LED'S ARE THE BEST!!!!!!!!!

242bats

242bats

Member
Just got thru with my DIY LED lighting for my 180g
Did a test run on the tank and OMG, should have done this a long time ago.
if anyone is thanking of doing a diy led system, go for it. this is the way to go IMO, and i have only had it on the tank for about 20 min. OMG.
i will take some pics and try to find some pics with the old light.
 
242bats

242bats

Member
sorry i did not take alot of pics of the build
just got into the build and did not think of taking pics. i use cree 3w leds and mean well drivers. i am running 54 cool white, 54 royal blue, and 15 red leds, all 3w. i have (8
0eln-60-48p drivers on the white and blue and 3 lpc-35-700 drivers on the red (5) each driver). it is all mounted on three 10"x18" heatsinks. the heatsinks are mounted in 1"x1" L aluminum frame.
i went with the smaller drivers so that if one went out the wole tank would not go down. and i found it was a little cheaper to go this way because i could get the leds and drivers in a kit and save some money.
thats what diy is all about saving money.
as for the cost of the system i would say that i saved a little more than half of what a store bought system would be for my tank.

i am working on getting some of the pics that i did take on asap.
as of now the only hard part of this is doing something with all the wiring, not the led wiring but the driver wiring i guess that would be the only advantage to have less drivers on the system, but i will get there.
let me try the pics now.
 
242bats

242bats

Member
btw this system is dimmable, i am using a rapid led controller for now, (out of money) lol but down the road will get a better controller.
this controller has a sunrise and sunset feature on it. haven't used it yet.
so on with the pics.
 
242bats

242bats

Member
ok here we go hope this works the format on the forum has changed
this is just after i got all the part and was laying it all out
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Use caution and make sure in the event of a power outage that those drivers don't fire all at the same time.....Could be a real issue with 8 ELN's firing at the same time.....
 
242bats

242bats

Member
if you are talking about the flash after you power down thay do all flash at one time it's kinda cool, i have a video of it i will see if i can get it on here
Quote:
Originally Posted by acrylic51 http:///forum/thread/386777/led-s-are-the-best#post_3399306
Use caution and make sure in the event of a power outage that those drivers don't fire all at the same time.....Could be a real issue with 8 ELN's firing at the same time.....
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
I think he might be talking about the high in-rush current of all of those drivers firing up at the same time. I think the ELN's have an inrush of current of 65 amps, 8x65= 520amps on a circuit that's only designed for 20 amps. Heat and degradation of your homes circuitry is the issue with using alot of those drivers. It's best to fire them up slowly, one at a time if possible, or at least just a couple at a time.
Are you planning on building an enclosure for the fixture? All those wires above the tank look a little bit dangerous. Plus, without a splash guard on there guys are running into problems having to replace leds after a couple of years due to moisture issues reaching the starboards. Just a little FIY. Nice work on the build though, let us know what you think of that rapid dimmer.
 
242bats

242bats

Member
i do have a hood for the tank but it still have the MH and T12s in it now i am taking all that out and make a system to hang the wire and the leds in the hood. the system should be about 10" off the water in the hood. i hope that will be ok if not i will make a cover of some sort????
as for the the power would a UPS help with a surge so that the drivers stay on for a bit or is it as thay are powered up????
thanks
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
I think any type of surge suppressor would either simply trip or divert the excess current away from the drivers and down through the ground. The drivers wouldn't be able to fire in that case since they wouldn't be getting supplied with the proper amount of current needed in order to fire up. Depending on the rating of the device used it could theoretically be possible to use one and maybe get away with firing one or two of them up one at a time, it just depends. But in this case if the power went out during mid day when all the drivers were running and they all tried to come back on at the same time then they wouldn't. And I honestly don't know if a situation like this would or could cause damage to the drivers. But I think it might so I'm not sure that I would attempt it. Now that the newer HLG series of Meanwell drivers are hitting the market a lot of folks are moving away from the ELN's for these reasons on bigger builds like this. Less drivers, better technology and more protection built in. But you're right if one goes bad then you lose a lot of light until you can get it fixed or replaced. All in all though it's just a much safer way to go on larger builds.
Definitely would try to encorporate some type of splash shield to protect from the moisture/humidity coming off of the tank, unless you're going to hang it a couple feet above the tank. It's probably worth it for the longevity of the leds from what I've been hearing.
 
242bats

242bats

Member
ok i a bit confused on this, i have turned the system on and off several time and the system came on with no problems. i will say that the way the rapid led controller works is the drivers are pluged in and have power, the contoller is pluged in with power but you have to turn the power on with a power button on the controller. and thay all come on at one time, at the power setting that you have the controller set at????? still a bit confused
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
If I'm not mistaken you're supposed to leave the power to the controler on at all times and just have the power to the drivers cut on just before ramp up time and cut off just after ramp down? Not a 100% sure with that controler. I thought that it was supposed to keep the settings that you had it set to when the power goes off and comes back on to the controler from what I read about it before?
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///forum/thread/386777/led-s-are-the-best#post_3399330
I think he might be talking about the high in-rush current of all of those drivers firing up at the same time. I think the ELN's have an inrush of current of 65 amps, 8x65= 520amps on a circuit that's only designed for 20 amps. Heat and degradation of your homes circuitry is the issue with using alot of those drivers. It's best to fire them up slowly, one at a time if possible, or at least just a couple at a time.
Are you planning on building an enclosure for the fixture? All those wires above the tank look a little bit dangerous. Plus, without a splash guard on there guys are running into problems having to replace leds after a couple of years due to moisture issues reaching the starboards. Just a little FIY. Nice work on the build though, let us know what you think of that rapid dimmer.
Thanks Corey for explaining what I meant......Those 8 even spread out on a couple circuits is still a hazard.....A good person for him to talk to would be Kcress over on RC.....
 
242bats

242bats

Member
ok now i know what you are talking about the charging of the (caps) in the driver. what will i see or how do i check to see if thay are all coming on at the same time. with the rapid controler the leds all come on a the same time and go off at the same time. now with that said after turning the power is turned off to the drivers i get a flash from the leds, but not all at the same time, just one at a time. so that must be the (caps) discharging. so do thay charge in the same order????? and if so i should be ok???
thanks
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
It might not be an issue at the start, but over time the heat build up and such in the house wiring is were the concern lies....Something no one can see. Another issue is the harmonics of the drivers, and that many could play havoc on other items in the house as well. Not really sure how you would go about checking, but have you tried going to the breaker box and and flipping the breaker while the lights are on?? Then give it a couple seconds and flip it back and see what happens. I'm curious if it would trip the breaker????
 
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