General DIY LED thread

[oreo54]

and getting blynk to work was a nightmare with my ancient phone. :)

Personal rant.. Bluefish uses that err what protocol.. point of sale as far as I'm concerned.
Actually took me 2 days (well on and off as the frustration built) and 2 different tablet types to get it to blynkup..

 

[Steven Garland]

I honestly got my BF mini and struggled for 2-3 days to get it to blink-up and then it worked with wps. Then the wifi signal is trash in my room where the tank is and no control... opted for a Storm. So much better.

I am so happy Steve's carried Cyan again. I have only been able to find $4+ ones or solderless..ABOUT TIME. And $2.75 for a Rebel ES ? HECK YA.

 

[amond003]

I honestly got my BF mini and struggled for 2-3 days to get it to blink-up and then it worked with wps. Then the wifi signal is trash in my room where the tank is and no control... opted for a Storm. So much better.

I am so happy Steve's carried Cyan again. I have only been able to find $4+ ones or solderless..ABOUT TIME. And $2.75 for a Rebel ES ? HECK YA.

Wouldn't want to sell the mini would you?

 

[TDEcoral]

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.

Don't worry about the PMs, I got it figured out. I'd never used ArduinoIDE before so it was a lot of trial and error to get the program to load correctly. MrMan was a big help though. I first tried to use his v2 program, but there's some kind of error in the code that we couldn't get figured out. However, the v2 program works great and does what I need it to do. The perkint program was my backup if I couldn't get MrMan's to work.
I looked into using your PCB design, but I wanted the boards to be mounted on the heatsink and LDDs don't fit unfortunately. It was my first time ever working with SMD components so there was a lot of trial and error with that too. I used a syringe to apply the solder to every pad and hand placed the components. Very tedious work especially with three boards. To reflow the solder I used an old electric skillet and it worked just fine. Used the skillet to put together the 3-up LEDs as well.
Yes they are the larger COBs and they work great. I had them from another project so I thought why not? If I didn't have them I would have gone with the surplus as well. I have one 3000k and one 4000k in each fixture, but the difference isn't noticable at all. The blue and cyan 3-ups counteract the low Kelvin really well and I'm very happy with the LED mix I chose.

 

[Steven Garland]

Wouldn't want to sell the mini would you?

I got it sold already. I'm sorry.

 

[Lingwendil]

i think that those citizen chips are very nice indeed, then and a cyan, cool blue, and a k16 is a great basic loadout with the violet added to taste.

Got one of my EZ-nano boards together for my marineland portrait 5 gallon build. I'm moving over the contents of my 2.5 gallon reef soon so started on a fixture for it. Current loadout is a blueAcro 20k board for 3x royal blue, 1x semiLEDs violet on one channel, and 1x blue, 1x royal blue, 1x mint, 1x 95 CRI cool white on the other. I also have a Steve's 3up of lime, blue, and violet. I think I'll replace it with a 3up of cyan, blue, and violet, as I really like how the cyan changes the tone of the overall look. I think this will be plenty for this tank, as the most demanding thing I keep is Montipora lighting wise.

 

[TDEcoral]

Looks good! I agree, cyan looks better than lime IMO. I don't remember the specific layout of that board; are the barrel connectors for pwm? What'll you use for control? I wanted to use the makers heatsink, but they are expensive and the rapid led heatsinks were on sale.

 

[Lingwendil]

DC barrel jack for power, and headphone Jacks for PWM. The LDD-L series is limited to 5 volt PWM so it will work with the full size Bluefish controller, or most Arduino based solutions. It won't work well with the Bluefish mini without a level converter. I use an Arduino based controller using the PCA chip from perkint over on ultimate reef and it works fantastic.

I got this heat sink kit for ~30$ shipped as a blemished unit from the MakersLED ebay store originally, and can't find a single issue with it. I really like it, but it is very bulky at this size. I'd love one in the 24" range to play with, but just wished they came in black and took standard 80mm PC fans.

Just ordered a 3up of cyan, violet, and cool blue, as well as a couple semiLEDs royal blue from StevesLEDs so I'll be adding those and swapping the 3up soon :)

 

[Lingwendil]

While looking for some Luxeon M royal blues on the bay of E under the heading "100W Philip Royal Blue 450-455nm High Power Led" it looks like you can get an array of 9(!) Luxeon M royal blues for $25.83 shipped!

The 32-26 forward voltage means that it would probably run well off of a 36 volt supply if you were pushing it around 500-700mA, meaning that you could run it with the LDD-L (36 volt max) series drivers or LDB-L (36 volt max input, but 40 max output) boost drivers from a lower voltage supply. I have a big huge 24 volt supply on hand that this looks promising for with my 8 channel LDD-L driver PCBs.


Might be useful for a PAR cannon build, or for multiple arrays on larger tank builds. I'd love one to play with :)

 

[Smite]

Hey all,

I've been scanning over this thread and I'm hoping this is the right place for my question. I'm looking to do my first diy led build. I'm wanting to build 2 x 60" led bars. I would like the bars to replace the 4 60" t5s that I currently run on each side of my MH. This is a Giesemann spectra fixture, I plan to retro fit the t5 area to led.
Their main purpose: to replicate the deep blue setting of my previous Radion Pros. Each bar will be replacing 2x80w Blue plus lamps, so I do still require some growth power out of them.

With this being my first diy attempt I'm hesitant to do multiple channels and over complicate things but dimming would be nice. I have an apex controller and it would be great to utilize that somehow.

I'm just starting my research on this but my main questions I have are:
- What makes a good heatsink and were is the best place to shop for them? Steve's led, ebay? Seems like lengths over 48" are hard to come by.
- to achieve the output of 2 x 80w t5 lamps per bar, what will my spacing/ quantity per foot be?
- is there a difference in lifespan when it comes to solder vs solderless?
- How do I calculate my needed driver?

Thanks for any help, I'm going to continue reading through this thread but would love some input as some of the info in here seems a little advanced.

 

[oreo54]

First for real diy heat sinks:
https://www.heatsinkusa.com/Unfortunately none are anodized

Most go w/ Makers heatsinks for ease of led mounting.

spacing is a choice but normal is about 2 1/2" center to center of the diode.. or like this:
spacing

since dimming is recommended matching wattage is fine though you usually can get away w/ about 1/2 T5 wattage and get the same PAR..
solder vs solderless is just choice. That said depends on your soldering skills..Cold joints, overflow can be problematic
but just an annoyance.
solderless can make spacing a challenge..

Drivers depend on diodes and power supplies depend on drivers/diode string length.
That's for normal seperate driver/ps builds.
Keep in mind that how you want to control the diodes.i.e dimming protocol
determines the complexity of the dimming circuitry.

but back a bit..
60" (150cm) light bars as a "pattern"
https://orphek.com/or2-150-120-90-60-reef-led-lighting/
42 diodes.. roughly 69W each 60" bar..Simple heatsinks.

One bar = or exceeds 1 80W tube..

Calculating the mA output of a constant current driver is based on the diode specs heatsink colling (fans or fanless) and if you want bleeding edge output or stability..
The rough wattage was calc using 550mA driver (common for stable blue/white 3w "class" diodes)
Orpheks are running their strings at 450mA

 

[Smite]

Thank you @oreo5457!

 

[oreo54]

missed the Apex part.. Best to go w/ AC/DC drivers w/ 10V analog dimming potential..
Need to match the diodes v(f) SUM at your intended drive current..
Starting w/ say 42 diodes per 60" bar and 500mA drive current and a V(f) of each 3.5V (@500mA) you need to have at least
147V DC available..which, frankly is a hard match..
Fast find closest is HLG-60H-C350 B (dimmable).
54W/bar..
note "only" 350mA of current.

If you use quality diodes w/ low v(f)'s you can do better.
Luxeon rb's from StevesLED

Forward Voltage is 2.75V @ 350ma, 2.95 @ 700ma, 3.00V @ 1,000ma (Datasheet Figure 10)
Wavelength - 445nm-450nm

So 124V total..

HLG-80H-C700B
Nice thing is you can boost output but need to watch cooling
Bars would be 86W each.

Point is driver is VERY dependent on string actual voltage demands..You may need to add or subtract diodes depending on choices. Some drivers do have a lower limit and must be met ..

HLG-80H-C700B 84V~129V

range matters..

 

[Marlon C]

So I'm beginning to dabble into diy led but I would like to know what I need to power these led? And is there a way to add a dimmer to it? How would you guys wire these? Any help would be great

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

So I'm beginning to dabble into diy led but I would like to know what I need to power these led? And is there a way to add a dimmer to it? How would you guys wire these? Any help would be great

I've got a couple of these I've been playing with. You need a power supply, driver (ie Meanwell LDD-H) , and heatsink at a minimum.

You can also use one of the meanwell HLG drivers which is essentially a power supply driver combo in one but that's only for single channel operation. The chips typically use about 42v so you will need a 48v psu.

To dim these there are several options: wirelessly you can use a Bluefish Mini, manual knob via Hurricane/Stormx controller, Meanwell driver with a potentiometer (knob), or some other means of sending PWM signal (in my case I was using ReefPi).

Just a heads up, these are VERY potent royal blue (a lot of it).


EDIT: MY SETUP

Psu: meanwell LRS-350-48
Driver board: rapid led LDD-H 4 channel
Drivers: DC-DC Meanwell LDD-H 700s
Heatsink: Makers LED 12"
Dimmer: ReefPi PWM

 

[Marlon C]

So would 5 of these chips be enough for my tank its 48x24

 

[oreo54]

So would 5 of these chips be enough for my tank its 48x24

I'll let users confirm that..
At that price I'd suggest 8 at least (and dimmer). You'll want to add something else though..
2 rows of 4 and a center row of "other stuff"...
but sort of a philosophical thing.
reefs blues outside colors inside
freshwater whites outside colors inside..

mW min.: 9000 mW
mW max.: 10800 mW
mA test.: 350 mA
DC forward current: 1050mA
mA peak: 1050 mA
V typ.: 42V
V min: 40V
V max.: 45.1 V

Suggest sticking w/ that 350mA number like the above post..

you can run 4 in series off this driver and dim w/ a "pot" for cheapest route..
HLG-60H-C350 B
45x 4 = 180V

100V~200V

350mA

https://www.ledsupply.com/led-drivers/mean-well-hlg-c

Est of 8 chips..

* MIXING LIST
----------------------------------------
PhilipsLumileds Luxeon-Rebel RoyalBlue (440-460nm) [120°] x88
----------------------------------------

* SIMULATION DATA
----------------------------------------
Luminous flux : 2,651 lm
Radiant flux : 80,079 mW (6 chips = 90000 plus so est is low)
PPF : 302 umol/s
TCP : ‑ K
CRI : ‑
λp : 452 nm
Color : #4B33FF
----------------------------------------

* PERFORMANCE @ 30cm
----------------------------------------
Irradiance : 94.4 W/m²/s
Illuminance : 3,126 lx
PPFD : 356 umol/m²/s

you'll find that roughly big AC/DC driver or switching ps/LDD drivers (1 per chip) will be roughly equiv in pricing in the overall scheme of things.
Big difference in how you want to dim them.

 

[Lingwendil]

I use two of the above luxeon/toshiba K16 royal blues over my 40 breeder, and honestly it depends on what you want to keep. They don't have the best spread as single point sources if you want to cover a ton of area (24" square area at 24" deep is a lot) at high intensity, so I would probably do six, unless all you want to do is LPS and less demanding SPS like Montipora. Depends on your aquascape plans too. I would do them as an array of clusters, rather than rows. Auxiliary colors (and whites) clustered as close as you can to each K16 would be best for color mixing.

I run mine off of a single LDD-H driver each and they drop from 42~44 volts depending on current. I think mine are at either 300 or 500mA, I can't remember currently.

 

[oreo54]

I use two of the above luxeon/toshiba K16 royal blues over my 40 breeder, and honestly it depends on what you want to keep. They don't have the best spread as single point sources if you want to cover a ton of area (24" square area at 24" deep is a lot) at high intensity, so I would probably do six, unless all you want to do is LPS and less demanding SPS like Montipora. Depends on your aquascape plans too. I would do them as an array of clusters, rather than rows. Auxiliary colors (and whites) clustered as close as you can to each K16 would be best for color mixing.

I run mine off of a single LDD-H driver each and they drop from 42~44 volts depending on current. I think mine are at either 300 or 500mA, I can't remember currently.

You've worked w/ these so I defer to that.
My thing as you may know is symmetry..

Best thing in my mind w/ clusters would be 3 per cluster 3 clusters w/ a central core of colors or white..

Just me..
At $18 for 5.. dang over build!!.. ;)
6,8,9, still need 2 sets..

3 clustering a fresh fish or crisp white COB.. ;)
Run the blues at 50%..

 

[Lingwendil]

They sure are cheap enough, I think I only have one unmounted left, great for less complex addition of a good bit of royal blue. I think the sweet spot for them for LPS is 500mA, 20~24" square area, 6-8" inches above the waterline on a 18-20" tall tank. you can crank them all the way up to 1A for 44 watts of royal blue, but there is little in the way of optics that I've found for them so I would err on the side of just using a couple more for margin.

My pendants from way earlier in the thread would be a good form factor for multiple smaller fixtures. Hang them on hooked cables to that they could be easily hung out of the way in sections for maintenance of the tank, could even run different drivers for different sections as needed to provide more or less intensity to certain areas/corals.