DIY LED light

Donnie, I love your explanation. I've really have been searching for something like this because I'm interested in putting a hood together for my tanks, mainly from a power perspective. But I have to say, based on your explanation of amps to volts, and the milli Amp output you gave per bulb, I came up with 86.4 W... 360 bulbs would provide 7.2 amps, and when multiplied by 12 you'd get 86.4 unless I missed something... sorry, i really don't mean any insult, i just came across it trying to calculate the output for a 48X12 >_<

Shank wrote:Donnie, I love your explanation. I've really have been searching for something like this because I'm interested in putting a hood together for my tanks, mainly from a power perspective. But I have to say, based on your explanation of amps to volts, and the milli Amp output you gave per bulb, I came up with 86.4 W... 360 bulbs would provide 7.2 amps, and when multiplied by 12 you'd get 86.4 unless I missed something... sorry, i really don't mean any insult, i just came across it trying to calculate the output for a 48X12 >_<

Shank
You are absolutely right, I don't know what I did but I refigured this morning and you are right, it is 86.4 double what I said, I have corrected it in the post above. Thanks for catching my mistake! Thats what happens when I convert in my old head instead of on paper.

Hey JoseH, where did you pick up you're LED Board? I'm really interested in putting one or two together

x2!

I got it off ebay. but I cant seem to find anymore like it

Do you remember what they were calling it specifically?

Clear Circuit Board

At this point I'm thinking I'm going to check out Altex and see what they have in the way of Dot Matrix boards, since I'm going to use white LEDs I've found a couple that I'd be interested in, one for .12 and another for .79... big difference in final bill that's for sure, especially considering I'd need 720 LEDs if I followed the same layout... What I'm thinking is I find some densely packed boards and wire up spaced grids, square or circular, at this point though I'm thinking a strip that is the length of the tank with multiple rows might not be cost effective....

Jose
We never asked what the voltage of your leds are, most I have found are 3.4 volt which will drop your total wattage to around 24.48 watts. Also if you are using 3.4 volt leds you may have a problem getting that 12 volt dimmer to work. We need to know how many volts your leds run on.

Shank
I am posting a place in China to get high power leds from, why build a fixture with hundreds of leds when you can get better lumen output from a few high power. My 28g tank uses 3 watt and it is intense. I have several 1 watt ordered from this place. Heck you can buy 10,20, 100 watt leds pretty cheap. I have a 10 watt blue coming only cost me like $7.00 delivered, ony problem it takes about two- three weeks to get them. They have leds, drivers, you name it cheap. Ten 1-watt are only like $11.00 delivered. These leds have like 140 degree view. Not knocking Jose's light or anything but you can get the same wattage from 24 1-watt bulbs that would cost you around $24.00, check em out.

LED SOURCE

Does anyone have a link for an "Idiots guide to LED lighting, understanding what is required to build your own, and how to do so"?

When I say new to anything electronic, I mean new. I come from the land of Live, Neutral & Earth wires in everything. I can rewire a lounge lamp and not blow the fuse box, but have never used a soldering iron.

I've read about "heat sinks" but don't understand when they are actually required.

How you ensure it's moisture resistant.

I'd like to design and assemble some lighting that would allow me to use both white and blue for a 55G tank for the cichlids, the idea being to have bright areas and darker areas (the blue light).

As to when I could find the time, that's another matter, but I would like to fully comprehend what is required.

Here's a start Yeti,

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=186982

Thanks Ritter, I started to read it and realised that if I get engrossed I will be late for work, but that looks t be exactly the type of beginners article I required.

i'd like one with dimmble,i have got 180w with dimmble ,that works very nice,

here is the video of dimmble light
http://control.video.sina.com.cn/control/videoset/index.php