Hey All,
A while back I upgraded my tank with some Aquastyle DIY LEDs but I needed a little extra light in the center of my tank (due to the top support brace). I decided to go the PAR38 route and DIY'ed myself an LED bulb for around $45. Since a similar lamp costs $90-$100 new, I thought I'd share this build.
NOTE: While this is a relatively simple build if you have DIY LED experience, you will have to employ most of the same skills here. From here on I’ll assume you already know how to solder, apply heat-sink epoxy, ect.
I started with this bulb made by Sunpark:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BL2TAK/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00">Amazon.com: Sunpark PAR38 High Power LED Spot Light Bulb, 15-Watt, Daylight White: Home Improvement</a>
It specifically mentions high-power CREE in the description, and from the wattage and number of LEDs I knew I could re-use the driver. I already had a few leftover 3W Bridgelux LEDs from my kit builds, but I needed a couple more Royal Blue which I bought from [IMG]http://www.ledgroupbuy.com">www.ledgroupbuy.com</a> for about $10. If you had to buy all 5 LEDs it would run you around $18 after shipping (for 6).
Once all the parts came in it was time to start deconstructing.
Step 1: The base of the bulb was easily removed from the heat-sink and LED assembly by removing two screws on the bottom of the bulb and unplugging the cable connecting the LED board (picture attached).
Step 2: This is the hard part. There is a metal ring around the top of the heat-sink that holds in place a plastic disc which houses the LED optics. This metal ring mates to the head-sink fins and the only way I could get it off (without destroying the fins) was to just pry it with a flat-head screw driver. After working it for a while (flexing the fins as you pry will help) the metal ring will come off (picture attached). Hard part over.
Step 3: I desoldered the wire connector that interfaces to the driver, removed the three screws holding the existing LED board in-place and removed this board (once the screws are off its only held in-place by heat-sink compound). Picture attached.
Step 4: In-order to get the new LEDs to line-up correctly with the optics I simply placed each LED up-side-down in the lens before applying heat-sink glue to the LEDs (picture attached). This way I could just press the LEDs into the empty heat-sink and not have to worry about adjusting the position of each one individually.
Step 5: Now that the LEDs are glued into the heat-sink I soldered them in series as you would with any other LED string and soldered the jumper that connect to the driver (picture attached). Make sure to get the polarity right (red=positive, black=negative)!
Step 6: Press and/or screw everything back together and voila, you have yourself a PAR38 reef capable bulb for about $50!
Hopefully someone finds this build useful. I know it saved me about $50 so I thought I would share the love.
-Chris
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A while back I upgraded my tank with some Aquastyle DIY LEDs but I needed a little extra light in the center of my tank (due to the top support brace). I decided to go the PAR38 route and DIY'ed myself an LED bulb for around $45. Since a similar lamp costs $90-$100 new, I thought I'd share this build.
NOTE: While this is a relatively simple build if you have DIY LED experience, you will have to employ most of the same skills here. From here on I’ll assume you already know how to solder, apply heat-sink epoxy, ect.
I started with this bulb made by Sunpark:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BL2TAK/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00">Amazon.com: Sunpark PAR38 High Power LED Spot Light Bulb, 15-Watt, Daylight White: Home Improvement</a>
It specifically mentions high-power CREE in the description, and from the wattage and number of LEDs I knew I could re-use the driver. I already had a few leftover 3W Bridgelux LEDs from my kit builds, but I needed a couple more Royal Blue which I bought from [IMG]http://www.ledgroupbuy.com">www.ledgroupbuy.com</a> for about $10. If you had to buy all 5 LEDs it would run you around $18 after shipping (for 6).
Once all the parts came in it was time to start deconstructing.
Step 1: The base of the bulb was easily removed from the heat-sink and LED assembly by removing two screws on the bottom of the bulb and unplugging the cable connecting the LED board (picture attached).
Step 2: This is the hard part. There is a metal ring around the top of the heat-sink that holds in place a plastic disc which houses the LED optics. This metal ring mates to the head-sink fins and the only way I could get it off (without destroying the fins) was to just pry it with a flat-head screw driver. After working it for a while (flexing the fins as you pry will help) the metal ring will come off (picture attached). Hard part over.
Step 3: I desoldered the wire connector that interfaces to the driver, removed the three screws holding the existing LED board in-place and removed this board (once the screws are off its only held in-place by heat-sink compound). Picture attached.
Step 4: In-order to get the new LEDs to line-up correctly with the optics I simply placed each LED up-side-down in the lens before applying heat-sink glue to the LEDs (picture attached). This way I could just press the LEDs into the empty heat-sink and not have to worry about adjusting the position of each one individually.
Step 5: Now that the LEDs are glued into the heat-sink I soldered them in series as you would with any other LED string and soldered the jumper that connect to the driver (picture attached). Make sure to get the polarity right (red=positive, black=negative)!
Step 6: Press and/or screw everything back together and voila, you have yourself a PAR38 reef capable bulb for about $50!
Hopefully someone finds this build useful. I know it saved me about $50 so I thought I would share the love.
-Chris
<fieldset class="gc-fieldset">
<legend> Attached files </legend> [IMG]http://atlantareefclub.org/boards/data/uploads/attachments/790167=39113-photo 1.jpg>
