LED as main light - Page 18

Gomer · 04/19/2004, 12:03 PM

Very cool

waiting on my driver and heatsink, but a very cool package came in today

This is NOT for a reef setup, but rather a planted tank setup; Once I get things going, I'll link you to the forum where I will document everything...but for now...

Gomer · 04/19/2004, 12:04 PM

a close up

Gomer · 04/19/2004, 12:06 PM

oops

DennisRB · 04/19/2004, 01:22 PM

looking good gomer and sandisk. Sandisk, your lines of blue LEDs are very noticeable in the tank. Maybe they should be evenly distributed among the white ones, unless of course thats how you wanted it. Looks bright though. How bright is it to look at in real life? I think the shadowing gives a natural effect. The sun dosn't fill all the caves up like MH.

luceneck · 04/19/2004, 01:49 PM

Sandisct,

Plez give more info on how you set everything up! You can PM me the information if you don't want to weigh this already lenghty thread.

I want to know what size LED lights u used 3 or 5mm.
Which Wiring route you took, parallel or series.
How many volts you have.
What you are using to hold them in place.

I want to try this on my 10g but I was waiting for some feedback from you first. It looks great, and I like the shadows. More natural that way.

One last question, if you had to do something differently what would you do?

bzzbee2 · 04/19/2004, 01:51 PM

who cares if this thread gets lengthly... its already huge....i think we all wanna know the setup!

MadTownMax · 04/19/2004, 02:00 PM

gomer-

looking good, can't wait to see how that lighting works, I'd like to use a setup like yours over my refugium so that I'm not replacing 55W PCs every 7 months - hope everything works out well

Gomer and Sandist - do you guys have any NO flourescent or PCs around for comparison pics?

Gomer · 04/19/2004, 02:03 PM

*L* I don't even have these guys wired up let alone have the heatsink or drivers yet. Still waiting on the shipment. I have all sorts of PC and NO light that I can compare to when the time comes. I'll also do a Luxeon vs PC plant growth study.

mingzen · 04/19/2004, 02:41 PM

tagging . . .

wait, why're you all using wooden boards for your set-ups? can't you go to radioshack and get yourself some pre-drilled copper-clad board? or even the pre-drilled circuit boards w/o copper if you're afraid of corrosion. it'll certainly save you a great deal of trouble drilling out all those holes and the LEDs should stay in place just as well.

i just ordered 200+ LEDs myself and i'm going to give this a shot on my 30gal hex -- i only have 32W of PC lighting. what can i lose?

Gomer · 04/19/2004, 02:46 PM

Radioshack also has nickle plating solutions so that corrosion isn't a problem.

mingzen · 04/19/2004, 03:35 PM

speaking of heat-sinks, where would you put the heatsink? do you have a wide ground plane to put the heat-sink on? LEDs seem kinda small for them.

bzzbee2 · 04/19/2004, 03:39 PM

IMO heat sinks are really only needed with the luxeons. if your having heat issues with standard led's your probably overdriving them... in which case a simple fan would probably do the trick.

mingzen · 04/19/2004, 03:43 PM

yeah, but were on a luxeon would you put the heat-sink? on the ground plane?

sfsuphysics · 04/19/2004, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MadTownMax
gomer-

looking good, can't wait to see how that lighting works, I'd like to use a setup like yours over my refugium so that I'm not replacing 55W PCs every 7 months - hope everything works out well

Hmmmmmm now this I didn't think of! I might still have a use for my leds!!!! The only downside is that there probably wouldn't be any use for any blue or violet leds

My 99 led setup (see a few pages back) only used about 10 watts of power too, and look how much it lit the tank up. *conspiring conspiring*.

sfsuphysics · 04/19/2004, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mingzen
tagging . . .

wait, why're you all using wooden boards for your set-ups? can't you go to radioshack and get yourself some pre-drilled copper-clad board? or even the pre-drilled circuit boards w/o copper if you're afraid of corrosion. it'll certainly save you a great deal of trouble drilling out all those holes and the LEDs should stay in place just as well.

For me it was size and cost, the area I covered was 18" x 13" and that is one huge size for a copper clad board. That and radioshack is a rip off they're too expensive

mingzen · 04/19/2004, 05:05 PM

sfsuphysics:

"The only downside is that there probably wouldn't be any use for any blue or violet leds"

wait, i thought that plants use blues and UV for photosynthesis, and only green is reflected.

mingzen · 04/19/2004, 05:06 PM

okay, not UV, but at least blue.

sandisct · 04/19/2004, 10:22 PM

ok stats for my LED setup:

Bought the Leds from www.besthongkong.com, they've got very cheap LEDs selling online. they are 5mm LEDs 10,000mcd white and 400mcd blue. the blue shows up brighter then the white because i am overpowering them.

They are connected 3 in a series to run off my 12vdc computer power supply. and connected in parallel. Using the predrilled circuit board (i think it is call a veroboard) for base. 2 rolls of white on each side and the blue in the middle as you can see from the pic shown before.

The forward voltage running across the Leds are about 4Vdc and as the blue takes a lower voltage it is being over driven a bit as compared to the white ones, hence it is brighter.

The anemone's show some luminous green when the lights came on, i guess it must be from the blue lights.

I intend to connect the whites and blues seperately but running from the same supply... still trying to figure out how to do it.

Trying to find a timer that can be connected to a 12VDC supply to turn the whites on timer and keep the blue On throughout, so when the whites are off, i can get some moon light on my tank.

sfsuphysics · 04/20/2004, 09:22 AM

The anemone's show some luminous green when the lights came on, i guess it must be from the blue lights.
That's exactly where it comes from, most anything that'll fluoresce will do so in that region.

I intend to connect the whites and blues seperately but running from the same supply... still trying to figure out how to do it.

You're hooking series connections all in parallel right? Well hook all the whites in parallel, hook all the blues in parallel, then have two wires coming off the blue to (in parallel) that hook up to the white parallel chain with a switching mechanism inbetween. If you leave the blues on all day, hook the power up to the blue chain, if they alternate then you'll have to get inventive hook the power to the "middle" between the two chains and have two switching mechanisms one for white one for blue.

Trying to find a timer that can be connected to a 12VDC supply to turn the whites on timer and keep the blue On throughout, so when the whites are off, i can get some moon light on my tank.
hmmm, yah timers plug into 120V ac from the wall, so you might have some problems here

RichWise2002 · 04/20/2004, 10:07 AM

Tagging along

mingzen · 04/20/2004, 12:50 PM

sandisct:

what you can do is what i'm planning on -- wire up all the white LEDs to one 12V cheapo radioshack supply, and the blues on another. plug the blue directly into the wall socket to run day/night, and the whites to a timer you can find just about anywhere (www.liveaquaria.com has 'em, or i bought mine for 2x the liveaquaria price from petsmart). i think you can find cheap timers at pretty much any electronics store.

or you can get a clapper!

micaheli · 04/20/2004, 12:54 PM

I hate tagging... just FYI.

johnism · 04/20/2004, 12:57 PM

or do this promo http://www.x10.com/products/firecra...firecracker.htm
and just pay the 6.00(shipping cost)
and run it from your pc and then maybe buy a second lamp module for 5.00 @ radio shack or online and use this program
http://www.mv.com/users/besposito/or3.html and run it with moon cycles.
Just a thought,
John
PS. love this thread

johnism · 04/20/2004, 12:57 PM

sorry it looks like the promo is over

micaheli · 04/20/2004, 01:08 PM

You have to sign up for their waiting list. I waited 3 days.. then they said "okay, just pay shipping" and I did.. just got it yesterday.

04/19/2004, 02:03 PM	#433
Gomer Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: SF Posts: 1,049	L I don't even have these guys wired up let alone have the heatsink or drivers yet. Still waiting on the shipment. I have all sorts of PC and NO light that I can compare to when the time comes. I'll also do a Luxeon vs PC plant growth study. __________________ -Tony

04/19/2004, 02:41 PM	#434
mingzen Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: California Posts: 81	tagging . . . wait, why're you all using wooden boards for your set-ups? can't you go to radioshack and get yourself some pre-drilled copper-clad board? or even the pre-drilled circuit boards w/o copper if you're afraid of corrosion. it'll certainly save you a great deal of trouble drilling out all those holes and the LEDs should stay in place just as well. i just ordered 200+ LEDs myself and i'm going to give this a shot on my 30gal hex -- i only have 32W of PC lighting. what can i lose? __________________ oof i just saw my credit card bill Current Tank Info: 35 acrylic hex. w/ 1 last-stand soft coral and still too many fish (they just won't die!)

04/19/2004, 02:46 PM	#435
Gomer Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: SF Posts: 1,049	Radioshack also has nickle plating solutions so that corrosion isn't a problem. __________________ -Tony

04/19/2004, 03:35 PM	#436
mingzen Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: California Posts: 81	speaking of heat-sinks, where would you put the heatsink? do you have a wide ground plane to put the heat-sink on? LEDs seem kinda small for them. __________________ oof i just saw my credit card bill Current Tank Info: 35 acrylic hex. w/ 1 last-stand soft coral and still too many fish (they just won't die!)

04/19/2004, 03:43 PM	#438
mingzen Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: California Posts: 81	yeah, but were on a luxeon would you put the heat-sink? on the ground plane? __________________ oof i just saw my credit card bill Current Tank Info: 35 acrylic hex. w/ 1 last-stand soft coral and still too many fish (they just won't die!)

04/19/2004, 12:03 PM	#426
Gomer Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: SF Posts: 1,049	Very cool waiting on my driver and heatsink, but a very cool package came in today This is NOT for a reef setup, but rather a planted tank setup; Once I get things going, I'll link you to the forum where I will document everything...but for now...

04/19/2004, 12:04 PM	#427
Gomer Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: SF Posts: 1,049	a close up

04/19/2004, 12:06 PM	#428
Gomer Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: SF Posts: 1,049	oops

04/19/2004, 01:22 PM	#429
DennisRB Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 388	looking good gomer and sandisk. Sandisk, your lines of blue LEDs are very noticeable in the tank. Maybe they should be evenly distributed among the white ones, unless of course thats how you wanted it. Looks bright though. How bright is it to look at in real life? I think the shadowing gives a natural effect. The sun dosn't fill all the caves up like MH.

04/19/2004, 01:49 PM	#430
luceneck Moved On Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Rockville, MD Posts: 981	Sandisct, Plez give more info on how you set everything up! You can PM me the information if you don't want to weigh this already lenghty thread. I want to know what size LED lights u used 3 or 5mm. Which Wiring route you took, parallel or series. How many volts you have. What you are using to hold them in place. I want to try this on my 10g but I was waiting for some feedback from you first. It looks great, and I like the shadows. More natural that way. One last question, if you had to do something differently what would you do?

04/19/2004, 01:51 PM	#431
bzzbee2 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: sacramento Posts: 419	who cares if this thread gets lengthly... its already huge....i think we all wanna know the setup!

04/19/2004, 02:00 PM	#432
MadTownMax ***erately knowledgable Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Appleton, WI Posts: 2,750 Blog Entries: 1	gomer- looking good, can't wait to see how that lighting works, I'd like to use a setup like yours over my refugium so that I'm not replacing 55W PCs every 7 months - hope everything works out well Gomer and Sandist - do you guys have any NO flourescent or PCs around for comparison pics?

04/19/2004, 03:39 PM	#437
bzzbee2 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: sacramento Posts: 419	IMO heat sinks are really only needed with the luxeons. if your having heat issues with standard led's your probably overdriving them... in which case a simple fan would probably do the trick.

04/19/2004, 05:05 PM	#441
mingzen Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: California Posts: 81	sfsuphysics: "The only downside is that there probably wouldn't be any use for any blue or violet leds" wait, i thought that plants use blues and UV for photosynthesis, and only green is reflected. __________________ oof i just saw my credit card bill Current Tank Info: 35 acrylic hex. w/ 1 last-stand soft coral and still too many fish (they just won't die!)

04/19/2004, 05:06 PM	#442
mingzen Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: California Posts: 81	okay, not UV, but at least blue. __________________ oof i just saw my credit card bill Current Tank Info: 35 acrylic hex. w/ 1 last-stand soft coral and still too many fish (they just won't die!)

04/19/2004, 10:22 PM	#443
sandisct Moved On Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Singapore Posts: 133	ok stats for my LED setup: Bought the Leds from www.besthongkong.com, they've got very cheap LEDs selling online. they are 5mm LEDs 10,000mcd white and 400mcd blue. the blue shows up brighter then the white because i am overpowering them. They are connected 3 in a series to run off my 12vdc computer power supply. and connected in parallel. Using the predrilled circuit board (i think it is call a veroboard) for base. 2 rolls of white on each side and the blue in the middle as you can see from the pic shown before. The forward voltage running across the Leds are about 4Vdc and as the blue takes a lower voltage it is being over driven a bit as compared to the white ones, hence it is brighter. The anemone's show some luminous green when the lights came on, i guess it must be from the blue lights. I intend to connect the whites and blues seperately but running from the same supply... still trying to figure out how to do it. Trying to find a timer that can be connected to a 12VDC supply to turn the whites on timer and keep the blue On throughout, so when the whites are off, i can get some moon light on my tank.

04/20/2004, 09:22 AM	#444
sfsuphysics Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: San Francisco Posts: 9,103	The anemone's show some luminous green when the lights came on, i guess it must be from the blue lights. That's exactly where it comes from, most anything that'll fluoresce will do so in that region. I intend to connect the whites and blues seperately but running from the same supply... still trying to figure out how to do it. You're hooking series connections all in parallel right? Well hook all the whites in parallel, hook all the blues in parallel, then have two wires coming off the blue to (in parallel) that hook up to the white parallel chain with a switching mechanism inbetween. If you leave the blues on all day, hook the power up to the blue chain, if they alternate then you'll have to get inventive hook the power to the "middle" between the two chains and have two switching mechanisms one for white one for blue. Trying to find a timer that can be connected to a 12VDC supply to turn the whites on timer and keep the blue On throughout, so when the whites are off, i can get some moon light on my tank. hmmm, yah timers plug into 120V ac from the wall, so you might have some problems here

04/20/2004, 10:07 AM	#445
RichWise2002 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Baltimore, MD Posts: 71	Tagging along

04/20/2004, 12:50 PM	#446
mingzen Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: California Posts: 81	sandisct: what you can do is what i'm planning on -- wire up all the white LEDs to one 12V cheapo radioshack supply, and the blues on another. plug the blue directly into the wall socket to run day/night, and the whites to a timer you can find just about anywhere (www.liveaquaria.com has 'em, or i bought mine for 2x the liveaquaria price from petsmart). i think you can find cheap timers at pretty much any electronics store. or you can get a clapper! __________________ oof i just saw my credit card bill Current Tank Info: 35 acrylic hex. w/ 1 last-stand soft coral and still too many fish (they just won't die!)

04/20/2004, 12:54 PM	#447
micaheli Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 189	I hate tagging... just FYI. __________________ NORTHWEST REEF COMMUNITY -- NWREEF.COM Current Tank Info: 75Gal Mixed Reef, Nuvo 8, 29 Biocube frag tank

04/20/2004, 12:57 PM	#448
johnism Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 146	or do this promo http://www.x10.com/products/firecra...firecracker.htm and just pay the 6.00(shipping cost) and run it from your pc and then maybe buy a second lamp module for 5.00 @ radio shack or online and use this program http://www.mv.com/users/besposito/or3.html and run it with moon cycles. Just a thought, John PS. love this thread

04/20/2004, 12:57 PM	#449
johnism Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 146	sorry it looks like the promo is over

04/20/2004, 01:08 PM	#450
micaheli Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 189	You have to sign up for their waiting list. I waited 3 days.. then they said "okay, just pay shipping" and I did.. just got it yesterday. __________________ NORTHWEST REEF COMMUNITY -- NWREEF.COM Current Tank Info: 75Gal Mixed Reef, Nuvo 8, 29 Biocube frag tank