# cheap LED DIY set up



## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

A definite possibility I would think. I would treat this as a high light fixture underneath the fixture from my understanding on 3W LED diodes. You would most likely want to hang this at least a foot if not higher above the water.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

2in10 said:


> A definite possibility I would think. I would treat this as a high light fixture underneath the fixture from my understanding on 3W LED diodes. You would most likely want to hang this at least a foot if not higher above the water.


No need to hang it that high, the kit is dimmable. So you can hang it where you want to, and dim it to the light level you want. 

I would need two of these kits for my 36 gal. still not that bad of a price. Wish they sold 6500k LED's too, instead of just the blue and 10,000k. I personally like the 6500/10,000 k combo.


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## reybie (Jun 7, 2007)

Nice, I hope to see longer version for 36" and 48" tanks.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

That is a good deal. Even if you buy a different size/shape heatsink along with that kit, it is still a good deal. For most tanks 24 3 watt LEDs will be enough, but spreading them out more on a larger heatsink would be best.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

i agree. This is a great price for ok LEDs and drivers. You could easily swap out a larger heatsink and sell off the kit's heatsink.

I'm using 24 LEDs over a 48 gallon btw.


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## jcgd (Feb 18, 2004)

I would be worried that the thermal glue and drivers are garbage. Good price overall though. I may order one to try it out.

Anyone ever heard of Maxwellen? Maybe a comment on their quality?

*Taken from the site above*
Maxwellen LED Dimmable Driver (7-12)x3watt LEDs

Input voltage: AC 100-240V 50-60Hz
Output voltage: 24-51V
Output current(constant): 680mA +/-5%
Power range: Minimum 7 LEDs, Maximum 12 LEDs
Dimmable control: Potentiometer
Water proof: IP66
Dimension: 11cm x 3cm x 2.2cm(H)
Net weight: 0.16kg


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## bjbass (Aug 21, 2011)

justincgdick said:


> I would be worried that the thermal glue and drivers are garbage. Good price overall though. I may order one to try it out.
> 
> Anyone ever heard of Maxwellen? Maybe a comment on their quality?
> 
> ...


I ordered of the 14 LED kits. I will let you know how the drivers work. They may not last long. I see that have Meanwell drivers too. I maybe should have went with them.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

I don't think anyone can say how long Meanwell drivers last either. They haven't been in wide use long enough to know that. For all we now know they may be good for only a couple of years on average. And, the same is true for the current crop of LEDs.


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## WingoAgency (Jan 10, 2006)

How are the shipping and what about warranty. It seems the company is in Asia.


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## [email protected] (Jul 17, 2008)

WingoAgency said:


> How are the shipping and what about warranty. It seems the company is in Asia.


We live in a world economy now. 

I've had faster delivery and better follow up from some Chinese suppliers than I have from some fairly well known "American" companies. Particularly American companies importing the same product from China and only marking it up as their "value add". That's a hard statement for me to make as another Chinese company shut down my business by taking my product and selling it shelf ready for less than just my labor cost. 

As to a warranty on LED emitters, my suggestion is to purchase some extras for spares. In my opinion - one is more likely to burn them up than get a bad one.

As for the drivers, unless you build your own (using parts from where?) guess where the purchased ones came from. 

As Hoppy mentioned, we don't know the actual life of any of these bits, yet. I know I used to replace light bulbs in my receiver and my aunt's pinball machine every couple of years. Single LEDs and a resister ended that task. 
I've got functional LEDs that are more than twenty years old.


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## redfishsc (Aug 29, 2010)

I assume "heatsink plaster" is just thermal epoxy.

However, they are giving you 10,000K white LEDs. 

Please don't use only 10,000K white LEDs over your tank! It will likely look sickly, ghostly, and washed out. 


A combo of 6500K and 10,000K would look great, probably, but they don't seem to have it as a possibility.





Hoppy said:


> I don't think anyone can say how long Meanwell drivers last either. They haven't been in wide use long enough to know that. For all we now know they may be good for only a couple of years on average. And, the same is true for the current crop of LEDs.


I can't speak for the Meanwells (other than my first one has lasted 2 years just fine, the other 3 are just starting year #2).

But the Inventronics/Thomas Research Drivers are said (by the mfr) to last around 450,000 hours (literally 10X the life of the average LED.... so, basically, a century based on our usage!).


If you want to know more on that, Nanotuners.com could explain it better, I'm just repeating what they told me since they carry the TR/Inventronics brand.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

redfishsc said:


> I assume "heatsink plaster" is just thermal epoxy.
> 
> However, they are giving you 10,000K white LEDs.
> 
> ...


450,000 hours is 50 years, with no lights off time, so to have one of them to have been found to last 50 years it had to have been made at least 50 years ago, before LEDs were invented. Long life projections like that have to be either calculations based on very much shorter time intervals, or just optimistic guesses. I really doubt that any electronic device will work for 50 years, and for sure, I don't want to pay even one cent more for one because it might last that long. (I'm 75, so who wants to bet that I will last that long myself?)


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## redfishsc (Aug 29, 2010)

Hoppy said:


> 450,000 hours is 50 years, with no lights off time, so to have one of them to have been found to last 50 years it had to have been made at least 50 years ago, before LEDs were invented. Long life projections like that have to be either calculations based on very much shorter time intervals, or just optimistic guesses. I really doubt that any electronic device will work for 50 years, and for sure, I don't want to pay even one cent more for one because it might last that long. (I'm 75, so who wants to bet that I will last that long myself?)



ROFL, point well taken. 

I had assumed it was based, on some level, on the units being overbuilt, using resistors/caps that were rated for a higher wattage than they actually are being used at.


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## [email protected] (Jul 17, 2008)

redfishsc said:


> I had assumed it was based, on some level, on the units being overbuilt, using resistors/caps that were rated for a higher wattage than they actually are being used at.


I can guarantee that electronics, unless you are doing it your self, or paying way more than most of us care to, are not over rated by much. Conveniently LED drivers are fairly simple and power circuit design is a fairly well understood technology.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

If you run the light 10 hours a day, that's 3650 hours a year, so 50,000 hours is almost 14 years. Even the LEDs that are said to last 50,000 hours do so only in the imagination of their marketing gurus. I would much prefer to see them touted as having an indefinitely long life, probably several years. All it takes to kill a typical LED would be a stray high energy cosmic ray particle striking it. The odds aren't high that it will happen, but with 20 in a light fixture, the odds get high enough that I can't see how the light fixture can be expected to last even 50,000 years.


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## WingoAgency (Jan 10, 2006)

I have no problem where they are made, just wonder the cost of shipping could be expensive.

Anyway, these are just parts not fixture, so nothing much could go wrong and that a DIYer should know what they are doing, so I guess I over worry warranty issue is a little.



[email protected] said:


> We live in a world economy now.
> 
> I've had faster delivery and better follow up from some Chinese suppliers than I have from some fairly well known "American" companies. Particularly American companies importing the same product from China and only marking it up as their "value add". That's a hard statement for me to make as another Chinese company shut down my business by taking my product and selling it shelf ready for less than just my labor cost.
> 
> ...


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## WingoAgency (Jan 10, 2006)

[email protected] said:


> I can guarantee that electronics, unless you are doing it your self, or paying way more than most of us care to, are not over rated by much. Conveniently LED drivers are fairly simple and power circuit design is a fairly well understood technology.




I partially agreed to what you said yet disagreed on some other area.

Most electronics as in technology is not over rated-there many simulations can be devised such as weathering and extreme environment tests. However, the LED drivers are NOT that simple a thing. In one of the light show, British commissioner of energy said, the success of LED relys on driving responsibly. Every time I go light shows, they have new awards for drivers-that means new ground breaking designs are continuously coming out, just like the fabrications of LED itself-every couple months there is a new record or material released. 

In our hobby, the power issues is very real-especially when our fixtures start to run at 100W 200W and even 300W+. Most fixtures manufacturers run into power circuit failures once too often over time. From Solaris, AI, Acan to Pacific Sun all run into power issue over time. I fixed many Solaris for the saltwater friends before and people start to ask me to fix other brands as well(I stopped doing that now, they were just too many poeple request for help) It may be NOT due to the under knowledge of the technology but more about cheap parts being used.


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## [email protected] (Jul 17, 2008)

WingoAgency said:


> I have no problem where they are made, just wonder the cost of shipping could be expensive.


In my experience Chinese suppliers only charge shipping.
Delivery has, in my experience, been two to three weeks. Not bad for the distance.


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## tentacles (Nov 28, 2011)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> http://www.aquastyleonline.com/products/Aq...mmable-Kit.html


Just wanted to reply; I ordered some of the 4500k LEDs, 420nm LEDs (beautiful BTW) and UV leds, along with some lenses. I have also dealt with Cutter. 

First, I paid $16 shipping (from HK to Canada) - it was sent Fedex Express, overnight. I got it the same day the shipping confirmation email came. WOW. 

Second, they sent (free) a tube of heatsink plaster (which I SUSPECT is just thermal grease), and also (free) a little 2 - AA LED tester (nice touch). 

I *really* like their lenses - they fit nice and snug on the bridgelux LEDs, and also support being screwed onto the mounting surface from the back. This is important, because this style of LED just has thermal grease between the tiny emitter unit and the star itself. The lenses they sell actually will press the LED down tightly for better thermal transfer. 

Okay, further info, the lenses will NOT fit on cree's without significant modifications, the bridgelux style leds sit much taller on the PCB than the Cree do. 

The heatsink plaster seems to be standard zinc oxide thermal grease, it is not an adhesive. 

On a side note, I think these 4500k LEDs look nice, I think what I will do is put some of them over the shrimp tank I'm setting up tomorrow. I will try and get some pics.


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## mwuf15 (Aug 3, 2010)

got any updates with the pictures? wanted to order one but hesitant about the quality of the leds.


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## tentacles (Nov 28, 2011)

Yep, I put some pics over in the show off your LEDs thread, I made a fixture using 6 of the 4500k LEDs @ 450ma (it's a driver I had laying around). I really like the color of these, the pictures don't do it justice b/c the tank has a soil bottom and the peat moss in it is really coloring the water brown/yellow. IMO they are an excellent shade.

Also I'd like to add that they sent 11 4500k LEDs on my order for 10. So not only does qty 10 get you $.30/unit off, another 10% in a free emitter is pretty sweet. 

The 60 degree lenses are the way to go on these for sure, the 80 degree ones I purchased don't seem to be anywhere near as bright, there was basically no difference between no lens and the 80 deg. I drilled out(slightly) and tapped the lenses for 2-56 screws since I already have a bunch of these. I think you'd want #1 sheet metal/wood screws to attach these without all that trouble, though. I'll take a pic with both of my tanks in it to give an impression of the color of the light, the Cree on the 10g are 5500k. Please note my walls are slightly tan offwhite. Take it for what it's worth anyways..


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## FishermansDwarf (Nov 13, 2008)

Noahma said:


> No need to hang it that high, the kit is dimmable. So you can hang it where you want to, and dim it to the light level you want.
> 
> I would need two of these kits for my 36 gal. still not that bad of a price. Wish they sold 6500k LED's too, instead of just the blue and 10,000k. I personally like the 6500/10,000 k combo.


They now have 6500k LED's on their site, just not part of the kit. I just sent an inquiry as to total cost including shipping for two 6500k kits, I'll post the response. 
I am about to set up a new 57 gallon Oceanic Illuminata. I think this may push me into LED's for the first time. :icon_bigg


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## mwuf15 (Aug 3, 2010)

do you guys think a 14 led kit or a 24 led kit would be good for a 55gal that is 39"L x 17"W x 20"H


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## Misant (Oct 12, 2011)

I'm actually interested in lighting my planted 120 gallon glass top tank with something that's low profile and runs cool enough it can get near the glass top without cracking it.

Bulbs etc are just so bulky/messy...


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## samamorgan (Dec 31, 2011)

LEDs to not radiate any heat out of the front of the light like traditional bulbs do. You could put any led setup right on your glass top and not have any problems.


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## Dragonfish (Apr 28, 2011)

You can expect them to release a Freshwater/Planted kit any day now. I've been doing product testing for them and helped them design the first unit. It will be a 24" 12 LED kit with 80 degree optics. I actually found the 60 degree optics to be too focused and intense for planted setups. I had to suspend the light much further above the tank than I wanted to. The Bridgelux LED has a native viewing angle of 120 so the 80 is actually a pretty big improvment over no lens at all. 

The heatsink compound they provide is definately epoxy, not just grease. I used it on both the fixtures I built. It sets much slower than the artic silver which I like because I don't feel rushed to mount them. 

Mwuf15, what is your planned stock list for plants? 24 LEDs over a 55 should get you to med/high at full blast but you can dim it all the way down to low light if you get a dimmable kit. 14 would save some cash but you would not be able to get high light out of it.


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## tizzite (Mar 28, 2010)

I've used this company and I can vouch for them. Shipping was expensive, but was still cheaper than other places.

I've seen CREE leds, and I can't really tell the difference in brightness.

I used their 24 led kit for this DIY. If you want a different color combo, you email them. Customer service is pretty good. This was intended for a reef tank so I ordered a [4] 6500K, [8] 10000K, [9] Royal blue, [2] ultra violet, [1] red.


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## randyblktl (Apr 3, 2008)

do you guys think 3 14 led kit or 3 24 led kit will work for a 84x24x30? for medium to high light planted tank


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

tizzite said:


> I've used this company and I can vouch for them. Shipping was expensive, but was still cheaper than other places.
> 
> I've seen CREE leds, and I can't really tell the difference in brightness.
> 
> I used their 24 led kit for this DIY. If you want a different color combo, you email them. Customer service is pretty good. This was intended for a reef tank so I ordered a [4] 6500K, [8] 10000K, [9] Royal blue, [2] ultra violet, [1] red.


Wow, your light stand is amazing!


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## FishermansDwarf (Nov 13, 2008)

The kits are the same price with the 6500k LEDs, you just tell them what temp you want in the comments section of the purchase page.
I just ordered two kits with 36 6500k and 12 10000k total, shipping to California was about 30% of purchase price. (not sure on price info policy here):eek5:


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## mwuf15 (Aug 3, 2010)

Is that how you order the different led options? What about the lens, can you order 80 degree lens instead of the 60 degree? I email them but have not heard back from so don't know if that is possible


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## Storm (Aug 7, 2011)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> Wow, your light stand is amazing!


Seconded. I really dig the way you curved that white steel bar.


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## scapegoat (Jun 3, 2010)

so would this kit be considered high light for a 20g long? and would it be possible to spread these out over a 30" heat sink and still get high light?


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