there are others but the meanwell are the most documented, most vendors would carry constant current drivers.
Thanks Frank, I’ll do little bit more research.
Don’t know if you understood but the two HLG-185-42B would drive all the white and blues on all three modules, yes it’s a little more for the drivers but compared to having to mount 8 drivers it’s worth it to me.
OK, I get it. I thought you meant to run only the white and blue on each set. You mean I can run all the white and all the blue on all the 3 set that I’m planning on building. I guess I’ll see what I can do, might have to wait a little longer. Thanks
I finally read through it all A … good pics, and a video ! YahoO and wow, a tank project has turned into builing a new room… you’ll never go in the main house anymore :
:
:: :: :: Can’t wait John. Fish room/man cave! hopefully we can start the room by the end of Jun so I can get the tank up soon after.
Finally got little time to take some pics and update. The first DIY LED build is done! Quite impress with myself as well. I thought it was gonna be pretty hard to do, but I didn’t think it was that hard after I got it finished. It is however, a learning experience. The hardest part of it was trying to figure out where to put the chips properly and label it so that I don’t forget where it goes incase for some reason I misplace it. And then the tedious task of cutting the wire and soldering it to the chip, what a pain in the behind that was. All in all it was a learning experience so; the next two set should be pretty easy, I hope.
Since this one was not as clean as I would like, I may just use it for my frag tank.
Low dimming
High setting
Nice mix of colors , A. Did you build it on 1 inch alluminum channel? or something else special?
Yes sir, it’s the 1" aluminum c-channel that you can get from Lowes for about $10 at 8’.
Congrats A
Looks nice
Thanks Bill. I’m still considering those 100w chips if these 3 watter is not enough. We’ll see.
Nicely done with the LED build. How is it heat wise as far as needing fans, or have they not been lit long enough to tell? Looks like a nice full spectrum setup too w/ those color choices, can’t wait to see it over a tank!
Thanks Rob. I left it on for about 5 hr to test the heat issue. It was bearly warm, but don’t know if it’s because my house stays cool or what. But I do plan on putting a small fan to run across the tank if need be. It suppose to have 14-16K look to the spectrum and it does look pretty nice.
A they were barely warm??? I set mine up and they got so hot i couldn’t hold my hand on the sink. I let it run for 5 minutes i’m trying to set up a fan system for cooling, I have 17 leds on a 48" strip plus i used the 1/2" inside the channel so its really just like a heat sink. Maybe you need to set your drivers up they may be set low.
[quote=“dunk, post:74, topic:5327”]
A they were barely warm??? I set mine up and they got so hot i couldn’t hold my hand on the sink. I let it run for 5 minutes i’m trying to set up a fan system for cooling, I have 17 leds on a 48" strip plus i used the 1/2" inside the channel so its really just like a heat sink. Maybe you need to set your drivers up they may be set low.[/quote]
I don’t know how much difference it makes, but A has a full aluminum frame connecting all the light strips which doubles the cooling capacity. (twice the material) Where you have only a wood frame on the end dunk. Wood is not a great heat conductor, so it all stays on the fixture. Something to consider, adding an aluminum cross brace may make a considerable difference, more than a fan. Doesn’t use electricity either.
Oh, the lights look good too.
I would find it hard to believe that with that amount of LEDs the the u-channel and frame can dissipate all that heat passively, I would try to get ahold of a Infrared Thermometer and try to get a reading inside the u-channel above a LED.
I don’t know what to tell you guys. I’m not an electrician nor any kind of scientist, I’m just letting you guys know from what I experienced. I’ll plug it back up tomorrow and let it run for couple of days and keep an eye on it and I’ll let you know.
Frank, if I can get a hold of the infrared thermometer I’ll do some reading for you.
I think the brace may help the led by the brace but nothing else. I’m running 1000ma and A may be running 400ma thatll make a huge difference. Thanks for the help scottman btw.
A it’s real nice how you did it. I’m just saying that you might have to increase the driver output to get the results you want. The mean well driver was set up out of the box low. So you have to set a meter to milliamps dc connect in series with the driver output and adjust the setting on the driver to get the correct power.
These are the max current ratings for Cree
Blue 1000
Royal 1500
White 1500
Green 1000
Red 700
Violet 700
OK, my bad. I guess I didn’t turn up the pot all the way when I first tested it. Now it’s on high for 5 hr; it is hot to the touch, but not extremely hot to where it will burn my finger after 5-10 second. So, now I will be running a fan across the tank to cool down the light racks.
Each driver is 30-70 V 680mA running parallel 18 LEDs on each.