DIY LED build thread

[mojoreef]

Thought I would start a separate thread for my DIY led build. So this is going to go over a 8 foot by 3 foot tank that is 30 inches deep.. So the concept was to have multiple heat sinks mounted to a rail system and then each heat sink attached to the rail by ball joints so I can dial them in.

The first row directly over the rock work will be 6 heat sinks each of them 12 inches long by 8.46 wide and then the second row will be pull out towards the front of the tank and then angled back towards the rock work. The concept their would be to light the coral that would be under top corals and then also to blend the lights from both type of heat sinks.

So the color layout for each type of heat sink will be as follows

So the totals will be 216 Cree LED emitters, 9 meanwell drivers, 9 fans 18 resistors and fuses, 216 Carlco wides optics and 9 heatsinks. Should be cool!

mojo


So the totals will be 216 Cree LED emitters, 9 meanwell drivers, 9 fans 18 resistors and fuses, 216 Carlco wides optics and 9 heatsinks. Should be cool!

mojo

 

[BigAl07]

Mike I'm really liking your work here. I'm tickled to see you've incorporated some (R) and some (G) into your layout. I think that's an excellent idea and one I hope to "incorporate" into my new LED hood.

 

[TylerHaworth]

Can't wait to see this finished!

 

[mojoreef]

Yea Al and two types of Blue also (they are slightly different wave wise) got some parts in already, Wooo Hooo

 

[jedi82knight]

Looks great Mike! Good luck!

 

[mcentire1123]

Looking good!

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Wow, definitely looks all out! How are you going to setup the drivers? All the reds/greens on their own driver(s) and all the whites and blues on their own? I would think this would probably give you the best control over each color and give you the most customizable light possible.

Also, how are you dimming the Meanwells? There are tons of options out there, some as simple as a 10v AC/DC adapter hooked up to a pot, all the way to wiring each dimmer up to a controller

 

[mojoreef]

Yea all the lights will be wired on individual circuits to a custom controller, the reds and greens will be on one. So it will be easy to dial in each color to preference and/or par. We did some par test readings and its around 600 at 12 inches and 250 thirty inches down.

Mojo

 

[BigAl07]

Hey Patrick. No surprise seeing you posting in this thread This is right up your alley GREAT questions. I'm curious about the (R) & (G) as well. I was thinking since he's running so few of them that he could just include them with one of the other drivers as opposed to giving them their own driver(channel if on a controller).

 

[BLADEYAMAHA]

Looks good.

 

[dmatt88]

Well u certainly don't do anything half way do u? Sweet set up!

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[mojoreef]

Yea Matt itas the curse of always having a bigger tank. So got a little delivery from our Asain friends.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Niiiiice can't wait to see the progress!

 

[BigAl07]

Wow! Not really what I'd call a "little" delivery LOL!

 

[mojoreef]

Thought I would post up some of the pictures of the LEds going together in case anyone decided to give it a shot themselves.

Got all the emitters and wire and pre tinted them, this way you dont loose so much heat to the sinks when doing the final solder

then cut all the wire to the required length and color coded it with the leds.

Anyway started gluing down the leds to the small heat sinks.

Then running the wire and soldering them to the glued down emitters

Then some wire for the blue lights

First pair down couple hundred to go, lol

mike

 

[mcentire1123]

Looking good!

 

[dmatt88]

How long did it take to complete the lights? Just curious for my DIY.

Matt's DROIDX using Forum Runner since idiots hacked thru tapatalk.

 

[mojoreef]

Its still being worked on, the pictures are about 50 of the 220 total lights, so it will be a bit to complete. I guess its all going to be a matter of how many lights do you have to DIY??

Mojo

 

[MPevine11]

this is an amazing build!!!

 

[FishinBob]

Great job!!! I am currently looking
Into my own led build for my 90 gallon!!! This will provide some inspiration!! Few questions glueing down the LEDs are you going to drill and tap or only glue? What type of thermal epoxy did you use? Also what size are those heatsinks I was thinking of using a 8.5-10 wide one from heatsinkusa!! Once again great job I'm tuned in for sure!!!