Drewton's DIY LED's!!!

dallasg said:
totally awesome!
if i may make a suggestion, try raising them 10cm-15cm and also try them front to back :)
Click to expand...

Really appreciate it man! Will definately give that a bash. Im not running lenses on the leds to give me better spread, at higher intensities the spread is really good, but the corals freak out, so taking it slow...
 
Excellent work.

How about letting the rest of us know where you sourced all the components from?
Did you get everything from one source?
 
If you give us a rough estimate what did the build of the leds cost you in total??
 
Great build, it looks stunning.
@Drewton where did you buy the kit from and how much did it set you back?
 
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Hill said:
Excellent work.

How about letting the rest of us know where you sourced all the components from?
Did you get everything from one source?
Click to expand...

Thanks very much!
Sourced the components from Ledgroupbuy, the splash guards from maizeys, the wiring andsolder etc locally...
 
Thanks sooi! I would go with a 48 led setup using the 3w cree xt-e leds. 50/50 royal blue, cool white. You can add some.e violets if you like as well with the blues but then drive them lower at about 600ma to prevent lens yellowing.
 
Ok so this is what I will need?

24 Neutral White Cree XT-E 3W
22 Royal Blue 450-455nm Cree XT-E 3w
1 Hyper Violet 430nm Exotic 3W
1 True Violet 405nm Exotic 3w
2 12" Heatsink complete kit
1x Makers CONTROLLER - Sunrise / Sunset controller for MakersDRIVER
and what drivers will i need?
I see the ones on the website only takes 1-16 led's?
1 x Power supply 180w 48V
 
Drewton said:
Thanks sooi! I would go with a 48 led setup using the 3w cree xt-e leds. 50/50 royal blue, cool white. You can add some.e violets if you like as well with the blues but then drive them lower at about 600ma to prevent lens yellowing.
Click to expand...

hi i see you used neutral white and said i must use cool white. what is the best?
 
Sooi said:
Ok so this is what I will need?

24 Neutral White Cree XT-E 3W
22 Royal Blue 450-455nm Cree XT-E 3w
1 Hyper Violet 430nm Exotic 3W
1 True Violet 405nm Exotic 3w
2 12" Heatsink complete kit
1x Makers CONTROLLER - Sunrise / Sunset controller for MakersDRIVER
and what drivers will i need?
I see the ones on the website only takes 1-16 led's?
1 x Power supply 180w 48V
Click to expand...

Thats it! Use the Makers Driver it has 2 channels per driver and can run up to 14 leds per channel. I am running the blue channel at 700ma (their max current) because of the violets but they recommend running them lower at about 500 - 600ma to prevent yellowing of the little lens. The driver chips on the Makers driver are interchangeable. so just select your options for each channel when ordering. You also need to add to the list thermal paste for when you attache the leds to the heatsink. There is also a solderless option for the leds to make it easier, but t is more pricey. :thumbup:
 
Sooi said:
hi i see you used neutral white and said i must use cool white. what is the best?
Click to expand...

It is a matter of preference really. You can mix them together to get a "fuller spectrum". However IME have found that if using the neutral white you need to balance out the colour with more blues in a 2:1 blue white ratio, to prevent the tank looking too Purple. If i could do it again I would go with cool whites and just a few neutrals. You can run royal blues and cool whites in a 1:1 ratio, and it gives a nice colour.
 
Ok so been fiddling aroundwith the lights and took some PAR readings this morning. With blue at 75%, white 15% and suspended 300mm off the surface im getting 540PAR just under the surface, 190 PAR at mid depth, and 115 PAR on the sand bed. This is how I run my lights most of the time so im pretty happy with the readings, and all corals seem happy.

Just out of interest I turned all channels on 100%.... surface 922, mid 283, sand bed 198.
 
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