Diy Led Lighting

[Livewire88]

Hey everyone,

I would like to build a LED Hood for my Arc60, can anyone offer any advice on what LED's I would need to purchase? bearing in mind the tank is planted so LED's will have to help the plants to grow. Looking to put together a set up like ps3steveo is using on his Arc60 but dont have a clue where to start.

Any advice or links to info would be much appreciated.

 

[ian]

have a read of Andy's (supercoley1) LED blog

http/www.greenneedle.co.uk/LEDMKII1.html

 

[StandbySetting]

I use 2*3W Luxeon LED's on my 60 litre, you'll need a 9V Transformer 800+mA, an LED driver which has a current output equal to the operating current on the LED's, Heat sinks, a mount for it all, wire capable of 1+ amps.

 

[CezzaXV]

I've been wondering about wiring some lighting. I've been getting into electronics as of late.

SBS, can I ask if you use any waterproofing or does it just go into the tank as it is in the photo?

 

[StandbySetting]

I sealed mine in some condoms (They use them in the army to keep explosives dry) with holes cut in them and stretched over the heat sinks to seal all of the electronics in the driver, other than that the wires are insulated and just the LED is exposed to water vapour, no problems so far!

 

[rjkitz]

I use 2*3W Luxeon LED's on my 60 litre, you'll need a 9V Transformer 800+mA, an LED driver which has a current output equal to the operating current on the LED's, Heat sinks, a mount for it all, wire capable of 1+ amps.

http
://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp198/truckasauras123/IMG_1291.jpg

Hi this is my first post, i am head embeded design engineer for a smallish electronics company, if i may add a couple of sugestions....
building a driver for high powered LEDS is a simple process and not exspensive i would sugest using 12v would be easier for most people as the transformers are easy to obtain. Also if you have an old laptop PSU that can also be used the main consideration when choosing a power suply is the current limit to the Led this is normaly a simple matter of choosing the correct resistor depending on the current required, it is also a good idea to add a control system that soft starts the LEDS as theese can be bright so a gradual increase in the light when first switched on is a better aproach.
if anyone is interestead in discussing such systems please let me know i am more than willing to offer advice and circuits if needed
regards RJ

 

[DrRob]

Now that's interesting. Apart from my soldering skills my electronics is fairly good and I'd love to see the diagrams for a driver, as I'd, possibly foolishly, assumed that they weren't easy to DIY usefully, and they're probably the most important part of the build.

 

[rjkitz]

Now that's interesting. Apart from my soldering skills my electronics is fairly good and I'd love to see the diagrams for a driver, as I'd, possibly foolishly, assumed that they weren't easy to DIY usefully, and they're probably the most important part of the build.

ok but i should add a couple of caveats here Alot depends on the led but even a high power led rated at say 10W isnt hard to build a driver for as long as you dont mind wasteing a bit of power and even then compared to the old fashioned strip lamps we are not talking huge amounts of electricity but in electronic terms the simple ways of using say voltage regulators in constant current configuration is considered power wasteful and most electronic design engineers would use a fairly complex circuit, bbut like i say if enough people seem interested then there are fair few circuits you can design and build that are pretty easy to put together.

out of interest you say your soldering isnt that great i am going to wager that you use lead free solder??? am i correct??

 

[DrRob]

Now that's what I like about forums. You do something badly for years and then a chance comment makes someone who knows what they are talking about correct your simple mistake. I will hunt down some non-lead free solder.

 

[CezzaXV]

I'm also interested in knowing more, rjkits. When I buy fish they look gorgeous in the LFS but look completely different colours in my own tank. I suspect my LFS use lighting with red/blue in it as opposed to my ordinary daylight tube. Would love to wire my own.

 

[rjkitz]

ive actualy been keeping fish for over 40 years but its only recently that i decided to look into led lights for aquariums, ive always dismissed it as bit of a FAD and in my work i dont realy do much with high power LEDS we use loads of small 20mA LED's tho. anyway i was watching the local news and turns out a couple of months ago the police raided one the bigest smelly plant farms (if you get my drift) of all time. and said farm had got away with it for so long because they had used LED lights and therefore had a much lower heat signature and lower electric costs!
so ive been looking into it and after my operation in a couple of weeks i will have a good play with some to see just what can be done with them.
Now you mention colours of fish and plants and that got me thinking......you can get all kinds of leds the main lighting for the aquarium would be bright white but you could and i probaly will add in some RGB LED's now if you plonk in a Microcontroller like a PIC into the mix you can shade the tank any colour you want! and still get great growth. add a PH controller as well and things get interesting! give me some time and i will come up with a range of options from the very basic to the fairly complex so there should be something for everyone!
as for lead free solder only use it on stuff you want to eat get 60/40 lead solder and your soldering will change instantly after about hour practice