Butcherman's DIY LED build

[butcherman]

I have built myself 2 LED units for my 1.2m Mix Reef.

I ordered 48 LED's from Rapidled and a 4 channel controller from Boostled.

The LED's comprised of:
20 Cool White
20 Royal Blue
4 UV
2 Red
2 Green

2 x Black anodised heat sink 6" x 9"

The order shipped in just a few days.


Carefully planned and layed out


Using a 2 part thermal paste i glued the Led's to the heat sink in the order i had already layed out.


time to set


Careful solder the LED's togetter positive to negative always


60 degree optics put on


Once wired the Driver is hooked up, with the controller set to 100% output, i adjust each Drivers SVR2 signal to 700ma.

[butcherman]

Testing all channels and making sure all connections are secured


All systems are go


The first unit goes in


FTS shot


The final product

[LCornelius]

Wow, great stuff!!!!!
Well done!

[erratiC]

Looks awesome! Good job!

Did you get the heatsinks locally?

[butcherman]

On a side note i used CREE LED's, if i had used BRIDGELUX i would have used 90 LED's

Originally Posted by erratiC

Looks awesome! Good job! Did you get the heatsinks locally?

I got everything from rapid led, i ordered everything in december and the one local aluminium company close to me i am still awaiting a reply to my query.

Originally Posted by lcornelius

Wow, great stuff!!!!! Well done!

Thanks, it wasnt as tough as i though it would be.

[AfricaOffroad]

Thanks for your post.
Still need to assemble mine, this has given me inspiration.

Tell me, did you set the current on your drivers?
Could we see pics of the heat sink cooling fans you have installed?
How do the lenses stay on the LED, is it a press fit or are you gluing?

[butcherman]

Originally Posted by AfricaOffroad

Tell me, did you set the current on your drivers? Could we see pics of the heat sink cooling fans you have installed? How do the lenses stay on the LED, is it a press fit or are you gluing?

1. I have the meanwell ELN 60 48P driver, i adjusted the SVR2 signal on the driver, as you open the driver where the AC current in enters there is a white screw labeled SVR2. Turn it fully counter clockwise (seys driver to minimum output). Connect the led's to the driver, BUT you must connect the multimeter in series (ie. pretend the multimeter is an LEDconnect the wire posivive to negative like an led) Turn the driver on, your leds will light up. Slowly adust the SVR2 Screw till the reading is 700ma (note it is a very fine adjustment). unplug the driver, remove the multimeter from the wires and permanently conect the wires. Job done

2. I just used 2 pc fan on top of the units.

3. lenses are push to fit but i used a dot of super glue to make them stick.

[Toolboysa]

Did you go with the XP-G or XM-L?

[butcherman]

XP-G

[Arries]

Nice....
P.S. Nice choice in keyboard btw...LOL...

[butcherman]

@Hails bought it for me

[Francois]

Any up dates on the leds, howz the corals doing?

[butcherman]

Originally Posted by Francois

Any up dates on the leds, howz the corals doing?

The LED's are terrific! Corals are colouring up and growing like crazy (suspect mostly due to a change in salt brand) currently srunning the lights at 75% slowly ramping them up.

I am very satisfied with the results of this project as a whole.

But from now i guess time will tell.

[Francois]

Are you using a controller to dimm the leds, I like your project man its really cool

[butcherman]

Originally Posted by Francois

Are you using a controller to dimm the leds, I like your project man its really cool

yes i am using a typhon controller from boostled

[butcherman]

i can post a video of the controler

[butcherman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=oC1ZdMN01e0

[Francois]

Why did you go with the 60 degree optics and not the 80 degree optics, is there any specific reason?

[butcherman]

The supplier recommended them, in hindsight, i should ahve mixed the 60 with 80 degrees

[Francois]

Building a led project as yours will be perfect for my tank. My controller all ready supports (5v to 10v PWM input) and I have four channels 2 x daylight and 2 x blues to dimm the meanwell led driver. On the cree XP-G leds did you go for cool white or neutral white?