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lingwendil · 11/07/2017, 04:01 PM

I've been throwing in my opinion and experience in a few threads, and sort of took over one of them for an open brainstorm session based on what I thought would be an economical way to build a pretty powerful array on a reasonable budget. After recommending a fixture based on the following design ideas and part selection, I dug out a spare heatsink, and decided to put my money where my mouth is.

Original discussion-
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2651007

Design philosophy includes the following goals-

Affordable, without resorting to poor quality/efficiency diodes.

Reduced emitter counts, for less wiring and mounting. This is where the COB (chip on board) types of arrays come in very handy. There will be a compromise here for cost, and modular reasons, but not much.

Adjustable colors, each color is on its own channel, this way we can see what percentages work/look good, and reduce/increase them on future iterations as necessary.

Simple as is reasonable, considering the previous goals. No goofy daisy chains to pull off any weird design tricks.

Now all those in mind, I set out to figure out the best way to go. LumiLEDs produced the Luxeon "K" series of LED arrays, in white and royal blue. These use the same emitter die as used in the hugely popular and useful Luxeon M royal blue, and upon seeing the low cost ($5~ each!) of the K16, I couldn't resist ordering a couple to try. Most of these you see for sale were meant for use in remote phosphor applications in products made by Toshiba, and you will see the Toshiba name on the PCB of most available, but rest assured, they are true Luxeons, just surplus. By using the K16, we are able to do the work of 16 (!) individual stars with a single board of slightly larger (30mm vs. 20mm) size.

With my choice of royal blue, I set out to find a suitable base white LED to use with them. Due to recent research on various freshwater aquarium lighting applications, I had recently found some pretty nice COB types of arrays that boast higher CRI than we usually see in smaller 3-5w class emitters. The Bridgelux Vero in particular is a fairly well known one, and the Vero 10 is usually a sub $4 part that is available in a 90CRI 3000K, 4000K, and 5600K version. My preference is for a 4000K white, as if you go higher to a 5600K or cooler white you lose a good bit of the warmer output, and trade it off for more of the 440-460nm blue range that we are already covering with our royal blue emitters. Cooler whites will work, but as many who build a lot of arrays will tell you, the switch to a warmer white will be a night and day difference in color rendition, as well as allowing us to not have to throw any reds in there to cover the area the whites don't. Adding red could be done if you want to, but I don't run them very high on reef setups as they can be hard to blend, and will be largely unnecessary if our white already has enough. Higher CRI emitters also tend to have less of a dip in the 460-500nm range, which can not only aid in photosynthesis, but bring out more color.

After looking at various options out there, I settled on the 97CRI 4000K Citizen CLU028, since it is a very nice emitter, and has pretty nice color distribution on the curve-

That's a pretty nice distribution of color, compared to something like the Cree XM-L-

Proof of concept, running the Citizen, K16, and a lime. These suckers are nice!

Pretty purple looking, but in reality it looks way better... we all know how terrible cameras are at LED color rendition

So, on top of that, I decided to throw a few more emitters in there. Having so much blue and warmer output can push the overall look of the tank a little on the pink side. To counteract this a bit, as well as aid color rendition, photosynthesis, and brightness in the overall look, I decided to add blue (often reffered to as "cool" or "regular" blue) and cyan, as well as lime. While the blue and cyan will be useful in photosynthesis of zooxanthellae, the lime is more for tuning visual brightness, as well as color.

I also decided to throw a couple of violets in there, to cover the bottom edge of the range, as they are very helpful for photosynthesis as well. I may add a couple more later.

So, here's the parts list so far...

Heatsink- RapidLED 20" premium enclosure (https://www.rapidled.com/6-x-20-prem...YaAs4uEALw_wcB)

Two clusters of the following emitters each-

1x Citizen CLU028 4000k, 97 CRI neutral white (https://www.digikey.com/short/qt0pp1)
1x Luxeon K16 royal blue (equivalent to 4x luxeon M, or 16x Luxeon ES!) (find these on fleaBay, and AliExpress, usually run from $4-6 each, common pricing is 5 for $20 shipped)
4x Luxeon Rebel ES true cool blue (470-480nm)
2x Luxeon Rebel ES cyan (one each from rapidLED, one from Steve's, not that it makes much difference)
2x SemiLEDs Hyper violet 3.0 (U70 bin, 415-425nm)
1x Luxeon Rebel lime

Total LED cost is just under $100 or so for both clusters, not factoring in shipping.

The plan so far is to drive most everything at 700mA, and the Citizens at 300mA.

Here's the

Ignoring the drivers, control, fan, etc, the LEDs themselves on both channels will pull-

Royal blue- 61.6w (700mA, 44v, x2 strings)
White- 22.8w (300mA, 38v, x2 strings)
Blue- 18.3w (700mA, 13.08v, x2 strings)
Cyan- 8.1w (700mA, 11.6v)
Violet- 5.2w (700mA, 14.8v)
Lime- 3.78w (700mA, 5.4v)

All combined is 108w total, and 84.4w will be on the white/royal base colors. White/royal will be on a 48V PSU with LDD-H drivers, everything else will be on a 19V PSU and run off of LDD-L drivers. This is of course assuming everything is running full blast, and it's not likely that I would run everything that high other than a few channels for tuning color. Each color is split out into its own channel, for six channels of adjustment. Should be pretty rad!

I'll update this as I go, but it's looking pretty nice so far.

Total LED cost is $77.74, before shipping-

4x Cyan= $10.00
8x Blue= $22.00
2x Lime= $5.50
2x Neutral White= $14.64
2x Royal Blue= $10
4x Violet= $15.60

11/07/2017, 04:01 PM	#1
lingwendil Man who sold the world Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Oakley, behind enemy lines in communist occupied California. Posts: 254	The budget big bruiser LED build... I've been throwing in my opinion and experience in a few threads, and sort of took over one of them for an open brainstorm session based on what I thought would be an economical way to build a pretty powerful array on a reasonable budget. After recommending a fixture based on the following design ideas and part selection, I dug out a spare heatsink, and decided to put my money where my mouth is. Original discussion- http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2651007 Design philosophy includes the following goals- Affordable, without resorting to poor quality/efficiency diodes. Reduced emitter counts, for less wiring and mounting. This is where the COB (chip on board) types of arrays come in very handy. There will be a compromise here for cost, and modular reasons, but not much. Adjustable colors, each color is on its own channel, this way we can see what percentages work/look good, and reduce/increase them on future iterations as necessary. Simple as is reasonable, considering the previous goals. No goofy daisy chains to pull off any weird design tricks. Now all those in mind, I set out to figure out the best way to go. LumiLEDs produced the Luxeon "K" series of LED arrays, in white and royal blue. These use the same emitter die as used in the hugely popular and useful Luxeon M royal blue, and upon seeing the low cost ($5~ each!) of the K16, I couldn't resist ordering a couple to try. Most of these you see for sale were meant for use in remote phosphor applications in products made by Toshiba, and you will see the Toshiba name on the PCB of most available, but rest assured, they are true Luxeons, just surplus. By using the K16, we are able to do the work of 16 (!) individual stars with a single board of slightly larger (30mm vs. 20mm) size. With my choice of royal blue, I set out to find a suitable base white LED to use with them. Due to recent research on various freshwater aquarium lighting applications, I had recently found some pretty nice COB types of arrays that boast higher CRI than we usually see in smaller 3-5w class emitters. The Bridgelux Vero in particular is a fairly well known one, and the Vero 10 is usually a sub $4 part that is available in a 90CRI 3000K, 4000K, and 5600K version. My preference is for a 4000K white, as if you go higher to a 5600K or cooler white you lose a good bit of the warmer output, and trade it off for more of the 440-460nm blue range that we are already covering with our royal blue emitters. Cooler whites will work, but as many who build a lot of arrays will tell you, the switch to a warmer white will be a night and day difference in color rendition, as well as allowing us to not have to throw any reds in there to cover the area the whites don't. Adding red could be done if you want to, but I don't run them very high on reef setups as they can be hard to blend, and will be largely unnecessary if our white already has enough. Higher CRI emitters also tend to have less of a dip in the 460-500nm range, which can not only aid in photosynthesis, but bring out more color. After looking at various options out there, I settled on the 97CRI 4000K Citizen CLU028, since it is a very nice emitter, and has pretty nice color distribution on the curve- That's a pretty nice distribution of color, compared to something like the Cree XM-L- Proof of concept, running the Citizen, K16, and a lime. These suckers are nice! Pretty purple looking, but in reality it looks way better... we all know how terrible cameras are at LED color rendition So, on top of that, I decided to throw a few more emitters in there. Having so much blue and warmer output can push the overall look of the tank a little on the pink side. To counteract this a bit, as well as aid color rendition, photosynthesis, and brightness in the overall look, I decided to add blue (often reffered to as "cool" or "regular" blue) and cyan, as well as lime. While the blue and cyan will be useful in photosynthesis of zooxanthellae, the lime is more for tuning visual brightness, as well as color. I also decided to throw a couple of violets in there, to cover the bottom edge of the range, as they are very helpful for photosynthesis as well. I may add a couple more later. So, here's the parts list so far... Heatsink- RapidLED 20" premium enclosure (https://www.rapidled.com/6-x-20-prem...YaAs4uEALw_wcB) Two clusters of the following emitters each- 1x Citizen CLU028 4000k, 97 CRI neutral white (https://www.digikey.com/short/qt0pp1) 1x Luxeon K16 royal blue (equivalent to 4x luxeon M, or 16x Luxeon ES!) (find these on fleaBay, and AliExpress, usually run from $4-6 each, common pricing is 5 for $20 shipped) 4x Luxeon Rebel ES true cool blue (470-480nm) 2x Luxeon Rebel ES cyan (one each from rapidLED, one from Steve's, not that it makes much difference) 2x SemiLEDs Hyper violet 3.0 (U70 bin, 415-425nm) 1x Luxeon Rebel lime Total LED cost is just under $100 or so for both clusters, not factoring in shipping. The plan so far is to drive most everything at 700mA, and the Citizens at 300mA. Here's the Ignoring the drivers, control, fan, etc, the LEDs themselves on both channels will pull- Royal blue- 61.6w (700mA, 44v, x2 strings) White- 22.8w (300mA, 38v, x2 strings) Blue- 18.3w (700mA, 13.08v, x2 strings) Cyan- 8.1w (700mA, 11.6v) Violet- 5.2w (700mA, 14.8v) Lime- 3.78w (700mA, 5.4v) All combined is 108w total, and 84.4w will be on the white/royal base colors. White/royal will be on a 48V PSU with LDD-H drivers, everything else will be on a 19V PSU and run off of LDD-L drivers. This is of course assuming everything is running full blast, and it's not likely that I would run everything that high other than a few channels for tuning color. Each color is split out into its own channel, for six channels of adjustment. Should be pretty rad! I'll update this as I go, but it's looking pretty nice so far. Total LED cost is $77.74, before shipping- 4x Cyan= $10.00 8x Blue= $22.00 2x Lime= $5.50 2x Neutral White= $14.64 2x Royal Blue= $10 4x Violet= $15.60 __________________ LED snob. Unapologetic Luxeon Rebel and Bridgelux Vero fanboy. Every time a fluorescent or halide fixture is scrapped, an angel gets its wings. Last edited by lingwendil; 11/10/2017 at 04:35 PM.