# Let's DIY a LED rig for my 55! Brainstorm thread!



## ChrisX (May 28, 2017)

I built a high wattage fixture using 3W leds. Cool white, warm white, supplemented with RGB (royal blue, cyan, deep red).

The problem with using high CRI Cobs for a 55g is spotlighting. You will have 4 or 5 suspended over 48". The reason these work so well with nano tanks is because one usually covers the entire tank.

If you do use the cob leds, the fixture will probably need to be hanging pretty high above the tank to minimize the spotlighting, furthermore it will be difficult to supplement the color by using different color of LEDs.

My advice is to use 3W leds and as high a CRI as you can afford. Use the spectra tool to determine what mix of individual colors you need to generate a very high CRI. This also affords you the ability to make individual channels dimmable.

The downside to using many 3W leds is that the high-CRI ones are relatively expensive; the build will cost more than using the high wattage ones. Although the heatsinks will probably be less expensive than what you need for the cobs.

Here is my thread exploring how to build a light bar using 3W leds. All the information you need is in there. I am currently working to add dimmable RGB channels.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/10-lighting/1164009-how-many-3w-leds-low-tech-55-a.html

And the "third" vsersion of the light: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/10-lighting/1189881-diy-48-rgb-w-budget-build-w-dimming-v3.html


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

Want violet?
Need to remove the chips.. and not cheap..
Vivid 3 LED MR16 GU10 7.5W 25 Deg 5000K 95CRI by Soraa | SM16GA-07-25D-950-03










Luminous Devices "pair"


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## Lingwendil (Nov 16, 2012)

ChrisX said:


> I built a high wattage fixture using 3W leds. Cool white, warm white, supplemented with RGB (royal blue, cyan, deep red).
> 
> The problem with using high CRI Cobs for a 55g is spotlighting. You will have 4 or 5 suspended over 48". The reason these work so well with nano tanks is because one usually covers the entire tank.
> 
> ...


My only issue using that many 3W class LEDs over a tank this large, is the disco-ball effect of poor color mix in the shadows, last I tried to put something together in a similar fashion it was almost unbearable without using a thick diffuser film that killed the intensity as well... 

Maybe doing six clusters over the tank would be a good solution? Or going with a set of custom Acrostar boards? A couple years ago I built a similar Vero based LED setup for my 75, and the spotlighting was not noticeable at all once I clustered them right to kill the disco-ball effect, and a light scuff of the splash shield was sufficient to give good color mix. 



jeffkrol said:


> Want violet?
> Need to remove the chips.. and not cheap..
> Vivid 3 LED MR16 GU10 7.5W 25 Deg 5000K 95CRI by Soraa | SM16GA-07-25D-950-03
> 
> ...


Hmm. Is there a datasheet on the actual emitters used? I wonder where they are driving them compared to their maximum current, although going by the unwritten rule of thumb seen on many devices I would assume they are around 40-60% of max for longevity.


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

SORRA manuf . their own chips.
They have discontinued the 5000k line AFAICT 
no explanation as to why.

LD pretty sure is a "custom blend" from another manuf. There are a lot of "like" chips w/ close to the same specs like the Citizens..

Things are still rapidly evolving in chip "tweaking"

LUXEON Stylist Series Brings Out Natural Colors of Meat and Fish with FreshFocus Technology? | Lumileds


















Fish LUXEON CoB 1208 3325 3694 118L/ W	900mA 15 L2C5-FS001208E1500


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## sohankpatel (Jul 10, 2015)

2 of these would be more than enough, maybe mix in a couple purples for PAR, but these and a Bluefish controller would be great
CREE Lumia 5.2 105W Planted Tank LED 5 Channel - Planted Tank Version - LEDGroupBuy.com
They have adjustable spectrum and are extremely high PAR. I have a member in my club that used one, I can post his build if you would like, but we used an Apogee 501 PAR meter to measure it. We were ~24" down and 18-20" from the center and at max we were getting 400 PAR, that's right FOUR HUNDRED. Directly under it was 700, no lenses.


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## ChrisX (May 28, 2017)

Lingwendil said:


> My only issue using that many 3W class LEDs over a tank this large, is the disco-ball effect of poor color mix in the shadows, last I tried to put something together in a similar fashion it was almost unbearable without using a thick diffuser film that killed the intensity as well...


I should have time to finish the RGB version this weekend. I'll post pics and we will see if there is a disco ball effect. The prototype I built did have some of this up high on the tank. I will probably have to add diffusing.

However, regarding intensity, I'm using it on the "medium" setting right now (22x 3W CW/WW) and I'm getting explosive growth. Actually, the version of the light I'm using now 2:1 CW/WW looks good if not still a little blue.

The point I was making about using the 3W leds is that you can keep experimenting until you find the look you are after. Using the high wattage COBs you are pretty much stuck with what you get initially. If you use high CRI leds however, its probably guaranteed to be pretty close to the mark.


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## Lingwendil (Nov 16, 2012)

Yeah, that's my reasoning behind a higher CRI base white. The Citizen COB that I linked looks very promising, and since they also carry a smaller one, I think I'll order one up to throw on that nano "experimental" rig on my 5.5 gallon. Even with a 90CRI 5600k Vero and a 4000k Rebel as the base, that tank is growing explosively, and has excellent color too. I'm trimming my AR mini every few _days_. I've gotten the colors broken out into four channels for experimental dimming once I finish up the 16 channel driver I'll be building up.




sohankpatel said:


> 2 of these would be more than enough, maybe mix in a couple purples for PAR, but these and a Bluefish controller would be great
> CREE Lumia 5.2 105W Planted Tank LED 5 Channel - Planted Tank Version - LEDGroupBuy.com
> They have adjustable spectrum and are extremely high PAR. I have a member in my club that used one, I can post his build if you would like, but we used an Apogee 501 PAR meter to measure it. We were ~24" down and 18-20" from the center and at max we were getting 400 PAR, that's right FOUR HUNDRED. Directly under it was 700, no lenses.


Interesting thing is, I have two of those in drawer somewhere that I'm not going to use, I had them on my 75, and could never get the color I wanted out of them so I yanked them and built up a Vero based design instead. I think the lumia would be a better choice if it had some violet, cyan, and regular blue thrown in. There's a hole in there right in the cyan range that I suspect is why I couldn't get the color I wanted out of my fish and plants, although it does have good growth and PAR though. I wish they offered a custom emitter option, or started incorporating Luxeon emitters into their lineup more...


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## ChrisX (May 28, 2017)

Lingwendil said:


> Yeah, that's my reasoning behind a higher CRI base white. The Citizen COB that I linked looks very promising, and since they also carry a smaller one, I think I'll order one up to throw on that nano "experimental" rig on my 5.5 gallon. Even with a 90CRI 5600k Vero and a 4000k Rebel as the base, that tank is growing explosively, and has excellent color too. I'm trimming my AR mini every few _days_. I've gotten the colors broken out into four channels for experimental dimming once I finish up the 16 channel driver I'll be building up.


Thats teh best way. Build a prototype using the COB you want and see if it looks right. Also, consider a way to suspend or hang the fixture and possibly use 2 more COBs to offset the extra height needed to avoid spotlighting. Honestly I have no idea how far above the tank it will need to be.


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

Spotlight effect would be of minimal concern in 55 gal that's only 12-13 inches wide.?


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## Lingwendil (Nov 16, 2012)

roadmaster said:


> Spotlight effect would be of minimal concern in 55 gal that's only 12-13 inches wide.?


Sort of what I'm thinking. 4-6 arrays should do it, I'm thinking I'll build four first and go from there. Each array will only need to cover about a foot square and 24" down or so...

Well, just ordered up a 97CRI 4000k Citizen chip to try out, I'll swap it in place of the Vero 10 90CRI 5600k on my nano. I ordered one of the smaller ones to try out, since at 300mA drive current it should be pretty close to the Vero I've got on there now.

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/citizen/CLU028-1202C4-403H7K4/1642-1463-ND/

Also, for anybody interested, 10 volt analog dimming, PWM, and buck/boost mode, seems useful for running a higher voltage base LED with several smaller ones off a lower voltage supply... I've got plenty of ~19 or so volt laptop supplies that put out anywhere from 3 to 7 amps each, so this should come in handy...

LDB-L Series Mean Well Buck-Boost Mode CC DC-DC LED Drivers

Just ordered one to play with too. I'll make a simple PWM level converter so it will take 5v PWM like the other drivers I use.


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## Lingwendil (Nov 16, 2012)

Two birds with one stone? Did some reading on that Luxeon Crisp White 3000k COB that contains violet emitters... looks like a killer way to supplement some red and violet to a cool white based build...

LUXEON CoB with CrispWhite Technology | Lumileds

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/lumileds/L2C5-30901202E06C0/1416-1939-5-ND/

Interesting way to enhance white in the intended industry application(I suppose it works just like you would expect for an "actinic" sort of violet) but it's got a peak in a good spot for sure. 

Too bad they don't do any higher than 3000k, but these look very promising. Might have to consider a 5600k base COB with these as supplement, then I can simply add a cyan and blue, once cash allows I'll have to order up a Luminus Devices cool white 95 CRI, and one of these. So many cool goodies to try out!


My testbed is the 6"x6" MakersLED heatsink on my nano, pretty easy to swap things around to play with new designs-


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## Surf (Jun 13, 2017)

You might want to look at these LEDs strips. 6200K, 94CRI, 456 Lumens per foot, 5.8 watts per foot. They come in at 12v or 24V DC. They are expensive though at $259 for a 16 foot real. I used 3000K version Although this tank is currently not running but I did get plants pearling without CO2. So there is probably enough red light for plants.

http://https://www.flexfireleds.com/high-cri-93-series-ultrabright-led-strip-light-by-the-foot-natural-white/



> and using pretty large heatsinks so I might get away with low CFM fans.


It is possible to build a LED light without fans if you keep the power density low enough. Just the air circulation in the room is enough to prevent overheating. Using the led strips I mentioned above the lamp for my small tank is 15W and a flat ridged aluminum metal sheet the LED strips are attached to has 90 square inches exposed to the air. This works out to 0.16 watts per square inch. The metal is just warm to the touch It not hot enough to cause any reliability issue or thermal run away. With 108 LEDs of the same color you won't see a "disco ball effect" in the tank. A layer of clear plastic packing tape between the LEDs and Aluminum prevent the strips from shorting to the aluminum sheet.

These strips are not waterproof so between the tank and lamp is an acrylic sheet with a foam gasket between the two prevent water from corroding the LEDs. In this lamp I used screws to attach the metal to the acrylic. If I do this again I will probably just glue the two together using silicon rubber. I would advise making the lamp brighter then you need and attaching a dimmer to it. That way you can adjust the light level as needed. I personally think you might need more than 35 watts. The Lamp assembly just sits on top of the tankard has two cut outs for heater and filter wires and an automatic fish feeder. Paint, a 12 or 24V power supply and a timer are all that is needed to complete the assemmbly.


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## ChrisX (May 28, 2017)

Surf said:


> I personally think you might need more than 35 watts. The Lamp assembly just sits on top of the tankard has two cut outs for heater and filter wires and an automatic fish feeder. Paint, a 12 or 24V power supply and a timer are all that is needed to complete the assemmbly.


I agree with this. Point of comparison: Over 48" of my tank, I have 84x3w leds (56 whites, 28x RG and B) Growth is explosive without all of them on, but its good to have some headroom.

Rough estimate, probably need ~ 200 Watts to get into high light category on a 55, depending on efficency and height of leds.

Currently just running 44x 3W whites @ 19", with 20ppm CO2. The MC is carpeting, but slowly. I think I'm at medium/high, but I have no par data. Stem plants that are closer to the light need frequent trims and are growing in color.


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## Lingwendil (Nov 16, 2012)

My plan so far is about 40~55W of LED per fixture, for four fixtures total... Somewhere around a 30~35W base white with anywhere from 10~20W of support should work. I'm not looking to get too crazy but would like to be able to do CO2 later on if I feel the need, so I want some reserve capacity. 

The more I think about it, the more those Luxeon arrays with Violet look like a good Idea for my "secondary" white, and something like the Citizen or Luminus Devices(or Bridgelux, but leaning towards the other options) would be my "primary" white source. 

So far, potential options are as follows (I want to be able to swap things around, so I'm sticking to individual stars/arrays, no multi-chip PCBs or strips other than individual CoBs) currently. The "primary" white will be larger than the "secondary" by about 2-3 times the potential output, depending on the chips used... for example, a Vero 29 5600k with a Vero 10 2700k, etc. 

original plan-

Citizen 97CRI 4000k primary
Vero SE (or Decor) 97CRI 2700-3000k secondary
Violet
blue (460-470nm) (probably 2)
cyan
lime

considering- (might not need as much blue?)

Luminus Devices 5600k 95CRI primary
Luxeon "crispwhite" 3000k secondary
blue (460-470nm) (maybe only need one?)
cyan
lime

also considering- (lower base CRI, but might still look great, and certainly a smidge more cost effective)

Bridgelux Vero 5600k 90CRI primary
Citizen 97CRI 2700-3000k secondary (or the Luxeon "crispwhite" and not supplement violet?)
blue (460-470nm) (maybe only need one?)
cyan
lime
violet

So far I'm leaning towards the first and second options... The idea of the Luxeon "crispwhite" array having violet in the curve already is pretty nice, but the Citizen arrays are just so tempting, especially with those nice curves on the 4000k...


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## ChrisX (May 28, 2017)

I'm trying to wrap my mind around how a 3K LED could also be 97 CRI.


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

different CRI ...
It's not the "daylight" edition.. 
Standard shifts to tungsten light (black body type illumination).


> To deal with the problem of having to compare light sources of different correlated color temperatures (CCT), the CIE settled on using a reference black body with the same color temperature for lamps with a CCT of under 5000 K, or a phase of CIE standard illuminant D (daylight) otherwise.


At 6500k reference standard the CRI will not be 97..


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## Lingwendil (Nov 16, 2012)

ChrisX said:


> I'm trying to wrap my mind around how a 3K LED could also be 97 CRI.


CRI is one of those voodoo-magic sorts of measurements to me, but it's still pretty useful... Start figuring in CCT, CRI, ra, r9, your head will spin... Might be a good idea to run lines of salt around your workspace just to be safe. 




So, talking numbers. I like a little violet, and I like a little lime for tuning brightness/color.

For a Luminus based build, It would probably look something like-

Luminus Devices 5600k 95CRI primary 78 lm/w for $13.85 each...

LumiLEDs 3000k Crispwhite secondary for $9.77 each...

Luxeon ES Cyan for $2.50 each...

Luxeon ES Blue for $2.75 each

Luxeon ES Lime for $2.75 each...

If we go this way, that's a pre-shipping cost of $126.48 (four clusters at $31.62 each cluster)for this option, assuming only one of each emitter.



Now, let's look at the Citizen based build-

Citizen 4000k 97CRI primary 115 lm/w for $12.67 each...

Bridgelux "ultra Vero" 10 3000k 97CRI secondary  for $4.86 each...

SemiLEDs "Hyper Violet" (U70 Bin) for $3.90 each...

Luxeon ES Cyan for $2.50 each...

Luxeon ES Blue for $2.75 each, let's use two...

Luxeon ES Lime for $2.75 each...

If we go this way, it's a pre-shipping cost of $128.72 (four clusters at 32.18 each)



now, for fun, let's look at that third idea with the Vero-

Bridgelux 5600k 90CRI Vero Decor series primary 113 lm/w for $14.00 each...

Citizen 3000k 97CRI secondary for $7.32 each...

SemiLEDs "Hyper Violet" (U70 Bin) for $3.90 each...

Luxeon ES Cyan for $2.50 each...

Luxeon ES Blue for $2.75 each...

Luxeon ES Lime for $2.75 each...

This one pre-shipping will run us $132.88 (four clusters at $33.22 each. If we swap out the Citizen 3000k for the LumiLEDs Crispwhite 3000k (and subsequently remove the violet LED) we bring the cost _down_ to $127.08 (four clusters at $31.77) and have one less emitter to wire up. The interesting thing is, for all the similarity in cost, this option might be the best choice. Why? That Vero we will be basing this off of will take a whole _3 amperes_ of maximum current, which makes this fixture much more powerful in theory.

This is actually pretty exciting! :bounce:

Anybody have any suggestions, inferences, constructive criticisms, trite sarcasm, or witticisms? :wink:


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## ChrisX (May 28, 2017)

Thats without heatsinks, drivers, or power supplies.

My whole build with drivers, supplies, heatsinks, is around $150.


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## Lingwendil (Nov 16, 2012)

I've got plenty of drivers, plenty of power supplies, and at least one suitable heatsink from RapidLED, although I may need to grab another depending on if the second heatsink I've got on hand will end up staying on the tank it's on, since we are moving that other tank (reef) may get upgraded from a 20Long to a 40 breeder...

Cost isn't a terribly large concern, as I'm still getting what I want for less than a commercial product, and I'll have the ability to easily update it as tech changes and my whims allow. I'm not looking to go broke, but I'm also not terribly concerned about the final price. This part of the hobby is probably my favorite and most rewarding. Why build it yourself if you aren't going overkill? I've learned my lesson on cheap LEDs, so I stick to a few bigger names now, no epistar or no-name stuff for me! I've fixed too many rigs with cheap emitters to ever want to use them again.

Heatsinks are something I never skimp on. I've seen too many LEDs that looked thrashed within a couple years due to heat, and I happen to like having more surface area, makes it easier to use larger, quieter fans. In particular, I really like the t-slot style, and have a RapidLED premium enclosure on my reef with a pair of Acrostar arrays, and it looks like an off the shelf project. I've got a spare in the garage to use, so I'll likely grab another and use these. My only gripe with them is the fan isn't very quiet, but I might mill a few fins out so I can fit a standard square PC fan in it, since there aren't many options for a quiet frameless to replace the one it comes with.


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## Lingwendil (Nov 16, 2012)

So, doing more research as to options on driving these, I found what looks effectively to be the "big daddy" to the LDD series, the LDH series. It is a buck/boost driver with PWM control (2-8V with shutdown at .5v, just like the LDD) that can drive up to 1050mA. Looks like one of these can effectively run a larger pair of CoB arrays off of easy to find 12-19 volt power supplies.

Here's a link to the datasheet.

LDH Series Mean Well Step-Up Mode CC LED Drivers

The 350mA and 500mA have enough output capability (86V on the "A", 126V(!) on the "B") to run two (or three!) of the 28~34V drop of most typical CoB arrays, or of course you could use a single driver per CoB if desired, or if you need higher current. the 700mA can do 64V out, but that's a bit low for some CoBs. the 1050 would need to be one-per-Cob, as it's only capable of 43V. Higher voltage than most would be comfortable with, I'm sure (it doesn't bother me one bit) but still less than the several hundred-to-kilovolt levels you see in a typical fluorescent fixture...

I find these particularly appealing due to the handful of ~19V laptop supplies I have on hand and like to use, several of the ones I have on hand are 6.6A or higher HP power bricks, so I could easily use one per fixture, with two clusters per fixture, all off of a single plug. All I would need to do is use two LDH drivers per fixture for the whites, and add a few LDD series drivers for the supporting LED's, and it can all run self contained in the fixture. Given how cheap the LDD-L series is they are a no-brainer for the supporting colors. 


Like I said, brainstorming thread, so expect more of these stream-of-conscious type of posts as I do more research and put things up here to remember them.


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

Well couldn't help myself w/ the "fresh fish" COB........
Had to get one..
No CRI rating but 6500k and graph looks fine..


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## Lingwendil (Nov 16, 2012)

Sweet. I want to try those too! One of the "fresh fish" paired with the "crispwhite" might be a good mix.

Got my Citizen 4k 97CRI in, this sucker is tiny! 480mA max at 34~ volts, so roughly around the terrain of a Vero 10, at least for our purposes, since few rarely run these at max ratings, so I would call this a 300mA array. Should be a good match to a 30~ or so watt cool white primary array.



Same mounting dimensions as the standard 20mm stars.

Looks pretty good, I'll have to try to it out with some cyan and blue, but just holding it over the planted nano looks very nice, just pretty warm, although noticeably more color pop than the 4k Vero I have on hand.

Money is tight for the next month or so, but when I come up on some more play money I'll try and order up the stuff to build a one-off of option 3, with the Vero/crispwhite based layout.


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

Lingwendil said:


> Sweet. I want to try those too! One of the "fresh fish" paired with the "crispwhite" might be a good mix.
> 
> Got my Citizen 4k 97CRI in, this sucker is tiny! 480mA max at 34~ volts, so roughly around the terrain of a Vero 10, at least for our purposes, since few rarely run these at max ratings, so I would call this a 300mA array. Should be a good match to a 30~ or so watt cool white primary array.
> 
> ...


fun stuff.. 
Just for fun I generated a 95 (or close) 6500k (or close) graph and transposed the fresh fish one over it..


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