LEDBrick - DIY LED Pendant with Pucks

[theatrus]

I've been building a lot of prototypes, testing ideas, and more. Currently settling into an interesting direction for modular lights, based on the past ideas of the stacked drivers from above in this thread. The biggest problem has always been reasonable chassis that aren't 100% custom (so no major tooling expenses). Using the same case as https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/all-in-one-led-controller-dimmer-driver-project.558930/, (and larger ones in the series from Hammond), I realized... this will work:

Smaller (though fatter) than a nano box. Bottom panel is replaced with clear or diffuser. Active cooling. RJ45 plug and play. Mounting panel for MakerBeam (or other, goosenecks can be big!). Driver integrated.

 

[User1]

This has pretty much separated the advanced DIY people from the rest of us. They have always found a way for wire management and packages. The rest of us go through a couple iterations to clean things up which leads to extra purchases due to mistakes. In any case you are on the right idea. Anything that you can do to help the connectivity, form factor, wire management, and get to the plug and play is a game changer for DIY. Of course with this comes a bit of extra cost I guess.

I'm still not sure I like the pendant look and prefer bars. Be that as it may I like the RJ46 play and a huge fan of what you did with the PWM converter for example. If you can mod your driver along those lines using 4 pair of cat 5 or 6 and rj45 jacks you just made things more plug and play Nice design though and good work. Look forward to more.

Edit: Picking up a 3d printer. Wonder how that may integrate to what you are doing although we would still have the heat sink issue although you could make a caddy to hold it along with other electronic stuff...

 

[Steven Garland]

How small is the array you came up with a few pages back ?

 

[theatrus]

Array for the new all in one project. Its pretty boring really - 4 channels. 24V drivable. Jumpers to bypass resistors for a cheaper lower power option. Highlights include an MCP9808 temperature sensor and an I2C EEPROM (detect what LED board is installed)

The cable connector is for a 12pin FPC cable to run to the driver board. The cutout is to pass the flat cable through, while the right cutout is for the fans.

 

[theatrus]

How small is the array you came up with a few pages back ?

The Gleam board is 2.1 x 2.5in

 

[Steven Garland]

@theatrus are they gonna be hitting the site any time soon ?

 

[theatrus]

@theatrus are they gonna be hitting the site any time soon ?

Give it a week or so, but yes!

 

[theatrus]

Sneak preview of new test equipment. Traceable Calibrated in total luminosity and can give a run down of PPFD and PFD in different bands. The spectrometer resolution is only 12um but it’s a smaller unit so that’s acceptable.

Spectrum was the LEDbrick panels I have been running

 

[rushbattle]

Sneak preview of new test equipment. Also calibrated in total luminosity and can give a run down of PPFD and PFD in different bands.

Hardest I’ve ever jammed the like button.

 

[User1]

Hardest I’ve ever jammed the like button.

Lol

 

[theatrus]

Still working on qualifying a bunch of stuff and updating the website, but interesting findings with violets and UV absorbent materials - quite a lot of products have a sharp cut from about 405nm and down - this includes the snap-in lens for the Angela reflector (darn). The "UV Absorbent" Satin-Ice material however does not have a sharp knee anywhere down to 380nm (I lack measurement and light sources below this ).

 

[oreo54]

Still working on qualifying a bunch of stuff and updating the website, but interesting findings with violets and UV absorbent materials - quite a lot of products have a sharp cut from about 405nm and down - this includes the snap-in lens for the Angela reflector (darn). The "UV Absorbent" Satin-Ice material however does not have a sharp knee anywhere down to 380nm (I lack measurement and light sources below this ).

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/right-acrylic-for-a-diffuser.577301/#post-5883708

Yea.. an "issue"....

Never waste a good chart..

Plain glass is probably the cheapest. fused silica more expensive.

Teflons not bad..
https://www.researchgate.net/figure...a-UV-Visible-spectrophotometer_fig1_255635198

https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9.cfm?objectgroup_id=6973

 

[theatrus]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/right-acrylic-for-a-diffuser.577301/#post-5883708

No one is bothering with quartz or PTFE

But since testing, I've had unlabeled cast PMMA end up in both curves of transmission. Standard Plexiglass G is usually what I expect, but it costs more to filter at higher frequency so wasn't expecting that sharp of a cut-off.

Looks like the sub-lens is actually PC, which matches the cutoff curve exactly - it was mislabeled in some document as PMMA which made no sense

 

[oreo54]

Yea, same old story.. practical vs theoretical or possible..

Reflectors polycarbonate..
Precision-molded from high grade PC UL94 HB
not that it means anything
As to the sub-lens.. suspect it just depends on which material is cheapest at the moment.
Having slightly more or less UV absorbance probably isn't much of a consideration since really most practical applications would prefer zero
https://ledil.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/LEDiL_Installation_guide_03082018.pdf

 

[theatrus]

Yea, same old story.. practical vs theoretical or possible..

Reflectors polycarbonate..
Precision-molded from high grade PC UL94 HB
not that it means anything

Yeah, this is not relevant as the metallic surface does all the scattering. PolyCarbonate, and UL94HB for flame rating (which matters in enclosed luminaries).

As to the sub-lens.. suspect it just depends on which material is cheapest at the moment.
Having slightly more or less UV absorbance probably isn't much of a consideration since really most practical applications would prefer zero
https://ledil.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/LEDiL_Installation_guide_03082018.pdf

They already injection mold PC, so add more PC to the line. Plus the thinner material needs to have flex to snap in. Injection molding plastics is black magic and super nuanced, so I'm not surprised they stick with a material they know and work with, plus meets their temperature specs.

I'm working up a PMMA/Acrylic + legs assembly for the Angela now, so it snaps into the same place and passes the short-end of the wavelengths. I'd have hoped to not do that, but thats why we test these things

 

[theatrus]

Some sneak peaks of things hitting the world in a few weeks. All built with Lumileds C, SemiLEDs, Viosys and Osram diodes.

Round 1: renders

Mountable, self contained LED. In a case, driver integrated. I posted this one earlier, but working through a bunch of the setup on it and tweaking. About 40W peak.

Next up. Remember AcroStrips? Now reborn with some new options! Everything from 32W all the way to 127W (regular, HO, and VHO options). Has an optional diffuser which mounts on top of the LED array.

And finally, for the true deep aquariums and high power needs where the original AcroStars can't cut it, the 100W AcroStar with 120mm reflectors. This one is high density and requires special thermal substrate materials.

 

[rushbattle]

Those 100w pucks with reflectors and diffusers though. I should have waited, still haven’t taken my 48w out of the bags as my tanks are 6 or so months late.

 

[theatrus]

Those 100w pucks with reflectors and diffusers though. I should have waited, still haven’t taken my 48w out of the bags as my tanks are 6 or so months late.

Happy to do a trade-up

Fine tuning the load out will take some time. I’ve been using larger panels to sort out ratios of Mint, PC Amber, White and the various other setups and dialing in on the look that can be run at full power equally. But there is still differing tastes

 

[Steven Garland]

Ohhh man !!! Those acrostrips !!! Are they gonna have the same color options or a custom layout options well ?

 

[rushbattle]

Happy to do a trade-up

Fine tuning the load out will take some time. I’ve been using larger panels to sort out ratios of Mint, PC Amber, White and the various other setups and dialing in on the look that can be run at full power equally. But there is still differing tastes

I’ll be in touch! Thanks!

My tank went from 66x40x24 to 72x44x27 after I started buying all of my equipment. Custom tanks are great, but give you the opportunity to think on it for months and months if the builder is backed up. I decided it’s easier to change associated equipment than to change out a custom tank later. Now maybe it’s really easy!

@theatrus Any thoughts on those dimensions? I already have six 5ft T5s and two heatsinks with 1.4 C/W/3". I’m thinking five 100w instead of six 48w on each heatsink? Maybe four?