$20 LED Build
 

I have read the various threads on LED builds with 10W arrays, Crees, Bridgelux, DIY drivers and I think I have it down to about cheap and easy as you can get it.

I have retrofitted my Biocube 14 with 18 3W LEDs and it cost a total of $21.60. I also redid a 12 gallon Fluval Edge for a planted tank for $8.70 and will next work on my 90 gallon for an expected cost of $96.

The Biocube has 8 Cool Whites, 6 Royal Blues and 2 10000K plus 2 drivers.

The Fluval edge 3 Cool Whites and 3 10000K (around 8000K combined) plus 1 driver.

And the 90 gallon will have 40 Cool Whites, 40 Royal Blues and 9 drivers. I just want to get this up and going and will eventually replace these drivers with DIY Cat 4101 driver and hook it into an Arduino controller

I thought about doing 10W LEDs, but the 3W have dropped to extremely low prices -$35 for 50 which is 70 cents a piece (about $1 a piece for smaller quantities).
I have all the parts to make my own drivers based on the CAT4101 chip but I don’t have a lot of time and picked up some ebay drivers which will run 9 LED’s. They cost $4.50 a piece.
For the Biocube cost was 18 LEDs @ 70 cents = 12.60 and 2 Drivers $ 9.00. Everything was free shipping and arrived really quickly. Total $21.60

Here is the reason I could do this cheaply – I salvaged some Aluminum U channels from some old fluorescent light fixtures, so I got my heat sinks for free. Even if you have to pay for heatsinks or Aluminum you can still do this cheap.

Lights run extremely cool and don’t require a fan – even in the enclosed Biocube hood. The tank is cycling, so I don’t have anything in there and I don’t know how they will respond, but I like the colour and have hooked in a potentiometer to dial down the intensity. Shimmers just like my metal halides.

I will try to get some pics up later and have a number of extra 6 foot lengths of Aluminum channel if anyone has something to trade.

It would be interesting to know where you get your LED's.

Ditto

Ditto the Ditto! Never seen them that cheap.

It would also be interesting to see some pictures Doug.

Chris

I'm currently watching a 100 watt multi-chip LED on eBay that's less than $30. Already have my DIY fixture built using 27 of the 10 watt multi-chips, but it's still a lot of wiring. If I could do 3 or 4 of these 100 watters, use optics & mount them higher..... it would be a pretty cost effective build with much less wiring. There's a thread on RC with multi chips where they are actually getting a manufacturer to custom design a multi-colour 100 watt chip for them. But I think that's going to be pricey at the start. Still be interesting to see where that goes.

LEDs are from String Lights http://www.ebay.com/itm/50-pcs-3W-Ex...14%26rk%3D2%26

But I also bought 10 from Tubelight. http://www.ebay.com/itm/370617903311...84.m1497.l2649

Both Vendors sent them in under 10 days.



Drivers are from electronic convienient 4 you

http://www.ebay.com/itm/180860696551...84.m1439.l2649

Listed price has gone up to $4.98 but they will accept an offer of $4.50. Drivers are only 3 inches long and fit easily in the Biocube hood.

drivers
 

are they a waterproof driver?i just picked up 4 waterproof drivers -same wattage for 39.96 to fix one of my lights

The drivers are mounted in the hood and siliconed to keep out the moisture. I might be swapping them out for some DIY drivers that will support PWM dimming that I can hook up to an Arduino controller.
http://i.imgur.com/80JNl.jpg
LED's in Biocube hood under splash guard. Aluminum U channels are about 4 inches wide and were riveted together.

http://i.imgur.com/xTzCP.jpg
Tank is actually more blue than the picture shows.


http://i.imgur.com/BbEnU.jpg
Fluval edge attached to some CPU heatsinks. This was my first try with these LED's and are overkill because they run very cool.


http://i.imgur.com/nBHGP.jpg
Full tank shot of the Fluval. Planted tanks need around 8000k so they are a combination of 6500k and 10000k

Very nice. Which Arduino controller are you looking to build?

Knowing how intense the 10w emitters are already, I can't imagine installing 100w emitters over my reef tank.

There is a thread on UK reefs. Total cost of the arduino and shields is only $45. All the code is posted. It is a colour touchscreen with 6 dimmable channels for LEDs. pH , temperature sensors, chiller, heater & automatic feeder control, wavemaker and powerhead control & Lunar cycles. Code is constantly being added to and future updates may contain more sensors, real live weather conditions, automatic water changers, automatic dosing and video monitoring on smartphones. The arduino 2560 has the capacity to handle all of these features.

You don't have to run the 100 watters at full power and they are mounted quite high with optics compared to where I have my 10 watters without optics. With good quality optics & heatsink with fan, the 100 watt emitters mounted high are a good option if you like an open look above, with easy access to the tank. Manufacturers like Orphek & Kessil are leading the way with this form factor. Definitely an alternative to a multitude of 3 watt emitters mounted on large heatsinks without fans.

Got a link?

http://ukreefs.com/index.php?topic=258.0

Here's a video of it in action
http://youtu.be/gN4XQHNijxw

Wow fantastic, thank you. That is exactly what I was looking for... Are you aware of any other DIY arduino reef projects? Have you purchased any components yet?

Here's a pdf file to the most recent build http://code.google.com/p/jarduino-aq...a.pdf&can=2&q=

Here is the thread on the above pdf manual and the youtube video. http://ukreefs.com/index.php?topic=117.0

Here is a guy who sells Arduino shields assembled or kit form. http://www.practicalmaker.com/ He has shields for pH, ORP, salinity, extra PWM channels and a full controller. He is in Australia. I am thinking of getting a bare PCB for the pH and ORP sensors because they are easy to build and only $11.25.

I haven't built my cat4101 drivers yet (or the LED's for the 90 gallon for that matter) so this power shield is very enticing. http://www.chestersgarage.com/produc...r-led-shieldIt is a shield with the LED drivers integrated - 4 channels. For my needs, I will need 2 of the $39.95 versions.

The one thing I may order immediately is the version of the megashield with the built in clock. http://imall.iteadstudio.com/prototy...120717001.html They were out of stock yesterday, but have them again today for only $5.50. All the other parts seem to be readily available. This is the one that sells out quickly.

If I get everything done the way I want it, I should have a controller with way more features than a Proiflux III ex for well under a hundred dollars.

Let me know if you want links to the cheapest touchscreen and Arduinos I have found on ebay.

I think it will be a lot more than that, probably 100.00 to 150. My arduino alone was 55 bucks. basice screens (bw with 3 line output are 15 bucks, but jump to 100 bucks for deicent ones, touchescreens are up there even more.

thanks for the links on the lights, not crees but good enough.

also if you are going to be using the 100 watt LEDs remember this. the 100 watt LEDs are what they are using to replace 400 watt MH arena lighting.

Steve

A real Arduino 2560 from the Arduino store will cost even more at $76. Since I am using non-brand name LED's, I have no problem using electronics from China.

Arduino Mega 2560 - $18

3.2 Colour Touch Panel - $17.50

Mega Shield for LCD $5.50

Mega Prototype shield $5.00


I like DIY projects and any money I save on the projects I can put back into livestock.

you got a link for the touch panel?

Steve

those drivers you have listed. is there a way to make them dimable? like adding a potentiometer to the LEDs or do you have to have a dimable driver that supports that?

Did it on the Biocube. A 10000k potentiometer is connected to the V+ signal off the driver. Use 2 pins on the potentiometer - the center and either the left pin or the right pin. From the pot, it then goes to the positive pad of the LED. Dims right down to zero and is a cheap solution.

Just received 9 more drivers and will work on the lights for the 90 gallon when I get some time.

Hey Doug, check this guy out. Pretty sweet touchscreen with a ton of features for a good price. http://store.earthlcd.com/ArduinoLCD

If you don't think that DIY saves you money, here is the Arduino controller built for you at about 10 times the cost of the parts http://saltydogaquariums.webs.com/32touchscreen.htm

He is saying that other touchscreen controllers will cost you over $1200, but here's a simple one at $72 - didn't really see if they had one at 120v http://www.aliexpress.com/store/prod...476755468.html

So is this driver dimmable with a 0 - 5 Vdc signal? From the ebay listing it doesn't really look like it. Or are you suggesting to put a 10K ohm pot from the output + to the return? I sure as hell hope not!

Doug, I'm curious as to how you're dimming the LEDs. I'm guessing the drivers have no dimming control correct? You're using the pot as a resistor? Any issues with over heating the pots?