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#576
12/06/2007, 12:44 PM
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I am sure that plenty of people would be interested in your project. Many people do not understand electronics enough to undertake such a project on their own, even if the details of such a project are rather simple.
As for the controller, I think most people like the ability to change the spectral output and theretofore aesthetic of the tank. A small PIC or AVR would easily do the trick for spectral options and dimming on a schedule. |
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#577
12/06/2007, 07:52 PM
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An Aswer to my questions previously posted???
Quote:
Also, where did you get the different components, seems that the arrays for the LED's I could not find. Should all be simple, but I, an electronic genius am not. What about "bulk" orders for many cpmplete sets?? |
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#578
12/06/2007, 08:49 PM
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this is copied from another thread I am writing it up in also
quote:Originally posted by dhnguyen ^^ Of course there is interest in a DIY for this. Please, by all means share your knowledge. Thanks for the quick reply, I have been reading rc for a long time and have seen you rip people for not having a well thought out idea so I will do my best to lay out all of my "knowledge" for you, please let me know where I fall short. This will take a few posts so please have patience with me. This all started when I read a post here on rc where a diy guy asked the head of PFO what the leds he used where and what the colors were. I will not repost his response but it was rather harsh (which surprised me because he always seems like such a nice guy when people ask him questions, must be a sore spot with him) but it ended with go out and find out for yourself and then you will know. Well I am an engineer by trade and a statement like that is the same as throwing a pork chop to a starving Chihuahua… LOL so I went out and researched what he had done. So lets start we know from Dana Riddle’s write up that there are 13 blue and 12 white leds, that they are 3 watt and that they are Philips Lighting 3-watt Luxeon Emitter batwing design. Also used is a lens holder and a 45-42 degree lens to give the 45 degree in one direction and 42 degree in the other direction light spread. We know that it favors 431-480 nm light spectrum. For a refresher look here at the review. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/8/review2 So let’s look at the components closely. http://www.luxeonstar.com/item.php?...artno=LXHL-LR3C The blue emitter. LXHL-LR3C Specifications Lumens 450 mWMax Continuous Current 1000 mAForward Voltage 3.9 VfDominant Wavelength 455 nmLED Type StarRadiation Pattern LambertianWeight 5.5g 13 of these total of 450*13= 5850mW The white emitter. LXHL-LW3C Specifications Lumens 80 lm Max Continuous Current 1000 mAForward Voltage 3.9 Vf Dominant Wavelength 5500 KLED Type StarRadiation Pattern LambertianWeight 5.5g 12 of these total of 80*12= 960 lm The holder. http://www.luxeonstar.com/item.php?...FHS-HWB1-LL01-H Fraen lenses fit over top of any Luxeon I, III and V lambertian LED and efficiently focuses the output to a 40-45° beam of light. (Depending on the LED color.) These lenses come with a staked holder that holds the lens in position over the LED. For more information about how to use the staked holder, see the Heat Staking application note in the Additional Information section below. • Amber, Red LEDs - 40° beam • Blue, Cyan, Green LEDs - 42° beam • White LEDs - 45° beam • Up to 85% efficiency • Fits all Luxeon Lambertian LEDs (Except Star/O) • Software optimized aspheric profile Note: the 85% efficiency, this means we have 5850 mW* .85 = 4972.5 mW of blue light And 960 lm * .85 = 816 lm white light. For more reading on the led look at the full spec sheet here. http://www.lumileds.com/pdfs/DS46.pdf How am I doing so far? The problem was building one of these using these components was going to be hard and expensive in the long run for a one off. Not to mention heat control was going hard at best. So at that point I had given up. Until two events happen. Number one, one side of my light housing gave up the ghost in a very spectacular fashion. I was now looking at buying a new icecap, a new xm 10k 175 bulb a two new 96 watt compact florescent tubes and new compact florescent ballasts, a total of $415.00+ in stuff. And two enter the rebel (http://www.lumileds.com/pdfs/DS56.pdf ) all the color spectrums needed, the perfect light output and the perfect light throw (right up there with a spider reflector) in a very small package just one problem packaging. But not to fear within six months out came the rebel star ( http://www.luxeonstar.com/7007-endor-datasheet.pdf ), a diy dream come true (kind of). Remember the 816 lm white led output of the solaris? Well…. 7007-PWC-08-3 Specifications Lumens 240 lm @ 350mA 435 lm @ 700mA Max Continuous Current 1000 mA Forward Voltage 9.45 Vf Dominant Wavelength 6500KLED Type Tri-EmitterRadiation Pattern Lambertian Weight 5.5g 816 lm/435 lm = 1.8 rebel stars need. I used 5 at 435 lm to equal 2175 lm or 2175 lm / 816 lm= 2.66 times the out put of the stars the prototype Solaris used Now the blues that was hard. There is no one making or selling the rebels on a star. After some phone calls I was able to get the un-mounted pads and make them myself. I have since found a source for the blue stars. I used this rebel for the build. LXML-PR01-0275 Specifications Lumens 275mW @ 350mA 525mW lm @ 700mA Max Continuous Current 1000 mA Forward Voltage 3.15 Vf Dominant Wavelength 455 nmLED Type EmitterRadiation Pattern LambertianWeight 0.070238g Remember we were trying to meet the 4972.5 mW of power? 525 mW* 12 (four stars three rebels each) = 6300 mW or 6300 mW / 4972.5 = 1.26 times the light out put of the stars the prototype Solaris used. I am also giving you the numbers if you run the system at 700ma I am running my system at 800 ma so my light output is higher then these numbers. The rebel can be run at up to 1 amp as long as you have the heat dissipation handled. Look at both the pn junction temperatures in the pdf manuals and you will see one amp is easily attainable if you have the right heat sink. Constant current circuit was the next problem the easiest way to do that is using this link. http://www.instructables.com/id/Pow...nstant-current/ The numbers he gives and the assumptions he has DO NOT work for the rebel but the transistor and FET were a perfect fit, the resistor values are different do your testing very carefully and do not assume anything. Also note that you can use one of the circuits to run the whole system or five or six modules but remember that just like in the Solaris if you lose a led you lose the whole string of leds in the case of Solaris it is a $300-$500 replacement. It took me $45 of parts to make each star have its own driver this way a failure of a star means an $11.00 replacement star. Also remember that the led lose light level over time 70% over 11 years a simple adding of a 100k resistor to each driver will bring up the light level back to original (increasing amps) as time goes on. I am not listing numbers right now because I am at work writing this and my notes are at home. Heat sink, here was the hard one, you have to get out 8-11 watts of heat not an easy task, I was lucky in that I found a heat sink that is way over kill for what I am doing at a local surplus supply house so this was not a problem, I did try bolting one star to a 12 x 4 x 0.25 inch plate and running one, the plate hit 250 degrees f in about 30 seconds. So pick your heat sink carefully, and use the best heat sink paste you can find (arctic silver works great). If there is more interest shown then I will set up a site with all the information and photos. I will probably put a donation link to help pay for the site. Any ideas on this would be greatly appreciated. So how did I do so far? Does anyone have any questions? I will post photos of the tank as soon as I figure out how to post them. As a side note, how do I know the led works better, more coral growth hard corals on the led side then the metal halide/pc side, better extension on polyps softies, zoos extend better, more calcium intake, and my clam added a new ridge. But the number one way I know the giant devils hand dead center between the two systems went from leaning toward the Metal halide sided of the tank toward the LED system side in about two days of running and is fighting for space to move over. Hobby Experience: 25 years Current Tanks: 150 gal with two 64 side tanks, and 18 refugium, ssb and dsb mix setup, softies, hards, clams Interests: reef, motorcycles, scuba Last edited by divernm on 12/06/2007 at 02:22 PM |
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#579
12/06/2007, 08:53 PM
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the tank
left is metal halide with two 96 watt pc over it and right is one led system this was taken on day one [IMG] http://reefcentral.com/gallery/show...rt=1&thecat=500 [/IMG] Hobby Experience: 25 years Current Tanks: 150 gal with two 64 side tanks, and 18 refugium, ssb and dsb mix setup, softies, hards, clams Interests: reef, motorcycles, scuba Last edited by divernm on 12/06/2007 at 03:02 PM |
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#580
12/06/2007, 08:56 PM
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you can grow anything also aros, clams, softies, polyps, leathers, lsf, sfs, mushrooms, Zenia it is all in the photo
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showp...t=1&thecat=500 and here is the same tank with an acrylic lens under it and the light moved more toward the center of the tank, still up against the 175 watt xm metal halide and the two 98 watt one 420nm actinic and one 03 actinic compact inflorescent http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showp...t=1&thecat=500 Hobby Experience: 25 years Current Tanks: 150 gal with two 64 side tanks, and 18 refugium, ssb and dsb mix setup, softies, hards, clams Interests: reef, motorcycles, scuba Last edited by divernm on 12/06/2007 at 06:38 PM |
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#581
12/06/2007, 10:16 PM
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Quote:
this is still in the infancy stage for me, and I am setting up a circuit board layout and blue print so that when I do the other side I can just drop the components into the holes where the silk screen says and then solder them in. I have found a place that will make the board for me, double sided, silk screen, and solder masked, for around $20 so hopefully soon I will be able to give you guys a drawing and a web page and say send them this and they will send you back the board you need. with that said the total assembly time to make the light was only two hours and that was drilling the heat sink mounting the leds, and soldering the components together along with trimming the amperage for each one. the dimming controller is a great idea and a simple one also but the way I see it, it will be something I will tackle after I get the design simplified and very easy for some one with very little electronic back ground to make. with that said it is very easy to get the light out put you want by just changing the main resistor in the set up, takes about 60 seconds to change all 9 out on my system as it sets right now. but that is also what the solaris is all about for people that want that and everything else the solaris gives which is a lot in my opinion they can always bite the bullet and buy a unit. I just can not see paying the price for the cycle and all the other benefits when I tend to buy the same bulbs every time and have kept the same color balance and light cycle for the last 25 years that I have kept reefs, for me it was just over kill. I make about $300 a month from selling frags from my tank they grow so fast, so for me to "need" the moonlight phases and all just seems too much (I know I am going to get flamed for that one) my tank produces everything from aros to brains both my brains drop 10-15 buttons a month I put them in my grow out tank and then sell them when they are big enough. anyway I am way off track sorry, I am working on making the electronics easy for even the most basic of diy project people just please give me some time to get there. thanks again for your input. |
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#582
12/27/2007, 09:01 AM
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bravo
i did the same thing as you did divernm. i researched everyone of the links you posted lol. and contacted a company to manufacture a board. i gave up when trying to tackle the controller and dimming the led's. Of course that was when the first ones came out. I was thinking about one large heatsink (or one per array) that was watercooled. I have done this many times with building computers. I think it would be easy to get a machine shop to make them for a prototype. I think you could get all the goody out of them if the heatsink was watercooled and maybe get more life out of the diode. They would definately run cooler. I would be very interested in knowing how your project is progressing. And if you need any help I would be more than willing to help out. I knew someone would make their own array someday. It was just a bit overwhelming for me at the time. Keep up the good work.
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#583
12/27/2007, 04:47 PM
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cipher, the unit is going well it has been up and running for three months now and the corals are growing faster on the led side then the metal halide side. and heat is not an issue. I have designed boards that anyone that can solder can use with little knowledge of electronics and have made a production run of 200 boards I found that it costs an arm and leg to make a board as a one off like the tune of $300+ so i decided to make a run and sell them to others that want to dyi a led light so i can re-coupe some of the cost to have the board made and we all get them for a decent price.
as for heat I have one large heat sink and it works real well keeping the junction temperature at only 20 degrees above ambient. this allows ambient to be over 120 degrees f and still keep the led well within limits at 1 amp (max power) without any fan or active cooling, the reason i stayed away from active cooling is if something goes wrong with the cooling system you lose the whole light (high cost of replacement) this way there are no moving parts or electronics to fail the heat is all passive, nice side benefit is no noise also. thanks for the offer to help and I may take you up on it. I do not know where talking about selling dyi stuff crosses the lines of Rc rules so I will not get into all the stuff here. but soon i will have a web site up and it will give you better place to look at the design the larger the order the smaller the price so I hope to get a place here you can get everything you need to build at a low price. but the dyi led light is very easy to make runs great and very customizable |
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Linear Mode
