Seth's DIY Cree XM-L LED build

[Seth81]

Just thought I would update this with a few things I have learned from running my DIY lights for a while now.


1. UV and True Violet LED's bring out a little bit of extra color, and at night I can make the tank glow purple instead of blue...but IMO don't seem to be worth it if I were going to be doing it over.


2. Running XML's at 2.8 amps is a difficult venture. I was using thermal tape, becuase it can be removed if necessary, however at 2.8Amps the star PCB's tend to get hot enough to make the Thermal tape adhesive start to let go, and if nothing else is holding the PCB against the heat sink...prepare for burnt out LED's! I have burnt out at least 5 XML's because of this thermal tape and am now going with arctic silver compound for a more permanent bond. Also a heat sink fan is 100% necessary!


3. I really like the Color I get with Warm White and Cool white mixed. Cool white by itself is missing something, and warm white by itself does not look good.


4. I do like the amount of Royal blue LED's I have. With my whites fully on I can still get a nice color. And for night time I have to cut back my blues to about 65%


5. If you are troubleshooting LED's do not attempt to trouble shoot while your LED driver is energized!! I burnt out an entire bank of LED's this way.


I will be adding a 5th CW led per LED strip, mostly becuase I can...so why not? Ha ha ha...

[mseepman]

Good to see the update. Did you take any pictures lately? How are the corals liking your light?

[Seth81]

Originally Posted by mseepman

Good to see the update. Did you take any pictures lately? How are the corals liking your light?

I haven't had many SPS coral long time, infact my first SPS was only two weeks ago. But my softies like this frogspawn are doing very well. My rose bubble tip and my green bubble tip actually hide from the light and they are near the bottom of the tank. I've had some Zoa's for about a month, and they are doing excellent at the bottom third of the tank, they are staying nice a close to thier host rock and aren't extending at all, and they have grown lots of new polyps. My Divisa (kinda like frogspawn is also doing amazingly well seems to have gown a lot, I don't see much skeletal growth though.


I'll try to get some tank wide pics once I fix my burnt out XML's.
Unfortunately I order them from Australia, so it takes a while.



I only recently (like yesterday) figured out how to take much better more true to life night shots, now if I could only get the shooting through thick curved glass thing down...

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Seth81

1. UV and True Violet LED's bring out a little bit of extra color, and at night I can make the tank glow purple instead of blue...but IMO don't seem to be worth it if I were going to be doing it over.


2. Running XML's at 2.8 amps

you think that the XML's might just be a bit to powerfull for the TV to overcome? the systems that the TV makes the big difference on are the ones where all the LEDs are the same type. so all 1000ma or 800ma ect.

Steve

[Seth81]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

you think that the XML's might just be a bit to powerfull for the TV to overcome? the systems that the TV makes the big difference on are the ones where all the LEDs are the same type. so all 1000ma or 800ma ect.

Steve

Well the UV effect during the day is not even noticble in the least. But at night it does seem to make the green colors more vivid then the royal blues.



Below I took two shots of two pieces of Acropora with the exact same camera settings (in manual) and also with same white balance. You'll notice when the UV/TV's are on the Acro in the foreground is much brighter green and the on in the back as well. This effect is very much deminished on the acro in the background as I turn up the royal blues, becuase the royal blues will wash out the faint green produced by the UV/TV.

Keep in mind I have about 80 watts of Royal blues vs 36.5 watts of UV/TV. Also the Royal blues really made the reds in the tank pop more so then the TV/UV. But this could just be becuase I have much more RB wattage.

[Seth81]

Two more pics I took with UV at full and RB at half power

[Seth81]

I just thought I would update this a little. So I have recently upgraded my DIY LED's. I went from 5 pendints to 7, added extra UV LED's and also added cyan LED's. Oh and most importantly I added a second fan to all the heat sinks!

I am very happy with the color and brightness thoughout the tank!

[Seth81]

Well I guess I will never be doing that again! For other people who try the DIY LED experience, make sure you have a splash guard!!

Also from my experience, I would have spent less just buying off the shelf solution.

[byee]

Originally Posted by Seth81

Also from my experience, I would have spent less just buying off the shelf solution.

Where's the fun in that??!

Like yourself, I also started to build my own LED fixture but decided against it the light spectrum is crucial. My buddy also built his own to replace his MH lights which resulted with him losing lots of his corals in his 220g tank. Unfortunately, he sold his MH to finance his LED build.

I also built 3 x Arduino based controllers based on the - UK, RC x 2) before I decided enough was enough and purchased a Neptune. Spent hundreds & hundreds of dollars never mind the countless hours of tinkering with the controller. All I have to show for it multiple Aurduinos, TFT touch screens and add-ons.

Need to consider your time and prototyping costs vs buying off the shelf. Regardless, you've gained a wealth of information building the LED fixture which you can brag about to your friends and fellow canreefers.