Custom led PCB ?

[Steven Garland]

So I habe TONS of diodes I have bought over the years and was thinking,man it would be killer if I could get these turned into a custom array. I have Luxeon ES,Luxeon C,Semi 3535's,Cree XT-E (3535?). I have limes,mints,warm,cool,neutral white,royal blues,true blues,385-430nm uv/violets,pc ambers,red,greens,cyans ect ect.

Does anyone know somebody would/could do this if I provide all the diodes ?

 

[redfishbluefish]

That would be one expensive light!

When LED's first came out I kicked around the idea of building my own. I even looked at the couple company's that offered kits. Bottom line, the costs were high. When you're buying one-up parts, you pay a premium....and now paying someone to build one for you.....cha-ching!

I think your best bet would be to find a "black box" that has close to the diode mix you want and simply change out those diodes you like to have in the mix. I currently have ViparSpectra black boxes and they come with self controls and are easy to work on.

 

[Steven Garland]

That would be one expensive light!

When LED's first came out I kicked around the idea of building my own. I even looked at the couple company's that offered kits. Bottom line, the costs were high. When you're buying one-up parts, you pay a premium....and now paying someone to build one for you.....cha-ching!

I think your best bet would be to find a "black box" that has close to the diode mix you want and simply change out those diodes you like to have in the mix. I currently have ViparSpectra black boxes and they come with self controls and are easy to work on.

I don't need a whole light built,just the PCB for the diodes to mount to.

I have heatsinks,driver boards and drivers,Storm controllers ect ect ect. I have built my own lights for close to 15yrs at this point. Just don't know where to begin on the PCB side.

 

[firechild]

I don't need a whole light built,just the PCB for the diodes to mount to.

I have heatsinks,driver boards and drivers,Storm controllers ect ect ect. I have built my own lights for close to 15yrs at this point. Just don't know where to begin on the PCB side.

You can design your own PCB using KiCad or Eagle then get the boards made by one of the many Chinese board manufacturers, JLCPCB, Seeedstudio, PCBWay, etc. You can reflow the diodes using a cheap sandwich press, though I'd recommend checking the max temperature before doing that.

I'd also suggest ditching the old Storm controller and going with something like Home Assistant, which is way more flexible.

 

[Steven Garland]

You can design your own PCB using KiCad or Eagle then get the boards made by one of the many Chinese board manufacturers, JLCPCB, Seeedstudio, PCBWay, etc. You can reflow the diodes using a cheap sandwich press, though I'd recommend checking the max temperature before doing that.

I'd also suggest ditching the old Storm controller and going with something like Home Assistant, which is way more flexible.

Interesting. I will have to look into that,thank you for the suggestion.

Why toss the Storm ? Its literally done its job for me for 8yrs without issue. I had to send it in 1 time for a firmware update. I don't have to worry about wifi,bluetooth losing connection or anything. I don't need anything fancy,it turns channels on & off,dims and ramps them,it had cloud features,geolocation. And they are only $65.

When LDD's are completely discontinued,maybe. Until then 8yrs and $30 (used and what I paid for my Storm) on 1 controller is a deal breaker for anything else. Bluetooth and wifi things for a reef tank are ehhh to me.