My 165 Build - DIY LED, Cabinet, etc.

[justincgdick]

The LED fixture is my pride and joy. It's taken me countless hours to put it together and it's about 95% complete. Technically it runs now, but only on timers, no controller or fancy features quite yet. I'm waiting on a few Tycoon controllers to finish it up. I build a ballast/ project box out of acrylic scraps (haha, went through the bin) and it turned out pretty good for an amateur.

Here's a link to the detailed build thread it anyone cares. There are lot's of changes I made over the build, but I have a lot of pictures of the whole build.











With the analog dimmers I'm pretty close to minimum power. I've dialed them down to around 25%. With the controllers I will be able to dim smoothly from completely off to full power or anything in between. There are 8 seperately controlled channels. A channel of 7 CW XML on each panel as well as two groups of 6 RB XPG and two groups of 6 NW XPG. The royal blue and neutral white are for spectrum adjustment while the cool white are the main power.

I just need a par meter so I can figure out what this thing can put out. I think it is pretty darn powerful but it's hard to say without a meter. I'm hoping it's capable of SPS raised up and with only 52 LEDs total.

[scubadawg]

Looks great, I would be putting it GFI's for plug ins if that was me.

[justincgdick]

I was gonna put everything through the gfi, but then I would loose my whole system if it trips. The I considered having one gfi for the wet side and a bunch of regulars for the dry side of the stand. Then I thought about putting in a bunch, but that is a lot of $$$ for 6 or 8 GFI plugs. Now I'm not sure what I'm gonna do.

It's not nearly as much an issue as with salt water, but I should have some protection. I'll take any ideas!

[Nano]

Looks great so far

[gregzz4]

For GFCIs I bought a 10 pack from E-Bay before Xmas. It was $100 with shipping and another $47 for Duty etc. Still saved $50.
I just looked and that vendor has bumped the price to $150, so no longer worth it after Duty. Guess I got lucky buying when I did.
If you only need 6, they come in 3-packs for about $40 in store.
But, if you don't care about code, you could use 20A outlets on your 15A system. Here's and example of no-name ( factory ) ones you could consider. It's a 10 pack shipped for $80
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Lot-10-White-...item5ae5f01992

I bought Leviton Smartlock Pro, similar to these
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Leviton-8899-...item3f150ecdc8

If you do buy from outside Canada, don't forget to factor in Duty and Brokerage

[gregzz4]

Likin' the build