DIY LED light fixture?

1ofManyNguyens

1ofManyNguyens

Member
Well im not sure how to feel towards LEDs just yet but i felt like possibly making a LED light fixture. My family owns a CNC machine shop and ill ask my dad to make me a reflector looking kind of like this: \_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ (not sure how many individual reflectors ill need but ill make it to fit my needs)

Or another idea for reflectors would be individual craters type.

Ive been looking at buying these in bulk and seeing how it turns out.

LOT OF 10 BLUE 7-LED WEDGE BASE LIGHT BULB 194 - 585:eBay Motors (item 220416697765 end time Jun-16-09 13:19:58 PDT)
LOT OF 10 WHITE 7-LED WEDGE BASE LIGHT BULB 194 - 168:eBay Motors (item 320372860482 end time Jun-16-09 13:19:52 PDT)

I have the ideas in my head for now but once i head to my parents house i will hope on his computer and pop out a quick design.:coffee2: :read: :idea:
 
1ofManyNguyens

1ofManyNguyens

Member
Any comments or suggestions? i know i didnt really include much in my description but you guys/gals get the gist of it... i hope.
 
hickoryhollow

hickoryhollow

Member
We must be on the same page. As for the same ideas... You see I drive a truck for a living, been doing it now for 25 years and been reefing now for about the same.. I've seen many lights come and go (Trucking and reefing) and this is about the smartest light that has ever come around.
I made a led canopy about 8 months ago. When I installed this light system, with in a months time my corals when crazy with color and growth. The lights I used were the ones you are thinking of. These are used in the trucking industry for all lighting needs. My cost was roughly 125 dollars and time it took to install this was a month. I've got blue, red, white (blueish tint), amber, and just for fun, I put in a ultra violet and green.
The only thing is it's really not the most cosmetic looking fixture but it gets the job done.
 
hickoryhollow

hickoryhollow

Member
I just looked at your lighting. Pretty sweet! Did you put the lights together yourself? The ones I have, like I said, are the ones used in the Trucking Industry. These come already in there own fixture and they come from 3 to 24 led's in a group. What I find is that since the lights were installed my corals just pop with color. Kinda like a glowing effect. Imo they work better than mh's and run a whole lot cooler. A win/win situation.
 
bskinn77

bskinn77

Member
hickoryhollow said:
I just looked at your lighting. Pretty sweet! Did you put the lights together yourself? The ones I have, like I said, are the ones used in the Trucking Industry. These come already in there own fixture and they come from 3 to 24 led's in a group. What I find is that since the lights were installed my corals just pop with color. Kinda like a glowing effect. Imo they work better than mh's and run a whole lot cooler. A win/win situation.
Click to expand...

It is a single 3 watt LED mounted on a star board I stuck them to the heat sink with some thermal epoxy(if I were to go back I would drill and tap the heat sink and attach the stars that way.) The Whites and Blues are Wired to seperate buckpucks which control the current going through the LEDs and the buckpucks are wired to the powersupply. It was really a very simple build if you go to my reef chronicle you can see more pictures of the fixture on the last page.
 
l3fty999

l3fty999

Member
hickoryhollow said:
I just looked at your lighting. Pretty sweet! Did you put the lights together yourself? The ones I have, like I said, are the ones used in the Trucking Industry. These come already in there own fixture and they come from 3 to 24 led's in a group. What I find is that since the lights were installed my corals just pop with color. Kinda like a glowing effect. Imo they work better than mh's and run a whole lot cooler. A win/win situation.
Click to expand...

If you could please, tell us where you are ordering your parts from? I wouldn't mind trying this out too, I can solder and do a few other things as well. What helps make this a win/wind situation is individuals like ourselves doing this, getting on here and sharing the information. And it just goes to show that there's a little bit of something for everbody in this multifaceted hobby.

Take care
Aaron
 
hickoryhollow

hickoryhollow

Member
Hey Aaron,
The Led's I used for my system were bought ( don't laugh ) at any of the major truckstops. They are already put together with 3 to 24 led's depending on what light replacement you need. These are used as marker lights, clearance lights, turn signals and so on. They come in blue, purple, amber, red, green, white, ultraviolet and blueish white. The cost for the ones I got were from $6 to $20.
The only thing you would need is a transformer to connect power. Usually a old cell phone charger. Or if you can find one that has more dc output you can use this to run the leds in series. As the leds are rated for 12v dc.

Hope this helps out some.

Cheers
 
l3fty999

l3fty999

Member
hickoryhollow said:
Hey Aaron,
The Led's I used for my system were bought ( don't laugh ) at any of the major truckstops. They are already put together with 3 to 24 led's depending on what light replacement you need. These are used as marker lights, clearance lights, turn signals and so on. They come in blue, purple, amber, red, green, white, ultraviolet and blueish white. The cost for the ones I got were from $6 to $20.
The only thing you would need is a transformer to connect power. Usually a old cell phone charger. Or if you can find one that has more dc output you can use this to run the leds in series. As the leds are rated for 12v dc.

Hope this helps out some.

Cheers
Click to expand...

The only laughing I'll be doing is when I figure out how much I've saved by finding and assembling my own parts. So, yes I'll laugh and you should too. :bluenod: I've seen some of those before, and it just never occurred to me. Threads like this can be VERY productive.... even if I don't want to use it for primary illuminiation, I can see that it is going to be a fun project. I'm not looking to replace my metal halide fixture, but I'd like to supplement it and maybe make some custom moon lights. Red LED's would be cool for hunting down pests too. So, any other thoughts on this?

Take care
Aaron
 
bskinn77

bskinn77

Member
I do not know the policy on linking to other sites but this is a must read for anyone wanting to get into LEDs it goes over almost every aspect of LEDs and how we would use them for our tank.(if this is a no no mods please remove it)

Ultimate LED guide
 
l3fty999

l3fty999

Member
hickoryhollow said:
Hey Aaron,
The Led's I used for my system were bought ( don't laugh ) at any of the major truckstops. They are already put together with 3 to 24 led's depending on what light replacement you need. These are used as marker lights, clearance lights, turn signals and so on. They come in blue, purple, amber, red, green, white, ultraviolet and blueish white. The cost for the ones I got were from $6 to $20.
The only thing you would need is a transformer to connect power. Usually a old cell phone charger. Or if you can find one that has more dc output you can use this to run the leds in series. As the leds are rated for 12v dc.

Hope this helps out some.

Cheers
Click to expand...

My other major hobby is ham radio, so I have lots of 12v dc since much of my equipment runs on that. I have been working lots of overtime lately, so I haven't had time to look into it.

Aaron
 
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