Good LED Threads?

[FroMan]

What LED threads are you following? I'm looking for a bit of background information on LED's to use, controllers, how to build etc.

Thanks

mario

[ANGRY JOHN]

check reef builders blog, they always have features on led lighting

[terahz]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1678127 <- the mother DIY LED thread. This is at split 4 or 5 and is at 200+ pages.

LED reference thread: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1718642

And tons more in the DIY section.

[swannyson7]

You may want to look on a few of the websites that specialize in selling parts for DIY LED setups. Most of them have a little online tutorial on wiring in series vs. parallel vs series/parellel combo and how to hook them up to an Apex controller. That way you don't have to weed through all the "awesome build" comments that lead to the RC thread being split multiple times. Then you can also see what you're up against for prices on all the parts like a heatsink, the LEDs themselves, drivers, thermal eopxy, fans, etc.

[FroMan]

You may want to look on a few of the websites that specialize in selling parts for DIY LED setups. Most of them have a little online tutorial on wiring in series vs. parallel vs series/parellel combo and how to hook them up to an Apex controller. That way you don't have to weed through all the "awesome build" comments that lead to the RC thread being split multiple times. Then you can also see what you're up against for prices on all the parts like a heatsink, the LEDs themselves, drivers, thermal eopxy, fans, etc.

Any sites in particular? I found Rapid LED while I was surfing last night from the sponsor banner in the upper RH corner.

I'm just curious as I started to buy another set of bulbs for my main tank. The payback on an LED system should be fairly quick. Especially since it $250 for just bulb changes.

I don't think that this is a difficult project. The electrical side of working with LED's is new to me, but I don't think its beyond what I can do.

I also have access to a fully stocked machine shop, so the heat sinks are no issue.

[swannyson7]

you can check out the reefledlights website. I know they have some info, but I'm not sure how extensive it is. It really is a simple project as far as wiring... just a bit of soldering. I'm not really sure what's involved for controlling them through an Apex. I know it requires a specific type of driver, but no idea how hard it is beyond that. It may just be the ability to use the "ramp' function for a dimmable driver. If you want the thuderstorm, cloudcover and all the other gimmicky functions, I think you may need to buy a prefab fixture that has that stuff built in.

[chingking327]

I am definitley going to order a kit from rapid led, their prices are pretty good. I also have no experience with wiring or soldering so i think i have a couple people i know handle that part. I would definitley get the dimmable diy kit from rapid though. Let me know what you end up doing.

[FroMan]

So has anyone locally built their own setup?


DIY Driver based on Arduino drivers http://arduino.cc/en/

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1759758

[swannyson7]

I "built" a setup over my frag tank, but there really wasn't much to it. I bought the parts off of reefledlights and all it involved was using thermal epoxy to attach the LEDs to the heatsink, and then a little soldering of the LEDs in series. For those of you that think it is difficult to do, believe me it's not. A monkey could assemble these things...

It's on pg 6 of my tank build
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1859526&page=6