Building an 'evil cluster' - DIY LED on steroids
- Thread starter jedimasterben
- Start date
- Tagged users None
OP
OP
jedimasterben
Bubble coral sting good
Vero high-CRI are in, Luxeon M high flux are in, the Luxeon Z blue and lime are in (but no boards yet), and the violets were attempted delivery yesterday, will pick them up today. Just waiting on the Z boards and a couple of misc. parts from Nanobox that were forgotten.
TJ's Reef
Valuable Member
Come on already Ben, all this waiting is killin me. Not like I'm working for some BIG Company getting paid to surf the Ol' interweb.... :ranger:
I'm retired and very busy now............... :fish2:
Cheers, Todd
I'm retired and very busy now............... :fish2:
Cheers, Todd
OP
OP
jedimasterben
Bubble coral sting good
LOL
Hopefully I'll start the assembly process this weekend
Hopefully I'll start the assembly process this weekend
OP
OP
jedimasterben
Bubble coral sting good
Well, we're this far.
Only issue is that in moving my LDD boards to 24-pin IC sockets (from pin headers that were too tight and were breaking the pins off the LDD as I pulled them out) and tinning the LED solder pads, I ended up having around half an inch of solder left. I ordered nother 100g of 63/37 rosin core solder on the 21st, shipped the 22nd from Miami, and still hasn't arrived. Oy.
Only issue is that in moving my LDD boards to 24-pin IC sockets (from pin headers that were too tight and were breaking the pins off the LDD as I pulled them out) and tinning the LED solder pads, I ended up having around half an inch of solder left. I ordered nother 100g of 63/37 rosin core solder on the 21st, shipped the 22nd from Miami, and still hasn't arrived. Oy.
OP
OP
jedimasterben
Bubble coral sting good
A lot of wires.
Test number one, L/C, V1, NW1, B/R.
Test two, V2, NW2, RB1, RB2 (RB2 didn't light up, I must have had a bad connection somewhere, took some fiddling to get it going).
Most useful $5 thing ever.
Envy me.
What I am having to do since there are 16 wires is use one 8-conductor cable as all positive and the other as all negative, and keep the colors the same. I have a Google doc with them all labelled so I wouldn't lose it lol. Gonna cover all of the soldered connections with electrical tape (wish I could find my liquid tape), hot glue the fans on (so that there is no vibration) and run the wires for them, and that should be it for the main unit. Put the endcaps on and figure out a way to hold the heatsink in place and is all I've gotta do. Then it's on to the T5, which is gonna be super fun since all of those wires will need to be sleeved, and then I've gotta figure out some way to make them not look like total crap connecting to the 7-conductor cable that will attach to the ballast. Probably got another 4-8 hours of work to put into it. Joy!
Test number one, L/C, V1, NW1, B/R.
Test two, V2, NW2, RB1, RB2 (RB2 didn't light up, I must have had a bad connection somewhere, took some fiddling to get it going).
Most useful $5 thing ever.
Envy me.
What I am having to do since there are 16 wires is use one 8-conductor cable as all positive and the other as all negative, and keep the colors the same. I have a Google doc with them all labelled so I wouldn't lose it lol. Gonna cover all of the soldered connections with electrical tape (wish I could find my liquid tape), hot glue the fans on (so that there is no vibration) and run the wires for them, and that should be it for the main unit. Put the endcaps on and figure out a way to hold the heatsink in place and is all I've gotta do. Then it's on to the T5, which is gonna be super fun since all of those wires will need to be sleeved, and then I've gotta figure out some way to make them not look like total crap connecting to the 7-conductor cable that will attach to the ballast. Probably got another 4-8 hours of work to put into it. Joy!
OP
OP
jedimasterben
Bubble coral sting good
Yep, it's pretty much a nightmare.
OP
OP
jedimasterben
Bubble coral sting good
So. Close.
Hot glue is a godsend when trying to get things organized (though it will detach as soon as the heatsink heats up)
I was kinda hoping to get all of this mess shoved into the end of the fixture and only have the multiconductor wires coming out...
But yeah, there is no room in there. Ffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuu.
What to do. The sleeving really isn't thick enough to go over that much mass. I think what I'll have to do is put a couple of small zip ties on it, cut a piece of heatshrink, then cut that piece open and just wrap it around the wires and then shrink it, then do it again on the other side, and hope it doesn't look like crap. Ugh.
Hot glue is a godsend when trying to get things organized (though it will detach as soon as the heatsink heats up)
I was kinda hoping to get all of this mess shoved into the end of the fixture and only have the multiconductor wires coming out...
But yeah, there is no room in there. Ffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuu.
What to do. The sleeving really isn't thick enough to go over that much mass. I think what I'll have to do is put a couple of small zip ties on it, cut a piece of heatshrink, then cut that piece open and just wrap it around the wires and then shrink it, then do it again on the other side, and hope it doesn't look like crap. Ugh.
TJ's Reef
Valuable Member
NICE, we're finally getting somewhere now........................ lol
Hey Ben, I know its a bit late here but........................ this is how I did my wire soldering cover up as did not trust electrical tape to hold indefinitely. Two layers of shrink for protection and looks pretty good to.
Try looking for some of that woven (Chinese finger puzzle like) wire management wrapping for the pigtails.
Cheers, Todd
Hey Ben, I know its a bit late here but........................ this is how I did my wire soldering cover up as did not trust electrical tape to hold indefinitely. Two layers of shrink for protection and looks pretty good to.
Try looking for some of that woven (Chinese finger puzzle like) wire management wrapping for the pigtails.
Cheers, Todd
OP
OP
jedimasterben
Bubble coral sting good
Oh, I've got sleeve and heatshrink covered, I bought some of (if not the) best you can buy, MDPC-X.
OP
OP
jedimasterben
Bubble coral sting good
Keep calm and sleeve on
I've got no clue how I shoved that mass into that tiny bit on the heatsink, but I did, and testing everything TWICE it all still works lol. Except the fans, but I think there may be something wrong with my SCW or converter boards.
I did manage to mess it up a bit, though, but it's the best I can do with the materials (and skill) at hand.
Getting a little better with sleeving, though.
Almost there
I am going to work on where the wire meets the housing. I can get it much neater than that, just gotta give it a shot.
I've got no clue how I shoved that mass into that tiny bit on the heatsink, but I did, and testing everything TWICE it all still works lol. Except the fans, but I think there may be something wrong with my SCW or converter boards.
I did manage to mess it up a bit, though, but it's the best I can do with the materials (and skill) at hand.
Getting a little better with sleeving, though.
Almost there
I am going to work on where the wire meets the housing. I can get it much neater than that, just gotta give it a shot.
OP
OP
jedimasterben
Bubble coral sting good
Definitely not done, but in the home stretch.
OP
OP
jedimasterben
Bubble coral sting good
Clyde thinks I'm spending too much time with this thing lol
Four hours of work and sleeving later.
Four hours of work and sleeving later.
OP
OP
jedimasterben
Bubble coral sting good
Don't know yet. Above are the first two bulbs I grabbed, the front is a Coral Plus, the back is a Blue Plus. Will possibly be two Giesemann Lagoon Blue, but I'm not sure at this point what they look like.
OP
OP
jedimasterben
Bubble coral sting good
LOL! Thanks!
Similar threads
