Wide spectrum LED build: ALL IN

So I took advantage of the Black Friday deal. Ordered LEDs, drivers, heatsinks, etc from multiple vendors.

Here is the mock up idea of my LED light fixture.


Quarter: Cool White
Dime: Royal Blue
Nickel: Neutral White
Marked quarter: Blue
Penny: UV
Marked nickel: Turquoise

Cool white (Cree XP) x 12
Royal Blue (Cree XP) x 12
Neutral White (Cree XP) x 12
Blue (Cree XP) x 6
420nm UV x 6
398nm UV x 8
Turquoise x 4
All 3 watts, total of 60 LEDs for my 90 gallon (48x18x25) mixed reef.

Here are the driver channels:
Meanwell LPC-35-700 (700mA constant)
398nm UV x6
420nm UV x6

LPC-35-700 (700mA constant)
[STRIKE]RB x6[/STRIKE] B x6
Turquoise x4
398nm UV x2

Meanwell ELN-60-48D (1.3A dim)
NW x12

ELN-60-48D (1.3A dim)
CW x12

ELN-60-48D (1.0A dim)
RB x[STRIKE]6[/STRIKE] 12
[STRIKE]B x6[/STRIKE]


The size of the heatsink is 5.9x16", I will connect two of them with thin long aluminum plates. Make it look like one long light fixture. Still waiting for all the parts to arrive, just wanted to pick your brains!

 

Alright, no filter review :

Turquoise is interesting... I haven't seen those in person, so I can't say much more there. I'm just a bit concerned they might go a bit green on you.

I see what you're trying to do with your layout, and that's probably a decent idea. The only thing that jumps out at me there is, in the lower left corner, I'd swap that quarter and the nickel.

Your driver arrangement concerns me. I think you'll really wash it out with white they way you've got it planned. If that's the look you like/prefer; fine. But if it was me: I'd put the 6 Blues on the 700mA driver and move the 6 Royal Blues to the dimmable driver. Then I'd run that last dimmable driver at 1.3A, not 1A.

Perhaps you intentionally left it out, but I don't see any mention of optics. Do you have a plan here? If you want to keep playing off the idea you're working with the diode arrangement, you'll want to mix different angles of optics.

 

Yo evolved, thanks, I knew I could count on you!!

It slipped out of my mind: its a great point that I will swap the blue and royal blue. But according to the RapidLEDs site RB spec, the max current is 1.0A tho? Still better than 700mA. And for the turquoise (495nm), if you look at most of the MH spectrum, it peaks at around 500nm, thats why I wanted to include the turquoise.

Haha I really havnt gotten around to the optics part yet. I'll have 55~60deg x 24 and 80deg x 12. Im planning to use 80deg for NW to get more coverage than penetration. The 420nm UV and the turquoise dont use optics: they come pointy lens on the emitters.

Im still afraid of washed out look as well, but thanks to the dimmable option, I believe I can tweak around once I get it up to get the sweet spot for me without spoiling.

Thanks again, evolved!

 

No need to thank me But you're welcome, of course.

Good call on the amperage. I always like to rely on the datasheets for that sort of thing: http://www.cree.com/products/pdf/xlampxp-e.pdf
And it looks like you were told correctly. XP-E is a max of 1A.

 

Of course I appreciate your input anytime, every time! You have been my mentor wheather you like it or not.

Im struggling if I should take another advantage of the sale that's going on right now :Apex Controller Lite to dimm control this LED lighting. Has anybody done anything similar?

 

Holy cow! I just read through this and this is crazy! I can't wait to see the results you get. The layout is interesting but I think it should work fine. You are going to have a WIDE spectrum! I'll have to comment again when it's not so late and I'm not so tired.

 

Go to bed and comeback tomorrow! I really appreciate you even logging on!

 

This should be pretty interesting. I can't wait to see how it looks over the tank!

I didn't even realize what time it is. Oh well, I'm staying up.

 

I was encouraged by exactlyobp to do DIY LED project. I also ordered some LED from RapidLED and LEDGroupBuy. May update mine here. =p

 

Very interesting build. Im looking to do the same as you. Keep us updated buddy!