DIY 48" reefbrite style LEDstrips

[shwareefer]

Parts List in US dollars.

8 x Aluminum heatsinks $34.80 total off ebay
48 x 3w Chinese leds (bought 50 royal blue, and 50 blue for $14 total) off ebay
Mean Well HLG-185H-C700B driver $56.50 from RapidLED
Self tapping screws #4-40 thread. pack of 100, $3.69 off Amazon
Brackets I 3D printed
Various wires and extra LEDs I had already.

I 3D printed a jig to have proper screw spacing plus have the screws end up between the cooling fins.

First heatsink with my holes drilled using my jig.

These self tappers are of low quality. I snapped a couple which I luckily could extract. Usually I run a tap but I don't have #4-40 tap.

One finished, 7 to go.

Things to note. Previous pic was a dry fit. I pretinned all the leds and used heatsink paste under each. I soldered them all with wires that came with RapidLED kits from years ago. They are pretinned as well and made assembly a breeze. I've done ALOT of soldering. Anyway I neglected to take pictures so here is the bench test.

The driver I used. You may notice some conspicuous extra leds in the above pic. I realised the driver was minimum 48 leds at 3v, but I measured some of the leds having forward voltages as low as 2.65v. So rather than maybe blowing things up I added 7 more Cree leds I had laying around. It was supposed to be 8 but I broke one screw and could not extract it.

The brackets I made. I matched the profile of the T5 fixture (also DIY) and winged the angle.

The final result. I'm reasonably satisfied. Looks industrial at the moment. Might paint the whole thing black. I dim it with the 0-10v of my Apex for dusk dawn, and yay I got my royal blue coral pop back!

The Ebay supplier I've used many times. They also sell real Cree if you think that matters. I just don't.

 

[dedragon]

Well done! My main concern would be the actual cheap led diodes though and their spectrum and par output as well as open wiring above a saltwater fish tank that will cause damage over time though

 

[shwareefer]

Well done! My main concern would be the actual cheap led diodes though and their spectrum and par output as well as open wiring above a saltwater fish tank that will cause damage over time though

True. Easy enough to swap in proper Cree leds, but right now the corals are glowing and happy. As for the exposed wires, I had diy fixture over my previous tank wide open for years and much closer to the water. They did in fact get corrosion but nother ever failed ( I kept all the leds for a future who knows what project). Having said that I might create a plexi shield or maybe even just put dabs of silicone over the exposed connections. Thanks for the kind words!

 

[vtecintegra]

Looks good. I still run DIY leds with Makers heatsinks, controllers, driver boards, and Rapid leds. If anything fails it's easy to fix vs throwing out an expensive fixture.

 

[shwareefer]

The ethereal glow at dusk under blue leds. I know everyone takes it for granted these days but I missed that with T5 only.

 

[PicassoDan]

I know this is an older thread - but well done! I have an older reefbrite fixture with burned out LEDs that I'd love to rebuild.
I honestly think your heat sink is better than the reefbrite one which is essentially a c-channel with the slight suggestion of fins on the top...

 

[oreo54]

I feel the need to correct one thing. You can't blow up the array with less leds.
You do need to have enough to meet the minimum voltage of the driver though.
In this case 143v.
Max voltage is 286v.
If the V(f) of the string is under 143v driver should just go into hiccup mode or not work at all.
As " I" understand it.

With this driver as you add diodes voltage will increase to maintain the current set point. In this case 700mA.
IF there are enough diodes that the V(f) exceeds 286V then the current generated will just drop according to the diode properties .
Say you string 100 3v (@700mA) diodes in series.
Since you don't have 300v available the diodes will see 2.86v each. Sooo will draw the current at that voltage.

As convenient as it is these large dc voltage drivers are generally more a pia than running more smaller drivers.
If something goes wrong finding the one bad connection out of say 50 diodes is a pain.
I've seen people just give up when the array fails on first light and literally days of troubleshooting therafter.
Besides the fact is you have 143v plus over your tank.

Above is just general info. Diode operating temp also has some influence but that is another story.

Oh and never "hot swap" an array.
It can experience the drivers full voltage briefly until the systems current regulation kicks in.