Milad's 72in LED build

[Milad]

Lets get this party started! ---- WARNING THIS IS MY FIRST LED BUILD ----
I knew as much as you did before i started this build, but its actually quick pickup after knowing nothing about aquariums and building a 180g i think LED is easier.


So i needed something to do during the Christmas break so what better way to spend my time than building a nice 72in LED for my 180G tank.

Link to my tank build is in my signature but there are a few things to know about the tank.
No canopy
2 dividers every 24in
peninsula!


So basically I have to work with the parameters above. Having no canopy is good and bad, I probably wont need fans if I have good heatsinks because its open air above it but I have to make it look clean since everyone can see it! gota hide those wires.

Dividers suck because I have to pick the correct optics so shine the light and the correct size of the modules.

What I will be building is 3 module system. Each module will be plug in play. Currently im going with only 2 drivers for all the modules. This could change. The drivers will be dimmable and attach directly into my apex controller.

I will be buying LEDs from the group buy I started which is located:
http://www.LEDGroupBuy.com

sick deal hey?!

im going with
XP-G CW 60
XP-E RB 84

+ 144 40degree optics

Total of 144 emitters

To run the whites I will be going with:
Mean Well HLG-240H-42B

To run the royal blues I will be going with:
Mean Well HLG 240H-54B


That will give me a 42% cool white 58% royal blue to achieve something in the 14-15k color range, equivalent to 250-400w MH.


Here is a preliminary idea of what the fixture will look like (will probably incase everything in black plexi):



more to come soon

Quick Links:
Initial wiring diagram with parts list

[martinmcnally]

Sounds good. I tried building an LED bar to supplement my T5s unfortunately I failed miserably. I found it really really hard to solder wire onto the CREE LED points. The solder would not stick properly unless I scratched the little metal solder point on the LED, then it kind of worked but would also easily break off with a little nudge. I might try another experiment but maybe I am missing something with the soldering. I was thinking maybe you needed to drill a whole in the solder point and feed the wire though it like you would see on a circuit board with components soldered on.

Martin

[Milad]

Originally Posted by martinmcnally

Sounds good. I tried building an LED bar to supplement my T5s unfortunately I failed miserably. I found it really really hard to solder wire onto the CREE LED points. The solder would not stick properly unless I scratched the little metal solder point on the LED, then it kind of worked but would also easily break off with a little nudge. I might try another experiment but maybe I am missing something with the soldering. I was thinking maybe you needed to drill a whole in the solder point and feed the wire though it like you would see on a circuit board with components soldered on.

Martin

i haven't soldered for years but if i remember correctly its like an art.
just takes a few tries soldering a few together

also did you have pretinned wire? you dont want to heat up the led solder too much otherwise boom goes the led.

[Bloodasp]

You need to use flux. If you have to scratch the copper clad in order for the lead to stick to the board it means the copper has a thin film of oxidation that you need to clean out, otherwise you get a cold solder or it won't even stick.

[DiverDude]

Using a flux-core solder should be fine unless the LEDs are old and/or been improperly stored -in which case the copper pads may be oxidized.

Most soldering difficulties come from improper technique. It's important to remember that you are joining TWO metal surfaces with a 3rd metal (solder) and therefore BOTH surfaces must be hot enough to melt solder. A decent soldering iron is also good to have. A reasonable iron will cost a good $50 at Active. Good brands include Hakko and Weller.

-And try not to breathe the fumes from the solder; NOT good for you.

[Bloodasp]

I agree that a lot has to do with improer soldering techniques. I have yet to see solder meant for electronics without a flux core, even the lead free ones I have used always contain them, from the sound of what he said though that he had to scratch the component to get some soldering to happen he definitely needs it.
And also boring a hole through the track of an smd mounted component is not a good idea as they are normally too small that drilling a hole through them would likely cause it to peel off.

[lockrookie]

Originally Posted by ignobolis

HiYa Milad



Its been a while between updates on this and I was curious to see your advancements and progress to date.



Any chance you could share were your at please.



Thanks

Milad moved to regina and had to sell his tank... Dwerbs now owns his tank. Bu plans to build something I believe are in the works


Sent from nowhere in particular

[ignobolis]

Originally Posted by lockrookie

Milad moved to regina and had to sell his tank... Dwerbs now owns his tank. Bu plans to build something I believe are in the works


Sent from nowhere in particular

Oh -ok thanks for the update

[lockrookie]

i retract my comment i havemilad mixed up with another reefer i know my bad ..not to surewhere milad is now i was tired when i replied sooo notsure wherehe is sorry

[Milad]

Sorry this took so long. Only 2 years right? Just got caught up with a bunch of different things.

The designed changed several times but here is what ended up over the tank:

This 72" Full Spectrum LED Build is going over a peninsula tank. This adds a little bit of fun trying to make sure I get the right optics/height on the fixture.

Build materials:
27x XT-E 3UP LEDs
27x 60degree True Violets
12x 120 degree Ocean Coral White
27x 40degree 3UP Optics
4x 25feet 24awg Solid wire
1x Arctic Silver Ceramique 2
1x 72" MakersLED Heatsink
1x 4 pot LEDGroupBuy Dimming Kit
1x DIM4
1x Dim4 Relay
1x DIM4 Relay Socket
5x 75w 700mA Inventroincs Drivers
5x AC Plug for Drivers









Additional tools:
Solder and Soldering iron
Multimeter
Wire Cutters
12ft of wire to make extension cable
And somewhere big enough to hold a 6foot heatsink!!

The basic idea of this setup is to have the controller do the sunrise/sunset and use the 4 pot dimming kit to manual tune the color of the light as the sunrise/sunset is happening. The sunrise sunset keeps the ratios the same and I just tune the dimming kit to pin point the color I want.

Wiring is like this:

CH1 2x 75w Driver - 54 XT-E Royal Blue LEDs
CH2 1x 75w Driver - 27 XT-E Neutral White LEDs
CH3 1x 75w Driver - 27 True Violet - 1x 75w Driver 12 OCW (This channel is maxed at 6.5v to keep the 75w drivers under 500mA at all times
CH4 nonthing



Probably the boringest part of the build is getting these screws lined up


Layout:



At this point taking snap shots every 2min got annoying as I had to deal with the grease so I didnt take any pictures of wiring it up.
Finished look with LEDs on:





As you can see from the picture, I hid all the 5 drivers inside the heatsink. To do this, I removed 3 of the 6 fans. The heatsink still stays cool with just 3 fans.



Corals super happy:



It should be noted I neglected this tank for much too long. MH where over the tank and the corals slowly started dieing. The same day I got the LEDs over the tank, my bubble tip anemone finally started looking like a bubble tip anemone and it spread out huge. And it split within a week.... well thats what I thought. Turns out, the anemone I thought that died last year was actually still alive and now its also out and gleaming. Its a GTBA so I know its not the RBTA split.

All and all, very happy with the build. The LPS just look amazing under the OCW. If anything different, I may add more OCW to the build. The details in the fish also pop under the OCW. The Sohal orange accents are insane. Never even knew he had orange all over his body.