Diy led

swimmer4uus

swimmer4uus

Member
Bright enough to give myself a migrane when testing the individual LEDs. A similar setup on another forum has proven the PAR values equal to 250w MH's. With optics, it's speculated that would go up to 400w MH's. Also, the setup I'm mentioning is only 48 LEDs total. Right now I have 50 whites. Still waiting on the Blues
If only I didn't have homework due.
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
Hmmm. I think it's time for a picture with the lights one..... at least one row of 'em, anyway. Come on....tease us.
 
swimmer4uus

swimmer4uus

Member
Actually, tomorrow I hope to make some progress. Today I soldered up one of the driver circuits, and tested it out. A couple issues came forward pretty fast with the LM317. First off, by design, the LM317 driver drops 3 volts. Hence 5 LEDs in series instead of 6. This voltage drop also comes with the dreaded heat. The LM317 gets HOT to the touch. Enough that it gave me a pretty good jolt when I first touched it. I'm actually in search of a POT to make these dimmable circuits. Also, with the resistors I have with these guys, I'll be running the LEDs at 1050mA. The LM317 is only rated up to 1500mA, so I'm going to order some new resistors to drive the LEDs at 700mA for the time being. This will give me way more than enough light for now, and enough time I make the new dimmable drivers.
 
swimmer4uus

swimmer4uus

Member
So there's an issue with my driver. Initially I thought running these LEDs at 1000mA wouldn't be an issue, but I'm finding out that the LM317 gets WAY too hot. Time to order new resistors
 
swimmer4uus

swimmer4uus

Member
So figured I'd share some pictures of the drivers I wired up. First shows the configuration of the back side of the PCB, and how I bent/will solder up the wires. The others just show different steps.




EDIT: Wired up the mirroring LM317's wrong. Wow, that's what happens when you rush it
 
swimmer4uus

swimmer4uus

Member
So basically LEDs require very constant current running through them for them to be reliable. The appeal of LEDs is the aprox. 10 years bulb life, high lumens per watt, and the ability to dim the light itself. Since sudden fluctuations in current diminish the lifetime of the bulb a couple things are done to help this. The pictures are of my DIY LM317 driver. I'm calling it my GEN 1 driver. I'm ordering some more parts to make a couple more, with dimmable capabilities, more efficiency, blah blah. Just think of these as the LED version of a ballast.
 
swimmer4uus

swimmer4uus

Member
I'm using the 3w LEDs yes, a total of 50 right now I'm trying to wire up. Ran into a cool idea that I'm trying to work on. Basically high beams and low beams version of my lights. As soon as my camera is recharged, I'll try to get some pics
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
so the 288 is for future upgrades?
is 50 enough to run your tank? I would guess that a 90g would need closer to 70-80
 
swimmer4uus

swimmer4uus

Member
That is correct. I'm still waiting on my blues. These are just whites right now. I'm looking at putting in like 5 reds and maybe other colorings to just accent some stuff
 
swimmer4uus

swimmer4uus

Member


Now, for compairison. The first picture shows the LEDs on. In the background is the window in the kitchen, open, with a bright and sunny day outside. That's how bright these babies are
 
number1gsxxr

number1gsxxr

Member
Is there a typical height off the water that LEDs should be? I'm working on a DIY setup and thinking of placing the LEDs inside of a hood. I'll have 110 LEDs with lenses over a 48" tank.
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
they can go much lower than MH's since they produce less heat overall.
But you also need to consider room for your hands to work around.
Keep them about 8" off the water surface. Give or take a couple.
 
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