Thinking of a DIY led fixture

Justin0329

Reefing newb
so, this is what I'm thinking...

Lights: eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

Converter: eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

And connector for the converter: eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

I'm going to also use a piece of acrylic with 200 5mm holes drilled in it to insert the bulbs into. Then Ill use a cheap housing from Lowes or Home Depot and paint it black if it isn't already. I have an old mirror laying around that I am going to cut using a glass cutter and line the inside of the housing as the reflector.

Because I am using so many lights, this project will take some time. I will keep you all posted of my progress once it actually starts...

Any comments or recommendations would be greatly appreciated... :D
 
In the fixture I will mount a small fan with a vent at the other end for cooling. That is of course if the fixture will even get warm enough to need it. I don't want it to warp the acrylic but then again, they are led's so heat shouldn't be an issue. Ive just heard of people using heat sinks so it's on my mind.
 
Hope you are just going to use it for a fish only tank. You will not be able to keep corals alive with that light.

There is a lot more to building an LED system than finding cheap LEDs and slapping them together. Especially if you are wanting to keep corals.

Rapid LED Home Page

Check these guys out if you want to do a DIY right.
 
Also, you wont need to have a reflector in the housing because LEDs are a directional light source. All the light will aim down. None will really go up.

The heat sinks are for the 3 watt LEDs. Those do get hot and without a heat sink, the life span will be dramatically shortened.

To give you an idea, those LEDs you linked to run on a voltage of 3.4 volts and draw 20mA

Watts = Volts x Amps

Watts = 3.4V x 20mA = 68mW

or .068 Watts. 200 of them will be a grand total of around 14 watts. Which is an equivilent power out put of about four and a half of the 3 watt LEDs.
 
Not that I have corals at this point but you never know, things may change. What is it about the led's I found VS the ones Rapid sells that makes them better for corals. That's really the reason I was going to use so many bulbs. I was under the impression that its the light output, thus the quantity.
 
Also, you wont need to have a reflector in the housing because LEDs are a directional light source. All the light will aim down. None will really go up.

The heat sinks are for the 3 watt LEDs. Those do get hot and without a heat sink, the life span will be dramatically shortened.

To give you an idea, those LEDs you linked to run on a voltage of 3.4 volts and draw 20mA

Watts = Volts x Amps

Watts = 3.4V x 20mA = 68mW

or .068 Watts. 200 of them will be a grand total of around 14 watts. Which is an equivilent power out put of about four and a half of the 3 watt LEDs.

ok, well you answered my question before I finished asking,,,
 
one build thread I saw showed the use of 36 of the 3 watt led's. that a total wattage of 108 watts. Is that enough to provide enough lighting for corals?
 
Okay, you have several threads going on the same topic and I've tried responding to them all.

First things first, its not really the watts that you are looking at for keeping coral. Watts really is more of a guildine, especially now that LED's are in the market. The other thing that you need to consider, is the spectrum of light that your light source puts out. Corals are photosynthetic because of the symbiotic algae that live with them, and they can only use certain portions of a light wave to make energy. If it were solely about watts, you could theoretically buy a bunch of cheap Chinese LED's, string them up and call it a day.

It's awesome that you have enough electrical knowledge to go the DIY route, I wish I did. Before you do that, research some of the pre-built fixtures on the market to see what kinds of LED's are used, and to get an idea of how many you will need. Most fixtures use some variant of CREE LED's, as these have shown to be the most reliable, while putting out the closes match to spectrum that we need.

In addition to looking at the fixtures from the various makers (Start with EcoTech and AquaIllumination, then take a look at Ecoxotic) I would head over to Rapid LED Home Page - they have all kinds of DIY kits, and if you tell them what size tank you have, I am sure that they will make a recommendation for you.

As far as the build you mentioned using 36 LED's - it absolutely could support corals, on a tank of the right size....
 
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