General DIY LED thread

[AbjectMaelstroM]

For fun, try shutting the RB to zero................and violets to 25%
Just to see if you can get closer..

I'll give it a go when I get home.

 

[oreo54]

I'll give it a go when I get home.

If you want 14000K you really have to lean on whites ..
And it's probably going to be hard w/ so much "violet" to not get a visually "purple" look.

Problem is blue and red make a magenta which looks purple-ish also.
High blue "20000K" (not really 20000k) mh.. Note little violet..

Calculated example of the tone I "think" you are attempting..

* MIXING LIST
----------------------------------------
myData fresh-fish-v2.csv [120°] x2
PhilipsLumileds Luxeon-K2 RoyalBlue (440-460nm) [120°] x3
PhilipsLumileds Luxeon-K2 Blue (460-490nm) [120°] x9
PhilipsLumileds Luxeon-K2 Cyan (490-520nm) [120°] x14
----------------------------------------

* SIMULATION DATA
----------------------------------------
Luminous flux : 9,078 lm
Radiant flux : 37,986 mW
PPF : 163 umol/s
TCP : 16390 K
CRI : 64
λp : 457 nm
Color : #7FB1FF

you can add more RB w/out a purple penalty but shifts K value up..

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

I gonna have to play with it some more, but it looks like if I want to use K16s and fresh fish, I'm going to have to greatly underdrive the K16s (350ma) and grab a bunch of (3x) 3up blues and 3 cyans (maybe mints as well) and run them at 700ma. For UV maybe 1-3 hyperviolets at most (probably 350ma).

Good cyans get expensive to source in 3ups/7up since Steve's no longer carries them.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

Going to hit up the LFS later this week and ask them what settings they run on their lights. They have a good mix of radions, hydras and red sea 90s.

 

[oreo54]

;)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Philips-Lu...hash=item1c4ecce7b6:m:m3vaj0B1PhmTRqJOL776hFg
$3.50 each..
Actually getting cheap ones is a way to try your ideas..
10/$10
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1W-3W-5W-W...=3225021290039a79b26378474eea8f78cc50b1b42afahttps://www.ebay.com/itm/1W-3W-5W-1...hash=item3aab4132d4:m:mwrCQYKO8FfJym5sv-tuPtghttps://www.ebay.com/itm/3535-Royal...hash=item43f2d340ae:m:mB_nQBpkdYFxCzAFtGijnkA

 

[oreo54]

https://orphek.com/orphek-or-60-blue-sky-led-light-product-review-by-danna-riddle/
A sort of proof of concept..

found these.. Kind of interesting:
https://www.cutter.com.au/product/lumia-5-2-planted-tank/Version Aquarium: 12000k
Channel 1: 5 Cree XPG-3 Royal Blue in 450nm Wavelength (15v @ 1000mA)
Channel 2: 3 Nichia Cyan, 2 Cree XPE-2 Green (15V @ 1000mA)
Channel 3: 4 Cree XPG-3 Royal Blue in 450nm Wavelength (15v @ 1000mA)
Channel 4: 3 Nichia Cyan, 2 Cree XPE-2 Phosphor converted Amber(15V @ 1000mA)
Channel 5: 5 Cree XPG-3 Royal Blue in 450nm Wavelength (15v @ 1000mA)

not sure how they get 12000K out of that though..
ch3 is a diode short as well..

Australia.. :(

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

;)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Philips-Lu...hash=item1c4ecce7b6:m:m3vaj0B1PhmTRqJOL776hFg
$3.50 each..
Actually getting cheap ones is a way to try your ideas..
10/$10
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1W-3W-5W-W...=3225021290039a79b26378474eea8f78cc50b1b42afahttps://www.ebay.com/itm/1W-3W-5W-1...hash=item3aab4132d4:m:mwrCQYKO8FfJym5sv-tuPtghttps://www.ebay.com/itm/3535-Royal...hash=item43f2d340ae:m:mB_nQBpkdYFxCzAFtGijnkA

Sweet! I'll take look. Thank you.

 

[naoki]

I've got a DIY LED question and this seems like the place to ask it. I hope this doesnt seem like hijacking.

I want a blue LED bar but I dont want to pay the (IMO 2- to 4-fold overpriced) Orphek bar price.
https://www.saltwateraquarium.com/48-blue-plus-light-bar-led-or2-120-orphek/

eBay has similar items for about $80-$90, but the 48" one is always out of stock. (They are in stock at Aliexpress, so I can always buy there instead)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Led-Aquari...ue-Spectrum-Strip-Light-for-Tank/293136414359

That is still overpriced relative to black boxes (fewer components but the same price), so I know we can do better. My questions for the DIY community:
1. Has anyone made a bar-style DIY LED? I'd love to see details if so.
2. How much can we beat the $80-$90 price by going DIY?

Specifically, I want a 48" array of 3W blue/violet LEDs. No special dimming or controls required. I would prefer a design with a fan but if it's worked for others without a fan I'd be open to trying that too.

Thanks!

I'm not sure where you are located, but if the cost of electricity is above average for the US, you'll save money by going with more efficient LEDs. Alaska is one of the most expensive ($0.22/kWh), so my priority is efficiency. I've been using Bridgelux EB strip gen 2 (5700K) + Citizen CLU048-1212 Royal Blue (driven pretty soft), but decided to add a bit more Royal Blue so I can drive CLU048 at a lower current. At the nominal current, CLU048 gives photosynthetic photon efficacy (PPE) of about 2.16 micromol/J (PPE becomes higher with lower current). I looked around Luxeon, Cree and Samsung Royal Blue, and both Cree XPG-3 and Samsung LH351H have PPE fo 2.8 micromol/J (higher than Luxeon). I couldn't find a source of packaged LH351H royal blue, so I decided to go with XPG-3. I received linear modules of XPG-3 from Cutter, but I haven't had time to assemble them yet.

I went with 12 x XPG-3 Royal Blue (F4 bin, which is the current top bin) of ZGE-285-DXP for $13.73. One module is 285mm long. So you can use 4x to make a 4' strip.
https://www.cutter.com.au/product/cutter-zge-285-dxp-custom/They do have some modules (ZGE-285DXP or ZGE-280-SXP) with Semi-leds violet. But PPE of Semi-leds is much lower.

Shipping to the US is a little expensive (around $28 for 4 modules), so it cost about $82 to make 4'.

One module of ZGE-285-DXP requires about Vf of 33.84V (at start up) with 350mA. So if you need one bar of 4', you can drive four modules parallely with one Meanwell NPF-40D-36 (driving current of 280mA per LED) or NPF-60D-42 (358mA per LED). If you don't need dimming, you can use cheaper drivers like LPC-60-1400, OWA-60U42 etc. You can check the price on octopart.com, but the driver is $15-30.

I drive them soft, so I'm just using aluminum U-channel from Lowes as the heat sink (about $10). Here is a link to my blog post, which uses this as heatsinks. But it would be better if you use something like this: https://www.heatsinkusa.com/1-000/

This setup costs a little more initially, but you'll get significantly more efficient fixture than those Chinese stuff. Most chinese stuff don't have relevant spec disclosed (or major brands of pre-made fixtures don't disclose their efficiency), but I wouldn't be surprised that you can get same amount of output with 30-50% less energy than chinese stuff (i.e. cost saving over time).

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

;)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Philips-Lu...hash=item1c4ecce7b6:m:m3vaj0B1PhmTRqJOL776hFg
$3.50 each..
Actually getting cheap ones is a way to try your ideas..
10/$10
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1W-3W-5W-W...=3225021290039a79b26378474eea8f78cc50b1b42afahttps://www.ebay.com/itm/1W-3W-5W-1...hash=item3aab4132d4:m:mwrCQYKO8FfJym5sv-tuPtghttps://www.ebay.com/itm/3535-Royal...hash=item43f2d340ae:m:mB_nQBpkdYFxCzAFtGijnkA

So I tried the no RB approach and while it looked less purple we're still not there yet.

So I think I'm going to pull the extra hyperviolets I added as there seems to be more violet on the pucks than needed already. Leave the mints in place and add a 3up of cyan to help kick back some of the magenta/purple. 3up should be here this week or early next week, so will see what happens when it gets here.

If all else fails, I might just suck it up and drive on until the pucks burn out then I'll switch to k16/FF. I will keep playing with those combos in the meantime.

 

[oreo54]

Just for fun...
https://www.grantsonnex.com/why-purple-doesnt-exist/

Okay, so what about purple? Well, if you mix red and blue light you excite red and blue cones and you experience purple. There’s no doubting that. But unlike yellow, if you look for light whose frequency is half way between red and blue to do the same job you are slap bang in the middle of the greens, and not surprisingly what you see is green, not purple at all.


So the only way we can experience purple is by seeing red and blue simultaneously. There is no such thing as purple light. No single frequency of electromagnetic radiation can give you that purple feeling. The experience of purple is an anomaly of the way we see colour and as such I would suggest that it is the most intimate and personal of colours, created purely in the depths of our perceptual system. This is not true of any other colour but regal, sensual purple.


That also, surely, gives purple a unique place in the artist’s palette. A purple pigment is not reflecting purple light into our eyes but red and blue without green. Purple is a kind of ungreen.

And regarding blues..

your eyeball.. ;)
https://midimagic.sgc-hosting.com/huvision.htmhttps://midimagic.sgc-hosting.com/pricol.htm#animal

 

[Halo_003]

Just for fun...
https://www.grantsonnex.com/why-purple-doesnt-exist/

And regarding blues..

your eyeball.. ;)
https://midimagic.sgc-hosting.com/huvision.htmhttps://midimagic.sgc-hosting.com/pricol.htm#animal

Somewhat along these lines of shades and brightness of blues... I had a random thought this morning. What if we took a lot of Violet/UV LEDs and put them into an array with just a few royal blue and maybe a mint or warm white to get a lot of PAR output but a pretty visually dim look to simulate a deep water reef? Stupid idea or crazy enough to maybe work?

For example:

UV UV UV UV UV
UV UV RB UV UV
UV RB WW RB UV
UV UV RB UV UV
UV UV UV UV UV

Maybe a T5 hybrid version with a couple of Super Actinic bulbs?

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

So I added a Luxeon rebel 3-up cyan and removed the 3 hyper violets I added and I think this new look will do. Still has a hint of purple-ish(indigo?) but more like a MH.

I really need to get my hands on a par meter, or just breakdown and buy one to see if I'm going to stick with the DIY vs 2x viparspectras.

The final count is:
CH1: RoyaBlue x8 @700ma
CH2: Blue x8 @700ma
CH2: Cyan x3 @700ma (same channel as blue)
CH3: 420 x8 @350ma
CH:3 395 x4 @350ma (on same channel as 420)
CH4: Mint x4@1000ma
CH5: Cool White x8@700ma
CH6: Green x4, Red x4, Amber x2 @700

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

So I added a Luxeon rebel 3-up cyan and removed the 3 hyper violets I added and I think this new look will do. Still has a hint of purple-ish(indigo?) but more like a MH.

I really need to get my hands on a par meter, or just breakdown and buy one to see if I'm going to stick with the DIY vs 2x viparspectras.

The final count is:
CH1: RoyaBlue x8 @700ma
CH2: Blue x8 @700ma
CH2: Cyan x3 @700ma (same channel as blue)
CH3: 420 x8 @350ma
CH:3 395 x4 @350ma (on same channel as 420)
CH4: Mint x4@1000ma
CH5: Cool White x8@700ma
CH6: Green x4, Red x4, Amber x2 @700

 

[Ronnyking]

Hello guys, I want to ask your advice on a DIY Led project for a red sea reefer 250 (36"x20"x21" LxWxH).

I'm thinking about two different options, using led pucks from Topledlight:

Either

4 times the following configuration:
Channel 1: 4 x CREE XT-E Royal Blue (450 nm) @1000 mA
Channel 2: 2x CREE XP-G2 Cool White (8000k) + 2x CREE xp-g3 Neutral White (4500-5000k) @1000 mA
Channel 3: 1 x Cree XPE Green + 1 x Epileds deep red (660nm) + 1 x Epieds cyan +1 x cree xpg3 warm white
Channel 4: 4 x CREE XPE2 Blue (470 nm) @1000 mA

each time surrounded by Semiled UVs: 1x 395nm, 1x 410 nm, 2x 420nm

Or

8 times the following configuration:
Channel 1: 2 x CREE XT-E Royal Blue (450 nm) @1000 mA
Channel 2: 1 x CREE XP-G2 Cool White (8000k) + 1 x CREE xp-g3 Neutral White (4500-5000k) @1000 mA
Channel 3: 2 x CREE XPE2 Blue (470 nm) @1000 mA
Channel 4: 1 SemiLED UV (400-410 nm) + 1 SemiLED UV (420 nm) @1000 mA

with per two pucks a red, a green, a cyan, an extra uv and a warm white in between.

Would the second option offer better spread?

Any alterations on the spectrum? You should know I live in Europe where we tend to have a bit less blue than in the US.

Thanks!

 

[oreo54]

more "pucks" ..more spread..
This thread (post 17) has nice examples of color channels (though a caution about how "exact" to real life they are)

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ledzeal-alpha-120-spectrum-selection.664150/

 

[Ronnyking]

New question. What would you guys prefer:

For a reefer 250:

Either a full led fixture with 8 pucks to have enough spread.

Or a Hybrid system with t5 (aquatic life t5 hybrid system) with diy led pucks in the middle? The t5's to counter any shadowing and disco effect and the leds for the nice controllability, shimmer, coloring and PAR?

 

[anit77]

I'm going to be putting in a large system soon and I'd like to find a place to either get blank pucks or get them made with a custom led layout. I'd almost prefer to have blanks so I can bin select the diodes. Probably going to need 20 to 22 of them. Planning for 16 over the tank, 2 to 4 for a buddy and a few spares.

Does anyone know a good place to start looking for the boards. Looking for the 23 diode Radion style or 25 in a 5x5. I like the look of the Radion style for the larger spacing though.

Thanks for any help :)

 

[Lingwendil]

Whoah! We're at 26 pages now!

I'm reconfiguring my 6" MakersLED sink for reef use, and will be posting some pics soon. Life got funky for a while so most of my hobbies went on hold but I'm back :)

OH, by the way- Steve's LEDs carries cyan again!

Looks like I need to order a few 3-ups with them onboard for some projects. violet, cool blue, and cyan 3-ups are very useful for adding to k16 and white based builds.

 

[TDEcoral]

Whoah! We're at 26 pages now!

I'm reconfiguring my 6" MakersLED sink for reef use, and will be posting some pics soon. Life got funky for a while so most of my hobbies went on hold but I'm back :)

OH, by the way- Steve's LEDs carries cyan again!

Looks like I need to order a few 3-ups with them onboard for some projects. violet, cool blue, and cyan 3-ups are very useful for adding to k16 and white based builds.

Glad to see you back on here. I tried getting a hold of you a couple months back to get your input on some lights I was putting together. Do you recognize the board I'm using? It's running two Citizen 1212 cobs, two k16, two 3-up mixed violets, and two 3-up blue/cyan/cyan. Each light is ran individually using a blynk program provided by "MrMan".

 

[Lingwendil]

Hey I have two of those boards I haven't even used. I could never get the programs to upload correctly and getting blynk to work was a nightmare with my ancient phone. :)

I need to check my PMs, I haven't been getting notifications, on top of being very busy/distracted the last few months. I'll look them over more soon, but yes- I'm still using the Perkint program, actually running four tanks off of it still. My build uses my 8-up board but I do plan on doing more to the 6-up boards soon, after testing some other PCBs for some audio projects that should be in today :)

Those are the larger citizen COBs, right? Looks pretty good. How do you like them? I run the smaller versions in parallel for 150mA each, and have been thinking of replacing them with the sunplus whites to see if the lack of red is an issue color wise with the high CRI and increased cool blue of the sunplus whites.

I'll look more when I get home tonight.