• Why not take a moment to introduce yourself to our members?

tosiek

Senior Member
Rating - 100%
48   0   0
First off, Ming, Smoq, and I would like to thank everyone that attended the LED Demo Presentation. We had a packed room for our first presentation =0) (I think I almost peed a little when I saw everyone :theyareon)

LED's are the hot topic for a lot of people and I hope we all met everyone's expectations in how it was presented and with the information we threw at you. It was a lot to digest in the short time available per section.

As promised, this is the Official Q&A thread for the DIY LED Demo Presentation. During the presentation we were only able to briefly go over the plethora of information so here is where we can go deeper into the different parts of your lighting system. We have plenty of people here that have at the least touched on LED's and can offer their advice and experience, a few of whom are vendors that build or supply LED's. Ask away and don't be shy, the only silly question is the one not asked.

The article by Jake Adams in our very own Reefs Magazine is a great primer to everything that was talked about on Sunday. You can find it HERE! (fixed link)
 
Last edited:

tosiek

Senior Member
Rating - 100%
48   0   0
In the Presentation we covered, start to finish, a complete LED build and quickly went over controlling them.

Here is the basic parts breakdown in a fixture:


  • Power supply (wall wart or other AC to DC converter)
  • Driver
  • LED's
  • Lenses
  • Heatsink
  • Fans (cooling)
  • Controls (either on/off switch or controller)
I'll cliff notes more info in for each part soon as well as link to the presentation.

Must Reads From Sanjay Joshi and Jake Adams on LED lighting.

Here are a few places to get your LED supplies:

Rapidled a MR vendor here. Meanwell drivers/Cree's
LEDsupply buckpucks and anything not Cree/Meanwell
HeatSinkUSA Custom heatsinks at great prices
Wingo! Link to his forums. Makes custom LED fixtures and strips

Useful information to build your fixture:

How to Solder: Here and Here
Wiring Diagrams
Optics/Lenses overview with par ratings on Cree's

I'll be adding more things as the thread progresses as well as adding links to the more important places that reference information related to LED's. Post up any that I'm missing and I will add them.
 
Last edited:
T

THEDLO

Guest
Rating - 100%
48   0   0
i liked it. tho i had to leave early. what im confused it how to mesure the strength of LEDs like how MH are measured in watts. how do u measure what u need based on depth...
 

stage3-S4

Advanced Reefer
Rating - 100%
29   0   0
i liked it. tho i had to leave early. what im confused it how to mesure the strength of LEDs like how MH are measured in watts. how do u measure what u need based on depth...

LEDs can not be compared to MH or any other type of lamps just soley based on the measure of power consumed(watts). Since leds are far more efficent then MH lamps, it makes it difficult to figure out just how much you would need. Typically the best way to figure this out is to measure the Lumens or luminous flux. But for our case a better measure of usuable light is PAR. I have found that with my fixture, that anywhere from 12-24 Leds gets you in the range of a 150watt metal halide at depths of about 20"(this is without any optics of course). This is using pure royal blues and cool whites. I'm experimenting with using some neutral whites and maybe adding one cyan and red led to adjust the spectrum to a more natrual looking one.
I also have designed and created my own LED driver from scratch as well as a DIY LED dimming controller. Not sure if anyone would be interested in this, but im always up to share things on here.
 
Last edited:
T

THEDLO

Guest
Rating - 100%
29   0   0
LEDs can not be compared to MH or any other type of lamps just soley based on the measure of power consumed(watts). Since leds are far more efficent then MH lamps, it makes it difficult to figure out just how much you would need. Typically the best way to figure this out is to measure the Lumens or luminous flux. But for our case a better measure of usuable light is PAR. I have found that with my fixture, that anywhere from 12-24 Leds gets you in the range of a 150watt metal halide at depths of about 20"(this is without any optics of course). This is using pure royal blues and cool whites. I'm experimenting with using some neutral whites and maybe adding one cyan and red led to adjust the spectrum to a more natrual looking one.
I also have designed and created my own LED driver from scratch as well as a DIY LED dimming controller. Not sure if anyone would be interested in this, but im always up to share things on here.

cool ill let u know if i got more questions
 

latino277

Advanced Reefer
Location
Long Island
Rating - 100%
19   0   0
LEDs can not be compared to MH or any other type of lamps just soley based on the measure of power consumed(watts). Since leds are far more efficent then MH lamps, it makes it difficult to figure out just how much you would need. Typically the best way to figure this out is to measure the Lumens or luminous flux. But for our case a better measure of usuable light is PAR. I have found that with my fixture, that anywhere from 12-24 Leds gets you in the range of a 150watt metal halide at depths of about 20"(this is without any optics of course). This is using pure royal blues and cool whites. I'm experimenting with using some neutral whites and maybe adding one cyan and red led to adjust the spectrum to a more natrual looking one.
I also have designed and created my own LED driver from scratch as well as a DIY LED dimming controller. Not sure if anyone would be interested in this, but im always up to share things on here.


I would love to see your DIY controller. Is there a write up on it?
 

OOtzie

Advanced Reefer
Location
Brooklyn
Rating - 100%
47   0   0
hey cam, I have a question if you'll answer. i recent bought the 14-kit from rapid LED, comes with 14 3w CREE LEDs. I have a 14 gal biocube, I'm running it with 8 blue and 4 white but all close to each other( I have room to space em). I have all mushrooms ( ric's/zoas/platies/bullseye) some of the colonies are not opening. the Q! Do I space the lighting more? how should I arrange the lights? and ofcourse how many of each should I run?

OOtzie
 

ming

LE Coral Killer
Location
Flushing, NY
Rating - 100%
272   0   0
hey cam, I have a question if you'll answer. i recent bought the 14-kit from rapid LED, comes with 14 3w CREE LEDs. I have a 14 gal biocube, I'm running it with 8 blue and 4 white but all close to each other( I have room to space em). I have all mushrooms ( ric's/zoas/platies/bullseye) some of the colonies are not opening. the Q! Do I space the lighting more? how should I arrange the lights? and ofcourse how many of each should I run?

OOtzie

I believe they only sell increments of 12 LED kits as I don't think you can run 14 per driver. If the driver is dimmable, I would just dim the lights since they're probably too strong. If they're not dimmable, I would either space it more or use less LED's
 

Alex

Pretzel in Orange M&M
Location
staten island
Rating - 100%
44   0   0
First off, Ming, Smoq, and I would like to thank everyone that attended the LED Demo Presentation. We had a packed room for our first presentation =0) (I think I almost peed a little when I saw everyone :theyareon)

LED's are the hot topic for a lot of people and I hope we all met everyone's expectations in how it was presented and with the information we threw at you. It was a lot to digest in the short time available per section.

As promised, this is the Official Q&A thread for the DIY LED Demo Presentation. During the presentation we were only able to briefly go over the plethora of information so here is where we can go deeper into the different parts of your lighting system. We have plenty of people here that have at the least touched on LED's and can offer their advice and experience, a few of whom are vendors that build or supply LED's. Ask away and don't be shy, the only silly question is the one not asked.

The article by Jake Adams in our very own Reefs Magazine is a great primer to everything that was talked about on Sunday. You can find it here.


The link to the article is not available with that link. I'd also like to view the video presentation.
 

Sponsor Reefs

We're a FREE website, and we exist because of hobbyists like YOU who help us run this community.

Click here to sponsor $10:


Top