DIY Radeon clone?

lakai · Oct 11, 2018

Curious as to why you guys don't just use a multi-channel fan controller like this
https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-Commander-Channel-Controller-AC-024-BN1NAN-A1/dp/B01B9618C2/ or this https://www.amazon.com/Kingwin-Controller-Individual-Controls-Independent/dp/B00P2PNOJM/ even cheaper.

Just wire each led channel in series on to each channel on the controller. do the same with all the fans too.

You could even use one of these https://www.amazon.com/Phobya-Splitter-4-Pin-Molex-3-Pin/dp/B007S3T4O0/ for each channel to plug into if you don't want to solder.

I'll draw up a quick diagram if you are interested. It's quite simple really since the dimming is all voltage controlled. No pwm needed.

Also you should conformal coat the joints to avoid things shorting out.
https://www.amazon.com/MG-Chemicals-Silicone-Modified-Conformal/dp/B07BSK5S7B/
Conformal/dp/B07BSK5S7B/

tango0102 · Oct 11, 2018

The led drivers need a PWM signal to vary the lights intensity so varying the voltage wouldn't work unless I read the description wrong. The conformal coat is a good idea. I was going to use straight silicon, but this would probably cleaner.

lakai · Oct 11, 2018

I believe ( If you are using one ), the controller you are using controls via pwm and the drivers send a signal to the controler. That being said, the led's are still voltage controlled and pwm controller and drivers are not necessary. You could takea 9v battery and connect +/- to the led and it would work. Voltage controls dimming/intensity.

tango0102 · Oct 11, 2018

Yep you could directly control the LEDs purely through a rheostat to vary the voltage. One drawback of varying the supply voltage of the led is that the dimming range is limited.

cmcoker · Oct 11, 2018

Yep and personally I like the auto dimming of the storm controllers. My fish get a slow wake up, and I can extended the viewing time to be able to view the tank longer with the sunrise/set effects. I keep flasher wrasses that spook easily, and I think the gentle ramp up of the lights is less stressful to them than just an on/off at full brightness. Maybe not, I cant prove it but it makes me feel like I'm trying to make life more pleasant for them, lol.

henGermany · Oct 11, 2018

I did a 4 hour test at full power and without fan to measure the temperature.
That large heatsink seems to be really efficient, because it sticks at about 28°Celsius (about 80°F) with 26° room temperature.
Most work is done now though. Just need to wait for arrivals of additional leds (6x CREE XP-G3 Royal Blue), the acrylic splash protection and acrylic tank mounts.

paphater · Oct 11, 2018

Let me know what you think of the xpg3s. I had a tough time deciding between them or the 12 luxeons. Since I was trying to do the build on the cheap I went with the luxeons.

henGermany · Oct 11, 2018

paphater said:
Let me know what you think of the xpg3s. I had a tough time deciding between them or the 12 luxeons. Since I was trying to do the build on the cheap I went with the luxeons.

I will do some pictures once its installed to my tank.

Actually i am really in trouble... few big coral stocks died and sea weed is growing too fast for my cleaning crew.
Reason is that my 3 years old china led is more or less broken. We had a super hot summer this year and the led fans failed on the fly.
It does not drop enough lumens now and i believe that the color spectrum is wrong as well.

So i need to finish that DIY led asap, to reboot my tank and rescue the other coral stocks that survived so far.

tango0102 · Oct 11, 2018

Sorry to hear about the livestock loss. Hope the new lights will serve you well.

henGermany · Oct 12, 2018

Cheers....

tango0102 · Oct 12, 2018

You are quick to build!!! I like it!

henGermany · Oct 12, 2018

I think that box needs some extra fan installed.
Its getting very warm in there when running with full power.

By the way... i did a big mistake yesterday when i tested the temperature of the led.
The power adapter was not set to the maximum volts, so of course if was very cool while testing.

So i just purchased 2 of those fans: https://www.amazon.de/Prolimatech-14-PC-Gehäuse-refoidisseurs-Heizkörper-PC-Gehäuse/dp/B00B1WQ4VA

Not the cheapest, but it is the only one thats really slim and should look well on the heatsink.

lakai · Oct 12, 2018

henGermany said:
I think that box needs some extra fan installed.
Its getting very warm in there when running with full power.

By the way... i did a big mistake yesterday when i tested the temperature of the led.
The power adapter was not set to the maximum volts, so of course if was very cool while testing.

So i just purchased 2 of those fans: https://www.amazon.de/Prolimatech-14-PC-Gehäuse-refoidisseurs-Heizkörper-PC-Gehäuse/dp/B00B1WQ4VA

Not the cheapest, but it is the only one thats really slim and should look well on the heatsink.

Try mounting the fans face down so that it pulls the heat away instead.

I have those those prolimatech fans very quiet and thin but are kinda weird being 140mm with 120mm mounting holes.

With the box you want to work with positive pressure meaning having more air intake than going out.

henGermany · Oct 13, 2018

Ive got the box temperature under control by drilling 2 holes in to the cover.
The one in front is right above the power adapter fan and the other one where the warm air comes out.
I tested the circulation with some fog (e-cigarette) and it works perfectly.

henGermany · Oct 13, 2018

The box reached over 60°C after a few hours and was still getting warmer

I had to add some 75mm fan to blow the warm air out. Now its more or less stable at around 32-36°C.

User1 · Oct 13, 2018

My LDD's and 8 up boards get hot. There is no way I could combine any power supply mixed in so it is isolated - fans or no fans. I like your heat sink. I ended up going with 6 x 4 inch but originally wanted a 48" by 24" single. Just too expensive.

Looks great though.

henGermany · Oct 14, 2018

saf1 said:
My LDD's and 8 up boards get hot. There is no way I could combine any power supply mixed in so it is isolated - fans or no fans. I like your heat sink. I ended up going with 6 x 4 inch but originally wanted a 48" by 24" single. Just too expensive.

Looks great though.

I have spend many hours searching for a good heatsink, but there is not that much offers out there. There has been a few on Ebay, but mostly from china and without any technical details about efficiency.
At the end i got one directly from the manufacturer (https://www.fischerelektronik.de/we...extruded heatsinks/VA/SK1131000SA/index.xhtml).
They ship worldwide though and the pricing is not that high compared to china or makerled ones.

henGermany · Oct 15, 2018

Just tried to measure the lux using the Galactica Luxmeter app for iOS.

Right below the arrays with about 20cm distance it shows over 110.000 lux.
Between the arrays it varies from 45.000 to 65.000 lux.

My old and more or less broken china led drops only 5-15.000 lux under same conditions.

But who knows how accurate this app results are

paphater · Oct 15, 2018

Once I get my 12w royal blues in I'll rent a par meter to get official numbers, but I've noticed a pretty positive response from my corals. Granted I don't have many as right now as I haven't restocked from a crash. My storm settings for the moment are: All blues around 3900 (I'm guessing ~95%), UVs at around 3800, Red/green at 1000 (~25 %), and white at 500 (~13%). With that I was getting around 32,000 lux about 8 inches down. With my SB Reefs I was getting 23,000 lux at a 100%. With the additional RBs I'm hoping I can really push up the white and R/G channels to put out some serious par.

Also I could be wrong, but I think lux meters have a harder time picking up that low 400 nm wavelength so it is probably understating it a bit.