Are DIY LEDs still a thing?

[Ratherbeflyen]

I'm sure you can get opinions on both sides for aluminum somehow being harmful to your reef. I wouldn't dump a handful of aluminum oxide powder in my tank, but I wouldn't lose any sleep with a little 6061 aluminum in my tank either.

Full disclaimer though, I'm also the guy that has black lava rock, black sanded grout, and black diamond bead blasting media in my tank. If you search for those on this forum, you'll find a lot of advice that says all of those will kill your tank.

After 5 years of research in two tanks, I have to say I do not agree.

Maybe start a poll and see if anyone had a tank crash after adding aluminum to it?

 

[DaddyFish]

I'm sure you can get opinions on both sides for aluminum somehow being harmful to your reef. I wouldn't dump a handful of aluminum oxide powder in my tank, but I wouldn't lose any sleep with a little 6061 aluminum in my tank either.

Full disclaimer though, I'm also the guy that has black lava rock, black sanded grout, and black diamond bead blasting media in my tank. If you search for those on this forum, you'll find a lot of advice that says all of those will kill your tank.

After 5 years of research in two tanks, I have to say I do not agree.

*** edited for space ***


Maybe start a poll and see if anyone had a tank crash after adding aluminum to it?

Thanks, I appreciate honest feedback!

I may be the guy who tries anodized heat exchangers. Can't be worse than Ich, Velvet or pump failure, and I've had plenty of that during the learning process!

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

Touche!

 

[blasterman]

Yes, the blackboxes come with dimmers, some even really advanced, but they aren't integratable with an existing controller, and other lights you may or may not have, or other pieces of the puzzle.

My Mars Aqua BB's I don't even think are current regulated. Pretty sure they are just constant voltage given there's a million resistors on the PCB. I prefer to set it and forget it and manual dimming works fine for me.

Constant voltage does work but you have to plan for it. For instance, with most 3w white LEDs they are ~3v forward voltage, and you can use a 12volt power supply to drive 4 of them in groups. Constant voltage also has one inherent advantage over constant current; no inherent thermal inrush that's responsible for killing most LEDs.

 

[blasterman]

All this talk about diy LEDs got me thinking... and this is where it ended up:

Thinking about replacing the greens, maybe the reds, or greens and some whites with mint and see how it looks.

As long as I keep voltage in the same ballpark (most of these are in the 2.5-3v) range I should be good, especially on White channel which won't be driven as hard... Yet.

I will save you some grief. Teals and mints only work if you have a lot of red to offset them. Personally I think they are useless and just make a tank look more brown.

What I find works best for black boxes is make one channel entirely blue. If possible mix it 50/50 with 460nm blues which you *can* get from chinese vendors. Just get the blue color that's one step above 450 / royal. You will not find these in Crees or Luxeon.

For the second channel use at most two reds or two warm whites. Put a cool white in each corner.

 

[stefanm]

I'm also thinking of redoing my DIY LEDs, two options that I'm considering.

1st is to use the Chinese k1/k2 bead packages, dual core 5w for the blues and violets and 3w single core for everything else, kind of like an orphekesque layout. The MCPCB'S will be strips that join together, works out cheaper for the fabrication, I've made a new revision with zener diodes, this method is easy to solder by hand. I'll be driving them at only 500ma to begin with, eventually I want to make my own drivers I've started the design for those but my laptop screen is hanging off due to a rusted hinge..

This would be a total of 96 diodes.

2nd option is to use better diodes, these will cost around double and need reflow work, the MCPCB'S will cost more unless I use the same layout rather than clusters.

The diodes I've selected are as follows,

For UV 395nm luminus devices sst
420nm luxeon c (not the best output, but price is good)
Royal blue/cool blue/cyan/mint and white osram osconiq (very well priced and as good as luxeon c as per my understanding of the data sheets)
PC amber cree xpe


Total of 84 diodes.

Any thoughts?

 

[garbled]

As someone who has had to replace a few drivers after many years of use (7+), I appreciate the ease of just going to jameco and clicking "buy" as opposed to soldering up a whole DIY driver. Before you make your own driver, I would consider that aspect. That, or go ahead and build more than you need up front so when one dies you can just swap it in.

 

[Paul B]

Maybe start a poll and see if anyone had a tank crash after adding aluminum to it?

I don't care about such things, but my Copperband may have an opinion about it.

 

[Butcher333]

Using this DIY LED right now. 3 PAR White, 90 PAR 380-470nm. 3 channels. Violet, Blue, and White on my BioCube.

I’m thinking of using this light I built, for my basement pond/lagoon for clams. Lined with some mangroves. Full spectrum and intense lighting. Every spectrum from Far Red to UV With all being individually dimmable. DIY LED’s don’t “break”, they might need a repair that would be cheap and they can be updated/upgraded, and can also be used to manipulate growth. This has produced all the starts for my 1000 sq ft garden for years adding up to thousands of dollars on starts.

 

[twwety]

Mines been going 5ish years. Had to replace a few cheapo drivers. Just ordered parts to upgrade it to add a controller and more reliable drivers.

 

[Steven Garland]

This is a recent one I have built:

3 channels:
1- Luxeon Rebel 1 WW,1 Cyan,1 Regular Blue.
2- 4x SunPlus Royal Blues
3- 4x SemiLed ranging from 390-430nm.

 

[Steven Garland]

Thos is my most recent retro:

 

[chiefifd]

I built my LED lights and turned them on in January 2014. They've been on ever since with zero issues. I have them connected to a Neptune controller. I went with www.reefledlights.com unfortunately they're not in business as far as I can tell, maybe using a different name/site.
I should test PAR, I just never have. There running under 50% power I do know that.
Take care, & have a great Holiday weekend......

 

[Steven Garland]

I built my LED lights and turned them on in January 2014. They've been on ever since with zero issues. I have them connected to a Neptune controller. I went with www.reefledlights.com unfortunately they're not in business as far as I can tell, maybe using a different name/site.
I should test PAR, I just never have. There running under 50% power I do know that.
Take care, & have a great Holiday weekend......

I believe they are out of business,but chsnged their website to something to do with their Sirius light but the site will not load as of last night.

 

[Steven Garland]

Just got my Luxeon M's in today and got them mounted. 2x Luxeon M Royal Blues with some 390-430nm violets @ 600mah between a B+ and a Supet Actinic.

 

[Steven Garland]

Here is an updated version of the array:

2x Luxeon M Royal Blue (445-450nm),2x SemiLed Ultramarine Blue (440-445nm),2x Luxeon Rebel ES Royal Blue,1x SemiLed 385nm,1x 390-400nm,1x Semiled 400-410nm,1x SemiLed 410-420nm,1x Viosys 430nm. I think thats it lol.



FTS

 

[Projects with Sam]

I was going to because I really like DIY stuff but For the value, I couldn't pass-up the Noopsyche lights. Now, with their WiFi control their deal is even more stupid.

 

[Spicy Reef]

my <$2.00 pico light

This thread is giving me inspiration to continue
3W 440-450nm
3w 390nm (arriving 2 weeks)
3W 6-6.5k (arriving today)
120 degree lenses
aluminum bonsai wire to hold LEDs


I was going to stick with just the 3 since the Reef Bowl is so small. I could add one or two more, any recommendations on what nm?
monti - red plating, jedi mind trick
two RBTA
1 mushroom
pulsing Xenia - palm palm whitish purple (not the serious spreading type)
Bubble gum digi not in yet...

using specifically selected wall wart limiting Volts and Amps to drive LEDs so no crazy circuit just raw LEDs. I never throw stuff away and have a messy box of 40-50 wall warts so free!

Lights just came on... cheap ikea light added so I could get a picture to show up! can't wait for white leds to show up...

no heat sink necessary not driving them too hard, max temp 95F.
The following par is at 2", 5", and the bottom 9"

I'm debating adding this little ati pc fan/sink, because it's absolutely silent and because I never through stuff away and... I can!
so all in all, still under $2/light

Currently on wifi outlet strip for auto timing... thinking about an rgb wifi module to dial in par for each color as well as provide morning and sunset mode. Just because I can (wifi rgb control module might add another $10)

 

[Spicy Reef]

I thought about water cooling my lights. I was thinking about using square aluminum tubing and running tank water through it. That way it would cool the lights and heat the tank at the same time. Two birds with one stone, at least in the winter anyway.

I couldn't think of a way to attach the leds to the tubing that wouldn't be compromised by the water. How did you adhere the leds to the copper?

What if you come at it from the other end...
the aquarium is the heatsink... run a loop of fresh water from ur LED aluminum tubing, tie that off with thin aquarium grade tubing, run under sand or rockwork that will take the heat out of the tube water before it goes back to the leds...
the water that goes through the heatsink never comes in contact with the aquarium water...
just thinking out loud.

 

[Steven Garland]

So my DIY array,I took it out of my hybrid and held it about 6" above my empty 10" cube tank about where the water line would be,I get 600 par,mid way down I get 400+ and at the bottom of the tank,I get 225-250 from the lux to par divided by 8.7. Measurements are rough as I am pretty positive the Photon app isn't 110% accurate.