Liquid cooled LEDs light fixture

[reefoman]

Well, many friends told me to post some diy thread here about my light fixture, finally decided to share my crazy project...
It's probably only one liquid cooled leds fixture for reef tank, I reserch internet before i start but didn't found anythink serious, i believe was some 3 leds light for fresh water tank but it looked like joke to me.
Why liquid? Why not heatsinks?
First and major answer because I like challenges and I like sometimes to prove IT CAN WORK some guys told me I'm wasting time and money when i told them what I'm planning to do...
Imho very important is if you're satisfied with your new DIY project? Who knows me also know im picky when I'm doing some project but I'm very satisfied with my leds fixture, I swear
Comparing to DIY leds fixtures with heatsinks my setup is much lighter,
96 leds and 288W and not even 20lbs of weight, not bad ! thats why I hanged my fixture on Giesemann hanging adjustible lines to the ceiling.
I build 9 rows heat exchanger with 3/4" square pipes, each row is 24" long and is 12 leds glued to it. Each pipe has welded cap and went through the 100 psi pressure test before was welded to the angle frame.
Ready to go heat exchanger 24"x24" is installed in 30"x30" (aquarium dimension) frame made with black 2"x2" aluminum angle. Also drivers are installed (hidden) on the sides of the heat exchanger basicly only one cord going to the fixture plus two tinny from Apex controller to controll separate white and blue leds.
In the center of the front frame wall I recently installed temperature controller for radiator fans and liquid pump, recently because was very hard to find that small and with blue lcd Working very well and only one 120mm fan is able to keep leds temperature at 90 F degree...
Fixture is extremally silent you're not able to recognize any noise coming from the low rpm fan and pump.
In the summer the radiator with fans gonna be installed in the window, next to AC unit to eliminate any possible hot air.

Here are some pics how this happed

1. I cut the square pipes and angles...

2. Of course had to try how it gonna looks like...

3. Welding time...

4. First small hole drilling... (also the hole was needed to finish welding because the pipes was only 24" long was to much pressure in the pipe)

5. Now time for bigger holes...

6. And some threading...

7. File was needed as well to finish thread

8. Hose barb tightened...

9. OK connection looking good...

10. Last measurement before welding pipes to the angles...

11. Cant wait to see this working

12. same here...

13. Heat exchanger welded and ready for leds, as I could not drill my setup to screw led's stars to the pipes I used pre-cut thermal adhesive tape , Highly recommended !!! This tape sawed alot of my time and I love it.

14. It takes about 10 minutes to attach 54 white leds...

15. Not bad...

16. That was pain in neck...

17. Favorite time... soldering

18. First two rows done...

19. I build the fixture frame in the night time, was so tired and didn't get any pictures I have only one or two...

20. Done...

21. Here the fan/pump controller gonna be installed, had hard time to cut this of...

22. But succeed, finally installed...

Well it takes some time but finally I can enjoy my new light setup, I can't run all leds at 100% because my fish go blind and I'll kill corals that's why im running white leds at 30% and blue at 20%.
Here is some sample how it looks like... Please forgive me bad pics quality but I was using my iphone to get them all. In person is more light maybe somebody can even confirm

Now you can call me crazy... hehehe :smoker:

Best Regards,
mark

 

[chinatown]

about time mark. saw this in person. unreal. great job man.

 

[Widdy]

Amazing! That's some hardcore work there! Similar to my watercooled PCs when I had the time for it... What do you do to compensate for evaporation?

FWIW, my DIY LED (75 diodes) with 4 120mm ran about 90-95* degrees. Not sure why everyone continues with heatsinks, I guess since EvilC66 was first to put it down in writing that became the bible.

I have since replaced the LEDs with your old 2 Geisemann Nova's I will go back to LEDs eventually... Great stuff man! Keep the innovations coming!

 

[jf2381]

I was impressed when I saw it last time I went to your house.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Reefs

 

[jr973]

That's a really nice build awesome job

 

[reefoman]

about time mark. saw this in person. unreal. great job man.

Im glad to hear that Zhi, thanks man...

Amazing! That's some hardcore work there! Similar to my watercooled PCs when I had the time for it... What do you do to compensate for evaporation?

FWIW, my DIY LED (75 diodes) with 4 120mm ran about 90-95* degrees. Not sure why everyone continues with heatsinks, I guess since EvilC66 was first to put it down in writing that became the bible.

I have since replaced the LEDs with your old 2 Geisemann Nova's I will go back to LEDs eventually... Great stuff man! Keep the innovations coming!

I didn't know Giesemann goes to you You running them on 150 or 175W? If i'll go back to metal halide that's gonna be NOVA II trust me that's best ever MH fixtures i had.
You talking about evaporation from the tank or light fixture?

I was impressed when I saw it last time I went to your house.

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Thank you very much Jose

 

[THEDLO]

wow! ur going to need to make another thread just for the temp/pump controller! lol

 

[Widdy]

I didn't know Giesemann goes to you You running them on 150 or 175W? If i'll go back to metal halide that's gonna be NOVA II trust me that's best ever MH fixtures i had.
You talking about evaporation from the tank or light fixture?

Yes sir. Alex helped me picked them up from ya... 150w, Phoenix 14k, awesome fixture indeed. Now I know where the hanging kit went

Evaporation from the liquid cooled lighting.

 

[aznt1217]

This is freakin great. I wonder if you could somehow cut down on heater use by using the heat from the lights if you circulate water from the tank lol.

 

[reefoman]

Yes sir. Alex helped me picked them up from ya... 150w, Phoenix 14k, awesome fixture indeed. Now I know where the hanging kit went

Evaporation from the liquid cooled lighting.

Hehehe yea hanging kits... I swear I could not wait to see LEDs above my tank that's why I used them and that was before Alex told me yo getting the MH

To avoid the evaporation from heat exchanger I build closed circuit with expansion tank... working good so far.


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[reefoman]

This is freakin great. I wonder if you could somehow cut down on heater use by using the heat from the lights if you circulate water from the tank lol.

Thanks !
Yes I was thinking about that option and this is possible, I'm able to build two separate loops one for radiator and second for other heat exchanger which has to be immersed in the sump salt water, titanium coil will be the best or some plastic, teflon exchanger... Two solenoid valves, controller and few wires...
Yes it's possible but i can't do this for my tank cause even now my chiller is working to much heat in my living room


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[ClosetFishGeek]

Nicely done....

 

[Widdy]

Hehehe yea hanging kits... I swear I could not wait to see LEDs above my tank that's why I used them and that was before Alex told me yo getting the MH

To avoid the evaporation from heat exchanger I build closed circuit with expansion tank... working good so far.


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It's all good man... I ended up making a DIY hanging kit. Tied both fixtures together with (2) LED rails, each with 13 Royal Blue Crees.

Does the water that's doing the cooling get exposed to light? If so, there might be potential algae growth.

What gauge wiring are you running there? Looks beefy...

 

[reefoman]

It's all good man... I ended up making a DIY hanging kit. Tied both fixtures together with (2) LED rails, each with 13 Royal Blue Crees.

Does the water that's doing the cooling get exposed to light? If so, there might be potential algae growth.

What gauge wiring are you running there? Looks beefy...

There is only daylight, yea expansion tank is made with clear plexiglas... tubing are blue, I don't see any algae maybe because of 90 degree? Lol
The wiring gauge are 18


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[NYreefNoob]

first time seeing this, this by far has to be the best led diy i have seen, funny you did itwater cooled cause i looked at that option, then amount of work lol, one of my old gaming pc's was water cooled, you using a ehiem for the circ pump ? see alot of the water cooled pc's with it

 

[jerl77]

holey cow nice work

 

[chc]

Impressive, to say the least. Well done!

 

[wonderballz]

Any idea how the thermal tape holds up to as compared with the thermal glue? That seems so easy, but I would be afraid of the tapes tackiness losing grip over time.

 

[reefoman]

Guys thank you very much, I'm glad to see that many positive comments about my work

I never had chance to try thermal glue before and can't tell anything about that but thermal tape is awesome, you are able to change burned out led but you have to use small flat screwdriver to peel out the star, nails are not enough ! it's holding really strong... and of course you can use that tape one more time it's still holding good!




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[OOtzie]

This is freakin great. I wonder if you could somehow cut down on heater use by using the heat from the lights if you circulate water from the tank lol.

that's exactly what I do.