# DIY LED Luminaire MkII - May 2010 to present



## Supercoley1 (May 28, 2007)

This is a follow on from the following 2 threads. I thought it would be better to start afresh than resurrect these a year after their last posts:

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...42-led-experimental-tank-started-later-9.html

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/equipment/57012-what-s-skinny-led-lighting-6.html

I'll start with a quick refresher of the original setup and then move onto the MkII. I won't add all the pictures of the MkI as you can see these in the original threads above. Also the complete build journals and pictures can be located on my website here:

MkI
http://www.greenneedle.co.uk/LED1.html

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

The basic electrics: 5 seperate series of 3 x Luxeon 3W LEDs. Each series supplied with 12V which then run through a current controller (driver.) The driver consumes 1.5V and therefore 10.5V goes into each series of 3 making 3.5V per LED. This equates to 2.45W per LED and 7.35W per series. The whole setup with all 5 series on is therefore 36.75W.

The tank it goes over is 33USG thus making 1.11WPG when all series are on. If they ran at max for the whole 9 hour photoperiod this would be a highlight tank.

The reason for seperating the electrics into 5 series rather than 1 large setup is that I am no electrician and it is much easier for me to use 5 x 12V adaptors run on timers rather than PCB boards to simulate the sun moving along the sky as each series turns on at an appointed time until all 5 are on and then they turn off in the opposite direction (Left to Right series)

Starting with the MkI unit (January 2009)

The Plan:









1 series:









1 LED mounted:









The whole board fired up:









The unit in Situ:









So that was 18 months ago. Next post will be the MkII version

Regards AC

continues........................


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## Supercoley1 (May 28, 2007)

.............continued

The MkII version of my DIY LED setup.

Although I've called it MkII what I have done is in fact to make a new design of the unit and then transfer exactly the same electrics into it. Prettier and darned cool IMO 

So...pictures below but first an explanation of the changes:

1 - The unit is now made from 6mm MDF instead of 22mm pine. Much much lighter but still strong enough to support my 10ltr bucket if I need to empty and refill for any reason.
2 - Access is now via a lid on the top rather than removing the glass underneath.
3 - The bottom is now solid rather than glass so you can't see the internals.
4 - I have used lense holders fixed into the bottom section to 'tidy' the appearance up. They house 45º lenses.
5 - The unit has been veneered to match my other furniture.
6 - The fans reduced to 3 at each end as they fitted nicely behind some vent covers I bought rather than the 4 at each end previously.
7 - The unit is much more slimline now. 12cm to be precise 
8 - I am now using proper heatsinks for the LEDs rather than cut up pieces of reflector

Why did I use lenses when I have mentioned before that the spread is much better without? Because it tidied up the appearance. Being 45º they do spread pretty well but if 1 LED is not as bright, the spread from the others does not make up for it anymore. I changed 2 LEDs that were a little 'yellower' than the others.

So the unit is new but the actual lighting setup has now been running for 18 months with absolutely zero problems. The 2 LEDs that were removed were still working fine. It was just the differential in their colouration that made me change them:

Drawing out the plan pre-routing:









Aligning the fans on the side panels:









Making sure the lense holders fit into the routed holes:









Veneering the lip:









The finished outer with nice laquered and polished underside (still to trim the veneer aound the fan holes):









Positioning the vents on each end:









The lid in place. I routed a 2mm recess around the perimeter of the unit which the lid sits in (The 'finger' hole is the rear of the unit and has a piece of black carrier bag on the inside to stop the dust):









The electrics fitted inside:









The aliens are landing , I mean yippee it still works  :









All finished apart from 4 coats of Tung Oil. That is why the veneer looks much lighter than the cabinet. Once the Tung Oil is on and cured it will go the same colour as the cabinet:









You may notice that the scape looks the same. That is because...........it is  The scape is 15 months old and has only ever known LED light. The picture in the first post above is about 1 month into the scape where the picture in this post is about 1 month ago (14 months old.)

How has it been maintained for that long without becoming a huge mess? I shall explain:

1A - Full pressurised CO2 @ 30+ppm. for the first 6 months.
1B - EI nutrients for the first 6 months.
1C - The lighting stagger was much quicker meaning the full 5 series were on for 5 hours in the centre of a 9 hour photoperiod.

After 6 months I was happy that it was nearly at the stage I wanted and so to preserve it as it was (almost like a permanent picture)............

2A - The CO2 was ditched (I have in fact sold it and probs won't go the CO2 route again.)
2B - The ferts were ditched (no ferts are added to this setup now.)
2C - The lighting stagger is much longer meaning the full 5 series are now on for the central 1 hour only. Still a 9 hour total photoperiod though.
2D - Now it is non CO2 there is no 20x turnover. The circulation pump has gone and the filter provides just under 6x turnover.
2E - The last water change was in September 2009. 10 whole lazy months ago.

Basically the lighting is reduced and CO2/ferts ditched meaning growth for the past year has been much much slower. Not stagnant but much much slower and almost no maintenance needed. This is effectively an El Natural tank except for the filter 

AC


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## taoyeah (Aug 8, 2007)

awesome. where do you buy these led ?i am going to replace my t5 with these led.


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## WeedCali (Mar 6, 2010)

Looks professional!


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## Supercoley1 (May 28, 2007)

taoyeah said:


> awesome. where do you buy these led ?i am going to replace my t5 with these led.


ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/25pcs-3W-Whit...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53e2105358

AC


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## taoyeah (Aug 8, 2007)

Supercoley1 said:


> ebay.
> 
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/25pcs-3W-Whit...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53e2105358
> 
> AC


thank you,but where did you get the rest?heatsink.dc adapter.wire.ect thanks


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## Supercoley1 (May 28, 2007)

taoyeah said:


> thank you,but where did you get the rest?heatsink.dc adapter.wire.ect thanks


The drivers were from a seller on ebay who seems to have disappeared however the same place linked above r.e. the LEDs sells drivers. They would be able to advise which driver would be suitable for a setup if you give them a detailed plan of what you require. They are pretty helpful and friendly  Its not as simple as it might sound because dependent on how you link the LEDs, how many there are, the power each string recieves etc determines which driver you need. The majority of drivers these retailers sell are aimed at single LED setups and that isn't really what we want to achieve unless we want (in my case) 15 seperate drivers and have to source power via a PCB board or 15 plugs 

The heatsinks were from the same seller. The adaptors can be bought almost anywhere. second hand on ebay, in hardware stores etc. Shop around as they can be expensive (in my eyes.) For more power to supply more LEDs and higher capacity driver some people use laptop power packs 

The wire was simply from old electrical appliances. I always cut the cables off old electrics before I bin the item. I then cut the casing and am left with the brown/blue (red/black in old appliances) wiring. This isn't perfect wire for the job though as it is much thicker. You can get thinner wire from somewhere like radioshack or Maplins in the UK. I dare say they may also be stockists of the LEDs, heatsinks and drivers and definately will have DC adaptors/powerpacks although they wouldn't be anywhere near as cheap as the chinese ebay sellers.

AC


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## taoyeah (Aug 8, 2007)

thank you so much for the detail.


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## Supercoley1 (May 28, 2007)

One last little improvement on this project is the hanging 'equipment.

The unit was hanging by 2 chains that were linked to D ring on the luminaire and then up to some hooks in the shelf above.

This wasn't the nicest looking piece of kit but has sufficed the past 18 months. My wife had commented on it. Several forum members had commented on it and it was something I was looking to replace so I finally got round to it.

I bought one of the hanging kits that are meant for the old style Arcadia Luminaires and whilst mine is much bigger than the units this is intended for mine is probably a little lighter .

The kit consists of 2 long cables which have a close loop at one end to hang it from. There are 2 shorter cables with round 'washer' type ends to attach to the luminaire, Both of these are similar to bicycle gear/brake cables in thickness.

Next ther is a little 2 metal piece which is like a cylinder with an internal locking 'grip' mechanism. they are only about 10mm in diameter. The hanging cable goes through the centre of the cylinder and then when oyu pull it locks in place. Then the luminaire cable threads through a groove at the bottom and a screw in part then tightens to hold it in place.

It is then just a case of raising/lowering the hanging cable by using the release mechanism on the cylinder unit. I used a spirit level and locked them off when I was happy the unit was level left to right. then it was a case of levelling the unit front to back which meant sliding the luminaire cables back and forth through the groove until the whole unit was level. then the screw in part is tightened to hold it in place.

That is this unit completed. There are a couple of minor cosmetics to sort out where the old D rings were but these are just a case of plugging the old screw holes with some tiny veneer 'patches' and then applying some more Tung Oil over the are athey were to match them in.




























AC


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## paronaram (Mar 27, 2009)

I like this setup!
Where can I get heatsink like that?
Thanks


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## Supercoley1 (May 28, 2007)

same place as the LEDs, lenses etc. A seller called LEDworld2007 on ebay

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/led-world2007&ssPageName=STRK:MEFSX:SELLERID

AC


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