DIY LED question...comments, advice appreciated

Bobbofin

Non-member
Although I already have a LED fixture I plan on building one for my 24" x 24" x 24" Marineland 60 cube. I have LPS, Acans, Zoas and a few SPS Birdnest up high. I plan on using 36 Cree XR-E Q5 3 watt with 70 or 80° optics on a 15" x 15" heatsink with Mean Well drivers from Reef LED lights. The whole project is going to set me back about $300-400.
http://www.reefledlights.com/led-kits/standard-led-kits/
Comments or suggestions from someone who's already done it appreciated.
 
Arn't the ELN 60-48 (not D or P) manually dimmable and you don't need a 10 volt power source. You adjust the volts and amps on the main board at pots SVR 1 & 2? So I'd want 36 volts at 700ma for each 12 LED string. Maybe I'm wrong???? It costs $40 each for three ELN 60-48 drivers. They're cheaper here >>> http://www.led-pwr.com/k/Mean+Well+ELN-60-48 . How much does two 24 volt power supplies cost, one for the blues, the other for the whites? I know dimmable buck pucks are $20.00 each. Does anyone know where it get these parts cheaper?
 
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the 60-48 p you need a pwm controller to dim it is harder to do. if you do not use dimming function then you need the power supply. if you go with the 60-48 d you can use a reefkeeper or similar controller
 
the meanwell D model (most common) needs a 10v reference voltage to power up, it tells the meanwell how much current to put out, your plan is good but with 36 leds it will be odd, will you have a mixed array?

maybe a far out suggestion here but..
get meanwells and buckpucks, buckpucks to control the last 6 of each color and the power supply feeding the buckpucks can also create the reference voltage and power fans
 
IMHO meanwells are easier, more cost effective and cheaper overall considering the added cost of power supplies. That said 60-48D's run so hot they warped 1/8" acrylic through the 3/4" plywood they were mounted too and I had to add stand offs and 2 fans to make me feel comfortable with how hot they run. They only dim to 5% and trust me my 24 led's at 5% are WAY too bright for moonlights if you plan on using your blues as moonlights, as bright as 1 65W PC actinic.

doctaq is right about the quantity you plan on using. If you wire series - parallel you will save money and simplify your design, 9+9 for your whites and blues will need 33 or so volts @ 1.4a for 700ma. I wish I went with more current for the option of running them at 1a. So running 38 mixed, 18 white and 18 blue you could use 2 meanwells' HLG-100-36B drivers adjusted to the proper voltage and use the analog 0-10v with a 10k pot or a controller to set the max. current.

Hope I helped some
 
Actually, the vanilla flavor of the ELN-60-48 (not P or D) does not require a power supply or Reef Keeper and will power twelve 3 watt Crees. http://www.onlinecomponents.com/buy/MEAN-WELL/ELN-60-48/ It only costs $26.60 from this retailer, $13.40 less than aqaurium led sites. I've investigated it the last few weeks. Thanks to a bunch of folks on Reef Central who PMed me the differance between the ELN-60-48, ELN-60-48D and ELN-60-48P. On the ELN-60-48 just set the brightness in miniamps on srv2 (0-1300ma) to desired brightness, set it then forget it. I'm going to use three of these drivers run 36 Crees. I'm gonig to run one cord for the 24 blues (two drivers) and another cord for the single driver for the 12 whites. I should have a nice 17-20k color.
I'm looking into a Reef Keeper Lite to turn on/off the blues and whites independantly, control the heater and turn on a fan inside the stand when the water gets above 79°. It comes with a four plug control (PC4) and temp probe. I'll probably get a Ph probe too.
 
If you are seriously thinking of using a reefkeeper lite then spend the extra money and get the 48 Ds. You will be able to simulate sunrise and sunset and set the brightness for different times of the day using the reefkeeper light control module. IMHO, I wouldn't even build a LED setup without making it dimmable especially with the 3W crees!
 
IMHO meanwells are easier, more cost effective and cheaper overall considering the added cost of power supplies.

I'm sorry if I was vague, I understood your move to the meanwells after I bought 6 Buckpucks and then saw how much an 8a 24vdc power supply was. I went with the meanwells also and just wanted you to know they run super, mega, cook an egg hot. I also thought you wanted to dim them through 0-10vdc. When your spending this much on a DIY fixture how come you don't want to spend the extra 14$ or so dollars per driver and get a dimmable driver? It is very easy to wire a potentiometer and you won't regret it in the end. I used reefledlights.com and found the guy that runs it very nice and helpful and his optics are very nice for what I paid, free.

Good luck
 
If you are seriously thinking of using a reefkeeper lite then spend the extra money and get the 48 Ds. You will be able to simulate sunrise and sunset and set the brightness for different times of the day using the reefkeeper light control module.

The sunrise and sunset features are not a big deal to me. If the blues come on a couple of hours before the whites and turn off a couple hours after the whites go off I'm happy. Having the heater on the controller is a BIGGER deal to me. Also, the ability the to turn on fans via temperture. The $99 unit will suit my needs fine.
 
you can go even cheaper than 75 dollars total for powering if you dont need dimming, look up the transistor based driver, a heatsinked mosfet can handle up to 60v so 48v to power 12 leds should be plenty, throw in a power supply and you could come out to maybe 45 dollars for two 24v 6A power supplies, one for blue and one for white, which can also power fans.
 
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