Neptunes 72" Custom LED system.

king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
That's right, Ive committed to LED's!
Ive been spending a couple days now pouring over forums and websites. Ive had a lot of input from various members and their help is appreciated. Thanks for your help.
Right now Im considering:
36 Cree White LEDs mounted on star boards
36 Royal Blue LEDs mounted on star boards
6x 700mA wired buckpucks
6x 1000mA wired buckpucks
3x 10inch heatsinks
Power supplies undecided help please.
I plan to have 3 arrays. 12w/12b each. I want to have them on supplies that will allow me to dim them as needed for acclimation purposes. I also will design it where I can independently control white and blue. Thus allowing me to make custom lighting scenes of varying intensity.
I am also entertaining the idea of adding some red and green to the mix as well. I have seen a few custom system beginning to show up where there is a small percentage of red and green. Although I don't fully understand why, I think its for improving the spectrum.
I would like to ask some input concerning coveringthem with lenses. What degree would you recomend??
I'm thinking a mix of 15-30degree's.
Any other thoughts or ideas please let me know.
Keep an eye on this thread, it will be a few weeks for everything to get finalized and shipped ect. But by the end of the month I want to warm up my soldering gun, and give you all detailed pictures and how to.
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
Actually the LED's most people get for their DIY systems come from online vendors that never dreamed they would be used in Reef keeping. I am currently looking into Cree XR-E, but this is still in the early stages. I wont order for probably 2 more weeks.
If you'd like to learn more google:
evilc66 led guide
click on the first link. In his sig(evilc66) there are a few LED related guides that he has posted. Lots of reading, but its a great start to learning everything LED's.
The led are pretty cheap. ranging from $1-5 they aren't too pricey when you consider how long they last and what they produce. But you need so many of them that it adds up.Plus the drivers and power supplies add to the cost. And if you want to get crazy, start thinking about adding lenses to them to narrow the beam. The tighter the beam, the deeper the light penetrates.
 
kraylen

kraylen

Member
You also have to take into consideration trial and error... A planned out DIY LED system that costs say... $900 in materials but lights like a $5,000 pro system makes me drool but.... in reality things don't always go as planned.
Let's say for example a LED burns out.... Well, assuming you put it their nice and solid it may be difficult to get off to change... if its not solid enough it may not work right.... What if something was wired incorrectly and you fry everything? All that is left is the heat sink and the optics :(
Heatsink... What if your heatsink sounds all awesome on paper but for some reason is inefficient for cooling your system.... Well you're not going to really find out until it's too late in some cases.... If this happens you are going to be redoing the entire thing and buying more aluminum.
Just some things to keep in mind when putting things down on paper... Trial and error.... practice soldering as much as possible beforehand and make sure you don't kill your LEDs while you are soldering them.
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
Ya,
I am extremely intimidated. That is no lie.
However, I do have a few resources on my side:
Dad is a good source of skill to tap into. Hes building an airplane in the garage, so tons of precision soldering equipment, magnifying lenses you name it. I will be building this with him looking over my shoulder a good portion of it. Ill have everyone double check my parts list before I order it, and my electrical engineer neighbor will probably be plenty willing to help me out as well.
I'm actually wanting to build two arrays. But the second one will be extremely difficult and unique, so Ill save it for later.
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
Real. Its called an RV6 I believe. 2 seat experimental class.
I used to do R/C as a kid, but all those old planes are just collecting dust. Too bad, I have a good dozen that would probably still fly.
Whats most impressive to me is the electronics. I don't know about that stuff, but he can spend hours and hours soldering precision equipment using a magnifying glass. And his meticulous attention to detail is just the kind of help I need for this project. Not to mention his understanding of all the technical stuff that is a complete new language for me.
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
Ah. I am just now getting fully involved in R/C planes. I used to race nitro cars competitively (traveled for races and stuff), and had boats on the side. Now getting into planes to complete the trifecta I guess
If you haven't looked at planes in a last little bit, it's a completely different hobby. Most of the planes now are foam, and with the costs of LiPo batteries and Brushless motors being so cheap, you can get a 100mph+ RTF Jet in the air in under 15mins.
Youtube of our planes; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmYHeBkOehE
But yea on the real planes. Probably something for me to hold on to till I'm much older
. Most of the electric stuff is probably instruments/avionics. All that stuff is way above my head too.
The LED system sounds really promising. I'm looking for ideas for lighting my 240gal, so I'm tagging along...
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
Something about gluing all the ribs together...makes it feel like real hobby.
I understand the new radios and receivers they have now a days are light years ahead of what I used a decade ago.
I might get back into it one day. If I did it would be helicopters.
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
Yea, 2.4ghz systems have replaced FMs. You're talking ranges in like miles, not feet. This has allowed onboard, or FPV flights as well. Very interesting. Yea, it's sort of a rift in the hobby. Those who've been in teh hobby a while, vs. those more inclined to just spend their time flying. Spend a winter building a plane, you get a sense of respect for it. Now you just plop down your money. Soooo many people get planes why above their head.
 
microbat

microbat

Member
I don't know what you guys are talking about.... :p
My Dad also has knowlegde of small solers, etc, but he is a 3 hour drive from me.... But I have electricians going through my door 200 times a day. If I ask them to build something for me, it is cheaper since I have no idea itself...
Are normal LED's different to marine bought? I have access to LED "rope" at around $30 per metre including driver, do I go with that?
 
wangotango

wangotango

Active Member
Any reason you decided on Bukpuks over drivers?
Also, with such tight optics, I don't know if you're going to be able to get even coverage in the whole tank with fewer LEDs.
-Justin
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
Originally Posted by microbat
http:///forum/post/3205311
Are normal LED's different to marine bought? I have access to LED "rope" at around $30 per metre including driver, do I go with that?
Not the same stuff. For LED's to feed your corals you have to think of two things, watts and lummens. Low 1w LEDs are not going to do enough lummens. You need 3w LEDS. Your target will be around 250-350 lummens(this point is debated as well. Ive heard up to 500).
At the bottom of a 24" tank your getting around 190lumens on a standard lighting system. You need to get this kind of intensity off your LED's if you want to compete. The fore mentioned strips do not do this. They are most likely 1w.
Theirs so much to read and understand that I myself am not really explaining it right. Just know that you have to use special LED's, do some google work. Search for a guy named evilc66 on the net. Read his sig on his forum posts. HE will guide you through everything LED related you can think of.
Originally Posted by WangoTango
http:///forum/post/3205375
Any reason you decided on Bukpuks over drivers?
Also, with such tight optics, I don't know if you're going to be able to get even coverage in the whole tank with fewer LEDs.
-Justin
Two good points.
This is why posting is useful....
Enlighten me please on why you would choose the other?
I don't know enough to go either way. I'm mimicking other builds and flying a little blind for a few more days till i gather all the knowledge I need. This is good. I hope to get a lesson out of this.
As for the second question:
I am not positive on the optics yet. I know a lot of people don't put them in...but I will probably do around a 25 degree lense.
This is actually part one of a two part system.
Its complicated to explain, hears a picture:

The premise is I only need to cover 3 main points in the DT...LEft side, right side, and center...all from a traditional straight down angle.

I will make my second array at a 45degree angle and have it facing towards the back of the tank. I will create three more focal points (shown in red)but aiming towards the back wall(I have a foam wall build). Also on this array I will include Extra bright 5w+ LED's with large lenses. You will have a spotlight effect on major corals and focal points in the tank..but you will also have the flood effect of the two arrays blending together.
The yellow circles represent possible focal points as well.
Although I havent finalized everything, I would wajor clsoe to 90+ LED's with the majority being White, followed by royal blue, and then possibly some other spectrum as well...red/orange/green.
 
ifirefight

ifirefight

Active Member
I will be following this thread..I have a 72" tank and have considered diy LEDs. I just helped my buddy 2 weeks ago..hes wiring up a LED fixture for his 50 gallon. He came over to my place and used my drill press to drill the heatsink and mount the LEDs. Very interesting. Good luck,post lots of pics please.
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
Originally Posted by ifirefight
http:///forum/post/3206110
I will be following this thread..I have a 72" tank and have considered diy LEDs. I just helped my buddy 2 weeks ago..hes wiring up a LED fixture for his 50 gallon. He came over to my place and used my drill press to drill the heatsink and mount the LEDs. Very interesting. Good luck,post lots of pics please.

AWESOME!
You will find it is a blend of several builds from other sites. So anything you see familiar is most likely just that.
Please step in at any time to offer advice. I am pretty careful about researching this kind of stuff before I commit to anything, so by no means is anything hear final till I put solder to wire.
 
backmeup

backmeup

New Member
I myself am about to start the LED changeover. From my "research", the 25 degree optics are too tight, except for where you want a spotlight effect. IF you plan to light the whole tank with LED's, then you would probably be much better off running 80% of the LED's without optics, or use 60/80 degree optics, and then just a couple LED's with the tighter optics to highlight/spotlight specific areas.
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
So you would recommend the majority being a mix of 60-80.
And the few spots I want to highlight with more intensity at about %25.
Thanks. Ill do some thinking on this.
Its still a couple weeks away at the earliest that I will be ordering this. So I got plenty of time to get more input.
 
mastertech

mastertech

Member
stay away from the optics below 60 degree unless you really know what you want and how deep the spotlighted coral is. i have a 24 inch deep tank and the LED's are suspended about 6-8 inches over the water. the 3w crees that i placed 40 degree lenses on burnt one of my favias and Kryptonite candycane. remember that LED are laser class emiters and should be treated with caution. i have since switched to 50% 80 degree lenses and 50% no lenses.
 
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