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Yet another DIY LED setup bulid questions. (1 Viewer)

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Tendo

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Just as the title say another led setup build. Like quite a few people here making the move over to LED. The tank it will be run on is a 60X18X16 will be softies and LPS some SPS not the high intensity ones.

I generally know what I need to do but I'm confused on quite a few things. For sure, on what I read on the Rapidled forum on Reef-central I'll need about 60 led for my 5ft tank. I pretty sure I can get away with 48 since the tank is so short at 16 inches.

It seems general consensus is 2 blues to 1 white. I'm not so sure for red greens and ultra violet. I'm thinking;

From RapidLED
28 Royal Blue Cree XP-E LEDs
14 Cool White Cree XP-G R5 LEDs
3 Osram 660nm 3W Red LED
3 CREE XP-E Green 3W LED
Or instead of the red and green just
6 Violet UV 3W LED
2 Drilled/tapped 6" x 20" Black Heatsink.
Will I need optical and if yes then which one????

I would like to be able to control each light. I plan to buy the drivers from stevesled, But not sure which drivers to use as I really have no idea how many led 1 driver can run.

I would like to run this with my controller, but is the ACIII able to use the Variable Speed/Dimming Module. Suggestion are highly welcomed. I just know enough to get a rough idea, but some parts just alluded me. :nuts:
 
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The Steve's led drivers can handle 3+ leds as long as each string has the combined forward voltage of more than 11v and less than 25, that's if you use a 25v psu. I would also swap out some of the.cool whites for warm whites, and some of the royal blues for blues.
 
If by softies you mean zoas/palys etc... royal blue should work just fine, some blue will not hurt.. however switch some of the CW's with NW or WW.. when introducing NW/WW you will need a stronger mix of blues to make your tank not look yellow. there's two ways to do it... add more RB/blues or drive the blues harder and go easy with driving the whites
 
Softies and Zoas, toadstool frogspawn and such Acans, faves, and such.

For blues or NW are we thinking 6 each or a more substantial number like 10-12.

Now for the drivers. Does the single, double, triple, and quad mean you can hook that many arrays to it and dim them all at the same time or can each array be independently controlled.
 
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Tendo said:
Softies and Zoas, toadstool frogspawn and such Acans, faves, and such.

For blues or NW are we thinking 6 each or a more substantial number like 10-12.

Now for the drivers. Does the single, double, triple, and quad mean you can hook that many arrays to it and dim them all at the same time or can each array be independently controlled.
Click to expand...
one driver one dimmer. For example, the four strings on the quad can only be dimmed as one entity.
 
Except for some demanding acans like the rainbow acan, I got very good growth and color under the CW's and RB's (all XRE's) for everything you listed.

I dont recommend optics unless its a really tall tank... if you dont plan on using optics... keepin mind that the LEDs have a 120 degree viewing angle.. so with proper heatsinking they can be closer clustered ..like 1-1.5" apart and still get good coverage. with that said... I'd start with 6 blues and 6 of the NW/WW.. to mix it in you could do 3NW 3WW.

One last thing ... the good thing about DIY LEDs... you always add some later or switch one or more later as long as they fall in the same spec rating within the drivers capability
 
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ironman said:
one driver one dimmer. For example, the four strings on the quad can only be dimmed as one entity.
Click to expand...

I thought as much.

Taklu said:
Except for some demanding acans like the rainbow acan, I got very good growth and color under the CW's and RB's (all XRE's) for everything you listed.
Click to expand...

I do want some rainbow acan. I wish I had the money to pick up the one DA was selling a few weeks ago.

Taklu said:
I dont recommend optics unless its a really tall tank... if you dont plan on using optics... keepin mind that the LEDs have a 120 degree viewing angle.. so with proper heatsinking they can be closer clustered ..like 1-1.5" apart and still get good coverage. with that said... I'd start with 6 blues and 6 of the NW/WW.. to mix it in you could do 3NW 3WW.

One last thing ... the good thing about DIY LEDs... you always add some later or switch one or more later as long as they fall in the same spec rating within the drivers capability
Click to expand...


I will do as you suggest and replace 6 royal blues with regular 6 blues. and 3NW with 3 WW. As for spacing the heatsink I'm getting will be predrill to houses 36 led each so I can add more later on down the road. Which is what I like about the led setups. If I have too low right now I'll run to T5 with it. :gay1:

Now anyone know if the Variable dimmer will work with the ACIII?
 
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Taklu said:
AC3 dont have a variable dinner? unless you're talking aquasurf... also depends on the drivers you chose and what dimming signal will work with them...
Click to expand...


That's one thing I'm confused about. What the difference between the pwm and the other drivers. What I would like to do make it slowly come on and off and simulate the lunar cycle. I really have no idea how to do that as I was hoping to hook that up to the ACIII.

I know I can some what program it with the mean wells. No idea how I'm going to do it with the driver from stevesled. I'm leaning toward the means wells now.
 
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Tendo said:
That's one thing I'm confused about. What the difference between the pwm and the other drivers. What I would like to do make it slowly come on and off and simulate the lunar cycle. I really have no idea how to do that as I was hoping to hook that up to the ACIII.

I know I can some what program it with the mean wells. No idea how I'm going to do it with the driver from stevesled. I'm leaning toward the means wells now.
Click to expand...
How good are you at building circuits? Steve has a wiring harness that you can buy, that will work with the 0-10V of the Apex, and the drivers by themselves are PWM. But there are a few fairly simple and cheap circuits that convert PWM to 0-10V

http://shop.stevesleds.com/Aquarium-Controller-Interface-Harness-for-Steves-LEDs-Drivers-harness.htm

"Can accept up to 4 inputs and has 4 outputs. Multiple drivers can be plugged up to a single output for multi-driver synchornization.

A single Reefkeeper ALC has 2 - channels for 2 independent dimming controls. A Neptune Systems Apex Variable Speed Dimming Module has 4 - Channels.

This unit can accept any 0-10V analog signal, and create a proportional PWM signal output, this can be for virtually any use, not limited to aquarium controllers!"
 
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ironman said:
How good are you at building circuits? Steve has a wiring harness that you can buy, that will work with the 0-10V of the Apex, and the drivers by themselves are PWM. But there are a few fairly simple and cheap circuits that convert PWM to 0-10V

http://shop.stevesleds.com/Aquarium-Controller-Interface-Harness-for-Steves-LEDs-Drivers-harness.htm

"Can accept up to 4 inputs and has 4 outputs. Multiple drivers can be plugged up to a single output for multi-driver synchornization.


A single Reefkeeper ALC has 2 - channels for 2 independent dimming controls. A Neptune Systems Apex Variable Speed Dimming Module has 4 - Channels.

This unit can accept any 0-10V analog signal, and create a proportional PWM signal output, this can be for virtually any use, not limited to aquarium controllers!"
Click to expand...

I will say ok with building circuitry, but from my understanding I need the variable timing module in order to control the LEDs with Neptune system. It seems my ACIII is to old to use the new module.
 
Tendo said:
I will say ok with building circuitry, but from my understanding I need the variable timing module in order to control the LEDs with Neptune system. It seems my ACIII is to old to use the new module.
Click to expand...

hmm, well, you could always use an arduino Uno. You can get an offbrand at microcenter for $15.00
 
ironman said:
hmm, well, you could always use an arduino Uno. You can get an offbrand at microcenter for $15.00
Click to expand...

Briefly read thru the setup for those, a little more complicated then what I want to do, but I love doing those kinds of things. I might just do what you did and just got with POT for right now or I might just make the controller first. :gay1:
 
What people's opinion on different heat sinks. Should I go with the regular heat sinks with the fins or the squaring tubing that Steveleds sales.
 
You are telling us to place your order for you? Sorry, my LED build broke my wallet. lol
 
lol no I placed my order today for the LED just got to get some drivers now. :bawling:cause my wallet didn't like it.
 
Tendo said:
lol no I placed my order today for the LED just got to get some drivers now. :bawling:cause my wallet didn't like it.
Click to expand...

I feel ya there brother. lol So what did you decide for the heat sink and drivers?
 
ironman said:
I feel ya there brother. lol So what did you decide for the heat sink and drivers?
Click to expand...

For the drivers I went with Steve's hopefully I have better luck them you did. Try to get all the part for a DIY one was too much of a hassle. As to heat sinks I went with scrap 1 1/2 inch aluminum C channel that we had laying around at work. I might upgrade later to the sleek black heat sinks at Rapidled in the future.lol
 
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