Roblox84
09/30/2011, 04:37 PM
So I was looking around the internet trying to get some ideas for any diy led pendants build using high power leds to experiment with and also to have some posts that others who are interested in using this kind of lighting can look at. I couldn't find very many of these builds, because it seems as though the pendant led category is dominated by big time manufacturers and not diyer's. This one is what I wanted to base my design of off http://www.bluemoonaquatics.com/BMA_P30.php. Although I have found that just the circular heatsinks that I wanted to purchase are almost a $100 (http://heatsinks.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/ledproductimage.jpg) and adding on top of that the cost of the mounts that the blue leds sit in which are like $10 a piece which is why probably why most diyer's go the non pendant route. Although those cylindrical heatsinks would look super nice, I wanted to keep my build more of a budget build so I decided to switch it up a little bit and use regular small 6x6 heatsinks which cost $90 less. My primary motivations for this build is first cost and second, versatility and third, because there is not many diy's using the high power led. One of the 30w leds is $20 dollars and it costed me $200-250 to light a 4 foot tank (55g) and not forget to mention that my halides had to be replaced, so for a hundred more I have a whole led setup. The unit needed to be versatile because I have a 125g laying in my basement for over a year and once I get that set up all I have to do is whip up another fixture and not have to modify any existing lighting.
So, enough rambling. My build will consist of two fixtures utizlizing 6x6 heatsinks with 1 30 watt cold white 20000k led from satis led on each heatsink. These leds will be powered by 2 700ma inventronics dimmable drivers from reefledlights. For blues I will have 12 xpe royal blues on each heatsink powered by meanwell lpc 35-700 drivers from rapid led. The heatsinks will be cooled by a dual fan kit and i'm really hoping that this size heatsink will be good enough for cooling because the next size up that rapidled had was something like a 12 incher. I figured it would be way to big because I will be cutting holes in my canopy to mount these in. I have decided to not get any optics this time around since the leds won't be mounted very high and it will also allow me to put the acrylic splash shield closer to the leds.
This diy is more intended for my 125g than my 55g because in my 125g i'm doing a rockscape of 3 "rock towers so I figured as long as the rock towers that hold my corals are well lit, I don't care if there are shadows anywhere else. I'm just hoping the colors will blend nicely and not look retarded. I'm still waiting on the 30 watt leds from china and the inventronics drivers from reefledlights but I will put up some pictures of what I have when I get home.
So, enough rambling. My build will consist of two fixtures utizlizing 6x6 heatsinks with 1 30 watt cold white 20000k led from satis led on each heatsink. These leds will be powered by 2 700ma inventronics dimmable drivers from reefledlights. For blues I will have 12 xpe royal blues on each heatsink powered by meanwell lpc 35-700 drivers from rapid led. The heatsinks will be cooled by a dual fan kit and i'm really hoping that this size heatsink will be good enough for cooling because the next size up that rapidled had was something like a 12 incher. I figured it would be way to big because I will be cutting holes in my canopy to mount these in. I have decided to not get any optics this time around since the leds won't be mounted very high and it will also allow me to put the acrylic splash shield closer to the leds.
This diy is more intended for my 125g than my 55g because in my 125g i'm doing a rockscape of 3 "rock towers so I figured as long as the rock towers that hold my corals are well lit, I don't care if there are shadows anywhere else. I'm just hoping the colors will blend nicely and not look retarded. I'm still waiting on the 30 watt leds from china and the inventronics drivers from reefledlights but I will put up some pictures of what I have when I get home.