Led lighting for dummies

So this was a question l asked in an earlier thread.
I was sorta pointed in the right direction and after googling. and asking people who are way smarter than me, this is what I've come up with.

Led lighting is pretty basic.
Ability to solder helps but isn't hard to learn.
Ebay is your friend.

Ok so were to start?
Leds - cree 3w are the best but cost aprox $5 each and generate lots ogf heat so require heatsinks and cooling fans.
Cheap Chinese ones from ebay cost about $1.60 and don't generate any where near as much heat. So for us dummies that's the go.

Led driver - you need one of these. leds require a constant current. among the specs of the led will be something like 700mA. Your driver must match that. Cost is $10 - 20 depending on size. Wherever on ebay you purchase your leds from will also sell drivers. Just buy one at same time. They are usually described as 3 x 3w driver or 10 -18 x 3w driver. Do not use downright drivers as these are constant voltage and will blow your leds.

Wiring them up.
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/...ingdiagram.jpg
Basically you just go + to - as per pic.

Something to attach them to - aluminium channel is good. 80 x 40 costs about $7

some pics of start and end result and I'll do a part 2 later on how to attach the buggers.


http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/...3-08154251.jpg

http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/...3-08184211.jpg






[/code]

Will be watching with great interest Nev. As much as I admire Swampy's work, those LED bitumen-melters Swampy has constructed are too high-end for my current interests, but something more conservative is ceratinly a gerat project for those cold winter days.

Cheers,
Scott

not bad!
just remember within the cree LEDs you've got XR-E, XP-G and a few others when pricing a LED your best bet is lumens/watt, anything over about 80/watt (mid to lower binned XR-E good chinease LEDs) is pretty good for a fish tank.