# I think I'm addicted, archaea LED retrofit



## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Yep, built another LED light.

This time, it's a small retrofit for my archaea 27watt power compact. I used 4 cool white Cree xp-g ran at 350ma w/ 65degree optics.

On to the pics:

Cutting the Aluminum bar for the heat sink









Slots in perfectly









perfect fit









running wires









LEDs mounted and wired up. I cleaned it up after this shot was taken









optics fitted









driver used, it's a small 350ma driver capable of running only 4 LEDs. Was sold as a moonlight driver from rapidled, but works perfect for a small tank.









And let there be light!!









PAR readings at about 14 inches, the max height of the fixture off the substrate in my mini-m. Pretty high. Without the optics though, it drops to like, 20umols, not high enough. If I had ran a stronger 700ma driver, it would be a pretty good lighting level.









It runs very cool, a lot cooler than the PC bulb. I wish I could've mounted the LEDs recessed into the fixture but the heat sink wouldn't work with this. Maybe I'll redo it later using just a small flatbar for the heatsink.


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## FDNY911 (Dec 6, 2009)

Good job man.


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## [email protected] (Jul 17, 2008)

Paint the outside sides of the optics to cut the glare.


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## redfishsc (Aug 29, 2010)

Very nice work. 

Where did you get the 27 watt number? At 350mA, each LED is using about 1 watt. You'd need to drive them at 1500mA or more to hit 27 watts (now THAT would be a nutty PAR number!)


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

redfishsc said:


> Very nice work.
> 
> Where did you get the 27 watt number? At 350mA, each LED is using about 1 watt. You'd need to drive them at 1500mA or more to hit 27 watts (now THAT would be a nutty PAR number!)



oops! I meant 27watt PC bulb. I edited the first post


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Ok, I redid this since I didn't want the LEDs sticking out of the fixture. I found a piece of aluminum flat bar that fit perfectly into the fixture. Remounted the LEDs and rewired it.










Nice and flush









The light was too strong and I couldn't raise the fixture any higher since it has the clip for the tank. I superglued some window netting onto the optics to reduce the par by about 30%. It's a great way to lower the lighting if you can't hang your lights.









Here's the new par readings


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

hmm, a little disappointing now that I got the fixture on to the mini m. W/ the optics, the spread isn't enough so the tank looks really dim. Without them, it's not bright enough so I had to lower it to about an inch off the tank. At that height, I'm getting about 45umols of par, not as high as the stock fixture but not bad. If I had lifted the light to the previous level, the PAR drops down to about 25-30. I think if I ran a 700ma driver, I could lift the light higher, but I'm happy for now. This fixture is using 4 watts vs 27 watts and it runs super cool.

It does look awesome though and the shimmer is definitely there.

I think on a mini-s this would be perfect.

Total cost
$24 for LEDs
$10 for driver
heat sinks were free, but for flat bar this length, should be about $1/foot, and I used 11 inches for the 27w fixture.

Here's some pics. I'll post a video when I get the chance so you can see the shimmer. Notice how close the light is to the water. Before I had it a little higher, about 3 inches higher.


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## O2surplus (Jan 31, 2010)

That light and tank look really sharp- excellent work! Watch yourself though, *DIY LEDS ARE ADDICTIVE.*. Pretty soon you'll be looking for ways to use them all over the house!:icon_wink


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## cardgenius (Mar 27, 2011)

Thats pretty cool. Especially the price. Where did you find all the items to build it?


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

O2surplus said:


> That light and tank look really sharp- excellent work! Watch yourself though, *DIY LEDS ARE ADDICTIVE.*. Pretty soon you'll be looking for ways to use them all over the house!:icon_wink


Thank you! 
I agree about the addiction part lol, this is the... 4th LED light I've built so far. Not enough tanks to put them over!



cardgenius said:


> Thats pretty cool. Especially the price. Where did you find all the items to build it?


The LEDs and drivers are from rapidled.com, the heatsinks are from my girlfriend's dad. He works at a sign shop and they just have all this scrap aluminum pieces lying around, but for something this sized it should'nt be too expensive.

Nano tanks are perfect if you want to try out LEDs. Since they require less LEDs they're a lot cheaper to try out. The most expensive part of this was the archaea fixture that I used to retrofit the LEDs into (60 bucks!!!)


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## audioaficionado (Apr 19, 2011)

Subscribed to yet another DIY LED thread :icon_mrgr


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

If anyone is thinking of doing this w/ the archaea fixture, the heatsink is significantly heavier than the old internals, so I had to really tighten the screws in order to make sure the fixture doesn't flop about.


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## Burks (May 21, 2006)

Looks really nice! 

I have an old PC lighting fixture I may cut up one of these days to use. I just don't have the money to do the CREE's. All the extras add up quick!


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## reybie (Jun 7, 2007)

I want to try one. I have a 20 long that I need to light (low light only). Not sure if I should just take the easy way out and get a T5NO instead of DIYing an LED fixture.


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## Rockhoe14er (Jan 19, 2011)

great build. What did you use to attach the optics to the led's?


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## xmas_one (Feb 5, 2010)

Oh man, those old PC fixtures in my garage are going under the knife! Thanks for the post.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

reybie said:


> I want to try one. I have a 20 long that I need to light (low light only). Not sure if I should just take the easy way out and get a T5NO instead of DIYing an LED fixture.


noooo go LED! haha

for a 20long you could probably get away with doing like, 2 rows of 6 LEDs using a 700ma driver or something



Rockhoe14er said:


> great build. What did you use to attach the optics to the led's?


Nothing, they kinda just fit in. The ones that are loose I apply a tiny bit of super glue to 1 corner to hold it in


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## audioaficionado (Apr 19, 2011)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> The light was too strong and I couldn't raise the fixture any higher since it has the clip for the tank. I superglued some window netting onto the optics to reduce the par by about 30%. It's a great way to lower the lighting if you can't hang your lights.


Instead of shading your LEDs, does your driver have any option to lower the current instead?


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

audioaficionado said:


> Instead of shading your LEDs, does your driver have any option to lower the current instead?


Nope, It's a constant current driver so can't adjust anything. I ended up not using the optics anyways, with 4 leds spaced 3 inches apart and only 12-13 inches b/w substrate and light, there's not enough spread to cover the whole tank. I removed the optics and just lowered the light down a few more inches.


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## audioaficionado (Apr 19, 2011)

I was just asking because Mean Wells can set the max current limit and that will also limit the brightness too.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

audioaficionado said:


> I was just asking because Mean Wells can set the max current limit and that will also limit the brightness too.


hmm interesting, I think it may only be on the dimmable drivers right? I don't know about the constant current ones. I only have experience w/ the constant current drivers.

This driver isn't made by meanwell btw


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

This is working out quite well. With the light lowered to 1 inch above the tank, I'm still getting a decent spread of light and I'm getting about 40-50umols at the substrate.


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## mrturtle (Apr 4, 2011)

Do you have an underwater sensor or do you just measure without the tank?


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Sorry I didn't see your post. I used a par meter, and it can go underwater


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## wastedtime (Oct 27, 2011)

Nice mod, I have a 36W version of this fixture and was looking to retrofit it with LED's , Do you know if it is possible to use the fixture itself as the heatsink ?


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Uhm, depending on how high you're going to drive the LEDs. On my fixture, they're driven at 350ma so they put off like no heat. I have that thick heatsink so its cool to the touch even after running all day long. 

You might be able to run it using just the fixture as a heatsink but I don't know.


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## newbieplanter (Jan 13, 2013)

Excellent idea need to keep this in mind.


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> hmm interesting, I think it may only be on the dimmable drivers right?


Some Meanwell constant current line voltage drivers (dimmable or not, though the one I have is "dimmable" using 10V DC and a trimmer) have an internal "pot" to limit the current.. They also have an internal "pot" to limit the voltage.. though most seem to think that is pointless.. 

A driver of that type would set you back $20 plus dollars and some "require" a signal at thet dim circuit. 9V battery works just fine.. though it will not be 100% on.. sounds confusing.. but it isn't..... much... 

this one selects current via DIP switches..
http://www.meanwell.com/search/lcm-25/default.htm


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