Need help on LED DIY for my ATS

[kaykay]

Hi bros,

I'm now using a 10w warm white LED chip for my internal ATS. This chip is custom fabricated in an aluminum box, with a DC connector powered by this power supply.

The box is like this.

I'm not getting good algae growth with this. Worse, the focal point seems too strong for anything to grow in the 3cm diameter zone.

I will be getting my hands on 4pcs of 3w 660nm red and 1pc of 3w 455nm blue LEDs.

But I'm totally new to the schematics of LED circuitry.

I'm intending to recycle the box and (hopefully) the parts within.

1. Can this power supply above be able to drive the 15w LEDs in total?

2. Do I need new drivers if using the above power supply?

3. Drilling the holes for the 4 new chips should not be too difficult. However, do I need an acrylic sheet to protect the chips? Note I won't be using lenses, as I want a wide spread. Will the acrylic burn or turn brown from the LEDs?

4. Can anyone help me with the soldering?

If any bro is keen, I can bring down this box and we can tear this box apart to ascertain if I need to source for addition parts to make it work.

I'll only get the chips sometime next week. So I'll have time to source for parts.

Thanks.

[sunny03]

think the driver is too strong for 3 w

3w the current should be 700

is it a must for you to drill hole ??

get some therma glue and glue them on the box smooth surface

[kaykay]

Does it mean that as long as I get an adapter rated at 0.7A output, I can drive 5x3w LEDs in series?

I'm thinking of drilling holes so that the wiring can be hidden in the box.

[sunny03]

I am not so sure if you can do that .. i using led to driver my led.... Maybe you can pm jameschong or Sherman for help they should be able to give you better advise.. If not search RC diy thread lots of diy led info in there..

You can still holes for the wire, I thought you going to still holes for the led ..like your current set up..

You can search in Ebay there are lots of shops selling grow light.. Cost of it is almost the same as,you getting a driver and 5 led star chips

[kaykay]

Stripped my custom box to take a look inside.

What's the long-ish thing connected between the heat sink and the power supply? Is it the driver? If it is, can it drive 5 x 3w led chips?

It's currently driving a 1 x 10w LED chip warm white.

The front.

[sunny03]

maybe

[kaykay]

"Maybe" means maybe it's a driver, or means maybe can drive 5x3W?

Bro, how to confirm the "maybe"?

Can I strip apart the rubber tubing and read the specs?

[sunny03]

70% like driver

[kaykay]

I reckon a trip to SLS beckons soon. Haha.

[sunny03]

where did you get the LED chips from ?

[tropic]

The rectangular heat shrink thingy reminds me like a sandbar resistor..or it could be smethings else.

[kaykay]

Just went to SLS this afternoon. Bought some parts for the modification.

The rectangular piece is a resistor. Bingo, bro Tropic. Just cost me $1 to get another one.

Bought another power supply. 12V 2A to drive the 5 x 3W LEDs. $18

Bought thermal plaster to stick the new chips.

Using the entire metal box as a heatsink.

Will be commencing this project over this weekend. Hopefully.

Will post pics when due.

[RockyBoy]

Should use those constant current LED driver instead.

Your 3W LEDs is of 660nm for red wavelength?

[kaykay]

Oh ok.. But since I bought the power supply and resistor already, I'll try this method first.

Ya the 3w led is 660nm.

[kaykay]

Anyway I'm too kiasee to power up my own cable-exposed, AC powered, virgin LED DIY project.

So I'll better stick to this method first, where DC comes direct from the power supply. Haha.

What's the downside to this method though?

[tropic]

Your power supply is those like laptop adaptor or the silver type case regulated which they sold in sls?

[kaykay]

The power supply is like those old Nokia handphone charger type.

One black plastic 3-pin plug, and a DC pin to the light box.

[MadScientist]

Isn't this just the normal dc adapter?

[kaykay]

Yes it is.

Bought another one of higher Amp to drive the 5x 3W.

[kaykay]

Finished product.

Added a dc fan too.

The colored lights!

[kaykay]

Finished product.

Added a fan too.

The colored lights.

[Mark Tan0308]

Hi,

From your 10W led photos, the power supply is a 12V 1A regulated power supply. The resistor connected to the led acts as a current limiter,

what is the value of the resistor, how many ohms?

From your modify leds photos, you connected them series and you use 4 pcs 3W red leds and 1pc 3 watts led.

3W red leds normally need about 2.2V to 2.8V forward biasing voltages and about 700mA to 800mA to work and blue led need 3.2V to 4V forward voltages and about

650mA to 750mA current. Technically your 1A power supply should be enough since you connected them in series without a curent limiter.

Leds are current devices and you uses 2 different types of led in a curcuit although the currents requirment different is not much.

Not sure how will they behave and interact. Please update how it's works out.

Your project is for a nitrate remover? From the new leds photos I still noticed that there are hot spot. any reason why you choose the colour leds over the white one?

Maybe you can get the aglae you want to tied on the tray for a head start, it easlier than cultivate from zero if my guess is right.

Best regards

[kaykay]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for your reply.

I'm not sure the value of the resistor. I just told the shop owner what I have, and that was what he recommended.

The new power supply is a 2A one. 12v / 24w.

They're very bright.

If by this weekend I still see 5 hot spots, I'll probably try to use a slightly translucent acrylic as a diffuser.

Most of the grow lights selling in the market use a combination of red & blue lights (80:20 or thereabouts ratio). So I'm following this rule. After 1 week, I can see significantly more growth than the warm white led.

[MadScientist]

That ratio is good for algae

[Mark Tan0308]

Thanks MadScientist,

Hi kaykay,

The value of the resistor should be printed on it, something like 10W = 10watts, and the resistance like 2.2 ohms.

Your new 2A power supply is good.

I need to apologise that I said the old power supply is enough, I have forgotten to include your fan current in, so it not safe to use your present setup with the old power supply. Your setup is alot of wattage at a small area. I was thinking of using 0.5W 8mm leds with a 18V to 19V power supply. Try to get 5 or 6 leds in a series group with a simple DIY current regulator as driver. With 3 groups will have 15 or 18 leds spread out. One group take 19 x 150mA = 2.85W, include the lost at the current regulator, let said about 3W. So 3 groups = 9W. not enough add another group, don't need a heat sink.

Best regards