LED Heat Sink Principles

[Imbarrie]

The thermal paste is highly heat conductive. What is does is eliminate any gaps between the two flat surfaces ensuring lamination across 100% of both surfaces.
You will need a large quantity of it.

First drill the holes for the screws and dry fit the sinks to the plate. Screw placement is crucial. I would place the screws in the grid pattern throughout, not just around the perimeter. To make sure you have an even distribution.
Spread the paste on the heat sink in a continuous unbroken smear.
Place the sink right where you need it. Press firmly and attach with the screws. You will need to see the paste extrude around all four sides to ensure you have good coverage. The amount you need is dependent on the surface contact you have.

Since the LEDs are already attached you will probably need to place all the sinks down and lay the plate on top of the sink when you attach them. Do this one sink at a time or the thermal paste could dry too fast.

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

ok thanks. ill make sure i follow these instructions.

The thermal paste is highly heat conductive. What is does is eliminate any gaps between the two flat surfaces ensuring lamination across 100% of both surfaces.
You will need a large quantity of it.

First drill the holes for the screws and dry fit the sinks to the plate. Screw placement is crucial. I would place the screws in the grid pattern throughout, not just around the perimeter. To make sure you have an even distribution.
Spread the paste on the heat sink in a continuous unbroken smear.
Place the sink right where you need it. Press firmly and attach with the screws. You will need to see the paste extrude around all four sides to ensure you have good coverage. The amount you need is dependent on the surface contact you have.

Since the LEDs are already attached you will probably need to place all the sinks down and lay the plate on top of the sink when you attach them. Do this one sink at a time or the thermal paste could dry too fast.

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

ok someone let me now if this is enough cooling please. i have the metal plate and i got 3 heatsinks connected with thermal paste and screws. for every heat sink i have 2 small laptop cooling fans. for the whole fixture i have 2 high powered computer fans. if i see it still gets to hot ill add 2 more heatsinks and more fans. but do you think this is enough?

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

ok someone let me now if this is enough cooling please. i have the metal plate and i got 3 heatsinks connected with thermal paste and screws. for every heat sink i have 2 small laptop cooling fans. for the whole fixture i have 2 high powered computer fans. if i see it still gets to hot ill add 2 more heatsinks and more fans. but do you think this is enough?

How watt per led you are using in the 144 pcs?

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

72 cree 3w xp-e and 72 3w xp-g

How watt per led you are using in the 144 pcs?

 

[wilrock101]

Anthony, when you get to fire it up. Monitor for the first few mins and hours just to make sure, that all heat transfered to the heatsink is being distributed properly. Check that your fans are also working and dealing with any heat that the leds may cause. Good luck - post pics when your done.

 

[Jkedra]

Also...really consider to make this thing precisly...The guy in mathattan I was telling you about told me the first time he tried LEDs he made lots of careless mistakes. Suppositly, you really gotta know the placement of these things

 

[reefoman]

Why liquid cool something that has plenty of efficiency without it?

The people using liquid cooling are doing so to overdrive certain things for short term gains. Like CPUs, you can, but why?
They are doing that to achieve a benchmark level.

A reef tank requires long term stability. The engineering used in this hobby has to be bullet proof and reliable. It needs to work 100% of the time for as long as it can. Every mechanical system will fail, what we do in this hobby is use the systems that have long life spans.

Interesting...
My liquid cooling led fixture working so far few months already without any issues... Im not running my LEDs at %100 of power and decided to turn off the fans, only mechanical thing in my project is pump and thermostatic controller, my heatsink ( heat exchanger) temp is around 100*F so I don't need fans but when LEDs running at %100 temp is growing and at 120*F thermostat turning on one 140mm fan installed on dual 140mm radiator.
Now I'm designing much better (more efficient) liquid cooled fixture (slim one)

Regards,
mark

 

[Imbarrie]

Good luck with that pump

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

does anyone know anything about the meanwell driver because i got 12 of them and i tried one out of the box and one with both voltage and ampage turned all the way up and i have it hooked up to a row of 12 leds and every time they fire up for half a second and turn off but if i test them individually with 4 volts they all work fine. also this is really weird and i dont know how it is possible but if i get the negative or positive wire, either one and just touch 1 side of a single led and rub it a little it light. ONLY 1 SIDE. im 100% sure there was nothing connected to the other end and when i rub the wire it has a dim light. i dont know how thats possible but it did it for all of them.

 

[reefoman]

Good luck with that pump

My first question is how you know what pump I'm using?
To explain, I'm not worry about my pump and anything alse in my led fixture... Even if something gonna happen with the pump and temp gonna rich 150*F there is separate temperature sensor connected to the Apex it gonna simply turn off my light fixture and will send me an email and text message.
I love electronic

Regards,
mark

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

does anyone know anything about the meanwell driver because i got 12 of them and i tried one out of the box and one with both voltage and ampage turned all the way up and i have it hooked up to a row of 12 leds and every time they fire up for half a second and turn off but if i test them individually with 4 volts they all work fine. also this is really weird and i dont know how it is possible but if i get the negative or positive wire, either one and just touch 1 side of a single led and rub it a little it light. ONLY 1 SIDE. im 100% sure there was nothing connected to the other end and when i rub the wire it has a dim light. i dont know how thats possible but it did it for all of them.

The company who sell you the meanwell should be able to help you. Please also state what model you have and may someone can chime. If the model is something that I am not familiar I can ask meanwell for you.

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

the model number is ELN-60-48-D. that would be great if you can ask meanwell for me. thanks

The company who sell you the meanwell shoudl be able to help you. Please also state what model you have and may someone can chime. If the model is something that I am not familiar I can ask meanwell for you.

 

[noelskii]

call rapidled and ask them.

the model number is ELN-60-48-D. that would be great if you can ask meanwell for me. thanks

Sent from my HTC EVO using Reefs

 

[reefoman]

I'm not sure if anybody can help you with this issue, many people has the same problem with those drivers even me. When you gonna cut off the power completely after couple seconds LEDs gonna blink once.
Some guys using this as a moon light you can even find some info about that on Reef Central.
I think the only option is to use timer and turn off the power for the night time but this blink was bothering me that's why I'm also using this as a moon light...
I guess is something about the ground but I never checked this.

Regards,
mark

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

does anyone know anything about the meanwell driver because i got 12 of them and i tried one out of the box and one with both voltage and ampage turned all the way up and i have it hooked up to a row of 12 leds and every time they fire up for half a second and turn off but if i test them individually with 4 volts they all work fine. also this is really weird and i dont know how it is possible but if i get the negative or positive wire, either one and just touch 1 side of a single led and rub it a little it light. ONLY 1 SIDE. im 100% sure there was nothing connected to the other end and when i rub the wire it has a dim light. i dont know how thats possible but it did it for all of them.

Re-reading your post, I think you have a short, unplug the driver, test continuity from all possible way pioints. The driver shuts off because of overloading protection. The LED turns on form one side because you have a short or multiple location of short.

If that does not give you any hint, ask some technician to repair for you.

 

[wilrock101]

Here's a few links that will help you.
http://www.reefledlights.com/how-to-...ring-diagrams/
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1761942
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1826521
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1826521
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1826521
Anthony, this is all the info i found that helped me out with by build. Very important, before turning on your leds make sure the trim pot is turned down, almost all the way down. This will save you from burning out your leds. Also I believe you are using the dimmable meanwell driver, which means you will need a separate power supply for it. Make sure you read up well on all of this before proceeding to go further. These links also provide pics and comments to help you out. Now, Concerning your your problem with the wire brushing the aluminum, and making the leds turn on. It sounds to me like you got a possible short. Make sure that none of the bare wire is making contact with the aluminum. Deal with this problem first. Hope all this helps.

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

thanks. and yes its the dimmable ones i think im just gonna test it and set it with a meter when i get home. i think the rubbing the wire is just from the very hight output to only one led and it just causes it to flash because i can have any led sitting on just plastic and it still does it so it cant be a short. and also i can touch one side with the negative wire and the positive terminal with just my finger not even holding a wire and it will turn on and stay on.

Here's a few links that will help you.
http://www.reefledlights.com/how-to-...ring-diagrams/
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1761942
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1826521
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1826521
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1826521
Anthony, this is all the info i found that helped me out with by build. Very important, before turning on your leds make sure the trim pot is turned down, almost all the way down. This will save you from burning out your leds. Also I believe you are using the dimmable meanwell driver, which means you will need a separate power supply for it. Make sure you read up well on all of this before proceeding to go further. These links also provide pics and comments to help you out. Now, Concerning your your problem with the wire brushing the aluminum, and making the leds turn on. It sounds to me like you got a possible short. Make sure that none of the bare wire is making contact with the aluminum. Deal with this problem first. Hope all this helps.

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

thanks. and yes its the dimmable ones i think im just gonna test it and set it with a meter when i get home. i think the rubbing the wire is just from the very hight output to only one led and it just causes it to flash because i can have any led sitting on just plastic and it still does it so it cant be a short. and also i can touch one side with the negative wire and the positive terminal with just my finger not even holding a wire and it will turn on and stay on.

Are u saying, using the the negative wire from the meanwell on one pole and your hand on the other pole? If so, of course, it may lit it a little bit. The model you mentioned is constant current, floating voltage. Therefore, it starts off at very high voltage and level it down to the appropriate level due the limiting current effect. In general, the model you mentioned should drive two chains of 3w LEDs instead of one. The default current of that model is 1.3A. Therefore, you need to parallel one more chain to it so that each chain will run at 650ma. The max wattage of the driver is 62.5W, so assume each chain to run at 30W. So the max leds you can run in one driver is 2 x 10pcs (3W leds). If you want to re-adjust your current by using a mutimeter, create a 0.1(or even a 0.01) ohm resistor in the line and measure the voltage drop. Don't directly use put your meter inline-the resistance in a multi-meter may change your circuit value by a lot. Google on how to make a 0.1 ohm resistor with your larger resistors. Finally, if you want to run 1 single chain, it's still possible, but you need to crank down current dial first and slowly adjust it to the proper value. Remember not to exceed 60W total power consumption. The formula is E(max 60w) = V(across the led chain) x I(passing thru the chain) There is also a limit on how many LEDs you can do in one single chain with this driver. The default total operating voltage of the driver cannot be over 48V(of course you can open up the box and adjust it, which I suggest you not to unless you know what you are doing.)

 

[tosiek]

Thanks for the input Wingo =0)

Also Anthony, you need to run 3-4+ LED's at a time for you to test the LED's out. With just one hooked up to the driver you will blow the LED out, don't know if your testing your single LED's or your LED sequence. And if I read correctly, you were testing them out by rubbing a wire on one of the contact points. Make sure they are properly connected or you can cause a short on the LED and burn one out.

As long as your properly supplying the correct power to the driver using a separate power supply, and have a Dimmer (POT) thats factored into your voltage, your chain of 10-12 LED's should light up using the dimmable driver. Start the dimmer with the settings on low and slowly crank it up. Sometimes they will just pop on a quarter turn out from low.