DIY LED Build

[vanished88]

 

[crew]

From what I have learned, you want to mount the LED's at least 1 inch in every direction from the others.. The basic rule of thumb is you should be able to pinch the heat sink at any location and not burn your fingers, if you can't do that, the LED's will be damaged from the heat. (note: you will feel heat, but as long as you can stand it, so can the LED's) The 1 inch is just a way to help assure you don't have a heat problem, if you have a big enough heat sink you should be fine. Good call on heatsinkusa, they are the best.

As for heat from the drivers (I noticed someone else mention this) You can mount the drivers away from the LED's or even away from the fish tank if you wanted to. The only thing you will need is longer wire.

 

[vanished88]

leds will be mounted around 2 inches apart assuming I run 4 rows of 10

 

[crew]

You should be fine.

 

[vanished88]

I am also looking at getting some 200mm antec big boy computer fans and installing 1-2 on each heatsink. they are rated at 134 cfm each.

 

[vanished88]

My leds showed up taday (much sooner than expected). I did an unboxing video for everyone, so everyone can see how the leds are packaged/shipped and what kind of quality to expect.

Overall I think the quality of the stars is just as good as any other star. They seem to be made of the same quality aluminum alloy that computer heatsinks are made of.

Here is a link to the video, I hope it helps answer any questions you guys may have about ledgroupbuy.com

<div class="gc_ifarem_title">YouTube - LED group buy unboxing</div>

I have also uploaded some pictures of the leds.
<fieldset class="gc-fieldset">
<legend> Attached files </legend>

>

class="gc-images" title="IMG_1190 2.jpg[/IMG] style="max-width:300px" /></a>

>

class="gc-images" title="IMG_1193 2.jpg[/IMG] style="max-width:300px" /></a>

>

class="gc-images" title="IMG_1195 2.jpg[/IMG] style="max-width:300px" /></a>

>

class="gc-images" title="IMG_1200 2.jpg[/IMG] style="max-width:300px" /></a> </fieldset>

 

[mockery]

What do you mean by the LEDs are not pre-tinned?

 

[vanished88]

The connections on the stars do not already come with solder on them. stars that are pre tinned come with solder already on the connectors so all you have to do is stick the wire on the connection and heat it with your iron until the solder melts and sticks the wire to the star. tinning is actually very easy, and for the money I saved I dont mind the little extra effort.

 

[vanished88]

Just got an update on my heatsinks. They should be arriving on monday. I will keep posting updates for anyone who is interested.

 

[vanished88]

I am going to use 60 degree optics. I know that the 70 degree optics are a little more efficient but I can not find them for the xp-e/xp-g series leds.

 

[guerry]

Vanished88;633150 wrote: I got 2 emails today saying that both my orders are awaiting shippment. I was supprised that the second order will be shipping with my first since I did not order the 2nd batch in time for the first group buy. As it stands I will be using 96 cool white xp-g, 72 xp-e royal blue, and 72 xp-e blue. I am hoping this 40% white to 60% blue will give me a nice blue color.

I am using 6 8.46"x20" heatsinks with 16 white, 12 royal blue, and 12 blue on each

I am looking for suggestions on how to layout the leds on each heatsink.

here's a link to my LED build maybe this will help with ideas on lay out

 

[vanished88]

Guerry;633990 wrote: here's a link to my LED build maybe this will help with ideas on lay out
http://kbmas.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=542&start=40#p6281">http://kbmas.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=542&start=40#p6281</a>[/QUOTE]

Thanks I will check it out when I get home. I am standing in line at sephora right now. My fiancee drug me to the grand opening in chattanooga because the first 100 people get $100 gift cards. It is kinda hard to look at the wiring on my phone.

Edit: [QUOTE=][B]Amici;634002 wrote:[/B] I can't either. If I do I'll let you know though. Where you getting your 60 deg from?[/QUOTE]

I will probably get them from ledgroupbuy.com also. The optics do not have to be preordered like the leds do. I may shop around a little more since I am still waiting on drivers. I am going to give the Thomas research drivers another 3 weeks or so and if they are still not available I will be going with the meanwells.

 

[vanished88]

Guerry;633990 wrote: here's a link to my LED build maybe this will help with ideas on lay out
http://kbmas.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=542&start=40#p6281">http://kbmas.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=542&start=40#p6281</a>[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the idea guerry it helped me a lot to come up with my layout idea.
What does everyone think?

RBWRWBWRWB
BWRWBWRWBR
RBWRWBWRWB
BWRWBWRWBR

I realize that it is kind of hard to read, I will upload the sketch that I made tomorrow.

W = Cool White
B = Blue
R = Royal Blue

Edit: Forgot to mention that if I leave a 1 inch lip all the way around the edge;

The leds (the actual emitter, not the stars) in the rows of 10 will be placed 1.7" apart.

The 4 rows will have 1.6" between them (again measuring from emitter to emitter)

 

[vanished88]

So I have been trying to decide on fans for my heatsinks. Anyone have any suggestion about how many cfm I should be blowing over each 8.46"x20" heatsink? Keep in mind that each heatsink will hold 40 leds. I am trying to decide between cross flow fans and computer fans and big the fans need to be.

 

[guerry]

I running this set up and works great

 

[crew]

I was thinking about your heating issue. The heat sink alone should get the job done minimally. With that being said, I would add a fan myself. As quiet as those things are, there is no reason to not have one.

You shouldn't need anything big, all you really need is to move the hot air out and cool air in. I imagine a single small fan or two should provide more than enough airflow.

 

[vanished88]

My heatsinks arrived late monday afternoon but I have been busy and not even had a chance to open them, I will get some pictures up later this week.

 

[crew]

I'll be starting my own LED build here soon so if you want to PM me or text me we can bounce ideas back and forth with how to get that sunrise sunset effect without paying $500 for a controller.. or have you figured that out?

 

[roundman]

Have you looked at the guy on reef central using an arduino microcontroller. He has a real good build thread and has posted the sketch (program) for you to copy. It just requires some putting together on your side. I have been working on one trying to learn how it works, then will start with some leds.

 

[morganatlanta]

Crew;634491 wrote: I was thinking about your heating issue. The heat sink alone should get the job done minimally. With that being said, I would add a fan myself. As quiet as those things are, there is no reason to not have one.

You shouldn't need anything big, all you really need is to move the hot air out and cool air in. I imagine a single small fan or two should provide more than enough airflow.

You might find that larger fans (like 120mm) run at reduced voltage will move more air and are quieter.