MakersLED diy build
- Thread starter Curtie44
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Curtie44
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Ready for power!
I got the drivers all wired up tonight. I ran 3 separate power plugs for the 5 drivers. The 2 drivers for the royal blue are on 1 plug, the neutral white and the OCW are on the second and the hyper violet are on the third. Each color is on its own dimmer. I also ran a plug for the 12V wall wart to power the cooling fans.
I only had 4 knobs for the pots...I thought for sure I ordered enough for all 5 but I can't remember now....
I guess I'll fire it up tomorrow. I still need to decide how I want to wire the fans, whether I use some kind of connector or just splice them together.
I got the drivers all wired up tonight. I ran 3 separate power plugs for the 5 drivers. The 2 drivers for the royal blue are on 1 plug, the neutral white and the OCW are on the second and the hyper violet are on the third. Each color is on its own dimmer. I also ran a plug for the 12V wall wart to power the cooling fans.
I only had 4 knobs for the pots...I thought for sure I ordered enough for all 5 but I can't remember now....
I guess I'll fire it up tomorrow. I still need to decide how I want to wire the fans, whether I use some kind of connector or just splice them together.
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Curtie44
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Ok, I got everything tested and the fixture hung. The 24" heatsink has way better coverage than the 18" did, granted, I added 30 more LED's to the 24" build, but nonetheless, I'm much happier with the coverage of the 24 incher.
First the original. This is a 36" Current Nova Extreme 6-bulb T-5 with 3 year old bulbs. One of the mounting feet broke which is why it is sitting on the board on the left side.
I used some drawer slides to mount the MakersLED fixture to the underside of the shelf. I thought it would make it easy to slide the fixture in and out to get it out of the way if I needed to work on the tank.
So here is the fixture on. The picturtes don't really show the true color and I don't know why...the photos of the Nova are pretty color accurate but these come out looking VERY pink. Maybe I'll reload Photoshop on my PC and see if I can get a more realistic representation of how it looks to the naked eye. Something else to mention is that these pics were takes with NO optics on the fixture. I have 40 degree optics that I need to install to get the light in the tank. As you can see in the pics, with the fixture so high above the tank, a lot of it is on the back wall. The optics will fix that. I only have 24 (from the original 18" fixture build) and the rest on order. I'll post some more pics once all the optics are installed. This is all colors on (RB, NW, HV, OCW) approximately 50%.
I ran the fixture for about 2.5 hours yesterday before the lights went off. I had the lid on the driver box closed so I could see how warm everything got. I'm going to have to add a fan to the box. The drivers were not hot, just warm, but that was at 50% intensity and only after a few hours. I imagine in the summer, at 100% these things will put out a bit more heat. Better to have a fan in there than let them cook.
Currently I only have one fan hooked up on the heatsink. The heatsink was completely cool to the touch after 2.5-3 hours of running. This surprised me because the 18" fixture I had running previously was quite warm (with half as many LED's but no fan). I really don't see a need for the second fan but I'll probably hook it up anyway.
First the original. This is a 36" Current Nova Extreme 6-bulb T-5 with 3 year old bulbs. One of the mounting feet broke which is why it is sitting on the board on the left side.
I used some drawer slides to mount the MakersLED fixture to the underside of the shelf. I thought it would make it easy to slide the fixture in and out to get it out of the way if I needed to work on the tank.
So here is the fixture on. The picturtes don't really show the true color and I don't know why...the photos of the Nova are pretty color accurate but these come out looking VERY pink. Maybe I'll reload Photoshop on my PC and see if I can get a more realistic representation of how it looks to the naked eye. Something else to mention is that these pics were takes with NO optics on the fixture. I have 40 degree optics that I need to install to get the light in the tank. As you can see in the pics, with the fixture so high above the tank, a lot of it is on the back wall. The optics will fix that. I only have 24 (from the original 18" fixture build) and the rest on order. I'll post some more pics once all the optics are installed. This is all colors on (RB, NW, HV, OCW) approximately 50%.
I ran the fixture for about 2.5 hours yesterday before the lights went off. I had the lid on the driver box closed so I could see how warm everything got. I'm going to have to add a fan to the box. The drivers were not hot, just warm, but that was at 50% intensity and only after a few hours. I imagine in the summer, at 100% these things will put out a bit more heat. Better to have a fan in there than let them cook.
Currently I only have one fan hooked up on the heatsink. The heatsink was completely cool to the touch after 2.5-3 hours of running. This surprised me because the 18" fixture I had running previously was quite warm (with half as many LED's but no fan). I really don't see a need for the second fan but I'll probably hook it up anyway.
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Curtie44
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Well, now that it has been a couple of days I can say that I am very pleased with the look of the tank under these lights. When the daylights go out and just the RB and Violet lights are on it is simply amazing!!! I've never seen my corals pop like that. I only wish I could get pictures that I could share that actually look like what I'm seeing. I'll get the macro lens out soon and give it a try, but I'm betting they will just turn out blue. I'll try anyway. Now it's time to start planning the lights for the 120:bigsmile:
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Curtie44
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Ok so here is the total damage for the project and where I got everything.
From LEDGroupBuy LED Aquarium Lights | Reef Tank Lighting | LED Group Buy
Cree XT-e Royal blue qty 30
Cree XT-e Neutral white qty 14
Exotic Hyper Violet qty 12
Exotic Ocean Coral White qty 5
24" MakersLED heat sink qty 1
Inventronics 40w 700mA Driver qty 3
Inventronics 40w 450mA Driver qty 2
10K Potentiometer qty 2
Sub Total: $498.97
From Rapid LED Rapid LED
40 degree optics qty 44
Thermal Grease qty 1
10K Potentiometer qty 3
Potentiometer knobs qty 6
Fan Y adapter qty 1
Sub Total: $69.50
From PolyCase Plastic Electronic Enclosures - NEMA Enclosures | Polycase
10inx6inx3in enclosure qty 1
Sub Total: $12.64
Grand Total: $581.11
I have to mention that during the first part of the build I had several questions regarding coverage and quantity of LED's. I shot a few emails to the guys at LEDGroupBuy and got a much quicker than expected response. Some messages were pretty late in the evening and I still got a quick response the same night. That goes a long way in my book.
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Curtie44
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The rest of my optics showed up today along with the "Y" connector for the fans. I took down the fixture and started hot glueing the 40 degree optics in place.
It went together pretty fast and easy once I got the technique down. Here it is with all the optics installed:
Once I got all those put on I trimmed back the 12Vdc wires from the DB connector to the fans and tinned them with solder, then plugged thim into the "Y" connector.
After that I installed the plexiglass splash guard and the end caps. This is a really nice looking fixture for a DIY kit. That's the main reason I when with the MakersLed heat sink, because it looked more like a production fixture than the typical DIY light. I've been kicking around the idea of painting it a flat black to make it look even less like DIY...I dunno...it looks kinda cool as is.
After looking at the light over the tank with the 40 degree optics, I can see I made a big mistake. The 40 degree optics are focusing the light way too much and I no longer have the coverage at the ends of the tank. I've been running the light all week without the optics while I was waiting for them to arrive and the coverage was perfect....the entire tank looked well lit. Should I have gone with 60 degree optics? I assumed that I needed optics because the light is 31" off the sand bed and didn't think I would have the intensity required for SPS. Anyone have any thoughts?
It went together pretty fast and easy once I got the technique down. Here it is with all the optics installed:
Once I got all those put on I trimmed back the 12Vdc wires from the DB connector to the fans and tinned them with solder, then plugged thim into the "Y" connector.
After that I installed the plexiglass splash guard and the end caps. This is a really nice looking fixture for a DIY kit. That's the main reason I when with the MakersLed heat sink, because it looked more like a production fixture than the typical DIY light. I've been kicking around the idea of painting it a flat black to make it look even less like DIY...I dunno...it looks kinda cool as is.
After looking at the light over the tank with the 40 degree optics, I can see I made a big mistake. The 40 degree optics are focusing the light way too much and I no longer have the coverage at the ends of the tank. I've been running the light all week without the optics while I was waiting for them to arrive and the coverage was perfect....the entire tank looked well lit. Should I have gone with 60 degree optics? I assumed that I needed optics because the light is 31" off the sand bed and didn't think I would have the intensity required for SPS. Anyone have any thoughts?
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Curtie44
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A buddy of mine just stopped by with his Tao Tronics fixture. It has 80 degree optics. We held it above my tank and after seeing it, I have to agree, I think 80 degree will work best.
CrabDragon
New Member
As the late great Steve Erwin would say: Gorgeous!
That's pretty much exactly what and how i want to light my tank. Thanks for the write up!
That's pretty much exactly what and how i want to light my tank. Thanks for the write up!
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Curtie44
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So after several months of running this light I've run into an issue. ALL the optics on the Hyper Violet LED's (they're integrated into the led's) have burned. The LED is still functioning but the lens is black.
I have left a couple of emails with LEDGroupBuy but I still haven't gotten a response. $54 worth of LED's in the toilet. I'm pretty sure I saw a thread somewhere where somebody else was describing the same issue. I'm thinking this is a manufacturing defect as I'm barely pushing these. I have them on a 450mA driver with the pot only up half way. Hopefully I get some sort of reply soon.
On another note, I replaced all the Neutral Whites with Cool White that I picked up from Reef LED Lights. Man I really like the look of this combo way better than the Neutral white. It's much more white now instead of yellow. I'll have to see if I can capture a good photo showing the comparison.
I have left a couple of emails with LEDGroupBuy but I still haven't gotten a response. $54 worth of LED's in the toilet. I'm pretty sure I saw a thread somewhere where somebody else was describing the same issue. I'm thinking this is a manufacturing defect as I'm barely pushing these. I have them on a 450mA driver with the pot only up half way. Hopefully I get some sort of reply soon.
On another note, I replaced all the Neutral Whites with Cool White that I picked up from Reef LED Lights. Man I really like the look of this combo way better than the Neutral white. It's much more white now instead of yellow. I'll have to see if I can capture a good photo showing the comparison.
thereeferdude
Active Member
I have the same issue with the optics on my violet LEDs as well. I may try to remove them if it is possible. I am eager to see what Milad says/does about this issue. I just found a dedicated thread on another forum...
I will try to post some pics later, but I just made a project box using one of these from:
Used Electrical Supplies
The PCB was a wired madcatz 360 pad. And all I had to do was desolder the analog sticks - pull them off, and I left the variable resistors on and glued them in place.
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