SNEAK PEAK- O2Surplus' 300 watt LED lighting retrofit

[evilc66]

Cool. I'm assuming you are keeping your LED vf and source voltage pretty close to keep driver temperatures down? Linear drivers like those generate a lot of heat as the voltage delta increases.

Cool setup no matter what. I'm interested in seeing it over the tank in action. I've been playing with Bridgelux LEDs for a while now (neutrals, not cools) on reef setups, and they are great LEDs. They have a very slight difference in their spectral curve compared to your typical white LEDs that makes them look a lot better. I won't say higher CRI, as that's a poor color rendering measurement for LEDs in all honesty.

I'm trying to find an excuse to build something with their new 8800lm LED .

[O2surplus]

Yes, I set the power supply voltage level to within .5 volt of the led's Vf and the Cats stay stone cold. The only real heat on the pcb comes from the 12 volt reg, but with all the vias under the chips and the heatsink, it's no problem.

[nhung]

How do you control the supply voltage level? Do you put resistor in series with the LED?

[O2surplus]

Originally Posted by nhung

How do you control the supply voltage level? Do you put resistor in series with the LED?

Nope, no resistors are used. I use MeanWell power supplies that have a voltage adjustment potentiometer. I can adjust the voltage on a 24 volt model from 16 to 29 volts. This allows me to "dial-in" just the right amount of voltage for my driver's needs.

[jcgd]

Would you mind sharing how much a complete driver costs? So you could run around 10 Cree XML off one driver?

[Craigthor]

Just curious what a setup like this costs complete? I've got a 150g that is 30" tall and have thought about LEDs but the depth has some concerns for penetration. For now the tank is jsut running some MH over it.

Craig

[O2surplus]

Originally Posted by justincgdick

Would you mind sharing how much a complete driver costs? So you could run around 10 Cree XML off one driver?

The parts and supplies needed to build one costs me around $55.00 plus a few bucks for a 24 volt power supply. That may seem a bit pricey, but the drivers can handle 24 - 28 3 watt leds @ 1000ma. It specs out @ 25 watts per channel or 100 watts per board.

I'm not sure what the Vf is for a typical Cree XML right now. If it's anywhere close to the XPG then I assume you could power 7 XM-L's in series @ 3000 ma utilizing 3 channels on this driver board and save the fourth chip for some moonlights.

[O2surplus]

Originally Posted by Craigthor

Just curious what a setup like this costs complete? I've got a 150g that is 30" tall and have thought about LEDs but the depth has some concerns for penetration. For now the tank is jsut running some MH over it.

Craig

I'll be putting together a build thread for this project with a bill of materials and associated costs, just as soon as I have some time. I've had to "back-burner" this project for a while now, I've been too busy building drivers and controllers for lighting tank racks at a LFS.

[O2surplus]

Well I got a chance to work on the light over the weekend. I wired it up, and switched it on-"full blast" for the first time. I'm still seeing "little blue spots", all six of them to be exact..... sorta like- when you look at an arc welder in operation. The word "bright" has been replaced by "intense" when it comes to describing the quantity of light emitted by this unholy contraption.
Just for fun- I threw this thing under my tanks hood to see what an extra 300 watts of LED would look like. I already had 270 watts worth of Cree XR-E's and adding this thing would push that number to 570. The result was photosynthesis on a scale I'd never witnessed before. Prior to switching on the additional lighting, the tank water had already exceeded it's maximum oxygen holding capacity. All the plants in the tank were actively pearling.Within 2 minutes of turning the new light on, the tank water went to what looked like- "boiling". I have never seen anything like it. My ph controller went crazy and I had to up the Co2 flow rate just to keep up with the extra demand. I let the new light run for another 3 hours for a nice "burn-in test" and it did well. I plan to run it for at least 8 hours non stop this weekend and take some temperature measurements to make sure they're within spec, before I call it done. Here's a couple of photos of this thing in action. My camera can't do it justice though.

[jcgd]

Tanning bed?

[oldpunk78]

That's nuts!!! I love it.

[reybie]

A video of a "boiling" tank would have been cool

[jcardona1]

Holy crap Aaron that thing is awesome!!!

[O2surplus]

Originally Posted by jcardona1

Holy crap Aaron that thing is awesome!!!

Thanks Jose, I'm glad you like it. I still have to finish wiring the controller into it and finish the write up. I'd post a video but the "Evil I.T. Overlords" at my company won't allow me to upload any "large" files.

[HD Blazingwolf]

Spectacular!