Better and cheaper than a ReefBrite strip?!?:)

[kyle1284]

i was asked by a couple of people to create a build thread for this build so here it is!

i am "DIYing" a strip of RB (Royal Blue) LEDs because i refuse to spend so much money on a Reefbrite strip of LED's!!! I know I am not the only one that thinks this. if you have the money and you want to spend it, more power to ya!

I am going to be ADDING this to 3x400 watt radium’s and super actinic vhos as supplemental lighting to help with the colors. I am a firm believer that the more blue you have under 450nm the better. I witnessed the colors that LED's can give you at Quoc's house and have done some extensive research into the Philips Luxeon ES ROYAL BLUE 3 Watt LEDs and the they are producing between 440-450nm (447nm average) while the cree out of the best bin produce between 450-455. The halides' and VHOs' are great for growth and color but i want that extra POP out of my "higher end" corals and i know those Royal Blues will assist with that.

The heat sink from heatsinkusa . com came in yesterday and look great! It are 1.813" wide and 63" long. This will fit inside the canopy perfectly with a couple of couple inches to spare on both sides. The strip will be placed in the front only hanging down 4 inches from the canopy and will be angled 45 degrees towards the corals. Not only will this set up be able to be brighter/more intense than reefbrite strips i will be able to dim it, program it (in the future if i wanted to), customize it by adding different colors (if i wanted to), add/remove optics, replace LED's that burn out, cut the heat sink in half if my demands change, i could go on and on about the benefits but my #1 reason for doing this instead of ReefBrites is $. It is going to be around $187.00 to do this entire build! Cheaper to DIY and I get to play with electricity!!! No Brainer!!

I was inspired by Tempest to start this build and I really was considering getting the entire package at aquastyleonline.com but all they have is bridglux and generic LEDs. I did some research and decided to go with the Luxeon ES RB's due to the efficiency, and the mW it gives off at a lower amperage. The difference between a Bridgelux royal and a Luxeon royal is not just that one is limited to 700ma - the top bin of the Bridgelux royal emits 380-400mW of light at 350ma - whereas a Luxeon will put out up to 600mW. Take that to 1000ma (the sweet spot for XT-E and Luxeon) and they emit about 1600mW - whereas a Bridgelux chip, limited to 700ma, emits 650-700mW. Then take into account that the Bridgelux chip uses 2.5w of power and the Luxeon use 3w to deliver over double the amount of light, suddenly the Bridgelux doesn't seem like such a good value.

all the LED's were ordered yesterday at Stevesles.com and should be coming in Friday or Monday and the drivers will be ordered sometime next week.

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h299/kyle1284/DE6A6DB3-9EEC-453B-8365-3C2AF288E567-5559-00000689801E8F6D.jpg

The 63 inch heat sink only fits in the beater I drive back and forth to work. Won't fit in the 350z lol

More pics to come.

[GrampaDon]

Well yea you wouldnt want to mess up the Z

Nice start. I will tune in later to watch progress.

[Bermyguy]

Cool

[kyle1284]

LED's came in nicely packaged
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h299/kyle1284/FFC94A9A-62D2-4C7C-BA63-6CA89C335CF7-6959-000007C76380D713.jpg

Going to be glueing them down tonight or tomorrow night . Power supplies will be ordered monday or tuesday!!

I woke up this morning thinking about wiring and how I would like to space the LED's out. i believe a even 2.25 inches apart will be perfect. I will be mounting the RB's more towards the front or "top section" of the heat sink so that if I want to add some exotic colors later down the line I will have plenty of space to do so to the back or the "rear section" of the heat sink between each existing LED. every other RB LED will be wired together so when dimming the LED's manually the light intensity will be much more even vs one side being more intense than the other and having to tinker with it that way.

I am going to put a hole in each corner of the heat sink fans and using 1/8" to 1/4" inch stainless steel cable to hang it. The front of the heat sink will have less cable than the rear of the heat sink so that I get the 45 degree angle I am looking for. I will be drilling holes in the canopy so that i can pull the strip up or down as my demands change or maintenance on the tank is needed.

[phi delt reefer]

I'm thinking about doing something similar with my tank.

I originally had the aquastyleonline kit and sold it the same day i built it. My 8 bulb ATI sunpower overwhelmed the unit. I was running 18 bridgelux RB and 4 TV's.

just a side note - I run 4 ATI BLUE Plus, 2 UVL super actinics, 1 ATI Coral Plus and 1 ATI Purple Plus in my ATI T5 fixture.

I'm thinking about running 25 of Luxeon RB's along with 3 neutral whites on 4 channel steve's led driver (7 leds per channel).

--> the whites will help bring out color in livestock that usually looks black under only royal blues - this is one of my pet peeves with tanks that run reefbrites or equivalents.
--> as you stated, the luxeon RB's are a better bin then their cree counterparts.

I'll also run 14 violets - 8x 405nm and 6x 430nm from led group buy. These will run on a 2 channel driver from steve's led.
--> this is meant to supplement the Super Actinics I run. I've read they provide a similar pop so why not add them

if i've done my math right (fingers crossed) i should be able to run them all on the smaller of the two power supplies steve carries.


my tank is only 12" deep (its a bright tank, let me tell ya!) so I dont think i'll need optics but i am going to order 90 degree optics just in case i get too much spillage. I will be doing something similar to you where I'll run a single strip angled at 45 degree.


looking forward to your build!

[Stylo328]

Subscribed and looking forward to watching the build unfold.

[kyle1284]

Progress stalled over the weekend but we are back in track! I tinned and mounted the led's and I know I am going to have more than enough RB's
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h299/kyle1284/02923BE6-A3F0-4359-8D7F-A1882F0F3B0A-11740-00000E2B372BD82A.jpg
I can not wait to get this baby powered up!! Power supplies will be ordered tomorrow and I will be cutting tinning and sodering all the wires to the LEDs

[kyle1284]

I'm thinking about doing something similar with my tank.

I originally had the aquastyleonline kit and sold it the same day i built it. My 8 bulb ATI sunpower overwhelmed the unit. I was running 18 bridgelux RB and 4 TV's.

just a side note - I run 4 ATI BLUE Plus, 2 UVL super actinics, 1 ATI Coral Plus and 1 ATI Purple Plus in my ATI T5 fixture.

I'm thinking about running 25 of Luxeon RB's along with 3 neutral whites on 4 channel steve's led driver (7 leds per channel).

--> the whites will help bring out color in livestock that usually looks black under only royal blues - this is one of my pet peeves with tanks that run reefbrites or equivalents.
--> as you stated, the luxeon RB's are a better bin then their cree counterparts.

I'll also run 14 violets - 8x 405nm and 6x 430nm from led group buy. These will run on a 2 channel driver from steve's led.
--> this is meant to supplement the Super Actinics I run. I've read they provide a similar pop so why not add them

if i've done my math right (fingers crossed) i should be able to run them all on the smaller of the two power supplies steve carries.


my tank is only 12" deep (its a bright tank, let me tell ya!) so I dont think i'll need optics but i am going to order 90 degree optics just in case i get too much spillage. I will be doing something similar to you where I'll run a single strip angled at 45 degree.


looking forward to your build!

That is going to be a very very bright tank!! I am interested to see how closely that's violets compare to the super actinics. I love mine but would love to have more room in my canopy.

[eg8r210]

i was asked by a couple of people to create a build thread for this build so here it is!

i am "DIYing" a strip of RB (Royal Blue) LEDs because i refuse to spend so much money on a Reefbrite strip of LED's!!! I know I am not the only one that thinks this. if you have the money and you want to spend it, more power to ya!

I am going to be ADDING this to 3x400 watt radium’s and super actinic vhos as supplemental lighting to help with the colors. I am a firm believer that the more blue you have under 450nm the better. I witnessed the colors that LED's can give you at Quoc's house and have done some extensive research into the Philips Luxeon ES ROYAL BLUE 3 Watt LEDs and the they are producing between 440-450nm (447nm average) while the cree out of the best bin produce between 450-455. The halides' and VHOs' are great for growth and color but i want that extra POP out of my "higher end" corals and i know those Royal Blues will assist with that.

The heat sink from heatsinkusa . com came in yesterday and look great! It are 1.813" wide and 63" long. This will fit inside the canopy perfectly with a couple of couple inches to spare on both sides. The strip will be placed in the front only hanging down 4 inches from the canopy and will be angled 45 degrees towards the corals. Not only will this set up be able to be brighter/more intense than reefbrite strips i will be able to dim it, program it (in the future if i wanted to), customize it by adding different colors (if i wanted to), add/remove optics, replace LED's that burn out, cut the heat sink in half if my demands change, i could go on and on about the benefits but my #1 reason for doing this instead of ReefBrites is $. It is going to be around $187.00 to do this entire build! Cheaper to DIY and I get to play with electricity!!! No Brainer!!

I was inspired by Tempest to start this build and I really was considering getting the entire package at aquastyleonline.com but all they have is bridglux and generic LEDs. I did some research and decided to go with the Luxeon ES RB's due to the efficiency, and the mW it gives off at a lower amperage. The difference between a Bridgelux royal and a Luxeon royal is not just that one is limited to 700ma - the top bin of the Bridgelux royal emits 380-400mW of light at 350ma - whereas a Luxeon will put out up to 600mW. Take that to 1000ma (the sweet spot for XT-E and Luxeon) and they emit about 1600mW - whereas a Bridgelux chip, limited to 700ma, emits 650-700mW. Then take into account that the Bridgelux chip uses 2.5w of power and the Luxeon use 3w to deliver over double the amount of light, suddenly the Bridgelux doesn't seem like such a good value.

all the LED's were ordered yesterday at Stevesles.com and should be coming in Friday or Monday and the drivers will be ordered sometime next week.

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h299/kyle1284/DE6A6DB3-9EEC-453B-8365-3C2AF288E567-5559-00000689801E8F6D.jpg

The 63 inch heat sink only fits in the beater I drive back and forth to work. Won't fit in the 350z lol

More pics to come.When you say better are you referring to your ability to customize it at a later date? Everything I always hear about reefbrites and what make them so great is the reflector, not the leds themselves or anything else. I am very interested in doing exactly what you are doing but do not want the disco effect, do not want to see the different lights individually reflecting off the bottom of the tank, etc.

[kyle1284]

ok so i have been posting the build thread on a different fourm because my job blocks this forum lol but now i ran into a dead end. everything is hooked up but here is the current situation in the other fourm everything with "**" at the begining and end is myself and everything with "@@" at the beginging and end is someone else:

**Frustrated beyond belief!!! I hooked everything up and nothing. Hooked it up to the 2ed string... Nothing I am only getting between 80 and 110 ma from the driver and nothing is lighting up. I have a enercell from radio shack that is hooked up to it turned the wires back around( maybe pos and neg mixed up?) still same reading with no lights. Can someone help me figure out what I am doing wrong?**

@@Is your 10v source providing 10v?@@

**It one of the adjustable one that provides between 1.5 and 12 volts. I turned it down to 1.5 volts and the driver all the way down the ma with that set up is 80 then I turn up the driver completely an it goes up to 120 ma the turn up the voltage supply and nothing moves. No lights or rise of ma


@@Are you sure the power supply works at higher voltages? @@

**Ok I confirmed with the multi meter that the source is providing a 9 volt supply**

**Ok so I notice after unplugging the setup there is a spike up to 300 ma about 2 to 3 sec after power down. I take it off the multimeter and hook it up directly to the system plug it in still nothing but after 2 to 3 sec the royal blues come on for a split sec and turn off. Holy crap it was bright! Thinking I blew the LEDs I gave it another go. Exact same thing happened again. So te LEDs were not blown pshhhhew. Why is it that I can not acquire anything over 120 ma with everything plugged in but after I unplug the driver then the RadioShack voltage cell it spikes up to 300 ma? I tested the cell with the multimeter it is turning out the voltage as it is adjusted. Can someone chime in and help me get these LEDs up and running?**

@@I believe your 0-10v power is hooked up backwards. I had this issue with one of the meanwell drivers in the past. I think there was a short run when they reversed the wires. Hope this helps. Also turn your svr2 down all they way till they turn on.@

**ok i will try to reverse the enercell wires. what is the svr2? is that the internal dial in the meanwell driver for the dimming? this one is blue and is not a white knob like the other videos i have seen. seems to be slightly dependale and less lightly to break while turning the mA up and down. but i still can not figure out why i am only able to get 120mA out of the driver with 1.5 volts going to it and when i boost up the voltage the mA does not increase. i will try to hook up the enercell the other way around. what is the svr2 that you are talking about? **

and this is as far as i have gotten. i was to get this baby up and running! someone please chime in and help me out! would love to take some pics of the entire setup after it is done and help others with a build similar to this.