Diy Led Project (led's On A Budget)

[daz4321]

but that would be only 12w and running the led's flat out and also the driver. It says on the page not to run the driver at full wattage as it will reduce its life. Would work but for how long. your choices now.

 

[RossC]

Oh man I don't know what to do I can't go over 20W but seen as I'm working in multiples of 3W's and voltages of 12 or 24 I'm pretty restricted. Is 900mA the ideal current?

 

[RossC]

Oh screw it I'll bump it up to 30W my dad shouldn't notice the extra 10W LOL

Setup V2.0
30W 900mA Driver
10 X 3W Cree XP-G's

I've heard promising thing about these Cree XP-G's as they have been used in planted tanks before and they're a suitable colour temp and wavelengths

 

[daz4321]

if the led is 1000ma maximum ideal is about 800m - 900 ma that way you get very nearly all the light but without the strain on the led so it lasts longer. well thats what i do in all mine anyway others may think different. if you want the 3w led and less than 20w get 2 10w drivers and run 3x3w led on each driver My link

 

[RossC]

if the led is 1000ma maximum ideal is about 800m - 900 ma that way you get very nearly all the light but without the strain on the led so it lasts longer. well thats what i do in all mine anyway others may think different. if you want the 3w led and less than 20w get 2 10w drivers and run 3x3w led on each driver My link

Ahhh didn't think about that

 

[RossC]

Ok as far as I see things I've got two options:

Option 1: 20W total
2 X 10W 830mA Driver £10.00
6 x 3W Cree XP-G R5 £14.76

Option 2: 30W = total
30W LED Driver £13.50
3 x Cree XLamp XML U2 White Color 10W LED's £14.79

Which one do you think?

 

[daz4321]

you will need a different driver for the xml led's ,xml led voltage around 3v x 3 =9v minimum for the driver is 18v
you also want to make sure they are contant current and not constant voltage. so different driver for the xpg aswell

 

[daz4321]

20w or 30w hmmmmm
xpg or xml hmmmmm
my choice neither i would use the 10w as I first suggested lol I know these will not want lenses
but it is your money and your build so only you can ultimately decide

 

[RossC]

20w or 30w hmmmmm
xpg or xml hmmmmm
my choice neither i would use the 10w as I first suggested lol I know these will not want lenses
but it is your money and your build so only you can ultimately decide

Ok cool I'll go with your original recommendations LOL I just wanted to look at other options

 

[daz4321]

if you do only want 20w just get 2 of the led's (my pm'ed link) and 2 drivers these

 

[RossC]

Well after suffering yet more nagging from my Dad about the electricity usage I decided to sort this out once and for all and prove how much the aquariums actually use.

As you can see even with a 40W setup replacing my 20W T8 it makes a difference of mere pence a month

 

[daz4321]

one thing i have not mentioned and i am unaware if you know or not is that LEDs give more light for the wattage than fluorescents so 20w led will be more bright than your current 20w set up. i know i know more decisions lol.

 

[RossC]

one thing i have not mentioned and i am unaware if you know or not is that LEDs give more light for the wattage than fluorescents so 20w led will be more bright than your current 20w set up. i know i know more decisions lol.

Yeah I know thanks tough I was working on a PAR calculator on another forum and it said in order to get 50 PAR which is medium light I'd need like 16 x 3W LED's which is 48W LOL

 

[daz4321]

but you will have no where near 50 par with you t8 set up anyway IMO 2 x 10w led will be much better than what you have now with no extra cost in electricity

 

[RossC]

Would this driver be able to run 2x10w LED's and 3x3W LED's? Would the voltages be ok?