48" LED Array - Up and Running...Mostly

[derekc85]

nice build:

if you dont mind, can you share the parts list for LED's, drivers, config etc?

how much did it cost you at the end? are the LED's replaceable?

[Ron99]

Most of the details are in the thread but I'll summarize again:

80 x Cree XR-E LEDs; 40 cool white Q5 bin and 40 royal blue.
8 x Meanwell ELN60-48P drivers. Each is capable of driving up to 13 LEDs. 4 are driving the blues and 4 for the whites.
60 degree optics for the Cree LEDs
3 x 12"x15" eBay surplus/salvage heatsinks
1 Free surplus Hamilton Lighting housing
Lots of misc. wire, connectors, screws, aluminum etc.
An Arduino microcontroller and associated electronic bits to make the controller - still to be completed.

My costs are somewhere between $1200 and $1400 but I haven't done an exact accounting.

Since the drivers are capable of handling an additional 24 LEDS I will probably add a few 3 or 4 near UV (395nm) LEDs as an experiment and to bring out the coral florescence a bit. I will most likely run them without optics as I want them more for some supplementary wavelength rather than producing PAR. I also read a bit about using some green LEDs to bring out coral colours and am toying with the idea of similarly adding some green ones without optics for that purpose.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Ron99

Since the drivers are capable of handling an additional 24 LEDS I will probably add a few 3 or 4 near UV (395nm) LEDs as an experiment and to bring out the coral florescence a bit. I will most likely run them without optics as I want them more for some supplementary wavelength rather than producing PAR. I also read a bit about using some green LEDs to bring out coral colours and am toying with the idea of similarly adding some green ones without optics for that purpose.

Have you thought of going full UV instead of near? I think the UV is something were missing in the Led light set ups and they will make your corals pop like crazy. as for the green, I wouldn't waist my time, unless you got nothing better to do I think green will have the same results of when people were trying the red ones mixed in. lead to more algae.

Steve

[Skimmerking]

So you are saying there Ron that those lights have better PArs then the 8x 54 w t-5's and what is the life span of the LEd's and if one blows how easy is it to change.

really good work man.

[Ron99]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

Have you thought of going full UV instead of near? I think the UV is something were missing in the Led light set ups and they will make your corals pop like crazy. as for the green, I wouldn't waist my time, unless you got nothing better to do I think green will have the same results of when people were trying the red ones mixed in. lead to more algae.

Steve

Thought about it Steve but the near UV ones at 395nm were had for $15 vs. closer to $100 for true UV-A at 365nm. I'm looking at options for 365nm but until the cost comes down I won't be trying them. As for the green ones, it's just a notion right now. I'll probably let the nano-reef.com crowd experiment with that first However, I don't think a bit of green will have the same effect on Algae that red would. The red is really into the spectrum algae likes for photosynthesis. Green is much closer to the blue end of the spectrum. If I did it I would only use maybe six emitters with no optics just too add some colour to the tank and help the red and orange pigments pop a bit. the blue and UV are great for the green pigments and to some extent the red but green apparently really brings out the reds and oranges.

Originally Posted by asmodeus

So you are saying there Ron that those lights have better PArs then the 8x 54 w t-5's and what is the life span of the LEd's and if one blows how easy is it to change.

really good work man.

Yes, better PAR than my fixture which is a Sunlight Supply Sunblaze fixture. It's a pretty good one with contoured reflectors etc. but I am sure some of the others with true individual reflectors and active cooling will give a bit more PAR than mine. It was doing a great job and SPS were growing just fine under it. However, the LEDs have really blown it away with nearly twice as much PAR with about half the energy consumption. That's the beauty of LEDs as a light source. They are way more efficient than other methods.

Their life span, as long as they are adequately cooled, should be 50,000 hours. At 8 hours per day of lighting that is nearly 8 years. I am saving $250x8= $2000 in bulb changes alone not to mention using less electricity. Changing them is not that hard. Unsolder the wires and pry it off the heatsink (I used adhesive pads but if I had drilled and tapped the heatsink then it would just be a matter of undoing the screws holding the LED down). New adhesive pad and new LED and resolder the wires and you're good to go.

[Dyspnea]

Looks great!

What was your lighting setup before the LEDS?

[aquajeep]

curious as to what optics to use?
http://www.ledil.fi/datasheets/DataSheet_LC1-TAPE.pdf or http://www.ledil.fi/datasheets/DataSheet_CRS.pdf
they have real spot or smooth spot versions too.as for drivers i was going to go with LM3464 from national semiconductor.
( i got data sheets from Walter Shawlee 2, President - Sphere Research Corporation
3394 Sunnyside Road, Kelowna, B.C., CANADA V1Z 2V4
URL: http://www.sphere.bc.ca E-Mail: walter2@sphere.bc.ca )

[Ron99]

Originally Posted by aquajeep

curious as to what optics to use?
http://www.ledil.fi/datasheets/DataSheet_LC1-TAPE.pdf or http://www.ledil.fi/datasheets/DataSheet_CRS.pdf
they have real spot or smooth spot versions too.as for drivers i was going to go with LM3464 from national semiconductor.
( i got data sheets from Walter Shawlee 2, President - Sphere Research Corporation
3394 Sunnyside Road, Kelowna, B.C., CANADA V1Z 2V4
URL: http://www.sphere.bc.ca E-Mail: walter2@sphere.bc.ca )

I don't think any of those optics will be best as they seem to be very narrow (3 degrees to 21 degrees). Depending on what you want to do you should be looking at 40 degree or 60 degree optics. Something like the ones nanotuners sells. I don't know the brand off hand but they are the type that most DIY folks are using.

As for the drivers, they seem a bit complicated to implement. I would look at the Meanwell drivers as they are far simpler. They run off AC power directly and you can get the dimmable versions. So the only small added complication is circuitry for dimming input but that can be fairly simple too if you just want a knob to dim them.

[globaldesigns]

I have personally seen Fishytime's lighting, and it looks fine with 2, put together.

[aquajeep]

in my email i got from him he said they had 54 and 62 degree optics.but there are diff kinds of lens ,real spot, oval,rectangular ect ill have to see if he can get the meanwells in.prob cant thats why he sent me the other info im guessing.what prices were you able to get your stuff for?