54 3 watt led build

[mr.badams]

Ok, so long time no post... Here is my next project. I'm starting to not like the T5's over my tank. I miss the point of shimmer,brightness and growth of a metal halide however, I'm not ready to tackle the heat issues that come with the halide set up. Yes, I know I could always get a chiller but, for the money spent on that kind of setup, I could have one awesome led setup. These are the plans, I Just happen to have three icecap 430-660 heat sinks, they measure 4 1/2" x 12". These heat sinks are not very thick just over 1/8 inch however I'm not worried about heat buildup with the ideas I plan on implementing. My Aquarium is a standard drilled 6' 125 gallon with two braces. The spacing in between each section of bracing is about 21". My point of using such a tiny heat sink is to mimic the bright point of a metal halide bulb by placing 18 leds as close together as possible with little to no heat. I will be using my favorite 120mm diy fans, they are made by cooler master and push 70cfm's at only 19dba. I already run six of these fans to aid in the cooling of the over driven T5's in use now, and they work flawlessly. I just ordered six more today, this will give me two fans for each heat sink. the leds are rated @ 750ma so I chose a driver slightly under that @ 680ma, this should help me a bit with heat. Stay tuned to see this awesomeness happen

[mr.badams]

The leds are 20000k, I also plan on keeping two of my T5's to supplement if I'm not satisfied with the color

[SNAKEMANVET]

Should be a nice diy build. Post pics during the build.

[mr.badams]

posted.... in the new forum

[mr.badams]

Originally Posted by mr.badams

posted.... in the new forum

Scratch that! New forum BLOWS!!! Will be updating very soon, Stay tuned!

[mr.badams]

where to start... where to start... Ok, I'm going to search through photobucket and find all the pics and start listing them.

[mr.badams]

Yes, good ole MS paint! This is my layout I planned to go with

[IMG][/IMG]

[mr.badams]

I just happen to have Three Heat sinks That came with some Icecap ballast I Had laying around the house. I Went ahead and ordered six 120mm cooler master PC fans. The fans are rated at 70CFM's @ 19DBA... not to bad, should be plenty to keep 18 x 3watt leds cool on a solid aluminum icecap 440-660 heat sink. keep in mind, I have 3 heat sinks and ordered six fans that's two 120mm fans per icecap heat sink.

[mr.badams]

My fans came in today! I have modded a 430 watt PC power supply to run 46 of them I know, I know. I will only be running 13-15 at the most, but still, I'll have room to play.

Here Is the PSU I chose.

[mr.badams]

Here is where I started to remove all the unnecessary wires and plugs.

[mr.badams]

On every PC power supply there is a PS/ON wire (99% of the time this wire is green), this is what tells the psu to come on when you press the power button on a computer. All I did was snip that wire and soldered it to a com wire, or in this case, no wire, just straight to the com section on the board of the psu.

[mr.badams]

This is all the junk wire I will not be needing.

[mr.badams]

Here is the finished product. for now...

[mr.badams]

I have the heat sinks mounted to the frame... I have also mounted 2 fans to each heat sink, A 250w metal halide wouldn't stand a chance with these bad boys. I will post pics soon...

[mr.badams]

[mr.badams]

[mr.badams]

[mr.badams]

Close up of how the fans are mounted.

[mr.badams]

I Intended on using my existing Icecap 660 ballast's, I changed my mind after playing with a 2x54 watt ballast I had laying around.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=_-hRlS6e1S0

Who knew it would work on a 80 watt bulb???? lol

[mr.badams]

Since I got a 60" T5 to run off of the 2 x 54 watt ballast, that idea has inspired me to build an all in one ballast/power box. Its turning out awesome, I completed the T5 and the pc psu portion of it today, now I'm just waiting on the 3 led drivers

[mr.badams]

[mr.badams]

I guess I could have used something other then wood... But, it works!

[mr.badams]

[mr.badams]

[mr.badams]

Now on to the fun stuff. The leds and drivers are all here! The leds were suppose to be cree brand leds. The more I look at them I believe they are Epstar Brand... Oh well, Ill still use them. I knew the price was to good to be true.