Stick to leaded solder and kill the heat once you see it flow. No issues really. LEDs are all designed with lead free reflow temperatures in mind (260-280C peaks for 10s) so a leaded process is very easy in comparison.
General DIY LED thread
- Thread starter Kampo
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Stick to leaded solder and kill the heat once you see it flow. No issues really. LEDs are all designed with lead free reflow temperatures in mind (260-280C peaks for 10s) so a leaded process is very easy in comparison.
And for the record, I’d suggest the skillet approach over trying to use a big iron. Didn’t notice the videos were different.
Trying to catch up on 2 year old design plans.
Quick question.
How many Watts per foot of tank are people going for? I was planning on 8x 10w cobs plus maybe 6x 3w for each 2’ section of my tank . That’ll be ~96w peak. Using 950 lumen neutral and warm whites fir example. That’s equivalent to my viparspectra 165w (actual 103w at full power) I have as a coral grow out light. 3 of these ‘modules’ on a 4 foot heat sink to cover my 180.
But I’m seeing lights like the reefbreeders, that have something like 160w to cover the same area. 2x 320w fixtures over a 6 foot tank. Are they overkill, when something like the viparspectra is able to grow almost everything (or claimed in reviews).
Any advice for someone who started this journey 2 years ago, has a heatsink and 30 x 10w leds sitting around? I’d like to use the stuff I have as much as possible.
Thanks
Quick question.
How many Watts per foot of tank are people going for? I was planning on 8x 10w cobs plus maybe 6x 3w for each 2’ section of my tank . That’ll be ~96w peak. Using 950 lumen neutral and warm whites fir example. That’s equivalent to my viparspectra 165w (actual 103w at full power) I have as a coral grow out light. 3 of these ‘modules’ on a 4 foot heat sink to cover my 180.
But I’m seeing lights like the reefbreeders, that have something like 160w to cover the same area. 2x 320w fixtures over a 6 foot tank. Are they overkill, when something like the viparspectra is able to grow almost everything (or claimed in reviews).
Any advice for someone who started this journey 2 years ago, has a heatsink and 30 x 10w leds sitting around? I’d like to use the stuff I have as much as possible.
Thanks
Lingwendil
Well-Known Member
What tank dimensions?
Are you talking the generic 10W 3CW/6RB arrays? Like these?
The efficiency is poor, and without optics they will have a difficult time reaching very far in a deeper tank, aside from the color not being very good without supplementation. They also tend to fail or at least start to "stain" internally within a year or two if run a t any appreciable output, Ask me how I know
They may be useful on a fish-only, or as "fill-in" lighting, but I would make up the bulk of your light with some Cree chips at the very least, as the longevity and efficiency will be much better, not to mention the aesthetics. They will of course grow coral, but not anywhere near as well as even a black box fixture would.
Maybe look into the arrays in the DIY radion clone thread? Those are proven and a much better choice, in my opinion.
Are you talking the generic 10W 3CW/6RB arrays? Like these?
The efficiency is poor, and without optics they will have a difficult time reaching very far in a deeper tank, aside from the color not being very good without supplementation. They also tend to fail or at least start to "stain" internally within a year or two if run a t any appreciable output, Ask me how I know
They may be useful on a fish-only, or as "fill-in" lighting, but I would make up the bulk of your light with some Cree chips at the very least, as the longevity and efficiency will be much better, not to mention the aesthetics. They will of course grow coral, but not anywhere near as well as even a black box fixture would.
Maybe look into the arrays in the DIY radion clone thread? Those are proven and a much better choice, in my opinion.
What tank dimensions?
Are you talking the generic 10W 3CW/6RB arrays? Like these?
The efficiency is poor, and without optics they will have a difficult time reaching very far in a deeper tank, aside from the color not being very good without supplementation. They also tend to fail or at least start to "stain" internally within a year or two if run a t any appreciable output, Ask me how I know
They may be useful on a fish-only, or as "fill-in" lighting, but I would make up the bulk of your light with some Cree chips at the very least, as the longevity and efficiency will be much better, not to mention the aesthetics. They will of course grow coral, but not anywhere near as well as even a black box fixture would.
Maybe look into the arrays in the DIY radion clone thread? Those are proven and a much better choice, in my opinion.
Yeah, those and some neutral whites, and warm whites.
I planned and bought a bunch of this like 3 years ago, then had to abandon the plan due to having a kid, moving states, and having a second kid.
I’m quickly realizing those plans are extremely lame, and if I’m going to invest in doing this, then I need to update my plans. I’m thinking I should pursue the 3w/5w with optics, or look at the newer cobs.
I would have liked to have kept using what I have, but the ‘sunk cost’ is just going to restrict me too much.
So- if I was to do a 3w/5w array, what watts-lumens / per foot of tank are you guys aiming for? Example- the viparspectra 165w uses 110w to cover 24” . Used 55x roiled/bridgelux leds. With my heatsink, I’m limited to 400w total, since I’d rather keep that, at the least. Should I just max that out with 3w leds?
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Kampo
Active Member
Agree a more modern choice to those 10watt chips would be an array utilizing luxeon m or better luxeon k16s for you base royal blue then filling in from there. Heck k16s are cheaper in a light to cost department than those 10watt chips.What tank dimensions?
Are you talking the generic 10W 3CW/6RB arrays? Like these?
The efficiency is poor, and without optics they will have a difficult time reaching very far in a deeper tank, aside from the color not being very good without supplementation. They also tend to fail or at least start to "stain" internally within a year or two if run a t any appreciable output, Ask me how I know
They may be useful on a fish-only, or as "fill-in" lighting, but I would make up the bulk of your light with some Cree chips at the very least, as the longevity and efficiency will be much better, not to mention the aesthetics. They will of course grow coral, but not anywhere near as well as even a black box fixture would.
Maybe look into the arrays in the DIY radion clone thread? Those are proven and a much better choice, in my opinion.
I would say it's Overkill but best to have more headroom but I'd say at 24in water depth. One k16 plus whatever other LEDs you want to get the color look you want per square foot on tank. So if you had a 48x24 8 clusters in two rows. And I would not run optics. LEDs are cheap enough just go more and diffuse. Main cost is in every thing to support the LEDs. LEDs are the cheap part
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Kampo
Active Member
If you were looking at a 400 watt light.
8xk16 chips each on there own 700ma driver 288 watts
8 sunpluscool whites from Steve's led at 700mah 16 watts
16 mint luxeon c from Steve's led at 700 mAh 32 watts
8 480nm blue 700mah 16watts
24 hyper Violets fr Steve's led 600mah 50 watts
402 total watts
8xk16 chips each on there own 700ma driver 288 watts
8 sunpluscool whites from Steve's led at 700mah 16 watts
16 mint luxeon c from Steve's led at 700 mAh 32 watts
8 480nm blue 700mah 16watts
24 hyper Violets fr Steve's led 600mah 50 watts
402 total watts
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Kampo
Active Member
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Kampo
Active Member
If you count mint that's about 4:1 ratio which is pretty typical 20k look crap ment to say 16 mints. Not 8
If you haven't been up on newer LEDs. Mint is basically a white without red
If you haven't been up on newer LEDs. Mint is basically a white without red
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Kampo
Active Member
Royal blue on one channel
Violet on one
White on one
Mint on one
Blue on one
You can run multiple drivers off one channel.
My heatsink is 6” wide. 4’ long.
That would put each cluster 4” apart. Run all of the k16’s along the center, or stagger them consecutively slightly front to back ? I guess with the spread it wouldn’t make much difference.
Thanks so much for the help.
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