DIY LED Demo presentation: Questions and Answers

[tosiek]

First off, Ming, Smoq, and I would like to thank everyone that attended the LED Demo Presentation. We had a packed room for our first presentation =0) (I think I almost peed a little when I saw everyone :theyareon)

LED's are the hot topic for a lot of people and I hope we all met everyone's expectations in how it was presented and with the information we threw at you. It was a lot to digest in the short time available per section.

As promised, this is the Official Q&A thread for the DIY LED Demo Presentation. During the presentation we were only able to briefly go over the plethora of information so here is where we can go deeper into the different parts of your lighting system. We have plenty of people here that have at the least touched on LED's and can offer their advice and experience, a few of whom are vendors that build or supply LED's. Ask away and don't be shy, the only silly question is the one not asked.

The article by Jake Adams in our very own Reefs Magazine is a great primer to everything that was talked about on Sunday. You can find it HERE! (fixed link)

 

[tosiek]

In the Presentation we covered, start to finish, a complete LED build and quickly went over controlling them.

Here is the basic parts breakdown in a fixture:

• Power supply (wall wart or other AC to DC converter)
• Driver
• LED's
• Lenses
• Heatsink
• Fans (cooling)
• Controls (either on/off switch or controller)

I'll cliff notes more info in for each part soon as well as link to the presentation.

Must Reads From Sanjay Joshi and Jake Adams on LED lighting.

Here are a few places to get your LED supplies:

Rapidled a MR vendor here. Meanwell drivers/Cree's
LEDsupply buckpucks and anything not Cree/Meanwell
HeatSinkUSA Custom heatsinks at great prices
Wingo! Link to his forums. Makes custom LED fixtures and strips

Useful information to build your fixture:

How to Solder: Here and Here
Wiring Diagrams
Optics/Lenses overview with par ratings on Cree's

I'll be adding more things as the thread progresses as well as adding links to the more important places that reference information related to LED's. Post up any that I'm missing and I will add them.

 

[tosiek]

Video's of the Presentation

part 1

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_I9p6HwACKw

part 2

http://youtube.com/watch?v=39zQ8dk6iFQ

part 3

http://youtube.com/watch?v=rRlX1aJhZ0o

part 4

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9JGwpwcH15c

Thanks for the uploading and video editing Camanuch =0)

Enjoy!

 

[THEDLO]

i liked it. tho i had to leave early. what im confused it how to mesure the strength of LEDs like how MH are measured in watts. how do u measure what u need based on depth...

 

[stage3-S4]

i liked it. tho i had to leave early. what im confused it how to mesure the strength of LEDs like how MH are measured in watts. how do u measure what u need based on depth...

LEDs can not be compared to MH or any other type of lamps just soley based on the measure of power consumed(watts). Since leds are far more efficent then MH lamps, it makes it difficult to figure out just how much you would need. Typically the best way to figure this out is to measure the Lumens or luminous flux. But for our case a better measure of usuable light is PAR. I have found that with my fixture, that anywhere from 12-24 Leds gets you in the range of a 150watt metal halide at depths of about 20"(this is without any optics of course). This is using pure royal blues and cool whites. I'm experimenting with using some neutral whites and maybe adding one cyan and red led to adjust the spectrum to a more natrual looking one.
I also have designed and created my own LED driver from scratch as well as a DIY LED dimming controller. Not sure if anyone would be interested in this, but im always up to share things on here.

 

[THEDLO]

LEDs can not be compared to MH or any other type of lamps just soley based on the measure of power consumed(watts). Since leds are far more efficent then MH lamps, it makes it difficult to figure out just how much you would need. Typically the best way to figure this out is to measure the Lumens or luminous flux. But for our case a better measure of usuable light is PAR. I have found that with my fixture, that anywhere from 12-24 Leds gets you in the range of a 150watt metal halide at depths of about 20"(this is without any optics of course). This is using pure royal blues and cool whites. I'm experimenting with using some neutral whites and maybe adding one cyan and red led to adjust the spectrum to a more natrual looking one.
I also have designed and created my own LED driver from scratch as well as a DIY LED dimming controller. Not sure if anyone would be interested in this, but im always up to share things on here.

cool ill let u know if i got more questions

 

[latino277]

LEDs can not be compared to MH or any other type of lamps just soley based on the measure of power consumed(watts). Since leds are far more efficent then MH lamps, it makes it difficult to figure out just how much you would need. Typically the best way to figure this out is to measure the Lumens or luminous flux. But for our case a better measure of usuable light is PAR. I have found that with my fixture, that anywhere from 12-24 Leds gets you in the range of a 150watt metal halide at depths of about 20"(this is without any optics of course). This is using pure royal blues and cool whites. I'm experimenting with using some neutral whites and maybe adding one cyan and red led to adjust the spectrum to a more natrual looking one.
I also have designed and created my own LED driver from scratch as well as a DIY LED dimming controller. Not sure if anyone would be interested in this, but im always up to share things on here.

I would love to see your DIY controller. Is there a write up on it?

 

[wonderballz]

Wish I could have seen this. Any chance this Demo is gonna be viewable for the rest of us?

David. I am thinking of the DIY set up from rapid LED. Are you looking to DIY too?

 

[THEDLO]

Wish I could have seen this. Any chance this Demo is gonna be viewable for the rest of us?

David. I am thinking of the DIY set up from rapid LED. Are you looking to DIY too?

Not any time soon lol

 

[Deep Dive Coral]

Wish I could have seen this. Any chance this Demo is gonna be viewable for the rest of us?

David. I am thinking of the DIY set up from rapid LED. Are you looking to DIY too?

Hey everyone I did video the presentation. Just haven't had a chance to put it up. I will work on it tomorrow and have it up.

 

[nybb1001]

how many LEDs is recommanded for a 48" tank, in order to keep lps and some sps? thanks.

 

[Deep Dive Coral]

How deep is the tank. And all of the domensions please.

 

[OOtzie]

hey cam, I have a question if you'll answer. i recent bought the 14-kit from rapid LED, comes with 14 3w CREE LEDs. I have a 14 gal biocube, I'm running it with 8 blue and 4 white but all close to each other( I have room to space em). I have all mushrooms ( ric's/zoas/platies/bullseye) some of the colonies are not opening. the Q! Do I space the lighting more? how should I arrange the lights? and ofcourse how many of each should I run?

OOtzie

 

[nybb1001]

planning for the future, expect to upgrade in a few months to something like 48"L*24"W*22"H(Deep)

 

[ming]

hey cam, I have a question if you'll answer. i recent bought the 14-kit from rapid LED, comes with 14 3w CREE LEDs. I have a 14 gal biocube, I'm running it with 8 blue and 4 white but all close to each other( I have room to space em). I have all mushrooms ( ric's/zoas/platies/bullseye) some of the colonies are not opening. the Q! Do I space the lighting more? how should I arrange the lights? and ofcourse how many of each should I run?

OOtzie

I believe they only sell increments of 12 LED kits as I don't think you can run 14 per driver. If the driver is dimmable, I would just dim the lights since they're probably too strong. If they're not dimmable, I would either space it more or use less LED's

 

[Deep Dive Coral]

+1 they are not opening because of the light configure. They should od been spaces out evenly. Better spread. Also how how do yoy have the light from your tank and what was your old light before leds.

 

[Alex]

First off, Ming, Smoq, and I would like to thank everyone that attended the LED Demo Presentation. We had a packed room for our first presentation =0) (I think I almost peed a little when I saw everyone :theyareon)

LED's are the hot topic for a lot of people and I hope we all met everyone's expectations in how it was presented and with the information we threw at you. It was a lot to digest in the short time available per section.

As promised, this is the Official Q&A thread for the DIY LED Demo Presentation. During the presentation we were only able to briefly go over the plethora of information so here is where we can go deeper into the different parts of your lighting system. We have plenty of people here that have at the least touched on LED's and can offer their advice and experience, a few of whom are vendors that build or supply LED's. Ask away and don't be shy, the only silly question is the one not asked.

The article by Jake Adams in our very own Reefs Magazine is a great primer to everything that was talked about on Sunday. You can find it here.

The link to the article is not available with that link. I'd also like to view the video presentation.

 

[Deep Dive Coral]

planning for the future, expect to upgrade in a few months to something like 48"L*24"W*22"H(Deep)

With a 22" tank I would recommend using 80degree optics for the par at the bottom of the tank. As for how many that depends on the usable space for each opening if there is a center brace.

 

[Deep Dive Coral]

The link to the article is not available with that link. I'd also like to view the video presentation.

In do time for the video. Tomorrow for sure if you don't mind it not edited.

 

[Alex]

In do time for the video. Tomorrow for sure if you don't mind it not edited.

Not a problem, Thanks