DIY Reef Light HELP

[mk_reefs]

Fans, another point of failure? Why not double down and hook up a waterblock lol.

Is that a reefing project of something else? Water cooled? Or is it that electronic juice?

 

[oreo54]

Is that a reefing project of something else? Water cooled? Or is it that electronic juice?

Those are. 3000k cobs 90 cri.
128 lumens/watt.

36.5v @ 500mA
18.25W each 73 total watts
9344 total lumens

Approximately ..
Fun stuff

 

[Steven Garland]

I feel like these are made to be more complicated than they need to be. Idk why but all my pics are not uploading.

Mixture of 385nm-445nm diodes,ldd drive4 and a power supply.

EDIT: I am probably going t9 add 2-3 Luxeon M royal's. And after that pic I replaced the KZ SuperBlue with a ATI Coral Plus.

 

[mk_reefs]

I feel like these are made to be more complicated than they need to be. Idk why but all my pics are not uploading.

Mixture of 385nm-445nm diodes,ldd drive4 and a power supply.

What housing did you use? Looking at different options think I found an RF solution to dim mine, I really love the added light and color, not much out there for the nano world especially with a Prime. I'm happy aquaillimination just posted it. Pretty cool.

 

[Steven Garland]

What housing did you use? Looking at different options think I found an RF solution to dim mine, I really love the added light and color, not much out there for the nano world especially with a Prime. I'm happy aquaillimination just posted it. Pretty cool.

I used a heatsink bar from StevesLed's. I will say,I am not a HUGE fan of it,its rather bulky. It stays cool but its HUGE. I'm thinking of trimming it down some but cooling will probably go out the window lol.

 

[mk_reefs]

I used a heatsink bar from StevesLed's. I will say,I am not a HUGE fan of it,its rather bulky. It stays cool but its HUGE. I'm thinking of trimming it down some but cooling will probably go out the window lol.

Wonder if a wall washer led housing would work....

 

[Steven Garland]

Wonder if a wall washer led housing would work....

I'm not sure what type of heatsink that is honestly.

 

[Amphibious Wallet]

Those are. 3000k cobs 90 cri.
etc

Bingo bango. Leftover COB's from a previous employ, installed on a freshwater tank. Got a couple more goals to hit before I financially cripple myself with reefing.

Ended up just having 2 COB's on each block and having them under-driven, 125mA if memory serves. Ended up not really needing active cooling so I later slapped a couple small sinks on the blocks and called it a day, peaks at 35C.
I thought the idea of using alu pipes doubling as a structure and coolant piping rather novel at the time.

 

[mk_reefs]

The bar lights are still kicking it. I had a company come out and get me a par test. With them on from 12" above the water surface they add about 100 par through out the Waterbox 20. Exactly what I needed. Now to figure out how to make them remote capable, and dimmable. Thanks for the help again guys!

 

[Amphibious Wallet]

Nothing better than having a crack at something, learning some new stuff and getting some hands-on time.
Definitely more fun when it works, congrats!
Dimmable could be done in-line with a "12/24V LED dimmer" - the (cheap) ones I've used before have a rather audible whine when not at 0 or 100%, though my old man can barely hear it.

No idea on the wireless stuff lol, best of luck!

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

If they have the 5.1mm X 2.1mm Plug on them you could use a SunSetter Controller by 21LEDUSA, the output is two channels.

 

[Spicy Reef]

The bar lights are still kicking it. I had a company come out and get me a par test. With them on from 12" above the water surface they add about 100 par through out the Waterbox 20. Exactly what I needed. Now to figure out how to make them remote capable, and dimmable. Thanks for the help again guys!

This is how I did it using a $5 chip...

 

[oreo54]

The bar lights are still kicking it. I had a company come out and get me a par test. With them on from 12" above the water surface they add about 100 par through out the Waterbox 20. Exactly what I needed. Now to figure out how to make them remote capable, and dimmable. Thanks for the help again guys!

The drivers you bought aren't dimmable.

As mentioned above one can err force dimming but any "method" is a Frankenstein method not recommended by most.

Besides being just wrong your >24v V(f) exceeds most constant voltage controllers.

To do it right you need different drivers
or a different circuit design.

One of the easiest and cheapist methods. TC-421 is wireless (not shown)

 

[dansyr]

CC can be hard to dim. Somewhat cheap CV drivers exist, forget your wattage but something like https://www.meanwell.com/productPdf.aspx?i=395 could work. But more difficult for programmable dimming.

I like Meanwell LDD-series drivers, they are cc but dc input so just run your existing driver into them and add a separate 5v PWM signal (plenty of solutions here). I have a setup of these LDDs running with a Pi Pico and a level shifter and it works great.

 

[oreo54]

https://www.plantedtank.net/threads/how-to-use-tc-420-to-control-ldd-drivers.980633/

 

[mk_reefs]

The drivers you bought aren't dimmable.

As mentioned above one can err force dimming but any "method" is a Frankenstein method not recommended by most.

Besides being just wrong your >24v V(f) exceeds most constant voltage controllers.

To do it right you need different drivers
or a different circuit design.

One of the easiest and cheapist methods. TC-421 is wireless (not shown)

US $8.40 40%OFF | LED Dimmer 12V 24V PWM RF 2.4G Wireless Touch Remote Controller 5V 36V Smart Wifi Dimmer Switch for Single Color LED Strip Light
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mPI9u46
Looking at something like this.

 

[oreo54]

US $8.40 40%OFF | LED Dimmer 12V 24V PWM RF 2.4G Wireless Touch Remote Controller 5V 36V Smart Wifi Dimmer Switch for Single Color LED Strip Light
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mPI9u46
Looking at something like this.

Well first that is designed for constant voltage strips.
Second it may dim but AFAICT (???) you can't "program" anything.

There are tons of usable things if you redesign the strips to run off constant voltage.

you may be able to do it easily. You can determine that by measuring the voltage across the 6 diode boards at your 600mA current.
If 24V or less easy peesy to transform them to a more "controller friendly" array.

you will dump the driver for a switching power supply and a few resistors.


What you are trying to do (and honestly it has been done) is basically pulsing (mosfet switching
) a pulsing output (constant current driver) .
Thing is it may work but it is just wrong.. ;)

If you get lucky this is an easy modification:
You'll use a 24v power supply 2A or better.
Each strip needs a resistor.
Assumes your voltage is 18V on the strip at that current.
Any measurement >24v will not work but5 that works out to 4V per diode (6).

4.7 Ohm resistor if diodes are 3.6V each (21.6V total)
Recommended power handling is 3W resistors.



Then you have tons of cheap controllers available.

 

[oreo54]

Foillowup with pricing..
https://www.ledsupply.com/power-supplies/mean-well-lrs-enclosedLRS-50-24.. $13.29
This is an open frame power supply so needs to be placed accordingly.
The advantage is you have a trim pot to adj. the output voltage.
21.6 ~ 28.8V
The closer V(in) is to the sum (V(f) the less the resistor needs to dissipate. In other words the more efficient it becomes.
See below, you are only "wasting" 2 watts (approx) of heat..
2W resistor and 2.7 Ohms (assuming 3.7v V(f) per diode)

Resistors.. 20 for $6.50.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/3635276508...TtpNEFrZYZnsMIxHB_X-cNhKrahnjwZmbIwlBwq0u7vqEController.. say $40
https://www.ebay.com/itm/3743939044...bXl-KhedguMhO5wH486pNaFtWut8G_TcaAvZ_EALw_wcB
I ONLY picked the tc-421 because I know it a bit.
There are others ranging from $15 on up that are either bluetooth or wifi BUT the software abilities are ??? to me.
The 421 software isn't the best as it is.

 

[Fishy888]

I'm making my own Diy reef light, more so to see if I can do something for a certain goal I would like to achieve.

I have a PCB board with 6, 3w LEDs in series.
I got my driver's in they are 3-20v constant current drivers 300mA. They run the lights fine but just not as bright as 6, 3w LEDs should be.

Could it possibly be a wattage thing?

I have new drivers coming. The new ones are 18-36v 12-18w 600mA.

LEDs are made by Chazon, if the spelling is correct as well as the driver's, I was reading they are the same LEDs used in the black boxes.

You’ll be better off with the new drivers. 300 mA x 20 V = 6 watts max. Not 6 watts each but 6 watts total.

Your new drivers will theoretically give 21 watts vs 18. Assuming you get 18 watts that should power 6 LEDs at the full 3 watts. If you want more LEDs you’ll need another driver box.

If I were you I’d only give your LEDs 2 watts each. They’ll burn out much faster at full blast.