TOG's new 240 build with DIY LED's and Controller

[that0neguy1126]

And he said let there be LIGHT!!!!

003

004 by that0neguy1126, on Flickr


Only have 1 driver connected, so this is 60 of the whites running. 24 on the right, 36 on the left.

 

[Boogie]

 

[miwoodar]

+1!

 

[that0neguy1126]

Just got 1 set of the blues running. At full power it looks pretty sweet. Can't wait till tomorrow when I get the other half of the lights running. Kind of hard to see right now because of all the little spots in my eyes now. Can't beleive how much light there is right now, and I don't even have the optics put on.

 

[that0neguy1126]

Wheh, finally finished running all the wires down to the basement, just need to attach the optics.

found 2 bad LED's. Out of 240, thats not too bad. Also some how I have a bad 100k pot, and I'm missing 1 1amp quick blow fuse.

 

[Boogie]

DUDE!....I would be furious if I bought 100k worth of bad pot...whoa..like..uber mad...

 

[that0neguy1126]

DUDE!....I would be furious if I bought 100k worth of bad pot...whoa..like..uber mad...

hahaha, so would I.

 

[that0neguy1126]

Finally DONE!!!!

003 by that0neguy1126, on Flickr

The picture does it no justice, I took it in full auto, I could probably play around with shutter speed, iso, and white balance to get it to take better pictures, but wanted to finish this before I head down to fragtoberfest. I will have to see if I can borrow the par meter from the other club, i know it wont be 100% accurate, but will give me an idea of what it is putting out.

Ok well I still have to do the rock scape. then the tank is functional at least. Need to build the canopy and make doors for the stand/canopy. few minor things like trim and baseboard, etc.

 

[Boogie]

That looks amazing! Well done sir!

 

[that0neguy1126]

Rock work is done. CuC comes Wednesday from Reefcleaners. Got a really sweet deal from John on this order.

001 by that0neguy1126, on Flickr

 

[dv3]

nice!

 

[space]

Looks really good.

 

[that0neguy1126]

So I picked up the PAR meter and started taking some measurements. At 100% power, I am getting about 180 on the sand. Mid way up the tank is about 300, and at the top of the tank is 500. One of the nice things I have found out about DIY, is unlike the commercial units, my spread is even. I have no peaks or valleys anywhere in the tank because my LED's are spread evenly throughout the entire tank.

I want to play around with the height of my fixture, because at the bottom of the tank its blended perfectly, but at the top, I think there will be some spotlighting, so need to verify that and see how high I can move the fixture.

The other nice thing, is I can go anywhere from a 7k (just white LED's) to a 20k look, or anywhere between.

Overall I would say I am very pleased with the LED setup.

001 by that0neguy1126, on Flickr

As you can see, I still need quite a bit of work to finish. Need to build the canopy (once I figure out the height of the fixture). Need cabinet doors for the stand. And need to figure out how to mount the cooling fans in the canopy to cool the LEDs.

 

[Boogie]

My goodness thats sweet! Now that you have all this experience you should make a new one and give me this one...you know...just to upgrade and implement tweaks.

 

[that0neguy1126]

My goodness thats sweet! Now that you have all this experience you should make a new one and give me this one...you know...just to upgrade and implement tweaks.

haha, I would sell this one! 240 LED's (120 white, 120 blue). Fully dimable. 8' x 2'

for the low low price of $2500! which is still about 1k less than buying commercial units.

I just raised it up 2.5". so now it sits 10.5" off the top of the tank. No real change in the PAR numbers.

 

[Boogie]

haha, I would sell this one! 240 LED's (120 white, 120 blue). Fully dimable. 8' x 2'

for the low low price of $2500! which is still about 1k less than buying commercial units.

I just raised it up 2.5". so now it sits 10.5" off the top of the tank. No real change in the PAR numbers.

You take a check?

 

[that0neguy1126]

You take a check?

Sorry, no personal checks, cash, credit, or money orders only.

 

[dvenson]

trade for corals?

 

[miwoodar]

That looks great. Those PAR numbers are great too. I'm hoping to end up in the same range on my build. What optics did you go with? You didn't happen to measure PAR before and after optics, did you? (fingers crossed)

 

[that0neguy1126]

I have 60 degree optics on the edge, and 80 on all the others.
I did not take numbers before optics. Unless your fixture is 2" from the surface, you waste a lot of light by not using optics.

Most LED's have a 120 degree radiance, which is really wide. If you can look at the LED from the side, and see light... all that light is being wasted as its going out the side, and not down into the tank.