General DIY LED thread

[Halo_003]

More violets are coming with the refresh as I switch to the Luxeon C + SemiLED lineup

I will keep an eye out! Any idea when that may be released and do you take trade ins?

This weekend I was looking into T5 retro kits which I could mount similar (but lower profile) to this:https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/photon-v2-48-hybrid-t5-aquatic-life-conversion.472771/post-5570941

I was thinking a B+ and Actinic would probably go quite nicely with these LEDs, not sure if I really need it though.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

Filled up the 40B and threw the light over it... I like it! I cut out the red and green channels. Left the amber, then added 3 Viosys hyperviolets, and 4 mints.

I thought about ditching the cool white on the pucks, but I'm still undecided, I doesn't feel like mints alone do the trick. Whites at 10-15% looked good with mints at 30% and blues/violets at 75-100%. Ambers, I'm still not sold on, feels like they're drowned out unless cranked up to 50%...then again, there are only 2 of them so it makes sense.

Tank is still few months away so I have plenty of time to play, but it's looking pretty dang good. Once I grab a par meter, I guess we will see.

For now, I started with the cable routing and driver fan placement to make tinkering easier. The final result will have half the wires as I plan on soldering the series connections between the pucks, then again its nice to have WAGO splices for quick disconnects incase(when) I need to replace the pucks.

Some work in progress....:

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

More violets are coming with the refresh as I switch to the Luxeon C + SemiLED lineup

Will definitely be keeping an eye out for these. Once these Chinese pucks (likely UV first) start to go.

 

[Halo_003]

Put together most of one side this evening... still waiting on thermal pads for the drivers and the main cable harness but I’m making slow progress. The other side will be identical to this.

@theatrus, one other question: I have 2 of the v1 drivers and 2 of the v2 that I just received (thanks!), is there any major difference between them that would cause issues using them together?

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

Put together most of one side this evening... still waiting on thermal pads for the drivers and the main cable harness but I’m making slow progress. The other side will be identical to this.

@theatrus, one other question: I have 2 of the v1 drivers and 2 of the v2 that I just received (thanks!), is there any major difference between them that would cause issues using them together?

How many of these fixtures are you making and how big is the tank?

 

[Halo_003]

How many of these fixtures are you making and how big is the tank?

it’s a 24”x4”x1” fixture and it will have 4 of these arrays in total. Initial mock up:

The tank is an IM Nuvo 30L Black externally plumbed and I’m planning on it being BTA dominant.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

How are people taking pictures video of their lights and have them come out even remotely accurate? Everytime I try, it comes out looking nothing like what it actually looks like.

 

[Halo_003]

Put together most of one side this evening... still waiting on thermal pads for the drivers and the main cable harness but I’m making slow progress. The other side will be identical to This.

One easy question, I should connect a GND from my Bluefish to each driver GND, right? Or would just one connection work?

edit, looking at it I believe Ishould be attaching it to my -48V line that goes to each driver, is that right?

 

[oreo54]

Simplist answer is the DC side needs to be common grounded..
How are you powering the bluefish?

substitute bluefish for TC-420.. Blueacro for Ldd.
If you have an "independent" BF power source just need to tie that to the other ground..

That's my understanding of it anyways. Others will confirm..

 

[Halo_003]

Simplist answer is the DC side needs to be common grounded..
How are you powering the bluefish?

substitute bluefish for TC-420.. Blueacro for Ldd.
If you have an "independent" BF power source just need to tie that to the other ground..

That's my understanding of it anyways. Others will confirm..

Thank you! I have the BF receiving 12V in parallel with the fan, so I’ll tie a GND to my 48V- so that it’s grounded to the drivers.

 

[Steven Garland]

Quick questuon,I think I know the answer but are these ldd's any good ?

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

They were at one point, but that one looks like it's been through a belt sander.

 

[Halo_003]

Thanks for the assistance everyone! I have it functional!

It’s kind of barren at the moment because it’s morning so the BTAs are shrunken. No filter:

I also have a pair of Gunnar glasses that I often use to shoot under blues, which is much less over saturated.

The spectrum on these AcroStars is excellent. It’ll be very interesting to see what @theatrus cooks up next.

Bluefish setting

They were at one point, but that one looks like it's been through a belt sander.

What even happened to these?

 

[Steven Garland]

Thanks for the assistance everyone! I have it functional!

It’s kind of barren at the moment because it’s morning so the BTAs are shrunken. No filter:

I also have a pair of Gunnar glasses that I often use to shoot under blues, which is much less over saturated.

The spectrum on these AcroStars is excellent. It’ll be very interesting to see what @theatrus cooks up next.

Bluefish setting

What even happened to these?

Heck yeah,that is a acro growing MACHINE right there !!! Are you still active on NR ?! I haven't seen you there in awhile.

I have no idea,they were piled in with everything and,pulled them out and was like w t f happened here ?!?!

I do want to try his Shine Pro I think it is. The layout looks amazing.

 

[Halo_003]

Heck yeah,that is a acro growing MACHINE right there !!! Are you still active on NR ?! I haven't seen you there in awhile.

I have no idea,they were piled in with everything and,pulled them out and was like w t f happened here ?!?!

I do want to try his Shine Pro I think it is. The layout looks amazing.

Somewhat! I had a couple of cross country moves and career changes to something I’m really happy with now, so I haven’t really gotten fully set back up until about two months ago. I still browse it some but haven’t gotten active over there again yet.

In my prior set up I had a bryopsis issue I couldn’t beat so I had to start with new rock, which is part of why this tank looks so new right now. This light is probably overkill for a BTA tank but I wanted to be able to have anything else I would feel like. I have a Seneye and at the daylight settings it measured about 350 PAR just below the surface. (I have a diffuser film on the splash shield).

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

Somewhat! I had a couple of cross country moves and career changes to something I’m really happy with now, so I haven’t really gotten fully set back up until about two months ago. I still browse it some but haven’t gotten active over there again yet.

In my prior set up I had a bryopsis issue I couldn’t beat so I had to start with new rock, which is part of why this tank looks so new right now. This light is probably overkill for a BTA tank but I wanted to be able to have anything else I would feel like. I have a Seneye and at the daylight settings it measured about 350 PAR just below the surface. (I have a diffuser film on the splash shield).

Looking awesome!

The enclosure/heatsink, was it repurposed from something else or did you buy it? Also where'd pick up the diffuser film?

 

[Steven Garland]

Somewhat! I had a couple of cross country moves and career changes to something I’m really happy with now, so I haven’t really gotten fully set back up until about two months ago. I still browse it some but haven’t gotten active over there again yet.

In my prior set up I had a bryopsis issue I couldn’t beat so I had to start with new rock, which is part of why this tank looks so new right now. This light is probably overkill for a BTA tank but I wanted to be able to have anything else I would feel like. I have a Seneye and at the daylight settings it measured about 350 PAR just below the surface. (I have a diffuser film on the splash shield).

I hear ya,that forum isn't the same anymore.

I REALLY love that heatsink,where did ypu get it ?

 

[Halo_003]

Looking awesome!

The enclosure/heatsink, was it repurposed from something else or did you buy it? Also where'd pick up the diffuser film?

Thanks! The heat sink came from a custom order to a guy who used to run an outfit called CNC Reef several years ago. Unfortunately he dissolved it so it’s basically one of a kind now. I’ve recently been looking into doing some design work on something similar and improved but haven’t gotten to that point yet.

The diffuser film is just frosted glass adhesive I picked up from Amazon, I believe this is the one.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

Thanks! The heat sink came from a custom order to a guy who used to run an outfit called CNC Reef several years ago. Unfortunately he dissolved it so it’s basically one of a kind now. I’ve recently been looking into doing some design work on something similar and improved but haven’t gotten to that point yet.

The diffuser film is just frosted glass adhesive I picked up from Amazon, I believe this is the one.

Did you by chance take some par readings before you applied the film? Curious about the drop.

 

[Halo_003]

Did you by chace take some par reading before you applied the film? Curious about the drop.

I didn't unfortunately! I'm sure it's not an optimal material but with this heatsink/enclosure being so thin I couldn't use the reflector/diffuser that comes with these AcroStars. If I have time today I'll see if I can take the splash shield off and get PAR readings for you.