LED question

cdrewferd

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#1
Hey guys. I'm getting closer to pulling the trigger on my LED build for my Biocube 29 gallon, and would like to run a few things past you guys first.

I've been emailing with Milad from LEDGrouBuy and he suggested the following colors and numbers:

18 - 455nm Royal Blue
12 - 4500k White
4 - 660nm Red
4 - 495nm Turquise
6 - 420nm True Violet

That comes out to 44 LED's for a 29 gallon. I know I can dial them back, but that seems like a lot. Milad said that this color combo would look really good and he's gotten a lot of good feedback on it lately, so I'd like to stay with this combo just not sure on number of LEDs. I would go with Bridgelux as CREEs are over twice the price.

This is also going to stay in the hood of my Biocube as my wife likes the look. Otherwise I'd probably buy an AI SOL Nano as it would be cheaper. This isn't going to be hard, just involves a little more planning so I can make sure I keep everything inside the hood with space for fans.

If I went with the number of LEDs above, how big of a heatsink should I go with? I know that the BC splash shield will fit a 10"x18" heatsink, but not sure I want to go that big and take up the entire area. The advatage is more real estate to lay out 42 LEDs, but tht could also mean less color blending. The heatsink from LEDGrouBuy is only 1.3" tall and the splash shield is 2" so that should leave me with enough room for either fans in the original locations, or one 120mm fan in the middle of the heatsink.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to use the Inventronics 25w and 40w dimmable powersupplies from LEDGroupBuy as I know that they'll work with the DIM4 controller that's also available through them.On the other side, AquaStyleOnline has a 36 LED dimmable kit for $100, linke $130 with the heatsink. I could just tweak the colors through them, and still get the DIM4, but I'm not sure if the drivers from ASO will work with the DIM4.

What do you guys think? I'll probably start purchasing stuff this week, so any feedback you can give would be much appreciated. Sorry for the long winded post, just have a lot of questions before buying anything.
 

KhensuRa

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#3
I guess one question to ask you is, do you plan on upgrading tanks in the future? If so I would go with the larger heat sink as you will be able to use that one on any future tank upgrades and not buy another heat sink. I think the color combo you are going to go with will rock and you might have the best looking tank this side of the Mississippi as far as color goes. On the driver side I would go with the meanwells as I think they are better for led builds. I have a found a killer deal on them and are cheaper then the inventronics, which I believe work with the controller you are getting, as it states on ledgroupbuy that it works with meanwells as well. I have not looked at the ASO deal so I am not sure what type of drivers they have.

If you have the link to that site, it might be easier for us to give options on it.
 

cdrewferd

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#4
kalgra, I would love that but the wife likes the top on the BC. I used the picture you sent me as I think you have one of the better looking installs and she still doesn't like how it looks.

Kensu, the ASO kit is at www.aquastyleonline.com. It uses generic drivers which has me leaning away from it. Can you send me the link for the cheaper Meanwells? If you need to send it in PM that's fine as well. I hope to upgrade to a larger tank later, but I'm hoping to go from this one to a 90 or bigger. I would also probably keep this around as it's in the living room and my 2 year old daughter loves looking at the tank and the fish.
 

KhensuRa

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#5

cdrewferd

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#6
Awesome, thanks for the link. Do you know how many LEDs those are rated for? Also, is there a driver out there that will drive the 18 RB without being twice the price of this one?
 

KhensuRa

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#7
I believe that driver will do 10 to 12 leds.
 

cdrewferd

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#8
Dang, so I'll need to find some different ones that'll do 6-8 for the True Violet and Deep Red and Turquoise.
 

cdrewferd

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#9
Ok kensu, have a question on the drivers you linked. The ones you linked are ELN-60-48, which is what I need. However I need the 48D, which they list seperatly on their site but don't have any in stock. What's the difference between the 48 and 48D?

Also, I found that the ELN-60-27D is what I would need for the 2 smaller strings and that site does have them in stock.
 

lpsouth1978@msn.com

Users with zero posts needing moderation to determine if they are spam bots
#10
The Meanwell ELN-60-48 actually comes in two versions, the 48D and the 48P. Tho only difference is in the way that they are dimmed. One uses a PWM dimmer and the other a 0-10V (potentiometer). Also they can run up to 14 LED's, though most people do not put more than 13 on one driver.
 

Metalsniper

Anthias
M.A.S.C Club Member
#11
Wow, sounds a lot like my led color breakdown over in the DIY thread so I agree with where you are going with the color combination.

As for the driver considerations, any of the ELN-D series should work for what you want, as long as they have the right current at the voltage you want.

For example you want to do a single string of 6-8 you should probably go with the ELN-30-27, which gives 1.1A at 27VDC, or if you wanted to do a single string of 14 you might be able to get away with the ELN-60-48D. That depends entirely on the forward voltage of the specific color led's that you are looking to get. I know a few of them, the turquoise if I recall correctly, tends to run around 3.6 Vf while I think it was the red runs at like 2.6 Vf, both around 700mA.

I think the best choice would be your last idea, running two strings in parallel off of one ELN-60-27D as long as you were careful to split the colors in half onto each string and take the time to balance the strings.

Also, for the size you are looking at, I think the Typhon might be a better choice, just because it's so much cheaper and has essentially the same functionality, as long as you don't want to power any lights strait off of the controller. It would mean going somewhere else for the controller though.
 

Metalsniper

Anthias
M.A.S.C Club Member
#12
lpsouth1978;138761 said:
The Meanwell ELN-60-48 actually comes in two versions, the 48D and the 48P. Tho only difference is in the way that they are dimmed. One uses a PWM dimmer and the other a 0-10V (potentiometer). Also they can run up to 14 LED's, though most people do not put more than 13 on one driver.
Since he wan't to use the DIM4 he would need the D version, though if he changed to a different driver he would probably need the P version. Also since a lot of the "exotic" LEDs have really variable forward voltage I am hesitant to say he could get away with it(though it is likely) without knowing the actual LEDs he is looking at.
 

KhensuRa

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#13
cdrewferd;138737 said:
Ok kensu, have a question on the drivers you linked. The ones you linked are ELN-60-48, which is what I need. However I need the 48D, which they list seperatly on their site but don't have any in stock. What's the difference between the 48 and 48D?

Also, I found that the ELN-60-27D is what I would need for the 2 smaller strings and that site does have them in stock.
Looks like the ELN-60-48D is the one you will need, I looked at the dimmer specs that you are wanting wrong. The ELN-60-48p is dimmed using other means such as a reef angel.
 

cdrewferd

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#14
lpsouth, thanks for the info. That's what I was able to find out as well.

Metalsniper, I was hoping you'd chime in. Milad from LEDGroupBuy said that the red and turquoise could go on the same driver, since they run at the same mA. I'm actually starting to lean towards the Typhoon after doing some more research. Since I think it would be fun to DIY a whole controller, this would be a good place to start. It would also only change 1 thing, and that's the drivers.

I'm planning on using the Bridgelux LEDs from LEDGroupBuy. They are getting all the colors with 120 degree optics which will work great for them only being mounted about 2-3" off the water.
 

cdrewferd

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#15
Khensu, you replied while I was typing. I would need the 48D if I go with the DIM4, and the 48P if I go with the Typhoon. Same goes for the 27 series drivers.
 

Metalsniper

Anthias
M.A.S.C Club Member
#16
cdrewferd;138790 said:
Milad from LEDGroupBuy said that the red and turquoise could go on the same driver, since they run at the same mA.
I'm planning on using the Bridgelux LEDs from LEDGroupBuy. They are getting all the colors with 120 degree optics which will work great for them only being mounted about 2-3" off the water.
I agree that the red and turquoise could go on the same driver, I was just saying that if you do two parallel strings on a lower voltage driver then you would want to split half the reds and half the turquoise and half the violets on each string so that the voltages match up.
Also, you might still want to consider 80deg optics, even at that close just because you get so much better penetration and so much less waste out the side/into your hood. When you think about it 120 degrees is pretty dang wide.
 

cdrewferd

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#17
Ahh, gotcha about splitting the strings.

A lot of people have done this without using any optics at all, just straight off the LED. They all seem to be very happy with the light and penetration that they get. At least 120 is better than nothing.


Drew

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cdrewferd

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#18
Ok guys. I've got an email into the company that Khensu posted about the 48 series drivers. I'm also going to order the LEDs this weekend, I hope. Still trying to decide on the heat sink. Buying from LEDGroupBuy it's like $60 for a 10x18. Not sure I want to spend that much on a heat sink.

Probably also going to go with the Typhoon controller. This will allow me to do a little more customization down the road if I want.


Drew

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Metalsniper

Anthias
M.A.S.C Club Member
#19
Sounds like you've got everything pretty much figured out. If you have any particular questions about anything I've suggested don't hesitate to ask.
 

cdrewferd

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#20
Thanks. Trying to figure out what size heat sink to go with. Also not sure what to do with the moon lights. Might be able to reuse the stock ones, though not sure how that would look on the heat sink.


Drew

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