Cree LED light write-up

[Mr. Microscope]

Awesome thread! I really liked the soldering video. I'm going to build a light soon. Just in the midst getting supplies.

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

Hey I am doing a 6 foot led fixture and for a 125 gallon its partitioned every 2 feet so I am going to make 3 arrays of LEDs 4 rows of 12. I bought 72 blue and 72 white. What color do you think the tank would look because they will be dimmable with the mean well drivers but I like more of a blue look. The whites are 8500k but what color would it look without the dimming. Also I still didn't get the lenses for the blue because I was waiting for the wide angle lenses to come out but I have 65 degree lenses for the whites. I plan on doing SPS so do you think I should get wide angle lenses or just order the 45 degree lenses and should I wore the fixture up in parillel or series because my dad is an electrician and he said that if I do it in series, if one light burns out the whole row will go out. So what are the pros and cons of series vs parallel.

 

[smoq]

Hey I am doing a 6 foot led fixture and for a 125 gallon its partitioned every 2 feet so I am going to make 3 arrays of LEDs 4 rows of 12. I bought 72 blue and 72 white. What color do you think the tank would look because they will be dimmable with the mean well drivers but I like more of a blue look. The whites are 8500k but what color would it look without the dimming. Also I still didn't get the lenses for the blue because I was waiting for the wide angle lenses to come out but I have 65 degree lenses for the whites. I plan on doing SPS so do you think I should get wide angle lenses or just order the 45 degree lenses and should I wore the fixture up in parillel or series because my dad is an electrician and he said that if I do it in series, if one light burns out the whole row will go out. So what are the pros and cons of series vs parallel.

You've got plenty of light. 50:50 ratio is very good, that's what I always recommend . It will give you a MH look, something like 10K. If you want bluer spectrum just dim the whites slightly, it won't lower the PAR that much. As for lenses, I wouldn't go anywhere narrower than 65 degrees unless you have a very deep tank. Try the light without lenses and you'll see how it looks. I am using 80 degrees on blue and 65 on white crees. Your father is right, if you it in series the whole string won't work in case one led burns, but seriously, so what? You'll gonna see it right away and it's easy to fix. Parallel wiring is more difficult and you're risking that if couple of leds wont work you're automatically increase the voltage on others.

 

[smoq]

how do you set the meanwells. got 12 and i was testing a row or 12 leds and i tried one right out of the box and one with the voltage and amperage turned all the way up but with both of them i test it and they light up for half a second then turn off and no matter how much i try it wont go back on, then i try a different row and it does the same thing. then i go back and it lights again and then dims to barley visible. i tested each individual led with a 4w tester and they all work. so yea how did you set your because im using the same lights and drivers. thanks

If they do that it usually means that you reversed the polarization of one or more of them. It can be that it's not your fault, I got a batch of mislabeled crees once. Check if the +v from the meanwell goes to + of the frirst led, then - of the 1st goes to + of the 2nd and go on.... until you get to the last led in the row. - of that led should go to menawell's -V.
If everything is fine, check each led separately. Always touch the same prong of the multimeter to the same leg of the cree. If you have to switch probes for led to light-up, it means that the led is mislabeled (+ description is where - should be).

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

They work with a different power pack but not the mean wells. When you got them did you have to open them up and adjust thenpotential meter at all?

If they do that it usually means that you reversed the polarization of one or more of them. It can be that it's not your fault, I got a batch of mislabeled crees once. Check if the +v from the meanwell goes to + of the frirst led, then - of the 1st goes to + of the 2nd and go on.... until you get to the last led in the row. - of that led should go to menawell's -V.
If everything is fine, check each led separately. Always touch the same prong of the multimeter to the same leg of the cree. If you have to switch probes for led to light-up, it means that the led is mislabeled (+ description is where - should be).

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

how do you set the meanwells. got 12 and i was testing a row or 12 leds and i tried one right out of the box and one with the voltage and amperage turned all the way up but with both of them i test it and they light up for half a second then turn off and no matter how much i try it wont go back on, then i try a different row and it does the same thing. then i go back and it lights again and then dims to barley visible. i tested each individual led with a 4w tester and they all work. so yea how did you set your because im using the same lights and drivers. thanks

 

[Rapid LED]

I'd suggest first turning the SVR2 knob all the way down (it comes set at max, 1.3A and you should be able to turn it counter-clockwise to lower the current). Next,wire a multimeter in line with the LEDs (wire it as if it's an LED) but make sure that the DIM + and DIM - wires are connected to a dimmer (set to max, 10V). Set the multimeter to the 10A position to measure current (it may differ one different multimeters, so consult your manual for the exact setting). If you've done all of the above then you can slowly begin turning the SVR2 clockwise, which will increase the current. For most CREE LEDs (XR-E's and XP-E's) you'll want to put out no more than 1A, but this can obviously differ for the various LEDs that you're using. Once you get the current to your liking, un-plug the driver and re-connect your LED string.

As long as you have 8 LEDs in your string you won't need to adjust the voltage (SVR1), as that will self-adjust between 24-48V.

how do you set the meanwells. got 12 and i was testing a row or 12 leds and i tried one right out of the box and one with the voltage and amperage turned all the way up but with both of them i test it and they light up for half a second then turn off and no matter how much i try it wont go back on, then i try a different row and it does the same thing. then i go back and it lights again and then dims to barley visible. i tested each individual led with a 4w tester and they all work. so yea how did you set your because im using the same lights and drivers. thanks

 

[ramz28]

Hi every1. Im finally going to some LED kits for my 125g. But im not sure where to start. 1st how many LED do i need? its 72"x18x25. I was lookin around and thought maybe 80ish leds 40blue 40 white. would that compare to a 10000k mh? i like 14000k more tho. Heres the question i guess. Is 80 leds not enough? If so how many would you rec? I would need alot of drivers then? Is there anyway to not need so many? any help thanks.

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

im in the middle of building mine right now for the same type of tank as you and i used 72 white and 72 blue with 12 drivers.

Hi every1. Im finally going to some LED kits for my 125g. But im not sure where to start. 1st how many LED do i need? its 72"x18x25. I was lookin around and thought maybe 80ish leds 40blue 40 white. would that compare to a 10000k mh? i like 14000k more tho. Heres the question i guess. Is 80 leds not enough? If so how many would you rec? I would need alot of drivers then? Is there anyway to not need so many? any help thanks.

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

just thought you might want to see how the leds look. this is 24 out of the 144 running and look how bright it is. it lit up the whole tank with just 24 so imagine all of them on how bright it will be while saving so much money on the bill. it cost a total of about $1,800 to build. the second one is a video if you click it. Thank you Smoq for all the help you gave me by making this thread and answering all my questions during the build!

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

im in the middle of building mine right now for the same type of tank as you and i used 72 white and 72 blue with 12 drivers.

Why do you need 12 drivers? I thought that you are using the 60W meanwell drivers and you are only running the LEDs at ~3W each.

12 drivers can drive about ~700W leds!

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

i have the 48 watt drivers. i could've used only 11 drivers to power the full thing but i wanted to separate white and blue so i just did 12.

Why do you need 12 drivers? I thought that you are using the 60W meanwell drivers and you are only running the LEDs at ~3W each.

12 drivers can drive about ~700W leds!

 

[barracauda]

How much did this cost you?

 

[smoq]

It has been some time since I built this thing and it still works http://youtube.com/watch?v=9aA-1rqtQWs

Anyway, recently I was thinking of redoing the whole thing, as there are more LEDS available on the market today than there were when I built mine (and they are twice cheaper too, damn it). I'm interested in Cree xp-e's green, blue (not royal blue) and neutral white to bring up overall coloration on my reef. I was thinking of replacing 4 cool white with neutral whites, 2 cool whites with green leds and 8 royal blue to blue leds (i currently have 24 cool whites and 24 royal blues). What do you think? Had anyone done that? How it works for you?

 

[noobzy]

Hey folks, I just finished soldering and assembling my fixture, based on your guide Smoq, and I seem to have a problem:

The lights do not actually turn on, but they blink briefly a few seconds after I unplug them. Any idea what I did wrong, and how I can fix it?

EDIT: I think it might have something to do with the dimmer circuit... I might have the leads mixed up.

 

[Rapid LED]

The flash is just the driver discharging, that's normal. If they are flashing it sounds like the LEDs themselves are wired properly, but as you mentioned it's likely a problem with your dimming circuit wiring.

 

[noobzy]

Thanks for the response RapidLED! Is there any way to know which leads on the 2.1mm jack are positive/negative/ground? I can't find any breakdown online... this is the jack I am using: http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/DCJ-1/2.1MM-DC-POWER-JACK/1.html

EDIT: I think I got it right Did a trial run on the fan circuit, and it worked fine. Unfortunately... that means I have no idea what's wrong with my circuit.

 

[Exotic Reef]

dont the drivers get HOT in the box

 

[TheDumbSter]

if they dim up then shut off( blink ) when you unplug, sounds like a bad connect on a led. I would double check all and make sure you have wired everything correctly. I have built 2 48 sets and came across this issue you have and it was always something like reverse polarity on the led themselves. Did you solder or was it solder-less connectors?

 

[noobzy]

It's all soldered - I didn't like the bullet connectors. I tested across each LED with a multimeter, and they are all labeled and soldered correctly.

I'm basically 10000% sure that something is off with the dimmer circuit, but I don't understand the circuit so it's making it extremely frustrating to troubleshoot. e.g. I get 0 resistance between the -RB LED, -CW LED and -DIMM leads, but I assume that's because the -DIMM and -LEDs are wired together inside the driver.

Is there a series of troubleshooting steps someone can provide to help me figure out what is going on here?