[JErrodbuffington]

I just built a 42 led array for two coral tanks for my local fish store.. he loves them so much he said that he wants to light the fish only tanks in leds..

thing is all the research i have done has been for coral growing..

I looked at the bridgelux led line, they are alot cheaper but still produce a good PAR ratings.. (according to some)

Is there a cheaper option?

He likes the shimmer, he likes the more blue look so a two to one or maybe more.. we just wanna save some money since it does not have to grow coral.

Need ideas on how many? which leds? Also we have all seen the difference good lighting makes, even on fish, so i think it would probly be best to go with bridge lux to get the high quality light but not the higher prices of cree.

Any and all info is welcome and very appreciated..

 

[kandykorals]

For FO I think you could use 1W LED's...I know a couple of folks firsthand that are really happy with the Bridgelux...but they have only run them for a few months.

 

[JErrodbuffington]

where is a good place... i tried the place mshonk went but they only have 3 watts...

 

[Nate_Bro]

Tony Used ebay, and they have 1w LEDs

 

[JErrodbuffington]

which ones did he use, does he have a build thread..

 

[Nate_Bro]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/20pcs-3W-Wh...029?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19c5745d5d

these are the ones he used, but they have 1w LEDs also

they even have .5w LEDs..

 

[JErrodbuffington]

here is a link to the blue leds...

here is a link to the white leds...

So this would give about 20 leds per tank.... they are 36*12 with 13 inches of water...

how would one power these.. they are all 350ma leds.. but this is the part where i am confused.. how would you select the proper current driver.. would you add up the milli amps per led and find one that puts out that amperage, or would a driver rated for 350ma push a string of 350ma each leds...

So i geuss i mean to say since i am building leds for 9 tanks i need to be able to find a driver that will run as many leds to cut down on the number of drivers.. if i used the 12 per driver then i would have alot of drivers...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/110685622429?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

 

[Nate_Bro]

if you have 20x 350mA draw, then you need a power supply that can handle 7Amps?

you may need more then one driver if I can add right... thats a lot of current...

haha, told you I was bad at adding, I think its more like 0.7 amps then... oh I don't know :doh:

 

[JErrodbuffington]

well i know mili amps are amps in decimal form as such 350 miliamps is .350 amps.

so i have to add the amps together to get the string amperage... so if i wanted to illuminate 100 350ma leds i would need a driver that will give 35 amps total... Thats a freakin butt ton of amps but this is hypothetical...

how to figure voltage... ? it needs 3.4v per led.... that would be 340 volts...

yeah i think i will die trying to build this.. what driver did tony use and how many did he drive at once?

i got to find his build..

 

[Nate_Bro]

how my dad explained it long ago...

Voltage is how wide the river is, and the Amperage is how much water is flowing in it...

So I don't think you will need 340 volts (I really have no clue) but you will need to be rated for 35 Amps...

 

[JErrodbuffington]

Here are the led's i want to use, blues and whites...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/100pcs-1W-W...161?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19c5605cc9

Ratings: 350ma, 3.4V each.

so to run a string of 14 of these leds i would need a driver rated at 350ma with a 48v max. It would have to be constant current not constant volts... Right?

It would be nice to find one driver that would power 6 or 7 strings at 350ma per string, with 48v per string..

so it would be rated for 2.1 to 2.4 amps and up to 48V(per string)

Rapid has one that runs at 2.2 to 4.4 Amps at 42V...It says it can run 5 strings at 880ma, or 6 strings at 733ma...

What if i ran 12 350ma strings... 12 each string... at 3.4 volts each led. This would make 40.8 volts....

does this sound correct... i work with electronics everyday, but it has been since school since i have actually had to figure ohms law like this...

Anyway this still is not enough, we want about 20 or more leds per tank... does anyone know if this would be bright enough?? i think i am getting in over my head.. maybe i should just go with the 3w...

with the 3w i would need to go with at least 16 per tank, they are 700ma and 3.8 V typical...

I just need help finding drivers for this..

RUSTL3R WHERE ARE U? lol

 

[Rustl3r]

how my dad explained it long ago...

Voltage is how wide the river is, and the Amperage is how much water is flowing in it...

So I don't think you will need 340 volts (I really have no clue) but you will need to be rated for 35 Amps...

Voltage is the gradient of the river.

Wire resistance is the width of the river

Amperage is the amount of gallons per hour of the river.

 

[Rustl3r]

How many fish only tanks are we talking about?

You add the voltage up if all the LEDs are in one string (series configuration)

you add the amperage up if all the leds are connected in parallel.


I recommend a 48V driver with a high power rating (therefore high amperage since P=IV, I is amperage) so you can hook up multiple strings of 12 3W leds. The 1w LEDs are simply not that efficient and I'm assuming the LFS owner wants to save money over the long run.

 

[JErrodbuffington]

ok so i thought i had it figured out... the 3w are not that much more expensive...

it is 9 36*12 tanks 13 inches of water depth.. they are fish only...

i was thinking 180 1 watts for all the tanks.. that is 20 each i found a driver that will run 12 strings of 15 1 watt leds....

hlg-240-54A link to it

4.45 max current, 54 watts max

1 watt leds are 350ma and 3.4 typ.

this makes 15 leds in a string and can have 12 string parallel...

i think? i am never sure of myself..

here is another huge question, if i did get this set up with 20 1 watt leds per tank, will it be bright enough?

also if i go with 3w how many per tank?

Also if the above figures are correct with the one watts.. then i should be able to calculate what i need for the 3 watt... is it correct?

 

[JErrodbuffington]

ok tell me if this is right..

hlg-240-42a

That would run 8 strings of 10 3 watt leds - 700ma / 3.8 typ voltage.

that would make 5.6 amps/ 30.4 volt per string

i would use two and get 160 3watt leds total about 17 per tank...

is this close rustl3r?

 

[Nate_Bro]

awwww crap....

well don't ask me to wire your house anytime soon! three parts to the river? man I should have listened better! :doh:

 

[Rustl3r]

ok tell me if this is right..

hlg-240-42a

That would run 8 strings of 10 3 watt leds - 700ma / 3.8 typ voltage.

that would make 5.6 amps/ 30.4 volt per string

i would use two and get 160 3watt leds total about 17 per tank...

is this close rustl3r?

How big is each tank? 17 LED's may be a little overkill. No photosynthesis in these tanks so all you need is illumination. You don't want to go to bright as it will stress the fish, especially deep-water species.

 

[JErrodbuffington]

36 by 12 13 inches of water

 

[Rustl3r]

Yeah you could do 4-6 LEDs for a tank that thin and shallow.

 

[JErrodbuffington]

Thats cool,now how to determine drivers?