55g with DIY LED Lighting

[Usnfoley]

I posted a little about this on my intro but I will get more indepth on this here.

55g AGA with custom stand. Tank not drilled
Custom hood to house the LEDs and drivers
18 Cree XP-G R5 cool white LEDs from rapidled.com
18 Cree XP-E royal blue LEDs from rapidled.com
2 2100mA BuckBlock's from ledsupply.com controlled by ReefKeeper and ALC Module
2 1000mA BuckBlock's from ledsupply.com controlled by ReefKeeper and ALC Module
The reason I used BuckBlock's rather than BuckPucks is BuckBlocks use a 0-10V control signal and the ALC Module outputs this same signal. This way you do not need to wire in resistors to change the voltage from the ALC into the BuckBlock, like you would if using BuckPucks. I originally had all of the LED's hooked up to 2 2100mA BuckBlocks which would give about 700mA per string of 6 LED's however I added 2 1000mA BuckBlocks for 1 string of LED's each this will give 1050mA's for 2 strings and 1000mA's for another of each color. I will post pictures once it is all wired up.
1 24V@6.5A power supply from ledsupply.com
18g wire Walmart
6 high power blue 4 pin LEDs from RadioShack for moonlights controlled by ReefKeeper and MLC module
1 8' piece of aluminum U channel from homedepot
1 4'x8'x1/2" piece of MDF - homedepot
72 #4-40 3/8" screws - Home Depot
72 #4 Fiber Washers - Home Depot
8 #6-32 2" screws and nuts
1/2" Aluminum tube - homedepot
2 120mm 900RPM computer case fans and grills
Molex 43645-0200 connectors from digikey.com
molex 43030-0007 pins for connectors from digikey.com
8"x48" .080" plexiglass
tube of silicone caulk

All screws are stainless

Start of Lid doing some final gluing and nailing

after all of it dried test fit

Primed

Painted with Rustoleum Laquor spray paint, I then sealed it all inside and out with gloss clear.

72 little holes all drilled and tapped for #4-40 screws. first LED mounted.

This is the inside with only 24 of the lights mounted and the 2 lunar white pods, I was going to use the other 12 from my nano (6 white, 6 royal blue) I decided to keep that array so I had to order 12 more LED's from rapidled.com. I stacked and glued together 3 1.5" wide strips of MDF to make a housing for the LED's, BuckBlocks, Moonlights and fans to sit in. I eventually caulked and screwed down the plexiglass to the top of the 1.5" spacers. I added blue LED's to either side of the pods and one off set in the center of the whites. I used Epoxy Plastic putty to sculpt standoffs for the blue moonlights. The u channel is spaced from the top of the lid using the 1/2" aluminum tubing (you can see the spacers in the above picture to the right of the LED) cut to about 7/8" then held with the 2" screws. the 2" screws are a little long but don't hit the plexi so i wasn't worried.

This is the 24 LED's lit, I hadn't cleaned up the wiring yet if you can see it.

This is it after adding the extra 12 LED's mounted I had the flash on, on my camera

without flash

 

[Usnfoley]

I decided instead of paying for extra switch wires for the ReefKeeper why not just make my own. The base part number is printed on the side with Molex on the other. Base part number is 43645 which will return PDF's of layouts, if you look close you can find the pins you will need in these PDF's also, or if you read the notes. The pins needed are 43030-xxxx however only 43030-0007 will work with the 43645-0200 (2 pin connector). My ALC Module came with 2 Switch connectors which made it easy to find the parts and how to wire them to make my own (+ and - pinout's). I made 3 of my own switch cables using 24g speaker wire i had laying around then wired up 2 4 pin led's in parallel per switch cable, and they work flawlessly, no need to get the $12 lunar pods now. LED's were $2.50 each each connector cost about $2 to make so for about $7 not including tax you have your own lunar pods and you can put them where you want your not limited by the LED's being 1" apart.

Wiring the ALC to the BuckBlock's
I used 2100mA BuckBlocks, for one they are 17.99 each a 1000mA dimable BuckPuck cost the same. With 2100mA's you can wire 3 6 LED strings (LED Strings are in Series) in parallel which will bring the BuckBlock output to 700mA's (3 x 700mA = 2100mA) or you could do 2 strings in parallel and get 1050mA output per string but you will need even numbers of strings or get lower current BuckBlocks. Also using BuckBlocks you get 0-10V control signal input, the ALC outputs a 0-10V signal for dimming. if you use BuckPacks they use a 0-5V input so you either have to cut your voltage to the BuckPack or do some math, BuckPacks also only go to 1000mA which means you will need one BuckPack per string or a total of 6 at 17.99 each. I only used 2 BuckBlocks one for white one for blue. yes I am only hitting 700mA's but that is plenty of light. having them at 100% is a lot of light when using the XP series Crees. The control signal from the ALC was not hard to figure out there is a dim and dim ground on the BuckBlock. I don't remember which wire I actually connected to which lead but I believe it was + to dim and - to ground, I used wire nuts during mock up so I can fix connection problems, you won't know if you have it right until you connect the switch cable to the ALC. I know I had mine backwards but all it does is not light your LED's. just switch the + and - and your good to go then do something a little more permanent if you wish.

LED wiring,
I did the first 24 wit a criss cross pattern however when I added the other 12 I wired it a little differently.

this is the first with a criss cross wire pattern

I removed the blues from above for better viewing of how I wired the 6 whites i added later. this saves coverage of the middle area in the event you want to add a 3rd row or moonlights like I did. you will only have 6 cross over the center wires with this way.

if i need to take the hood off I will snap an actual picture of how I actually wired it. I can also get the correct wiring for the BuckBlocks to ALC.

 

[Usnfoley]

With the ReefKeeper and the ALC you can not use storm mode if you are using anything other than an Aqua Illuminations setup...I would like to remedy this problem, I however need to get my hands on an AI SOL Module Circuit Board, mock up will not be hard as it looks like their LED's are all in Parallel, but does anyone know if you need an AI unit serial number to buy replacement parts? another portion is the power supply, does anyone know the specs for that (Volts and Amp output)? thanks in advance.