I have a led question for my 150

[scapone]

I am in the process of building 2 24" led fixtures and I am wondering how many drivers can you hook up to one enercell dimmer?

 

[scapone]

one fixture built working on next have no idea how to mount them yet. 24 cool white xre cree and 24 royal blue cree xre and 70 degree optics and dimmable drivers. 24x8.46 heat sink

 

[NL146]

Nice work so far. The spread looks a little uneven from front to back but that's probably because of how you've positioned the fixture. Good luck with the project!

 

[scapone]

yeah it has to be raised and back more but just wanted to see a "preview of what it looks like"

 

[ravi197699]

its better if you use one dimmer per driver i tried using on my two to one and it was not working. and try hanging these lights abour 9 tp 10 inches above tank and you have will very nice shimmer effect in your tank thank you

 

[scapone]

Yeah good Idea i ordered a hanging kit that's adjustable I'm gonna try and mod see if it will work. I'll stick with the multiple dimmers but I do hate all these power supplies.

sent from my HTC EVO

 

[ravi197699]

what is the wattage on these led's you are using for this diy

 

[batt600]

what is the wattage on these led's you are using for this diy

He is using the Cree 3w leds. And has 48 leds on one heat sink

 

[scapone]

I'm actually thinking if going non dimmable in next fixture or just make whites dimmable to cut back in plugs and wires. I might use xpg for white,I'm putting two reds cree, and mix of blue and royal blue

sent from my HTC EVO

 

[scapone]

OK I actually built a bracket out of aluminum blocks from home depot and used sheet metal self tapping screws to attach them. I put the fixture in a better position over my tank and made some new observations. I had the fixture raised about two inches off the frame of the tank and got a nice shimmer effect. I also noticed that they were bright and the dimmer effect was nice but not necessary for my tank. My tank is 48x24x30 deep. I left the light running for about 40 minutes to see kind of how corals were responding from top too bottom. everybody seemed happy and not effected except for my long tentacle plate coral which could of been due to not enough time with light on. my sps on the top seemed perfectly fine. I will say i was using 70 degree optics on every led. while i did get good penetration, when I went 40% without and 60% with i got better lighting and a better spread. People may say the blue makes corals look fake when they go to buy corals but trust me when you have it in your own tank you'll be like wow it looks good. I also will say I would wire one string of colors together rather than Mitch match a string Whether your using dimmable drivers or not you will have better control over the colors. This is my mini review for newbies like me who are thinking of dyi. I have a crappy camera and the blue is so intense my camera cant catch it. I do not have a par meter so i don't know the readings.

 

[Mattl22]

Do u have to wire the blues and whites separately to have them come on separately and dim separately?


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[scapone]

you dont have too but i think it works best to wire a string of blues together then a string of whites together IMO. youll have greater control i mixed it on my first fixtrue and noticed a difference

 

[scapone]

still working on my fixtures money was a lil tight but im getting there these are three strings of expe blues and one string of xpgs just need one more string and im done.