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DIY LED light
+6
Bryan
DonnieP
ritter678
matt_longview
Beasta
JoseH
10 posters
:: DIY
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DIY LED light
by JoseH Mon 28 Feb 2011, 11:29 pm
Im working on a DIY light for the tank Im entering in the Nano Contest.
Im hoping its strong enough that I can keep coral..
Im filling the whole board up with LEDs
Im hoping its strong enough that I can keep coral..
Im filling the whole board up with LEDs
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Re: DIY LED light
by Beasta Tue 01 Mar 2011, 12:59 am
Cool DIY. It looks amazing and bright. I Can't wait to see how it looks when finished.
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Re: DIY LED light
by matt_longview Tue 01 Mar 2011, 1:04 am
I hope it's dimmable!!! lol.
How many watts are you going to run it at and how many total LEDs will be on there?
How many watts are you going to run it at and how many total LEDs will be on there?
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Re: DIY LED light
by JoseH Tue 01 Mar 2011, 6:38 pm
Yeah im ordering a dimmer right now.
Its going to have a total of 360 5mm LEDs
Its going to have a total of 360 5mm LEDs
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Re: DIY LED light
by JoseH Tue 01 Mar 2011, 7:18 pm
What do yall think I should get the
Wired only.
http://cgi.ebay.com/LED-Bulb-Dimmer-Adjustable-Brightness-Controller-DC-12V-/300522532102?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f889ed06#ht_2001wt_1141
or
wireless only
http://cgi.ebay.com/LED-light-Lamp-Dimmer-brightness-wireless-remote-12V-8A-/230589739316?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35b0383134#ht_2207wt_907
Wired only.
http://cgi.ebay.com/LED-Bulb-Dimmer-Adjustable-Brightness-Controller-DC-12V-/300522532102?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f889ed06#ht_2001wt_1141
or
wireless only
http://cgi.ebay.com/LED-light-Lamp-Dimmer-brightness-wireless-remote-12V-8A-/230589739316?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35b0383134#ht_2207wt_907
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Re: DIY LED light
by ritter678 Tue 01 Mar 2011, 7:43 pm
Only a dollar each? I say get one of each and see which you like better.
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Re: DIY LED light
by DonnieP Tue 01 Mar 2011, 8:45 pm
I agree with Gabe, get both, heck you can get both delivered for about $20.00 only thing is they coming from China so it takes three weeks to get here but thats no biggy. Thats gonna be a kick butt light you putting together, nice work, keep us posted. Are you mixing blues and whites?
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Re: DIY LED light
by JoseH Tue 01 Mar 2011, 10:52 pm
DonnieP wrote:Are you mixing blues and whites?
Yes I am. Im going mostly blue though.
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Re: DIY LED light
by matt_longview Tue 01 Mar 2011, 10:54 pm
For reference. My light is half and half and produces a 14k look.
I'd buy both dimmers and try to hook up the blues and white on separate dimmers so you could control your color temp whenever you wanted.
I'd buy both dimmers and try to hook up the blues and white on separate dimmers so you could control your color temp whenever you wanted.
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Re: DIY LED light
by JoseH Tue 01 Mar 2011, 11:11 pm
Do you think I can put them on a (dimmer timer) of those exist.
And do you think they would be reef capable?
And do you think they would be reef capable?
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Re: DIY LED light
by matt_longview Tue 01 Mar 2011, 11:37 pm
I know some of the controllers can do dimming on timers. But that's a whole different deal.
What do you mean by reef capable? You mean is dimming LEDs good for your reef? If so, yes. If timed properly it would more realistically simulate an actual sun/moon cycle with dawn, high noon, dusk ect.
What do you mean by reef capable? You mean is dimming LEDs good for your reef? If so, yes. If timed properly it would more realistically simulate an actual sun/moon cycle with dawn, high noon, dusk ect.
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Re: DIY LED light
by JoseH Tue 01 Mar 2011, 11:45 pm
No I dontBryan wrote:do you have access to a PAR meter ?
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Re: DIY LED light
by Bryan Tue 01 Mar 2011, 11:48 pm
dang you. how will you measure your output to know if it ends up being a evil death ray and fry's your eyes out.
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Re: DIY LED light
by matt_longview Tue 01 Mar 2011, 11:53 pm
Lol. Okay so 360 LEDs, running at how many watts? How deep is your tank going to be?
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Re: DIY LED light
by Bryan Tue 01 Mar 2011, 11:55 pm
360 LED's will only be good for a FOWLR sorry for your bad luck, looks like you lose. 
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Re: DIY LED light
by matt_longview Wed 02 Mar 2011, 12:14 am
I've got 120 1 watt LEDs on my fixture. And it's over a 29g which is what... 18" deep I think. But the exact number of LEDs doesn't tell us much. If you're running 360 watts... that's a whole lot of light. If you're running 20 watts... it's not.
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Re: DIY LED light
by JoseH Wed 02 Mar 2011, 12:28 am
Does anyone know the wattage of a regular 5mm led light?
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Re: DIY LED light
by DonnieP Wed 02 Mar 2011, 10:15 am
High output 5mm runs around 20 milliamps, you will have to figure out your total ma plus the voltage and then convert it to watts but I have no idea how to do that.
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Re: DIY LED light
by ritter678 Wed 02 Mar 2011, 11:28 am
Bryan wrote:do you have access to a PAR meter ?
I read somewhere, (DFWMAS I think), that people where using lux meters to measure led output rather than par meters. Lux meters are a whole lot cheaper than par meters. I think par meters where getting weak results from leds but the lux readings where better. There was an article on Advanced Aquarist that said you can use a lux meter to measure lighting and divide by 50 to get a crude estimate of par.
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Re: DIY LED light
by DonnieP Tue 08 Mar 2011, 11:51 pm
Jose
I have done some figuring and according to my figures you should be getting real close to 86.4 watts out of those 360 5mm leds, that should be plenty of led over that small tank. The way its figured is there are 20ma to each of those 5mm leds, 1000 ma = 1amp you figure the total amps then multiply the amps X volts which is 12v. In other words for every 100 leds you get 12 watts. So you have 3.6 amps x 12volts= 43.2 watts. Whew! Hope this helps ya out, how big is your tank? If its like 12"x24" , you should have plenty of light.
I have done some figuring and according to my figures you should be getting real close to 86.4 watts out of those 360 5mm leds, that should be plenty of led over that small tank. The way its figured is there are 20ma to each of those 5mm leds, 1000 ma = 1amp you figure the total amps then multiply the amps X volts which is 12v. In other words for every 100 leds you get 12 watts. So you have 3.6 amps x 12volts= 43.2 watts. Whew! Hope this helps ya out, how big is your tank? If its like 12"x24" , you should have plenty of light.
Last edited by DonnieP on Wed 09 Mar 2011, 9:33 am; edited 1 time in total
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Re: DIY LED light
by JoseH Wed 09 Mar 2011, 2:01 am
DonnieP wrote:Jose
I have done some figuring and according to my figures you should be getting real close to 43.2 watts out of those 360 5mm leds, that should be plenty of led over that small tank. The way its figured is there are 20ma to each of those 5mm leds, 1000 ma = 1amp you figure the total amps then multiply the amps X volts which is 12v. In other words for every 100 leds you get 12 watts. So you have 3.6 amps x 12volts= 43.2 watts. Whew! Hope this helps ya out, how big is your tank? If its like 12"x24" , you should have plenty of light.
WOW Thank you Donnie....
The tank is 20''x20x12
I havent updated on the thread because Im waiting for more LEDs to arrive
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