Custom DIY reef light

[pete_d]

Here's a project that I've been working on for the past couple of months that some of you might find interesting. I took inspiration from the 1st gen ATI straton as they are the best looking light on the market. I dont have a background in electrical engineering or really building anything electrical so it was fun learning how to design a custom pcb and solder everything together. I do plan on building a couple more for my 200gal tank im setting up, so any pointers would help. I have not tested any PAR values but they should be the same as the straton because the LEDs are being ran at the same current. If anyone has questions, ask away.

 

[Fish Fan]

Nice job!

I'm not familiar with the ATI light, but were you able to use the same diodes as the ATI fixture?

 

[pete_d]

Nice job!

I'm not familiar with the ATI light, but were you able to use the same diodes as the ATI fixture?

From the research I did ATI uses diodes from multiple different manufactures. I didn't use the exact same diodes but the nanometer ranges are almost identical. They are 3535 cree xp leds with the same pattern and amount of colors that ATI uses.

 

[me & my baby]

Here's a project that I've been working on for the past couple of months that some of you might find interesting. I took inspiration from the 1st gen ATI straton as they are the best looking light on the market. I dont have a background in electrical engineering or really building anything electrical so it was fun learning how to design a custom pcb and solder everything together. I do plan on building a couple more for my 200gal tank im setting up, so any pointers would help. I have not tested any PAR values but they should be the same as the straton because the LEDs are being ran at the same current. If anyone has questions, ask away.

Looks really good . Will you be posted a build thread in these

 

[pete_d]

Looks really good . Will you be posted a build thread in these

The light design is basically done besides a couple hardware/software tweaks but I will update here with any future changes

 

[me & my baby]

Looking forward to seeing it

 

[strich]

Really cool! I've been tempted to do similar if I ever find the time. Could you go into more detail please? In particular, it'd be interesting to understand the bill of materials - Ignoring your own time, was the cost worth it compared to lights like the ATi?

 

[slingfox]

Very nice!

 

[pete_d]

Really cool! I've been tempted to do similar if I ever find the time. Could you go into more detail please? In particular, it'd be interesting to understand the bill of materials - Ignoring your own time, was the cost worth it compared to lights like the ATi?

My plan is to make one more of these lights and another one but with two pcbs instead of three. The BOM is around 1450 for over 500 watts of LED power. Substantially cheaper than the ATI lights. I bought basically everything from aliexpress and amazon. The pcbs came from JLCPCB and I designed them with KiCad. Aluminum prices have skyrocketed over the past year so that was a big cost of the BOM.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Why did you not opt for white MCPCB?

 

[pete_d]

Why did you not opt for white MCPCB?

There is not really a need to go with an mcpcb. None of the stratons use them in their lights. Since the pcb is sandwiched in between two pieces of alum that dissipates the heat well enough. The heat density is just not high enough unlike in Radion lights. Plus installing the 3535 leds would be much more of a pain.

 

[BeanAnimal]

There is not really a need to go with an mcpcb. None of the stratons use them in their lights. Since the pcb is sandwiched in between two pieces of alum that dissipates the heat well enough. The heat density is just not high enough unlike in Radion lights. Plus installing the 3535 leds would be much more of a pain.

I don't know the spec's of your board, sinks, or leds/drivers, but I take your word for it. Thank you for answering.

 

[pete_d]

I don't know the spec's of your board, sinks, or leds/drivers, but I take your word for it. Thank you for answering.

Its a 1.6mm 2 layer 2oz copper board with vias around the LEDs for heat transfer between layers and im using LD3080SA led drivers. They were the easiest to just solder up to the pads and keep the profile thin. Also the LEDs are driven less than half their rated current is so the generated heat is less too