LED light

[sushant]

My search for a decent lightening system started as soon as i shifted into a new house and made my self a large tank. the T5 which doing a very good job until now fail to deliver the same effect as the tank was 2 feet high.

The first thought that came into my mind was to upgrading my lights into Metal Halide, owing to its high electrical consumption and heat dissipation i dropped the idea.

Then i came across an article on Reef.com abt LED lights and its benefits and thus a decision was made. it took me another 2-3 months to gathering more knowledge abt them and the place to source them from.

Here is the first prototype of my LED light which was running on a DIY constant current circuit.







i tested this setup for around 6 month and was highly impressed with its performance. i wanted to get to a newer level by adding more lights. Also, the current source that i was using was not very effective against fluctuating voltage so i decided to use LED driver instead.

This is the final version of the LED light







i have been using this light for almost 1 and a half year now and 'm highly satisfied with its performance.

built a very similar but more refined setup for my nano tank too:

[SCORPIO]

I Have also bring some 3watt LEDs and driver but my LEDs are blinking. What is going wrong?

[aamir]

great work sushant i am loving it .

[sushant]

I Have also bring some 3watt LEDs and driver but my LEDs are blinking. What is going wrong?

This often happens when the circuits are not soldered properly. first check if individual LED are working or not (this can be done using a battery or multimeter), then check if the leds are soldered properly or not( i generally use a multimeter in continuity mode for it.)

[SCORPIO]

I have checked all the LEDs individually. Now I am running LEDs by a mobile phone charger.

[marsaiko]

Hey Sushant,

Very nice undertaking.
Is the 1st one the "rail patti" one?

Can you give us name of LEDs please.

Thanks for sharing.

[rimple]

Great Work

[syed.ali]

Cool, these are 3 watt LED correct.

Also what is the driver you are using as in the picture, it looks same size as the blast.

I got the 1 Watt LED, but that is not impressive.

Rajeev Sir
Mobile adapter might now be too good option as those adapter are for 5 Volt only, So if you are using 3 watt LEDs, then you will not able to able to light too many LEDs using a single adapter.
You can use this link to calculate the suitable adapter for the no of LEDs you are using.
http://ledcalc.com/

More suitable if you have space around would be Laptop adapter or SMPS unit, both of these will take care of better constant voltage and are easily available.

[SCORPIO]

Cool, these are 3 watt LED correct.

Also what is the driver you are using as in the picture, it looks same size as the blast.

I got the 1 Watt LED, but that is not impressive.

Rajeev Sir
Mobile adapter might now be too good option as those adapter are for 5 Volt only, So if you are using 3 watt LEDs, then you will not able to able to light too many LEDs using a single adapter.
You can use this link to calculate the suitable adapter for the no of LEDs you are using.
http://ledcalc.com/

More suitable if you have space around would be Laptop adapter or SMPS unit, both of these will take care of better constant voltage and are easily available.

I am using a 5.5 watt adapter. First LED direct attached to adapter all of others are attached together with same terminal mince positive to positive and negative to negative. All of these LEDs has been attached to first LED with different terminals such as positive to negative and negative to positive. Now input has been divided into two equal parts. SMPS is the best option. Now I will try to use SMPS

[sushant]

Hey Sushant,

Very nice undertaking.
Is the 1st one the "rail patti" one?

Can you give us name of LEDs please.

Thanks for sharing.

yes, this was the one you are talking about .

these are Chinese LED and i guess even the retailer don't bother to name them. but in my case they are working fine (and since this started as a experimental light so i didn't wanted to go for branded ones )