Guide's for a DIY LED strip for a 25cm tank

[PeterLL]

Hi everyone,
I've got a wee 25cm pico thats long and narrow, so looking for a wee LED strip to make:
Something like this:

I've not done anything like this before, and would need a full on guide from how to get it plugged to mains, to soldering on the LED's to what housing I'd need, if anyone can point me in the right direction?
THank You

 

[PeterLL]

Okay I realise It'll be helpful if I give a little more detailed to what I'm thinking.

So, would this work:
1) To connect to a mains, a USB wall plug with power cable (https://futureeden.co.uk/collection...s/2-core-mains-flex-cable?variant=23776612422)

soldered one end to a USB shell (https://www.hobbytronics.co.uk/usb-...MIhLy3n4rL6gIVU4BQBh0-gg6QEAQYASABEgKQjfD_BwE)

and the other to a LED driver (https://futureeden.co.uk/collection.../12w-300ma-constant-current-led-driver-20-43v)

2) More power cable soldered to the other end of the LED driver and then soldered to either a LED PCB (https://futureeden.co.uk/collection...mm-pcb-8-led-in-series?variant=14038195568724),

OR to some star LED's (https://futureeden.co.uk/collections/1w-high-power-led-with-pcb-heatsink-all-colours-1).

One question though is would I just solder power cable between each individual star LED, or how are they connected?

3) Either the Star LED's or the PCB is then thermal glued onto an aluminium heatsink, and then that is the LED complete right?

Thank You so much

 

[Michael Lane]

I don't follow how you are planning to use the USB connector.

Based on what you've described, this is basically what you want based on the LED driver you linked. You would still need to get a heatsink and use some thermal glue to attach the LEDs.

 

[PeterLL]

I don't follow how you are planning to use the USB connector.

Based on what you've described, this is basically what you want based on the LED driver you linked. You would still need to get a heatsink and use some thermal glue to attach the LEDs.

Legend mate thank you, that was a lot simpler than I was making it out to be haha.

I'll ditch the USB idea as well. So I have got a 55 quid shopping list for this including the light:
Bare end plug attached to LED driver, and then from the LED driver to the star LED's like shown. The LED's directly thermal sillicone'd onto a aluminium LED profile, which will have LED heatsinks thermal silicone'd onto the top of the profile. Then Some aluminium flat bars and L brackets to make a wee stand and that should be it lol. Excited to give this a go, just need to choose what 9 LED's to run

 

[PeterLL]

@Michael Lane Sorry to bump you again, how would these be connected in the series youve shown above? https://futureeden.co.uk/collection...nm-520-530nm-460-470nm-with-star-pcb-heatsink
Thank You

 

[Michael Lane]

@Michael Lane Sorry to bump you again, how would these be connected in the series youve shown above? https://futureeden.co.uk/collection...nm-520-530nm-460-470nm-with-star-pcb-heatsink
Thank You

These are basically 3 LEDs on a single board, so you would probably be limited to 4 of these. You'll have to connect them as though they were individual boards in order to make sure the majority of the current doesn't flow through the red LEDs.

Her

Here's another way to look at it that shows the traces on the stars. This example routes the power through green, then blue, then red.

If you need to use more than 4 of these then I would recommend a separate driver for each color. Then you could have 11-12 of these stars.

 

[PeterLL]

These are basically 3 LEDs on a single board, so you would probably be limited to 4 of these. You'll have to connect them as though they were individual boards in order to make sure the majority of the current doesn't flow through the red LEDs.

Her

Here's another way to look at it that shows the traces on the stars. This example routes the power through green, then blue, then red.

If you need to use more than 4 of these then I would recommend a separate driver for each color. Then you could have 11-12 of these stars.

Makes sense, thank you so much.
So I was only planning two of these in series with violets, blues and whites, but apart from the additional wiring over the LED star, connecting is that same by just connecting the pink to the plus of the violet, blue, white etc. LED next in the series. Its a bit weird but it wants me to just wire directly over the LED light unless you hold the wire in place around the 'bulb'?

 

[Michael Lane]

Makes sense, thank you so much.
So I was only planning two of these in series with violets, blues and whites, but apart from the additional wiring over the LED star, connecting is that same by just connecting the pink to the plus of the violet, blue, white etc. LED next in the series. Its a bit weird but it wants me to just wire directly over the LED light unless you hold the wire in place around the 'bulb'?

Yeah. You don't want to wire over the LED. It's more work to draw a curved line, so the illustrations are not exactly what you would do. I would curve a bit of wire around the star.

You can wire them any way that makes sense to you as long as you keep everything in series. That means you could just connect all the red channels, then loop back from the end of the reds to the start of the greens, then do the same thing for blue. It just uses more wire, and I always seem to have a wire shortage...

 

[PeterLL]

Yeah. You don't want to wire over the LED. It's more work to draw a curved line, so the illustrations are not exactly what you would do. I would curve a bit of wire around the star.

You can wire them any way that makes sense to you as long as you keep everything in series. That means you could just connect all the red channels, then loop back from the end of the reds to the start of the greens, then do the same thing for blue. It just uses more wire, and I always seem to have a wire shortage...

Thank you so much, I’ve got the wires in place ready to be sorted, so they look good/correct?

 

[PeterLL]

Higher quality pic

 

[PeterLL]

Anyone know of any way of testing if the circuit is working without wiring it into the driver yet?
Cheers

 

[Michael Lane]

I can't completely tell if it's correct, but it looks like it's wired correctly. Some of the LEDs and wires are hard to see though.

If you have a bench power supply, then you can test by setting the voltage to ~3 or 4 volts and setting the current limit to a few milliamps. Then you can poke the power supply leads across each LED in the way that you think is correct.

If that works out, then you can double the voltage and test a couple of LEDs in series to be sure.

 

[PeterLL]

I can't completely tell if it's correct, but it looks like it's wired correctly. Some of the LEDs and wires are hard to see though.

If you have a bench power supply, then you can test by setting the voltage to ~3 or 4 volts and setting the current limit to a few milliamps. Then you can poke the power supply leads across each LED in the way that you think is correct.

If that works out, then you can double the voltage and test a couple of LEDs in series to be sure.

Awesome thank you so much - I’ve (dodgily) soldered it all in

hopefully it’s all done correctly although I’m a bit concerned about the connection quality on the solders.
Also I do not have a bench power supply, is there anything else I can use like a batter or something?

 

[PeterLL]

OKay I messed up with the driver, while I order a new one, If i had a 12W driver trying to power 9 3W LED's, should I expect the LED's to be dim, flickering etc. or just not light at all?
Trying to work out if the circuit is bad or its purely the driver, cheers

 

[oreo54]

OKay I messed up with the driver, while I order a new one, If i had a 12W driver trying to power 9 3W LED's, should I expect the LED's to be dim, flickering etc. or just not light at all?
Trying to work out if the circuit is bad or its purely the driver, cheers

Voltage out of the driver is important here..
Using the pic from your post on THAT driver.
It looks like it says 36V max. 18v min (??? hard to see). Both numbers are important.
the 6-10 "watt" thing gives yo an idea of the constant current it's set for.
Soo probably around 350mA which is fairly standard.

Your "12W" driver may light or may not light your string.. It's the available voltage that matters..
Assuming standard-ish blues/whites your driver needs to be capable of providing something like 3.7 X 9 = 33.3 volts.
A 12V driver can have current set at anything.. Say 250mA and be capable of 48V out
A 1 A 12W driver will only output 12V max..

In other words the wattage of the driver tells you nothing really.



After you reach the V(f) of the sum of the voltages of the series diodes THEN one can talk watts..

As to testing diodes.. Any digital VOM set on ohms (low) or diode should be able to test a single emitter..
Obviously since they are diodes they only conduct in one direction.
Place point of sale prob on point of sale pad of diode 1 and then neg pad of diode 2. Diode one should light dimly.

Also check each pad (plus and minus) to accidental shorts to the heat sink..point of sale pad to heat sink neg pad to heat sink.

 

[PeterLL]

Voltage out of the driver is important here..
Using the pic from your post on THAT driver.
It looks like it says 36V max. 18v min (??? hard to see). Both numbers are important.
the 6-10 "watt" thing gives yo an idea of the constant current it's set for.
Soo probably around 350mA which is fairly standard.

Your "12W" driver may light or may not light your string.. It's the available voltage that matters..
Assuming standard-ish blues/whites your driver needs to be capable of providing something like 3.7 X 9 = 33.3 volts.
A 12V driver can have current set at anything.. Say 250mA and be capable of 48V out
A 1 A 12W driver will only output 12V max..

In other words the wattage of the driver tells you nothing really.



After you reach the V(f) of the sum of the voltages of the series diodes THEN one can talk watts..

As to testing diodes.. Any digital VOM set on ohms (low) or diode should be able to test a single emitter..
Obviously since they are diodes they only conduct in one direction.
Place point of sale prob on point of sale pad of diode 1 and then neg pad of diode 2. Diode one should light dimly.

Also check each pad (plus and minus) to accidental shorts to the heat sink..point of sale pad to heat sink neg pad to heat sink.

Thank you so much but I am also incredibly lost hahah.
So the info on my driver is in my next reply.
So essentially, for 9, 3W LED's I need a driver capable of atleast 27W and 33.3V or??

Also I'll look into getting a Multimeter then seems like it'll stop me driving my head into a wall haha

 

[PeterLL]

Voltage out of the driver is important here..
Using the pic from your post on THAT driver.
It looks like it says 36V max. 18v min (??? hard to see). Both numbers are important.
the 6-10 "watt" thing gives yo an idea of the constant current it's set for.
Soo probably around 350mA which is fairly standard.

Your "12W" driver may light or may not light your string.. It's the available voltage that matters..
Assuming standard-ish blues/whites your driver needs to be capable of providing something like 3.7 X 9 = 33.3 volts.
A 12V driver can have current set at anything.. Say 250mA and be capable of 48V out
A 1 A 12W driver will only output 12V max..

In other words the wattage of the driver tells you nothing really.



After you reach the V(f) of the sum of the voltages of the series diodes THEN one can talk watts..

As to testing diodes.. Any digital VOM set on ohms (low) or diode should be able to test a single emitter..
Obviously since they are diodes they only conduct in one direction.
Place point of sale prob on point of sale pad of diode 1 and then neg pad of diode 2. Diode one should light dimly.

Also check each pad (plus and minus) to accidental shorts to the heat sink..point of sale pad to heat sink neg pad to heat sink.

Thank you so much but I am also incredibly lost hahah.
So the info on my driver is:

 

[PeterLL]

How come I struggle to find such high voltage drivers, when 99% of them I see are maximum 12V? Seems odd considering its powering only 9 LED's

 

[oreo54]

How come I struggle to find such high voltage drivers, when 99% of them I see are maximum 12V? Seems odd considering its powering only 9 LED's

That just looks like a switching power supply they call a driver..

 

[PeterLL]

That just looks like a switching power supply they call a driver..

Wait so whats the difference? I put LED driver into ebay search and those are the stuff I'm getting?