My DIY Lumia 5.2 LED based build
- Thread starter torqued
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It does look better. It also gave you a better way to run the cables, much cleaner.
Are you going to put a lens on these?
Are you going to put a lens on these?
Also, is there any thermal grease or thermal film/tape in between the LED's and the heat sink?
Even if you have them bolted down, some thermal grease will help with the heat transfer and keep them cool.
Find it at Fry's or Microcenter, normally white or silver paste that goes in between a computer processor and a heat sink.
Don't need expensive stuff - and a little goes a long way.
Even if you have them bolted down, some thermal grease will help with the heat transfer and keep them cool.
Find it at Fry's or Microcenter, normally white or silver paste that goes in between a computer processor and a heat sink.
Don't need expensive stuff - and a little goes a long way.
Kurt said he was using Arctic Silver in an earlier post.
My concern is the 2 grove channels that run right through the center of the led clusters. Could those create hot spots? or is it not enough to worry about?
My concern is the 2 grove channels that run right through the center of the led clusters. Could those create hot spots? or is it not enough to worry about?
AS is good, should do fine.
I wouldn't worry about the gaps, there's a flat run of aluminum going right down the center.
Plus, the mounting hole alignment with the tracks leads me to believe that sideways mounting is the intended orientation...
I wouldn't worry about the gaps, there's a flat run of aluminum going right down the center.
Plus, the mounting hole alignment with the tracks leads me to believe that sideways mounting is the intended orientation...
Yep, I put Artic Silver 5 on all of them
. That was the reason I was reluctant to move them. I also build my own PCs so I had two tubes of the stuff lying around.A word on that....
Applying paste to CPUs is best done with the "Pea Method". IE you just put a pea size drop on the center of the CPU, and then press it to the heatsink. This results in very even distribution and just the right amount of paste to get perfect heat transfer. THIS METHOD DOES NOT WORK ON THESE! I tried it for the hell of it, but because first off, the LED is not uniform shape, and because of the gaps in the heat sink, it simply does not spread properly, or even close to it for that matter. So i reverted to the spreading technique using a razorblade (some use a plastic credit card or something similar). I just spread it out nice and thin over the entire copper surface to get a nice even coverage over the entire surface. So moral of the story... dont try the pea method, or any other method that involves pressing the led down to distribute the paste...it doesnt work
I actually was considering that, and was told not to. Supposedly the natural LED gives off an ~120 deg beam, and unless I added more clusters, further narrowing that beam would only make the shadowing effect of the LEDs worse, so i was advised against using lenses. Had my tank been like 30"+ deep, perhaps it would have been a consideration.
any update on this?
I wish I did. Unfortunately I am still waiting for the controller to arrive. It is supposed to arrive next Monday (June 6). The bluefish mini was on backorder forever, and I finally gave up on my original supplier and ordered from the main distributor, NOT REALIZING THEY WERE IN CANADA! So while they did have them in stock, the shipping is taking forever....and yes I am quite annoyed :mad2:
As soon as I get it, I will fire the old girl up and see how my build went
. Would love it if I could get a hold on a PAR meter to take some measurements.
very cool, excited to see the outcome along with PAR results.
Good news ans bad news folks!
Good news is I got my Bluefish. The bad news is when firing the whole thing up I made a very critical error, and almost hate to even admit it publicly lol. Because I use standard power cables as my quick disconnects (which was a pretty **** good idea i think). I should have labeled them (they are now ). Because I happened to accidentally plug the cord coming from the fixture directly into the wall outlet....BIG BIG NO NO. They drivers WILL smoke when you do this.....trust me I have first hand knowledge . Thankfully had a couple of spares LDD Drivers, but unfortunately it also blew my DC/DC converters. They are what gives the BF its power, as well as the onboard fan/channel controllers. Total those 5 drivers and two DC/DC converters cost about $50, so I will need to buy replacements.
That being said, 4 out of 6 LEDs are fully functioning, and the other two (the ones driven by the board I blew to hell) only 2 out of 5 channels work until i get the replacement drivers/converters. Overall I am pretty **** excited to get this thing going. The phone app works flawlessly, and the weather effects and lighting are cool as hell too (a bit a gimmicky but still cool).
SIDE NOTE:
One thing I did run into was a wiring issue caused by not paying proper attention to the molex connectors that come with the LEDs. They come in 3 types. Inter connect (which connect the LEDs together in series), and a connector meant to connect to the output (ground) side of the LED string, and another meant to connect to the Postive (input side) of the string. The connectors LOOK IDENTICAL, except the colors go in reverse. This is super easy not to notice, and if you dont get it right, it results in the ground wires being mismatched to the proper positive lead on the PCB. This will result in channel 3 (because its in the middle and thus unaffected) being the only working channel. This took me a couple hours of frustration to find the cause. Because I blew the first PCB to hell, of course I was now flipping out thinking I had blown the entire array of LEDs out, which would have been a VERY VERY costly mistake. Thankfully that was not the case. I was able to use a standard AC/DC converter with enough juice in it to test each channel on every LED last night before bed, so I knew I didnt blow those too. Otherwise I think I would never have slept last night lol. This morning, after starting fresh, i was able to find and correct the issue, and the unit works fantastic, and I couldnt be happier for now!
I am going to hold off on any video until I get the new parts and I can show the unit fully functional. It will probably be Friday until I get the new parts.
Good news is I got my Bluefish. The bad news is when firing the whole thing up I made a very critical error, and almost hate to even admit it publicly lol. Because I use standard power cables as my quick disconnects (which was a pretty **** good idea i think
). I should have labeled them (they are now ). Because I happened to accidentally plug the cord coming from the fixture directly into the wall outlet....BIG BIG NO NO. They drivers WILL smoke when you do this.....trust me I have first hand knowledge . Thankfully had a couple of spares LDD Drivers, but unfortunately it also blew my DC/DC converters. They are what gives the BF its power, as well as the onboard fan/channel controllers. Total those 5 drivers and two DC/DC converters cost about $50, so I will need to buy replacements. That being said, 4 out of 6 LEDs are fully functioning, and the other two (the ones driven by the board I blew to hell) only 2 out of 5 channels work until i get the replacement drivers/converters. Overall I am pretty **** excited to get this thing going. The phone app works flawlessly, and the weather effects and lighting are cool as hell too (a bit a gimmicky but still cool).
SIDE NOTE:
One thing I did run into was a wiring issue caused by not paying proper attention to the molex connectors that come with the LEDs. They come in 3 types. Inter connect (which connect the LEDs together in series), and a connector meant to connect to the output (ground) side of the LED string, and another meant to connect to the Postive (input side) of the string. The connectors LOOK IDENTICAL, except the colors go in reverse. This is super easy not to notice, and if you dont get it right, it results in the ground wires being mismatched to the proper positive lead on the PCB. This will result in channel 3 (because its in the middle and thus unaffected) being the only working channel. This took me a couple hours of frustration to find the cause. Because I blew the first PCB to hell, of course I was now flipping out thinking I had blown the entire array of LEDs out, which would have been a VERY VERY costly mistake. Thankfully that was not the case
. I was able to use a standard AC/DC converter with enough juice in it to test each channel on every LED last night before bed, so I knew I didnt blow those too. Otherwise I think I would never have slept last night lol. This morning, after starting fresh, i was able to find and correct the issue, and the unit works fantastic, and I couldnt be happier for now! I am going to hold off on any video until I get the new parts and I can show the unit fully functional. It will probably be Friday until I get the new parts
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that sucks kurt, but we all make mistakes. im glad you didnt blow the leds lol. i cant wait to see this thing up and running!
Yeah no doubt, at $100 per led, that would have cost almost $900 to rebuild it if I blew out all the PCBs, drivers and LEDs....
I honestly thought that was what I was dealing with so thank God that wasn't the case!
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
It's ALIVE!
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It def is a more 20k color when all channels are on. Which makes sense because 4 out of 5 channels are bluish. 1 and 2 are both very blue, with just light spectrum difference. 3 is a very white with a bit of yellow, 4 is turquoise, and 5 is actinic/purple.
When everything is on it has a very crisp blue/white look I can tune it slightly less/more blue by simply adjusting the power of each channel. The Bluefish app is fantastic. I will try to get a video up soon.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
It def is a more 20k color when all channels are on. Which makes sense because 4 out of 5 channels are bluish. 1 and 2 are both very blue, with just light spectrum difference. 3 is a very white with a bit of yellow, 4 is turquoise, and 5 is actinic/purple.
When everything is on it has a very crisp blue/white look I can tune it slightly less/more blue by simply adjusting the power of each channel. The Bluefish app is fantastic. I will try to get a video up soon.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
very cool
Wow! You might need some tanning bed goggles to test that thing!!!
Very nice :thumbs:
Very nice :thumbs:
