Tech 45 LED build

C

Cheetos

AC Members
Jan 29, 2011
32
0
0
We wanted to bring the 45 gal upstairs where there is no air conditioning and didn't want to deal with the tank getting too hot this summer from the existing halide so I gave in and built another LED setup for this tank. Now all three tanks are running diy builds. I also wanted to keep the existing Aqualight fixture that goes so well with this tank so I had to do a few modifications to get this to work. I removed the original 150w halide and reflector and added a heatsink the exact same size to take it's place. This new light is running on Meanwell P drivers and the new light controller from rapidled. Enjoy!

The heatsink drilled, tapped, and polished
DSC_0268.jpg


LEDs mounted
DSC_0286.jpg


Testing them with 60 degree optics
DSC_0300.jpg


The Aqualight fixture
DSC_0303.jpg
 
The light gutted
DSC_0308.jpg

DSC_0309.jpg


LEDs installed
DSC_0310.jpg


Back together and another test
DSC_0312.jpg


And the final product
DSC_0325.jpg


An all blue shot
DSC_0331.jpg
 
The controller is pretty cool. It allows you to control the individual channels up to 3 and a total of 9 drivers so you can set the overall color. And it also has 3 daylight programs that ramp up the leds over a set time per program. That is ok but doesn't allow you to set the individual color per channel, only total intensity. For the price though it is definitely a no brainer for an option to control leds.
 
I just realized, your running 24 LEDs, are you only running 2 drivers? On RapidLEDs site it says the PWM controller requires 3 drivers to work. Is that not a true statement? So your saying the "ramp up" feature does all channels at the same time? If so that really sucks. I would have hoped it would do channel 1 at time A, then channel 2 at time B, so your blues come on at say 1pm and ramp up slowly, and your whites come on at 2pm and ramp up slowly to give a nice dusk/dawn fade. Your the first person I have seen buy one of those controllers and I have been interested in them since they came out, curious how they worked, so thanks for answering my questions!

:cheers:
 
Yes only 2 drivers. One for the blues and one for the whites. You don't have to have a driver on all three channels. It would be nice if they had the option to ramp up the leds on different channels but then again it is only $59! For that price it is still better then using the meanwell Ds and building your own dimming control.
 
Just added 2 reds to the fixture. Some of the corals lacked some color since switching from the halide. The red seams to make a huge difference in bringing out the colors again.
 
Nice set up. I checked out the Daylight Controller at Rapid LED... had a question for you.

Let's say you have white, blue, and red led's on the 3 channels. From reading the user guide, I gather you can change the intensity of the channel, and the next time it cycles, it uses that new intensity as the maximum intensity. Can you set the maximum intensity of each channel seperately? so that the whites are at 80%, blues at 20% and reds at 50%? I am interested in finding a solution that will allow me to blend the channels to get a good color balance and wavelength overlap for freshwater plants, this seems like it could be a solution if I can control each channel in the cycle mode.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom