Building My LED Light

[Cory Keeper]

not to mention, a decent setup runs an arm and a leg as well. Condensation and electronics are not near as dangerous as you may think. Could you kill chips with condensation? yes, is it easy to do? not really.

Very interesting reading there on that link. Would explain why we need to balance the light spectrum with Daylights, Too blue and the plants cant get a good root system. Too red and plants won't be able to grow leaves.

In the future I may build a LED array comprised of both blue and red LEDs, mixed with white. Tweaking may be needed.

 

[traelman]

I tried to get some comparison photos with both my lights over the tank tonite,
but my camera just wouldn't cooperate.:thumbsdown::thumbsdown::thumbsdown:

It was quite a difference from what I could see.:thm::thm:

Maybe I'll set up some sort of tripod, hopefully that will help.

What I really need is a new camera!!!:lol2::lol2::lol2:

Later PeePs

 

[1oooop]

huh, try raising the ISO..

 

[Aydee]

You may also note that the temperature will decrease when you have the heatsink turned over so the fins are vertical (upwards). When it's lying facedown like you have in the photos, the air flow is vastly restricted.

Running hi-intensity LEDs without current limiting could cause troubles in the future. You may wish to seriously consider a current controlling circuit as opposed to relying on series/parallel of a 12V feed. You will significantly reduce the lifespan if they decide to enter thermal runaway.

The advantage of spending the $20 or so for a buck-puck (or similar) is you can do PWM control. This will allow you to do full dimming and give far more control of your light. If you are so inclined, you can control the buckpucks from an AVR/PIC (200Hz PWM signal) to control the intensity. From there you could do sunrise/sunset control.

I'll be doing a CREE setup for my hex tank soonish.

ALSO!!! Make sure you learn how CREE, Lumileds etc do their binning. eg. If you buy LEDs from bin (i think) Q3, you get 10,000k LEDs. No tweaking or fiddling. Tested at that value. It may cost about 50c more, but you get the right light spectrum.

Cheers.

AD

 

[traelman]

You bring up some good points Aydee:thm:

Right now I still have everything in "test" configuruation. I'll eventually have everything mounted for optimum heat displscement.

I guess I forget to mention in my earlier post that these are running on a 1000mA buck puck. Now that I have used it, I think that the $$$ was well spent. You can hook up 3, 5, 2, 6 LEDs and you dont have to worry about current. Mine has 2 paralell legs with 3 LEDs in series. It gives me 500mA across each LED. Hopefully this we be a good compromise between output and lifespan.

As for the bin issue, I got the best that was available from Luxeon. These were premounted an a star. Why, convienence, but from what I've read the bin on these should good.

I have finally been able to borrow enough tools to finish the extierior of my light, so get ready for new pics in the coming days.


Yea for CWS........:headbang2::headbang2::headbang2:

 

[Ghostkid]

I really like what your doing. I would really like to know the cost of this project. From what I've seen for a LED hoods, this might be the way to go.

 

[traelman]

So far the cost of this is still close to my budget of 75$.

The LEDs and buck puck were 55$ with shiping. The wood that I'm using was 24$. I'm sure there will be some more misc. things but so far it hasn't been hugely overbudget.

 

[traelman]

Time for some pics.............

I didn't think that cutting a HEX would be so stressful. It took me quite a while, but I think it will work out OK.

 

[DarkDH]

Keep at it!

And here I am, who just spend lots of $$$ a new light system.

 

[traelman]

With some minor trimming I think I have everything cut to correct sizes. Now all I have to do is put it together. I will try and post some more pics tonight.