.

ILLUSN
Sat Apr 16, 2011, 02:14 PM
the light i actually build for this tank will be a 3 array unit using 2x60w driver and 1x35w (155w in total I know, I'm tight) it will use a 3 stage system of red blue 1st them warm white then 10000k bright white each stage running for 4 hours less then the first (blue red =12 hours warm white =8 hours bright white = 4 hours)I'll update when i get around to building it and if my PAR meter ever arrives.

ILLUSN
Sat Apr 16, 2011, 02:47 PM
sounds impressive Adrian, I'm shooting for 40-60 PAR (umol/m2/s) on the substarte, with CO2 that should be enough to grow anyhting.

I'm eyeballing this unit on this tank at ~15-55 umol/m2s depending on where in the tank you are from it it should be over kill for dads little 4x18x2 (this tank being 2.5 wide causes duller regions away from the light) I'm thining my one will use 60 degree optics on the warm(er) whites just to give it some punch down to 2.5 feet deep.

syxx
Sun May 01, 2011, 11:06 AM
thats really cool, good work

Angelman
Fri Jan 06, 2012, 01:09 PM
I had a question for you on this build..What is the wattage of your LED's 3w? I have made a few led lights but used resitors rather than buying a controller. This is very limiting useing 3w LED's. I want to get it right before I shell out the cash on better LED's :)

ILLUSN
Sat Jan 07, 2012, 08:48 AM
Yep 3w epistar diode LEDs from China. The input on each led is 700ma vf varies from 3.8 for the whites down to 2.8 for the reds. From memory 5000k 3.8 vf 10000k 3.6 blue 3.6 red 2.8. With Cree XPG now under $10 on star boards using cheap chinease LEDs seems a bit of a waste of time.

Mattzilla
Sun Jan 08, 2012, 03:46 AM
Yep 3w epistar diode LEDs from China. The input on each led is 700ma vf varies from 3.8 for the whites down to 2.8 for the reds. From memory 5000k 3.8 vf 10000k 3.6 blue 3.6 red 2.8. With Cree XPG now under $10 on star boards using cheap chinease LEDs seems a bit of a waste of time.

I have no idea what you just said..... i'm so NOT a tech head

hahahaha

Angelman
Sun Jan 08, 2012, 01:42 PM
Those cheap LED's are not bad. Even thou I still got Creed ones for my main show tank as they are brighter and have a higher forward current allowance (1000ma) thou they have no blue ones in the range I was looking for but warm white will hit those spectrum's. Thank you for the reply I thought 3w but I have not done any electronics stuff in 20+ years :) Its amazing I remember anything..

swampy1972
Sun Jan 22, 2012, 09:21 AM
I hope you don't mind ILLUSN, but I've just finished some DIY LEDs myself so I thought I'd show them here rather than start a new thread..

They're 50W 6500K single emitters, meant to be a match for 150W MH - we'll see.. So far they have proven to BLOODY BRIGHT!! I guess the proof will be in the plant growth :wink:

With the 80mm PC cooling fans the fittings are cool to touch. Even able to touch the base of the emitter! The hottest part of the system is actually the drivers.

Thankfully the fans are very quiet. You can just make out a slight hum in the room when they're on.

http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad348/swampy1972/5ft%20Display%20tank/IMG_0466.jpg
http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad348/swampy1972/5ft%20Display%20tank/IMG_1099.jpg
http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad348/swampy1972/5ft%20Display%20tank/IMG_1103.jpg
http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad348/swampy1972/5ft%20Display%20tank/IMG_1119.jpg
http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad348/swampy1972/5ft%20Display%20tank/IMG_1130.jpg
http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad348/swampy1972/5ft%20Display%20tank/IMG_1132.jpg
http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad348/swampy1972/5ft%20Display%20tank/IMG_1147.jpg
http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad348/swampy1972/5ft%20Display%20tank/IMG_1149.jpg

ILLUSN
Mon Jan 23, 2012, 12:42 AM
VERY SLICK can you please post what driver your using?

be interesting to see how the 50w die's hold up, still whith good aggresive heatsinks like that you might be onto something VERY GOOD indeed.

swampy1972
Mon Jan 23, 2012, 02:14 AM
Thanks ILLUSN.

I'm yet to prove these in terms of plant growth etc, but the simple 'appearance' of the light looks good - if you know what I mean.

This is the driver I'm using http://www.ebay.ca/itm/FREE-SHIP-50W-LED-Driver-POWER-Supply-85-250V-20-38V-Waterproof-OutDoor-D1-/290648103597?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43abfa1aad

Very easy to setup really as they're a dedicated unit, so just plug and play. The driver case itself gets pretty hot, so they're my biggest concern at the moment. I'm considering adding a separate heatsink to each driver case to aid in cooling.

You can get a dimmer for these so they may be a later addition should the light prove too much. But I'll give it some time before deciding on these.

Thanks to the fan and large heatsinks, the emitters themselves are stone cold while operating. I can actually put my finger on the base of the emitter and there's absolutely no heat. I would not have dared to do this when I first ran them without the fans - they were INCREDIBLY HOT!!

I'll be interested to see the lifespan of the emitters myself really, and the best part is that if they're any good for the planted tank they're much less than the cost of a good MH bulb to replace and run..

ILLUSN
Mon Jan 23, 2012, 04:57 AM
You shouldn't need to replace them for a good 3 years, I think you might be replacing your driver before you replace your diodes, my LED's seem to EAT drivers even with a surge guard on the power point.

did you use thermal epoxy to fix the diodes or just screws and TIM paste?

swampy1972
Mon Jan 23, 2012, 05:21 AM
That's good news about the lifespan - bummer about the driver though. I'm pretty sure I'm going to add a small heatsink to their casing just to help reduce the heat a little and maybe help them last a bit longer.
I've just used thermal paste and screws. There's 4x screws through the emitters' base plate into the piece of flat alum' you see on the heatsink to get good contact. Then another 2x from the plate into the heatsink. The plate was needed because I had no where to screw directly from the emitter into the heatsink unfortunately. There's enough screws in it to almost hang off! :lol:

Nev
Mon Jan 23, 2012, 05:25 AM
Is there a link for diy led for dummies?

swampy1972
Mon Jan 23, 2012, 09:03 AM
Is there a link for diy led for dummies?

Not really Nev..

As you can see from this thread alone, there's more than one way to acheive a result and that result depends on many things..

Just a few of the variables:

Intended application (freshwater, planted, marine), budget, electrical knowledge, desired look of the finished light, etc, etc.

In my situation, I was a big fan of the look of MH shopfittings (but not of their running cost) so I wanted to get the same penetration for a deep tank, similar look but lower running cost.

I did a tonne or reading up on the various LEDs on the market looking to get a reasonable emitter without spending big $$, without having to do a tonne of soldering and still acheiving a reasonable appearance since my tank is in the main living area.

I originally wanted to go with these http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/LED-50W-Yard-Landscape-Flood-Light-Lamp-85-265V-Pure-White-Floodlight-/220915606818?pt=AU_Home_Outdoor_Lighting&hash=item336f98a522 but after a bit of research I've basically just taken the emitter and driver as separate items, added a heatsink and fan and made a simple surround.

Mine run on 28v, but lower wattage emitters will use lower outputs - typically 12v, so they're generally pretty safe to have a go at if you understand the fundamentals.. Mine run on a dedicated driver, so there's no chance of getting the wiring wrong.. Just soldetr +íve to +íve and -íve to -íve.. Even I got it right :P

The best part of my particular experiment is that I haven't sunk too much $$ in to it, so if the results suck then I bin it and try again :roll:

For projects like this I've found YouTube a great resource with all the video tutorials now available. If I can lend a hand feel free to shoot me a PM. I can link you to a couple of good threads on other forums too so you can get some more ideas.

Nev
Mon Jan 23, 2012, 12:37 PM
Cheers, l'll search YouTube and see what comes up.

Angelman
Tue Jan 24, 2012, 01:07 PM
heres an easy DIY led light...http://www.fishforums.com/forum/diy-do-yourself/33606-diy-led-lights.html

I did something close to this but streched it out and used different heatsinks.

Angelman
Tue Jan 24, 2012, 01:10 PM
this is it lighting up my 180g tank

swampy1972
Tue Jan 24, 2012, 08:36 PM
Nice work Angelman. That layout looks like it could be easily adapted to the casing of a T5/T8 light pretty easily.
How do you find the plant growth now?

Angelman
Fri Jan 27, 2012, 06:49 PM
Nice work Angelman. That layout looks like it could be easily adapted to the casing of a T5/T8 light pretty easily.
How do you find the plant growth now?
I took a T8 fixture out of that box :) I made it a while ago. The tank is a 180g dirt tank that I started about 1 month ago but sprung a leak !0 days ago this picture was 2 days after it went back together. The plants are growing very nice and much denser than with the T8 lighting. It fun to see the plants grow daily :)

ILLUSN
Sun Mar 18, 2012, 11:41 PM
Hi all,
Just a quick update.
Almost a year on an the light has been used 12 hours a day 7 days a week, one of the blue LED's died this week end, all others still in good working order so I guess the longevity question can be answered 4200 hours between failure for the blues.

I've subbed out the dead LED and will keep the light going to see how long the other LEDs last (I'm using 4 types from 2 manufacturers the blues and 10000k from Fendy the 6500 and reds from xi-jyu).

swampy1972
Mon Mar 19, 2012, 08:23 AM
Thanks ILLUSN for the update.. That's excellent longevity. I hope mine achieve a similar lifespan.

I finally have my tank complete. Here's some updated pics and a short video showing one of the lotus pearling.

They run for a total of 10 hours over the course of the day, switching off for short periods. As it continues to establish I'll slowly reduce the 'off' periods to make continuous for 10hrs.

http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad348/swampy1972/5ft%20Display%20tank/photo2.jpg
http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad348/swampy1972/5ft%20Display%20tank/th_MVI_1281.jpg (http://s950.photobucket.com/albums/ad348/swampy1972/5ft%20Display%20tank/?action=view&current=MVI_1281.mp4)

ILLUSN
Mon Mar 19, 2012, 09:03 AM
love your work mate, hows the shimmer?

swampy1972
Mon Mar 19, 2012, 09:48 AM
It's great. You can get a sense of it in the reflection on the wall in the back of the photo. I should take a pic or video to show the full effect.
You can make out the rotating filter return on the right of screen. Apart from the wave effect it has in the tank, it means the light shimmer isn't constant which I personally like.

Old Dave
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 04:45 AM
So do they make LEDs for a DIY UV filter?? :twisted: :twisted:

Can you control some of the "wasted" heat back into the tank?
Good read.

Dave

Nev
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 06:25 AM
They have uv leds but not the right wave lenght for sterilising.

ILLUSN
Mon Mar 30, 2015, 06:41 AM
sorry to Necro an old thread but I thought I'd give an update on this original light 4 years on.
it got a slight remodel to cluster the LEDs and remove the disco effect but the base LED's are the same except for the whites which were replced with 6500k T6 XML's and a mix of green (535nm and turquoise 500nm) added to the mix to change the harsh purple to a cooler white light. 60 degree optics were also fitted to better focus the light and help with the colour mixing.
just as an FYI the original 6500k epistars are now lighting up my transformers display cases and are still going strong.
the new layout is shown below.

I can safely say that after 4 years of 12 hours a day these little diodes (the blue and red) have truly proved their worth. I'll run the par meter over them when I get the chance, even without the baseline I'm not expecting much degradation given the crazy cooling I built into this light.

ILLUSN
Mon Mar 30, 2015, 11:26 AM
horrid photo of one of the led clusters, seems I need to glue back on 1 of the optics.

will have to run the PAR meter over it tomorrow night and post up the curve. I think its about 150 par under each cluster from 350mm height
quick pic of the plants in the "cutting" tank and the lone resident my bargain basement $2 halfmoon betta