My DIY LED light unit

Good morning everyone!!

So I decided (With a lot of inspiration on the internet) to build my own LED light unit for my 430 l tank (http://www.apsa.co.za/board/index.php?topic=9638.15)

The idea I had i decided to draw in google sketchup just to get a feeling of what to expect:


I placed my order and waited approx. 3 weeks.... but it finally arrived!!!!



The layout of the electronics would looks something like this:


I took the aluminium sheets/pieces to work and asked a colleague if he could help me bend the aluminium to make the box for the LED unit.... unfortunately i forgot to take a photo after the box was made and before I sent it for powder coating.... Well... this is what the box looks like:











And so the assembly started:

I glued the LED drivers on the inside of the walls:



After that I started laying out the LEDs:





I constructed the dimmers in its own littel box to control the three different light (3watt Warm white, 3watt blue and 3watt red). The Cool white (30 watt flood light) has its own driver with its own dimmer.



The final assembly of the LED unit without the lid looks like this:



And with the lid on:


I took it outside and tested it for 24 hours:
The the LED unit runs constantly at 40C at the LED on the heatskink... the warmest place i could find in the unit.... which I think is really good!

This is the testing:



And this is what it looks like in my tank:


The stats for the light unit are as follows:

2X 30Watt cool white Flood lights (12000 - 15000 K)
10X 3Watt warm white leds (3000 - 3500 K)
4X 3Watt blue leds (465 nm)
8X 3Watt red leds (625 nm)

The total lumens of this unit is 6600 lumens.

The unit can be expanded by adding up to 20 more leds to the heat sinks.

The dimensions of the unit:
1000mm length
200mm width
80mm height

The overall power used by this unit:
approx. 130 Watt


Hope you enjoyed this and please feel free to ask questions....

 

Very cool dude wish I had the time to do this.

How well do LED's do with plants ?

 

WOW, amazing DIY mind me asking how much it cost including the labour?

 

Props to you that is pretty good..Impressive skills

 

Thanx all!!

This is not part of my dailyu job and yes... it is my first time doing electronic work....

I just did a really big research on this topic before doing it and tried to cover all the ends of this project... but there is some flaws in this project like:

To clean the glass is a real mission! I need to take out the heatsinks to clean it on the inside....
I need to improve on the wiring inside to let it look a bit more safe....

@birkettN: Yes, I do believe LEDS are good for plants... You just need to make sure that you use the correct spectrum. The intensity of the light and the depth penetration for your foreground plants are better compared to that of the t5 units....

@Swagasaurus: Thanx man! I truly appreciate the compliment. The total cost on this unit is just over R3000... R3215 to be more exact. Yes it is a lot of money, but I am a type of person wanting to try stuff on my own and to see if I an do it. Also, I designed the unit so that one day I can let it do exactly what I want... and that is what the hobby is there for... to try things, play around and most important... HAVE FUN!!!

I bought all the electronics overseas... the only major thing that I have paid for in SA on the unit is the powder coating. This cost me R175 and it took 3 working days.

@tlchidau: Thank you so much. I must say, this is one of my many DIY projects which I had actually thought through properly...

@Jay: Sorry for posting this publically, but this way I can prevent any future questions being asked on the topic. No, I do not think I will be making alot of these and be selling them. Maybe in the future for it is a nice and LEKKER project to do, but I am starting a nerw job in January and I truly believe that this will take a lot of my time! The life of an Engineer... lol But thank you for the compliment and if you have questions on building your own unit, please feel free to ask some questions.... I will definitely try to help you. IT is really not that difficult. You just need to know how a multimeter works (just know how the multimeter settings for direct current and constant voltage work) and then having some fun.

Believe me!! I was quite stressed tackling this project because I do not like working with electricity especially when something is going to be fitted in my house. But this project is really quite safe i believe. and the parts is not that expensive, it just only takes a long time to be shipped. so, if you are patient then I believe that is the way to go...

 

@DaChicken,

just a query.
2X 30Watt cool white Flood lights (12000 - 15000 K) - Cool white Leds are 5500-6500K and not 15000K -would this not be listed as Actinic?

15000K is used for Coral growth and not Plant growth.

 

@sub-lime:

Thanx for the query...

The LED that I got is this one:
http://www.hero-ledstore.com/herole...-p-2498.html?zenid=hug6lrnnvfv7bmodn4nbr52r62

My plants are pearling really good, the repens is as green as ever and my Pogostemon stellatus is starting to get colour and not only green anymore...

I will be adding 10 more 3Watt 6000K-6500K High power cool white 130 lumen LEDs at a later stage....

 

If it works it works. My light is apparently not good enough for my setup but my plant's are doing just fine.

 

I agree... What is your setup @Swagasaurus?

 

@DaChicken: A clip on light that is supposed to be used for a reptile tank, that I retrofitted to take a 24 watt compact fluorescent light. (6500K) People told me it was not enough and that I will have algae and plant growth issues. Works just fine.

 

Great! I have been waiting for this post. Looks really good. I am glad it came out as you wanted and the fact that you have pearling means that they are doing their job. Well done!!!

 

Thanx @dkj: Yeah this was quite an awesome project...

 

@DaChicken
Would you mind telling me which drivers you used for the led's?

 

I used the Meanwell ELN 60-48D per colour LED's...

 

What Brand? Do your plants pearl? Id like to try something similar.

 

What driver did you use for the floodlight leds?

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

The Meanwell brand......

Yip! they pearl really good!!

 

Hey, really nice tidy job.
I also like doing things myself, and I can truly say that is very neat!
Your thread was also great and very informative. Ever though of writing handbooks or manuals.... ?