xandrew25xs DIY led build

[2quills]

Its hard to say untill you actually start stocking the tank with corals. I think those drive currents are fine to start with. The one area where you may run into trouble with them is if you go to dim them down. The drivers wont put out less than 24 volts so if you go to turn them down a little bit they may simply cut off somewhere around 350mA or so.
To rectify that you can add another led or two to your white stings which would increase par slightly or simply get another driver and run both strins in series.
Remember that an xpg being driven at the same current as an xpe will still put out more light. I dont see you ever needing to push your whites any higher than 850mA or you can burn some corals quick. But again its all anicdotal information untill you actually try thins with that you plan to stock in your tank.

 

[xandrew245x]

Okay, well like you said, I'm sure it will work fine, but who knows yet. If i notice my corals arn't doing well, then i'll probably have to add that other driver.
If 850ma is the highest I ever need to go, then 650 should be plenty, I don't plan on having any sps right now, but in the future probably.

 

[2quills]

Quote:
Originally Posted by xandrew245x http:///t/390400/xandrew25xs-diy-led-build/140#post_3462595
Okay, well like you said, I'm sure it will work fine, but who knows yet. If i notice my corals arn't doing well, then i'll probably have to add that other driver.
If 850ma is the highest I ever need to go, then 650 should be plenty, I don't plan on having any sps right now, but in the future probably.
There's a million ways to build it, Andrew. No matter what you do in this situation 48 high powered leds like these is still going to be way more light than a Marineland reef capable fixture (lets say) could ever dream of being. I have no doubts that you will easily be able to sustain a mixed reef with your current counts or even if you decide to change them up a bit. The beauty of DIY is that you don't have to follow in anyone else's footsteps 100%.

 

[xandrew245x]

Okay, well thats how i'm going to wire it then, I got my stars all cleaned up, i'm getting the epoxy tomorrow so hopefully i'll be able to start soldering saturday

 

[xandrew245x]

Anyone know where I can get these at?
I want to use these in between my strips of led, so if there is cross wiring, I could easy unplug one strip from the next and pull that trip out, I also plan on using these between the drivers and leds so everything can come apart hasslefree.
I need either the hole connector, or even just the plugs themselves would be fine, but I can't seem to find some.
I found some server connectors, but it was 22 gauge wire, and I should use 20.

 

[xandrew245x]

Never mind, radioshack has these.
Pair it with these on there other side, and I have a quick disconnect, easy enough

 

[xandrew245x]

Well big update!

My LED kit showed up, and boy was I excited, unpacked everything quickly

Started laying out LEDS in the pattern I wanted

All glued down and ready to go

Started soldering the whites!

One string of whites complete!

Both strings of white done running at min power

Both strings running at 50%
I ran out of string so the build is on hold until I can get more.
I noticed that I can't run my driver at full power hooked to my controller. If I turn the internal dimmer up to full, and try to run the controller at full, it starts making a slow strobe effect.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Sweet

 

[xandrew245x]

Thanks man, can't wait to get it finished!

 

[cipher43]

Congrats on the progress.
what controller did you get?

 

[acrylic51]

Looks good!!!!! Curious as to the controller as well!!!!!!

 

[2quills]

Are you sure you have them wired correctly? Strobing effect probably wouldn't be normal otherwise. Any progress?

 

[xandrew245x]

Thanks guy, I bought the typhon controller, it was $55.00.
I have everything wire right, when I turn the controller up to 100%, I can only turn the driver up about halfway. The first time I did it, it wasn't exactly strobing, but it would get bright then dimmer then bright then dimmer. I tried it a couple times again, and it didn't do it anymore, but the driver was making the same high pitch whining noise and was changing pitch.
I couldn't be maxing the LEDs, the driver is only 1.1A and its wire in parallel, so the max my led is getting would be 650ma and they are rated for over 1000ma

 

[2quills]

You need to check all of your solder joints as well. Did you test for shorts before you put power to the leds? No reason why they should be strobing. If you're only turning your driver half way up then you're only getting about 325 mA per string. Did you test voltage across the resistors?

 

[xandrew245x]

I did check for shorts and I have none, I haven't checked the voltage yet. I don't have a resistor yet, I just wired the string and wanted to give it a quick test run to make sure it all worked.

 

[2quills]

I don't understand why you have your leds hooked up the way you do in the pictures above. You have two wires on every led?

 

[xandrew245x]

I'm painting my downstairs living room tonight, so I won't have much time to work on it, but I'll take a short video of it at max running capacity, and I'll recheck for shorts, and I'll borrow my dads multimeter and check voltage.

 

[xandrew245x]

Because I wasn't thinking when I did it, I was thinking that was the only way I could wire in parallel, only to think about it a little longer and realize I could have just connected to the plus and minus on the opposite side of the star lol, I plan on fixing it, because I already figured that out when I was looking at it right after I soldered everything
Would have been much, much easier that way.

 

[2quills]

Im wondering if you have them hooked up in series if thats the case instead of parallel. In which case 16 leds is too large of a load and the strobing effect is a result of the driver power cycling itself to protect itself from burning up when you turn up the current. Can you make a simple drawing of how the whites are all connected to the driver and thecontroller.

 

[xandrew245x]

I ran the + and - from the driver to the + and - on the led, then I hooked another wire into each + and - and ran it to the next led + and -, this should still be running parallel, for it is transferring the direct current from one led to the next, not passing through the led.