2Quills, 120G Re-build thread.
- Thread starter 2quills
- Start date
2quills
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by acrylic51 http:///t/378912/2quills-120g-re-build-thread/660#post_3450591
Did you ease the fan cutouts on the acrylic.......I made no progress at all today.....The cold is taken hold good now!!!!!!
Yeah I removed some material on the mounting brackets to contour the fan cut outs. It was actually pretty decent down here, 60's today I believe. Gotta take advantage of that.
Originally Posted by acrylic51 http:///t/378912/2quills-120g-re-build-thread/660#post_3450591
Did you ease the fan cutouts on the acrylic.......I made no progress at all today.....The cold is taken hold good now!!!!!!
Yeah I removed some material on the mounting brackets to contour the fan cut outs. It was actually pretty decent down here, 60's today I believe. Gotta take advantage of that.
2quills
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cipher43 http:///t/378912/2quills-120g-re-build-thread/660#post_3450680
Wow Corey you should start selling these.......... I'll take 4.............. LMAO
Hmmm...Corey's Custom Led's. Now Taking Orders!
Has a nice little ring to it. I might could make me a buck or two.
Originally Posted by Cipher43 http:///t/378912/2quills-120g-re-build-thread/660#post_3450680
Wow Corey you should start selling these.......... I'll take 4.............. LMAO
Hmmm...Corey's Custom Led's. Now Taking Orders!
Has a nice little ring to it. I might could make me a buck or two.
mr btldreef
Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///t/378912/2quills-120g-re-build-thread/660#post_3450870
Hmmm...Corey's Custom Led's. Now Taking Orders!
Has a nice little ring to it. I might could make me a buck or two.
NICE!!! i like that housing you built. very sharp.
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///t/378912/2quills-120g-re-build-thread/660#post_3450870
Hmmm...Corey's Custom Led's. Now Taking Orders!
Has a nice little ring to it. I might could make me a buck or two.
NICE!!! i like that housing you built. very sharp.
2quills
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr btldreef http:///t/378912/2quills-120g-re-build-thread/660#post_3450921
NICE!!! i like that housing you built. very sharp.
Thanks.
Eh..didn't feel happy with the wiring so I gutted the thing again. It was too crammed in there and things weren't coming apart and fitting back together again as nice as I wanted them to. After I took the think apart for a second time I noticed some cuts in some of my wires and I didn't like that. A word of CAUTION to anyone thinking of cutting their heatsinks the way that I did. It leaves extremely sharp edges on the fins. So what I did was took my dremel to try and take some of the edges off of all the fins where I cut the sink. And then I hand sanded a little bit to try and smooth them out.
I also lined the bottom of the channel that I cut out through the center with a layer of rubber tape to protect from sharp edges on the bottom surface that was cut on the saw.
After that I ran some new wires. Everything was ran with just black wire but I added a layer of colored heat shrink to every wire. So every wire is double insulated. And I added a second layer of heatshrink double insulating the wires at all of the bends for further protection.
BTW...Does ANYONE know if it would be safe to fill the back of these molex connectors with regular silicone? Or should I look for some type of dielectric silicone to be safe? I want to help moisture proof them.
Originally Posted by Mr btldreef http:///t/378912/2quills-120g-re-build-thread/660#post_3450921
NICE!!! i like that housing you built. very sharp.
Thanks.
Eh..didn't feel happy with the wiring so I gutted the thing again. It was too crammed in there and things weren't coming apart and fitting back together again as nice as I wanted them to. After I took the think apart for a second time I noticed some cuts in some of my wires and I didn't like that. A word of CAUTION to anyone thinking of cutting their heatsinks the way that I did. It leaves extremely sharp edges on the fins. So what I did was took my dremel to try and take some of the edges off of all the fins where I cut the sink. And then I hand sanded a little bit to try and smooth them out.
I also lined the bottom of the channel that I cut out through the center with a layer of rubber tape to protect from sharp edges on the bottom surface that was cut on the saw.
After that I ran some new wires. Everything was ran with just black wire but I added a layer of colored heat shrink to every wire. So every wire is double insulated. And I added a second layer of heatshrink double insulating the wires at all of the bends for further protection.
BTW...Does ANYONE know if it would be safe to fill the back of these molex connectors with regular silicone? Or should I look for some type of dielectric silicone to be safe? I want to help moisture proof them.
kiefers
Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///t/378912/2quills-120g-re-build-thread/660#post_3450870
Hmmm...Corey's Custom Led's. Now Taking Orders!
Has a nice little ring to it. I might could make me a buck or two.
Hey hey hey........ I already ordered mine!!! Remember the whole two for one fajita thing!?!?!?! O'comon!!!!!
(take a number....... I was first!)
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///t/378912/2quills-120g-re-build-thread/660#post_3450870
Hmmm...Corey's Custom Led's. Now Taking Orders!
Has a nice little ring to it. I might could make me a buck or two.
Hey hey hey........ I already ordered mine!!! Remember the whole two for one fajita thing!?!?!?! O'comon!!!!!
(take a number....... I was first!)
mr btldreef
Member
i would use dielectric grease... the clear stuff and just fill it in there. this way just incase you have to re-pin the connector you can still do it with ease.
acrylic51
Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr btldreef http:///t/378912/2quills-120g-re-build-thread/660#post_3451056
i would use dielectric grease... the clear stuff and just fill it in there. this way just incase you have to re-pin the connector you can still do it with ease.
Agree!!!!!
Originally Posted by Mr btldreef http:///t/378912/2quills-120g-re-build-thread/660#post_3451056
i would use dielectric grease... the clear stuff and just fill it in there. this way just incase you have to re-pin the connector you can still do it with ease.
2quills
Well-Known Member
Thanks guys. I'll probably do that.
Part of my weekly update: Got a little more work done on the first fixture today. I got the stars all firmly attached with the thermal grease and wired them all up.
I applied the grease fairly liberally in hopes of gaining good thermal transfer of heat from the stars to the heatsink.
So I got a little anxious and test fired the first string of reds after I ran through a series of testing to make sure I had no shorts, breaks or crosses in the circuit. So far everything seems to be working like a charm (knock knock).
Experimenting with the new controller a little bit. It wasn't to hard to figure out after a little bit of hands on flipping through the menu and trying out the settings. I think for the price I'll be pretty happy with it as long as it holds up for a while.
I ran the reds on low for a while to break them in a little bit. Then slowly ramped them up to 90%, which in this case is right about 750mA. Without the fans running to cool the fixture average temperature of the heatsink was running right around 98 degrees after nearly an hour of running. When I kicked the fans on and gave them a little bit of time to cool things down the temp dropped to an average of 86 on the heatsink. That's about a 12 degree drop which is pretty significant. The heatsink doesn't feel hot what so ever. Significantly lower than what I see most folks reporting. This should help translate to longer lasting leds. I'll check it again once I get the whites up and going with all of them running. If I can keep them operating under 100 degrees I'll be a happy camper.
Part of my weekly update: Got a little more work done on the first fixture today. I got the stars all firmly attached with the thermal grease and wired them all up.
I applied the grease fairly liberally in hopes of gaining good thermal transfer of heat from the stars to the heatsink.
So I got a little anxious and test fired the first string of reds after I ran through a series of testing to make sure I had no shorts, breaks or crosses in the circuit. So far everything seems to be working like a charm (knock knock).
Experimenting with the new controller a little bit. It wasn't to hard to figure out after a little bit of hands on flipping through the menu and trying out the settings. I think for the price I'll be pretty happy with it as long as it holds up for a while.
I ran the reds on low for a while to break them in a little bit. Then slowly ramped them up to 90%, which in this case is right about 750mA. Without the fans running to cool the fixture average temperature of the heatsink was running right around 98 degrees after nearly an hour of running. When I kicked the fans on and gave them a little bit of time to cool things down the temp dropped to an average of 86 on the heatsink. That's about a 12 degree drop which is pretty significant. The heatsink doesn't feel hot what so ever. Significantly lower than what I see most folks reporting. This should help translate to longer lasting leds. I'll check it again once I get the whites up and going with all of them running. If I can keep them operating under 100 degrees I'll be a happy camper.
2quills
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Al&Burke http:///t/378912/2quills-120g-re-build-thread/660#post_3452160
Looking good Corey - do you have a splash sheild on the LED's - I think I can see one.
Yep. Splash shield slides right into the little channels built in as part of the heatsink. Pretty convenient with these new sinks from rapid.
Originally Posted by Al&Burke http:///t/378912/2quills-120g-re-build-thread/660#post_3452160
Looking good Corey - do you have a splash sheild on the LED's - I think I can see one.
Yep. Splash shield slides right into the little channels built in as part of the heatsink. Pretty convenient with these new sinks from rapid.
2quills
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Al&Burke http:///t/378912/2quills-120g-re-build-thread/660#post_3452170
How quiet are the fans Corey?
Very quiet, Al. I'll never be able to hear them over the other sounds of the system once everything is in operation. The plug in adapter that I'm using to power them allows me to select 5 different settings between 3 - 12 volts d.c. So I effectively have 5 speeds I can set them on. If I run them at 9 volts they are dead silent and still move a surprising amount of air for such small little fans.
Originally Posted by Al&Burke http:///t/378912/2quills-120g-re-build-thread/660#post_3452170
How quiet are the fans Corey?
Very quiet, Al. I'll never be able to hear them over the other sounds of the system once everything is in operation. The plug in adapter that I'm using to power them allows me to select 5 different settings between 3 - 12 volts d.c. So I effectively have 5 speeds I can set them on. If I run them at 9 volts they are dead silent and still move a surprising amount of air for such small little fans.
kiefers
Active Member
not to highjack ya buddy but..... had our coral club meeting here today and this dude bought over his LED build and it looked amazing. Looked like a wave point fixture. Put it on my tank and the PAR on the top was 1250. In the middle, 1150 at the bottom, 920. OMG, if yours is like this I want two! Pictures do not justice to the real thing. The shimmer was out of this world!