[quote=“Reefer, post:18, topic:4571”]
Are you just looking for someone to tell you what parts you need and help you put it together? I have actually built Led light with and for my cousin really isn’t that big of a deal. I remember it cost
Alot almost what it cost to buy one. And you don’t Really want to solder Led unless you have to, and you gotta be real careful or it will end up costing for your mistakes there’s a few ways to do it Reflow oven or temp controlled solder iron with a heat sink to draw away excess heat. When you get everything I can help you put it together.[/quote]
Yes. I’m looking for someone to help me choose the parts and help put it together. Maybe we can discuss this during the upcoming meeting if anyone is interested?
[quote=“reefman66, post:22, topic:4571”]
I saw this on Ebay. Can those of you electronically incline give me an opinion on it. would it be worth a try for a DIY?
at the meeting we talked about how really the only useful light for reef tanks is at either 420 or 470. The only thing that worries me about these lights is the fact that they don’t list the spectrum here (unless i’m missing it) and that’s obviously a big risk to take spending $15 a bulb.
Yea, I just saw it on ebay, but I haven’t email the company to see if they have any spectrum data sheet on it or anything on it. I was just checking to see if anyone else has any experience with it.
[quote=“reefman66, post:24, topic:4571”]
Yea, I just saw it on ebay, but I haven’t email the company to see if they have any spectrum data sheet on it or anything on it. I was just checking to see if anyone else has any experience with it. [/quote]
I’d be interested to know too. Let me know if you find anything out.
What it is is a full spectrum 20000K white lamp, so yes it emits the 420-470nm wavelengths it is just not focused or “spiked” at those wavelengths it is the same with a 10000k t5 it emits it, its just how much of it does it emit
i would be weary of that ebay LED. although it seems promising, LEDs with that high of wattage really have not benchmarks for testing as of yet. its really a gamble-it may be awesome, or it may litteraly fizzle out after 6 months
ok then my next question would be that i once heard someone discuss how it is best with aquariums to avoid introducing light at unnecessary points of the spectrum because there are algae that grow better under other parts of the spectrum so my next concern would be with a full spectrum of light, would you be introducing an energy source to an unwanted organism.
keep in mind i ask these questions and point these things out because i’m a huge newbie at all this stuff and all this stuff is ridiculously in depth so i’m just trying to pick people’s brains. haha.
i thought we were shooting for 420nm and 460nm right? and that would be actinic which is a deep blue with a touch of purple and 460 is more of a blue the rest is for our viewing but carped anemones and some other species like 10k and such because they are a shallow water specie a good mix is what we want but i did notice less algae when my daylight ballast blew out.
The two chlorophyl peak utilization points in the blue spectrum of light are at 430 nm and 453 nm.
Note the sharp drop off from each peak. Each chlorophyl has a range with a peak. its a sliding scale of chlorophy population based on the available light. the perfect blue light curve would be to add the two plots together to produce a combined curve. when you do that it shows the highest chlorophyl output in the 420 range. like wave interaction. just add them up. Its all reinforcing light waves in this plot. in the middle about 445, that will be a gully in the curve, but twice as high as the point where the two curves intersect. and so on.
But chorophyl B gets little benefit from light above 465 nm, it would seem.
now some new LED lights are including a couple UV range LED’s, like around 395-410 nm. They help the chlorophyl A and also enhance flourescense. a little Like a 420 VHO.
Like in this PAR 25 lamp
well, thats my version of Light theory. I feel like i just coughed up a hair ball.
Anyone build a fixture yet? After a year of collecting parts and putting it off, I finally jumped in this weekend. I got one strand of XPE (3w cree) blues wired up, hooked them up to my meanwell dimmable driver and put my meter in Amps in series with the LED strand, plugged it in and went to adjust the current. Well my LEDs turned on, but my meter read nothing! I tried swapping negative/postive leads, polarity, everything! When I unplug the driver the LEDs stay on for a few seconds longer and then flash bright before turning off, all with the driver unplugged! Any idea why its doing that and why I can’t get a current reading on my meter? Driving me crazy!
you must have a dimmer hooked up to adjust the amps. And the dimmer must be cranked all the way to the max output. Here is a link to Rapid LED that shows how to do it. scrool down to “Adjusting your driver” section.
Wel, it worked, sorta. I just hooked up the pots by wrapping wires around it (didn’t solder so maybe that is my problem) but I got a reading, tuned it to 850mA. Then I disconnected the meter, hooked everything back up and turned them on again. I used the pots to adjust the brightness and it wasn’t very smooth. They didn’t get much brighter, I took a video of them, I started at the lowest setting and slowly went to max then back down, this is the result:
Any ideas why they aren’t adjusting much and its not a smooth transition? Maybe my connections were too loose (only the leds are soldered, everything else is just tied together because I have to add more drivers to each pot and power supply). Thanks for the help.
After watching the video again, when at the lowest dimming setting, not all of the leds are on? Then when I guess it hits a certain spot the rest kick on, then when I turn it back down, again not all are still on, weird.
Could be, I have a RKL but I’d need an ALC to dim the lights which costs like $80 and those Pots were a couple bucks! I’ll finish building the fixture and see how it goes. Thanks.
