ctxmonitor
Senior Member
- Location
- Brooklyn, NY
holy cow!! that is some nice work and documentation.. Great work!! If only have have the tool set and skill to do it.. :*(
Cree LED light write-up
- Thread starter smoq
- Start date
- Location
- Queens
Wow, that's crazy. Just looking at it makes my eyes spin. lol. +1
- Location
- Bay ridge, Brooklyn
Thanks. It's really not that hard to do, there's no precise electronics involved and no programming and the documentation is here to help
The tools however, is a different story. I didn't buy them all at once, you know, you start your collection once and build it up over the years. I'm a tool nut though- Location
- westchester, ny
Awesome write up and great job! I've been debating building my own leds for a while now, and I think your post just pushed me over the edge of indecision.
Have you noticed any significant difference in water temp without the t5s over the tank?
Have you noticed any significant difference in water temp without the t5s over the tank?
- Location
- Bay ridge, Brooklyn
Temperature difference? Not really. LEDs are giving some heat, I would say it stays thesame as with T5s, maybe fans turn on a little bit less with LEDs. I have yet to observe this over a longer period of time.
- Location
- Bay ridge, Brooklyn
Do you guys know where to get 1W leds or 3W cree knockoffs? I'm thinking of adding a 3 more leds for a moonlight and found an inexpensive driver but I can't find a place that sells 1W leds and/or cree knockoffs online.
- Location
- Westchester, NY
Great job. Great writeup. All in all great job!
- Location
- Staten Island
- Location
- Bay ridge, Brooklyn
Sweet. Mounting on an aluminum ruler=clever. Does it work for you without fan?
- Location
- Staten Island
Thanks...as for the fan.I can't say its needed but there are 2 fans in the canopy for the halides,so they are helping a bit.but I'm sure I could get away with out them if I had to..
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- Location
- Bay ridge, Brooklyn
With 3W Crees and dimmable driver? Where?
sharkbait69
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- Monmouth County NJ
nice job.
couple of questions. Is their a benefit to screwing the starboard to the heat sink verses using thermal bonding agent? How happy are you with the domes.
How high are they off the water surface and if any negative side effects and positive side effects.
couple of questions. Is their a benefit to screwing the starboard to the heat sink verses using thermal bonding agent? How happy are you with the domes.
How high are they off the water surface and if any negative side effects and positive side effects.
- Location
- Bay ridge, Brooklyn
I would say about $400 excluding the cost of tools but including the iron and multimeter...and I have some stuff left. There's no way you can get a 3w cree fixture for that price, please correct me if I'm wrong
The only benefit of screwing instead of epoxy'ing led stars is that you can replace, remove or change color of the leds. With epoxy is very hard to remove the star after the glue cures.
The domes are there to concentrate the light coming out of led emitter. I like them because the light is not shining in my eye, I have to get ones for white leds. I wouldn't get anything lower than 60 degrees optics, it will generate a spotlight effect.
Mine leds are 6" above the water level. It's a sweet point for me but I haven't adjusted it since I started using them. I would say anywhere between 6-9" would be good. No cons for me as for now, I had some dieoff with zoas but I won't blame the lighting for it. One of my monti needed to be put lower in the tank because it was staring to bleach from the strong light. Other than that, I couldn't be happier with my setup.
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- Location
- Long Island
just reiterating ... you recommend 3 fixtures with 12x 3w cool white and 12x 3w royal blue leds...24 leds per fixture for a 6' tank?
i was reading camuanch? thread about his led build and is going to do 72x 3w leds.... so i am wondering how do you figure out how many leds to use ?
is there a formula or concept for led light coverage? sorry for such noob questions. i am looking into building led fixtures for my new 180g tank i am setting up in the next few months.
Spacing is usually 2" per LED for 60 and 80 degree and 1.5" for 40 degree, with no optics you could go to 2.5". On the 180 I'd say 3 48 LED kits with a mix of 60 and 80 degree optics, if you're aim is heavy SPS and want more light at the bottom jump to 60 LEDs using 40 degree to reach the bottom.
- Location
- Bay ridge, Brooklyn
As with the post above, spacing between leds should be anywhere between 1.5-2.5", and 24 leds with optics not narrower than 60 degrees are proven to cover 2' of the tank length (for tanks up to 20" wide). That's how many people have their tanks covered and it works in my setup too. It's a lot of light. If you are planning to use 40 degrees lens you'll have even stronger light, but you will have a spotlight effect so more leds are needed to cover thesame area.
- Location
- Long Island
do you recommend the q5 or the xp g r5 leds?
- Location
- New Rochelle
I used the arctic aluminum to glue the star to the headsink. I had the experience first hand in removing the star. It is not hard at all with a sharp edged chisel. I got the chisel under any visible gap between the star and the heatsink and a gentle twist of the hand, it popped right off. Don't even need a hammer. The majority of the glue remains on the star rather than the heatsink for some reasons.
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