merkurmaniac
Guest
Some people have seen my LED lights that I have over my 34 gallon hex. I used many individual heatsinks that are each a bit of overkill. i may redo them once again, and this time use more leds on fewer heatsinks. Here is my current plan...
I am going to try a few different routes. All heat sinks will be ones from old PCs. (that is the eco part.) Most have been salvaged from PCs that I owned, or a couple that I wahoo'd from the curb while walking my dog. They are nice heat sinks that already have fans mounted to them. They are generally aluminum, but I do have a monster one that is copper. All fans will be run at much less than 12v so that they are dead silent.
The LEDs that I am currently using have been from nanotuners, but I am currently also trying out a place called ledgroupbuy.com that I found. It looks to be cheaper and nanotuners can be really slow to deliver. I bought indivual blue and white LEDs from both places, although I also bought some really high power ones from the ledgroupbuy place. (each one can draw up to 3 amps) I plan to build a few different units, to try out some versions. So, I will be using ultraviolet, white, blue, and more powerful whites.
The power supplies in the past had all been meanwell brand power supplies. They are quite easy to work with. Nanotuners quit carrying the more powerful versions, so I used a company suggested by ledgroupbuy to order a couple different meanwell power supplies.
I will also be trying to power some of them with ordinary left over wall worts.
this will be the cheapest route and might allow someone to build an led spotlight (to get that shimmer that t-5's dont provide) with a surplus heatsink and fan, and a left over wall wort, so pretty much just the price of the LEDs and perhaps a powersupply. This means a single spotlight with five 3 watt leds might cost (5x$5) + $20 for power supply.
I might put together a group buy for leds and power supplies (to cut shipping) once I get it put together and tested. The only other items required might be some thermal stickers (nanotuners only) that are $.39 ea.
I'll post after I get the stuff in and put something together.
Happy New Year,
Richard
I am going to try a few different routes. All heat sinks will be ones from old PCs. (that is the eco part.) Most have been salvaged from PCs that I owned, or a couple that I wahoo'd from the curb while walking my dog. They are nice heat sinks that already have fans mounted to them. They are generally aluminum, but I do have a monster one that is copper. All fans will be run at much less than 12v so that they are dead silent.
The LEDs that I am currently using have been from nanotuners, but I am currently also trying out a place called ledgroupbuy.com that I found. It looks to be cheaper and nanotuners can be really slow to deliver. I bought indivual blue and white LEDs from both places, although I also bought some really high power ones from the ledgroupbuy place. (each one can draw up to 3 amps) I plan to build a few different units, to try out some versions. So, I will be using ultraviolet, white, blue, and more powerful whites.
The power supplies in the past had all been meanwell brand power supplies. They are quite easy to work with. Nanotuners quit carrying the more powerful versions, so I used a company suggested by ledgroupbuy to order a couple different meanwell power supplies.
I will also be trying to power some of them with ordinary left over wall worts.
this will be the cheapest route and might allow someone to build an led spotlight (to get that shimmer that t-5's dont provide) with a surplus heatsink and fan, and a left over wall wort, so pretty much just the price of the LEDs and perhaps a powersupply. This means a single spotlight with five 3 watt leds might cost (5x$5) + $20 for power supply.
I might put together a group buy for leds and power supplies (to cut shipping) once I get it put together and tested. The only other items required might be some thermal stickers (nanotuners only) that are $.39 ea.
I'll post after I get the stuff in and put something together.
Happy New Year,
Richard
