LED refugium lighting on a BC14

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I recently moved so had to downgrade from a 90 gallon tank to a smaller tank.  I had a friend with a BioCube 14 so we made a deal and I got it at a great price.  I am getting into electronics so I started an open source aquarium controller project on sourceforge.  I decided to do my first project as LED lighting, I had 2x Cree MCE's sitting around with a BuckPuck so I decided to make a refugium light.

Here is the final project.

Inside the enclosure is a 18v DC power supply, a fan, 2x Cree MCEs with
heatsinks and a controller board with all the electronic pieces.

I started with a PVC junction box from my local Home Depot.  I drilled the 2 holes large enough for the 2x Cree MCEs along with several other holes for the other misc hardware.

I then mounted the fan at the bottom blowing air in.

Next I mounted a piece of angle aluminum on one side by drilling holes and then tapering the holes so a slotted screw would fit flush.

I then drilled matching holes in the individual heatsinks to mount them on the angle aluminum.

Next I drilled holes on the side for the internal power supply and the electronics board.  

This is a picture with everything stuffed into the enclosure.

Here is the circuit on the board, minus the regulator for the fan.

A summary of the features.

2x Cree MCEs
Internal power supply
Active cooling with fan
MCU control through GPIO pin
Override switch with MCU control, override on and override off positions
Here is a pic of it mounted on the back of my tank.

It is still curing with the silicon so it has a box supporting it.  Here is a pick of the refugium chamber.

I have a PAR meter, it is getting between 700 and 900 PAR in the refugium area.  I can adjust it down, which I will probably do tomorrow or later when I actually have something in this tank, just set it up yesterday, still cycling it.

Overall this was a fun project, next prototype will be MCU controlled intensities.  I have parts on the way for a 16 LED main lighting fixture that will also do MCU controlled intensities, the refugium will be on an opposite cycle as the main lights.

Edited by taylorjonl - January 10 2010 at 12:33am