Led build questions
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: DIY
Forum Description: Do it Yourself
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=82010
Printed Date: April 27 2024 at 6:57am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Led build questions
Posted By: Seth
Subject: Led build questions
Date Posted: February 17 2017 at 8:58am
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I want to use my old full specrum led black box to turn into some stunner strips. Anyone have some input on how to go about doing this? I haven't ripped them apart yet but plan to do that tonight! Then I'll place an order for new diodes and whatever else is advised to get. Any advice will help greatly ------------- 75gal sps dominated reef. Bigger and better coming soon |
Replies:
Posted By: Krazie4Acans
Date Posted: February 17 2017 at 9:54am
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Let me make sure I have this correct. You basically want to take the led you have and pull all of the white, green, red, and any other fancy color or if them and make them just blues of different spectrum, right? I just want to make sure I understand before I add a bunch info. ------------- My ocean. 90g (yup, won it!), 40g, 28g, & 10g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=63568&title=krazies-nano-paradise" rel="nofollow - Tank Thread: |
Posted By: Seth
Date Posted: February 17 2017 at 10:29am
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Yes. That is correct. I also have to make it thinner somehow. Going to add it Back with the t5 fixture ------------- 75gal sps dominated reef. Bigger and better coming soon |
Posted By: Seth
Date Posted: February 17 2017 at 7:27pm
 Going to try to split the board in half. As is will not fit with the t5. There is almost no room in the hood so it should be fun! ------------- 75gal sps dominated reef. Bigger and better coming soon |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: February 18 2017 at 9:00am
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In my experience, imported, black box LED lights are just not the right spectrum. Some seem to grow hair algae better than anything. For sure, coral just don't grow well under them. If it were me, before wasting one more minute on it, I'd toss it in the trash. Then I'd save up and get some decent LED's like the models of the last few years made by Aqua Illumination, Kessil and Radion. Recently came across a Red Sea 250 where the hobbyist removed two of the six t5's and put a LED light strip in their place. They said it was to get more shimmer. As I looked at those LED's there was no brilliance to them. I asked but the hobbyist had no idea what wattage LED they were.  In my opinion, they were putting out less light energy than useless 1 watt LED's. It was clear to me that the hobbyist had compromised the effectiveness of their light fixture. The tank was under illuminated. No wonder they'd had issues with algae overgrowth and coral survival, the remaining four t5 lights had not been replaced in over two years.  The next meeting is going to be excellent on this very topic. It will be a discussion led by a person extremely familiar with the physics of light. I'm imagine there will be much discussion regarding which LED's are effective, which should be tossed in the trash and why.
Good luck and Aloha, Mark  ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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Posted By: Seth
Date Posted: February 18 2017 at 9:08am
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The lights them selves were able to grow coral for 6 months while in use. Now I have my 8 bulb ati fixture and want to add leds to it for the color that they can add to the tank. The diodes will be new 3 watt diodes. All in all I wall have 99 3 watt diodes in the blue ranges. I will also be leaving the uv bulbs in to add that to the tank as well. ------------- 75gal sps dominated reef. Bigger and better coming soon |
Posted By: Seth
Date Posted: February 18 2017 at 9:09am
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And by grow I mean actually grow all the sps I had in the tank ------------- 75gal sps dominated reef. Bigger and better coming soon |
Posted By: phys
Date Posted: February 21 2017 at 2:48am
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Really the only thing you need to worry about is getting the wiring right and making sure you're not over/under powering them. If you have to split the board, make sure you keep track of the connections across it and wire them back in properly. If it has multiple switches for the colors, just make sure you use the same power supply for that section. |
Posted By: Krazie4Acans
Date Posted: February 21 2017 at 7:26am
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Splitting that board in half probably isn't the best idea for two reasons. First the drivers for those lights are designed to be driving all of those LEDs on the light not half of them. Second by cutting the board you are also cutting the "wires" (board traces) that are running under that white painted surface. That means you will have to figure out where to jumper wires and how to solder them onto the traces in order to get the lights to work again after you cut it. It also means that you won't be able to have the unit in the housing anymore which will expose the electronics to splashes and salt spray that they will not survive long in. These are not you typical Chinese LED's at the diodes are arranged into small puck like areas and not just running rows of diodes. In my experience these fixtures use the Phillips bridgelux LED's and not the cheap Chinese ones found in other units. I think if it were me working with this setup I would sell these working lights as is andturn that money around in some Reefbright strips, SB Reeflight strips or stunner strips in the blue color that you are looking for. Hope that helps. ------------- My ocean. 90g (yup, won it!), 40g, 28g, & 10g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=63568&title=krazies-nano-paradise" rel="nofollow - Tank Thread: |
Posted By: Seth
Date Posted: February 21 2017 at 7:50am
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As per your warning I cut one tracer. Lost a channel due to it. I have tried selling them in the past and no one wanted them because they were a "black box" over $50. As for the housing part I'll post pics of what I did to help that issue ------------- 75gal sps dominated reef. Bigger and better coming soon |
Posted By: Seth
Date Posted: February 21 2017 at 7:51am
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Also the blues currently on the board have what looks like burn marks. It was noticeable before the customization. ------------- 75gal sps dominated reef. Bigger and better coming soon |
Posted By: Krazie4Acans
Date Posted: February 21 2017 at 8:20am
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The browning or discoloration is pretty common on the lower end LED's it is due to the plastic that is used over the diode not being UV safe and the closer the blue color gets to UV the more the plastic discolors. Some of the newer lights have changed the plastic to prevent this. It does reduce the light output of the LEDs as it blocks light. Those LEDs should be replaced even if nothing else is done to the lights. ------------- My ocean. 90g (yup, won it!), 40g, 28g, & 10g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=63568&title=krazies-nano-paradise" rel="nofollow - Tank Thread: |
Posted By: Seth
Date Posted: February 21 2017 at 8:44am
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I will do that! And hopefully learn how to fix my mistake if not I'll strip it and try again lol ------------- 75gal sps dominated reef. Bigger and better coming soon |
Posted By: Krazie4Acans
Date Posted: February 21 2017 at 9:23am
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You should be able to carefully scrape the white paint off the trace on both sides of the cut and then solder a wire across the cut to get the channel working again. If you hold the board at an angle to a light you will be able to see the slight bump of the traces under the paint so you know where to scrape. I use a sharp exacto to scrap slowly through the paint until you get to the copper. ------------- My ocean. 90g (yup, won it!), 40g, 28g, & 10g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=63568&title=krazies-nano-paradise" rel="nofollow - Tank Thread: |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: February 21 2017 at 10:05am
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I'm known locally by some as the "king of DIY". As such, I'm following this thread with great interest. Would love to see progress pics too. Aloha, Mark ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: Seth
Date Posted: February 21 2017 at 11:35am
 Here is a picture of the rough split. Still have some rewiring to do so they can be more spread. And going to add a sheet of metal to the open sides and mount fans to that to pull heat out. I will be doing all of this once new leds arrive. So I can solder it all in one go . ------------- 75gal sps dominated reef. Bigger and better coming soon |
Posted By: Seth
Date Posted: February 21 2017 at 11:38am
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The only trace I found to be damaged was the channel for the 3 moonlights (didn't want to use them anyways). The other was a box looking think that I nicked the end of. But on the same channel I have a lose diode. Could that be the issue with the channel? ------------- 75gal sps dominated reef. Bigger and better coming soon |
Posted By: Krazie4Acans
Date Posted: February 21 2017 at 12:18pm
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A loose diode will stop a channel from working. These LED's are wired in Series like Christmas lights so if one light goes out they all go out. Without seeing a picture or something of the black box I can't tell you if that is part of the problem or not. ------------- My ocean. 90g (yup, won it!), 40g, 28g, & 10g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=63568&title=krazies-nano-paradise" rel="nofollow - Tank Thread: |
Posted By: Seth
Date Posted: February 21 2017 at 12:26pm
| The diode is not connected on the positive side can move it so it's touching but made no difference. I'll get more pictures tonight |
Posted By: Krazie4Acans
Date Posted: February 21 2017 at 12:37pm
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Even if the diode is touching both sides if it's damaged internally then it will make it not work. If you want to quickly test things then take a wire and touch from the negative to the positive for just that diode. DONT HOLD IT ON THERE FOR MORE THAN A COUPLE SECONDS. That should turn the rest of the channel on. If not then there is more than one issue. A couple seconds won't hurt anything but if you keep it on there longer you could damage the other LEDs ------------- My ocean. 90g (yup, won it!), 40g, 28g, & 10g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=63568&title=krazies-nano-paradise" rel="nofollow - Tank Thread: |
Posted By: Seth
Date Posted: February 26 2017 at 6:35pm
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Haven't been able to find anymore bridgelux leds they are the ones that are currently on the boards. Any ideas on tracking some down? ------------- 75gal sps dominated reef. Bigger and better coming soon |
Posted By: Krazie4Acans
Date Posted: February 26 2017 at 8:23pm
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Rapid led used to sell them. Did you check there? Led group buy has Cree 3watt leds on stars that can be removed and then soldered on those lights as well. I bought most of my replacements from Amazon or eBay there are a couple of sellers that sell some 3watt Chinese LEDs without the stars in packs of 10 or more. ------------- My ocean. 90g (yup, won it!), 40g, 28g, & 10g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=63568&title=krazies-nano-paradise" rel="nofollow - Tank Thread: |
Posted By: Seth
Date Posted: February 26 2017 at 8:42pm
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I only checked reef builders or breeders one of those lol. I'll hunt on amazon. Thanks :) ------------- 75gal sps dominated reef. Bigger and better coming soon |
Posted By: Seth
Date Posted: February 28 2017 at 7:34pm
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I'll be buying leds on friday. Any recommendations? Going with violet and royal blue. Have 99 to replace. Also it was that loose diode causing the failast did the wire test so we are still good to go! ------------- 75gal sps dominated reef. Bigger and better coming soon |
Posted By: Krazie4Acans
Date Posted: February 28 2017 at 8:08pm
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I would probably include some other blues in there. Some 460nm blue and possibly even some actinic blue or azure blue depending on what they have available. RB for sure. What spectrum are the violet? Get them as close to 400nm as you can. ------------- My ocean. 90g (yup, won it!), 40g, 28g, & 10g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=63568&title=krazies-nano-paradise" rel="nofollow - Tank Thread: |
Posted By: Seth
Date Posted: February 28 2017 at 9:28pm
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Haven't pinned down any exacts yet. Lots of choices lol. ------------- 75gal sps dominated reef. Bigger and better coming soon |
Posted By: Seth
Date Posted: February 28 2017 at 9:30pm
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My t5 combo is 4 blue+ 1 coral + 1 purple +, a 6500k, and a true atinic (not digging it) but I'll look into other blues ------------- 75gal sps dominated reef. Bigger and better coming soon |
Posted By: Krazie4Acans
Date Posted: February 28 2017 at 9:43pm
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My personal choices for T5's would be to get rid of the 6500k and the actinic and put another Blue+ and a coral+ in their place. ------------- My ocean. 90g (yup, won it!), 40g, 28g, & 10g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=63568&title=krazies-nano-paradise" rel="nofollow - Tank Thread: |
Posted By: Seth
Date Posted: February 28 2017 at 10:43pm
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I was told faster growth comes from the 6500k. And I think I will be taking the atinic out. Just put it in and it doesn't do much ------------- 75gal sps dominated reef. Bigger and better coming soon |
Posted By: phys
Date Posted: March 01 2017 at 12:40am
| Come to the talk on Thursday! ;) Also, be aware that if you do different led colors and types, you'll either have to add resistors to each led to match their power usage or you'll have to run them on different drivers so they don't get messed up from bad power matching. If you do different colors, it would be beneficial to have separate power channels so you can dial them in separately. |
Posted By: Krazie4Acans
Date Posted: March 01 2017 at 6:52am
This is the case with CREE LEDs but with the Chinese ones and Bridgelux ones they are all the same current rating and voltage varies by only about .4-.7 volts. The exception might be the Violet. They tend to be lower voltage. The nice thing about these Chinese fixtures is that they use a constant current source driver. This driver maintains the current output in the LED string at the same value all the time. It also has a voltage output range of ~52-100volts DC. So a pretty wide range to handle mixing different voltage LED's ------------- My ocean. 90g (yup, won it!), 40g, 28g, & 10g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=63568&title=krazies-nano-paradise" rel="nofollow - Tank Thread: |
phys wrote:Posted By: Seth
Date Posted: March 01 2017 at 8:08am
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Phys- It would be a 4 hour drive to come down for the meeting lol a little to far. Theven board has 2 power channels with a led display and control panel. Krazie4acans- the current leds look the same as the bridgelux but when I was looking on amazon I found the same style but pretty sure they were chinese bulbs. Are Chinese bulbs that bad or just need to be replaced more? ------------- 75gal sps dominated reef. Bigger and better coming soon |
Posted By: Krazie4Acans
Date Posted: March 01 2017 at 8:22am
The Chinese ones are not "Bad". They generally have a shorter life span and their color may be in a small range instead of an actual set spectrum. This doesn't make them bad just different than Bridgelux or CREE which have pretty specific spectrum colors for each LED type. I think for your use in creating a supplemental blue LED light they will be more than adequate, plus the price of the diodes makes them a great value. Make sure you get the polarity correct when you are putting them on because one LED in backwards will make the entire string not light up just like the broken LED did. The diodes will have one tab that is shaped different than the other. so that you can figure out which way is the correct direction. A double A battery with a couple of wires on it should light up the LED enough to figure out which side is positive. ------------- My ocean. 90g (yup, won it!), 40g, 28g, & 10g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=63568&title=krazies-nano-paradise" rel="nofollow - Tank Thread: |
Posted By: Seth
Date Posted: March 01 2017 at 10:20am
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That is all great advice! Hopefully I get some time tonight to really look through all the options. So I can get them done and get that blue look and color pop back ------------- 75gal sps dominated reef. Bigger and better coming soon |
Posted By: Seth
Date Posted: March 01 2017 at 10:21am
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Once they are done I will be pulling the atinic out and putting the coral+ back in. Only traded then so my colors weren't so washed out. ------------- 75gal sps dominated reef. Bigger and better coming soon |