DIY LED light fixture for aquarium: 120 watts for under 100$

[@jimmyross1672]

ive built like 5 led lights myself with very low budget i only spent a few dollars on the LEDS and the heatsinks i got from scrap and bought the drivers and they work great i love working with LEDS

[@lucamartino3007]

Wow! Budget build! Very cool. My inner engineer has a couple of comments. If you spaced the aluminum tubing even just a 1/4” in the middle between the two tubes and another 1/4” gap between the wood and tubes you would get so much more convectional cooling. Even with the forced air cooling it would still be a significant amount of total BTU dissipation. But overall this is as budget as it gets! Kudos!

[@BlueBladeFish]

Thank you! I may try experimenting with spacers on the next one. it makes sense for the final heat dissipation, but with past builds it has seemed the most successful strategy has been just having a large thermal mass - spreading the heat out so that no LED heats up too much at its one spot. however, if you wanted to stack more bulbs in a smaller area, the total heat of the system and total dissipation rate would be a larger factor.

[@rjbiz3639]

Nice build!!!

[@rjbiz3639]

Hello I bought most of the items a years ago, I am just building a couple now. The metal has really went up in price. Still I wanted to build a couple. So I am. I will let you know how they turn out. And thanks!!!

[@Plantedaqua1]

Why u have used fan. Is it necessary to use it. And what will happen if we don't use fan

[@BlueBladeFish]

the LED's get quite hot. a fan blowing air through the center of the aluminum pipe keeps it cool. if you don't wish to have a fan, you may need a different heat sink.

[@rjbiz3639]

I was wondering did you notice noise coming from the fans blowing through the tubes?

[@BlueBladeFish]

not so much "blowing through the tubes". the fans themselves hum a bit, as fans do. but there is no noticeable resonance or whooshing noise from the tube. if anything the fan was louder before it was bolted to the light.

[@rjbiz3639]

@@BlueBladeFish I solved it by raising the fans with spacers about a 1/4 inch. Love it. I used 2 12v fans. It was enjoyable to build. Now I will make another one. Learned a lot from you. THANKS

[@IslandTimesMv]

Hi can you tell me were i can get the drivers, i cant find any let alone one that ships to my country, the one in the link is not there anymore

[@BlueBladeFish]

Hi! thanks for letting me know the link was dead - I updated it with one that works now. but you can also search your favorite marketplace (amazon, alibaba, etc) for "18-30x 3W LED Driver Power Supply 600mA"

[@IslandTimesMv]

@@BlueBladeFish sup again, did you ever try to make this fixture dimmable, im thinking to do so but i cant find a good driver so any help would be app.reciated

[@BlueBladeFish]

so - there are dimmable drivers, but i haven't tried one. I have made dimmable fixtures, but my goal was for automated fade-in and fade-out to mimic the day cycles. that is a bit more complex. honestly, since it is custom built i didn't need fine control - i just made it the brightness i wanted. I did make one with switches for each of the drivers... so i could turn banks of lights off (in this case it was to turn off the white to have just blue). that is easy, and would give you multiple "dimming" levels based on how many drivers you use.

[@altasonquatro3297]

can the light support red plants?(make it red)

[@BlueBladeFish]

yes. should do well for red plants. better with CO2.

[@fadilramzi330]

How to chose led driver for3w 20pc?

[@BlueBladeFish]

well, it will vary based on the specs of your 3w LED's. but for typical 700ma 3.2v LED's. you would want a driver that does 700ma constant current, and could support a voltage range of at least 70v to 54v (20 LED's x 3.2v | +- 10%). or a driver that can handle driving 60w of LED's at a constant current of 700ma. often when looking at devices intended as LED drivers, they list how many LED's can be run in the description ("... for 18 to 28 x 3w LED's ..." .

[@fadilramzi330]

@@BlueBladeFish thank you very much

[@NandhaKumar-ii9oh]

Hi sir 3w,26 Star LED how to connected in 12v power supply pls help me

[@BlueBladeFish]

I don't recommend driving the LED's directly from a 12v line. you should have a constant current LED driver/regulator. you connect it to your 12v, and it adjusts the voltage (buck) as needed to prevent the LED's from drawing too much current and burning up. 3w LED's have a power drop of 2.8-3.6v volt each, so you can only run 3 or 4 off a regulator fed 12v DC.

[@louiesephiliparce4625]

Hi, great Tutorial but i need a lil help here. I have a 1.5Amps constant current 25-40V Led driver.. How many 3w led can i use in order to maximize brightness? And with what circuit?

[@BlueBladeFish]

perhaps you can link the driver? 1.5amps is too much for most 3w LED's .8A or 800mA is more typical. you may have a driver for 10w LED's, in which case 1.5x40=60w, enough to drive 6x 10 w 1.5 amp LED's if run at 40v DC. if you did acquire 3w LED's that ran safely at 1.5A you could run 20 of them.

[@lolazieta9646]

For planted tank?

[@BlueBladeFish]

yes - this one was built for a planted tank.

[@charliecharls6756]

hi, nice work man i want to put 20 chip led 3w, but royal blue work 3-3.4v and deep red 2-2.4v, can i use a driver (600mA 18-30x3w) to put those led together?

[@BlueBladeFish]

its best to keep the blue and red separate, and use two drivers. because of the voltage difference, you will run the reds hot and they will go out faster.

[@Alkizz22]

Great build! Got any PAR readings on this light? Looking into building one for my 23inch high tank. Would 3w LED's be enough for growing carpets at this hight? 150Wx50Dx60H (59'x20'x23'). Give me all advice you got! :)

[@BlueBladeFish]

I had issues getting exact PAR readings on the reef ones (with blue instead of red). std PAR meters don't register the blue as much. I built a 3 band LUX meter and did some comparative measurements. the 3w leds provide about 2-3x the usable output of HI Florescent, with similar drop off per depth (~50% per 8 inches). 300w MH penetrates much further (less drop out) but is way less efficient. it should be fine for carpet nems, make sure they have some rock to climb, and they will be able to chose a light intensity they like.

[@SahilRai-oj3wp]

Hey man your build is amazing! I'm building one myself for a 4 foot long 170 l tank. I'm planning on planting it with glossostigma carpet, rotala rotundafolia, and a few other low tech plants. How many LED's would I require for the best outcome? And could you tell me how many exactly for different colours. Also, I'm gonna automate it with a microcontroller for natural lighting and moonlight conditions.

[@BlueBladeFish]

well, the easy part first. for a planted tank aim for ~50% red, and some split of blue and white for the other 50% (or use a very blue white, like 10k or 6.5k) . as for how much light, it relay depends on the depth and type of plants. a 4 foot long 170 could be tall, or it could be wide. if tall, you will need more light - figure about 50% loss per ft of depth (very rough estimate.. ). if wide, you need more spread. that said, two fixtures with 40 LED's each would be a good starting point - add few more bulbs per fixture if deep , or if wide enough - start there, and add a 3rd fixture if needed later.

[@JzbyAquatics08]

Is it a parallel or series wiring?

[@BlueBladeFish]

the red LED's are in series on one controller/supply , and the rest are in series on the other.

[@IceTurf]

How are these China Brand LED's holding up?

[@BlueBladeFish]

in general, very well. always get a few more than you need though. i test the batch and there are usually 1 or 2 that are not up to snuff. for most fixtures i have not had a single bulb out in years. - cooling is key though. if the fixture gets uncomfortably warm to the touch (i have one like this - i jammed too many too close together) you will more likely have some loss. fixtures with good fans and/or 2" or more spacing have not had any losses so far. the drivers are a different story....

[@rufis164]

Hi! Just saw your DIY. Amazing and quite interesting. I am planning a 5'Lx3'Wx2'H planted aquarium. Would appreciate your advice on keeping the lights 9"" above the aquarium. Rgds.

[@BlueBladeFish]

if you wish to suspend the lights above the tank (as opposed to having them rest on the top), i have found that aluminum welding wire works well. it is fairly strong, wont rust or contaminate the tank, and is soft enough to bend/twist/tie. I make two loops, attaching the ends to the top of the canopy (or ceiling) about 70% of the tank length apart, and then either place the light inside the loops (one loop holding each end) or hang it from them with hooks.

[@royalspin]

You soldered everything except the power leads and then wrapped them with electrical tape ? Tisk tisk ... Otherwise a good project although a little bit complex for the average person who doesn't have any knowledge of electrical or metal fabrication . However if someone has those skills they can save lots of money and have something more customized for their set up. I'd suggest using finned heat sinks rather than having to use a fan . It will add more to the cost but also eliminate another connection and the noise from the fan plus fans don't like moisture or excessive heat .Their bearings will either rust or dry out depending on how much moisture or heat they're encountering . So if using a small fan its always a good idea to check the flow from time to time to make sure it's operating properly . Moisture also attracts dust build up . Take a look at any exhaust fan in a bathroom and you'll see what I mean .

[@BlueBladeFish]

heh - i used electrical nuts and tape, for the AC line. yes. habit? when wiring a house nothing is soldered. I suppose in my mind i cut between doing it like an electrician would for AC lines and the way an electronics engineer does for low voltage DC. and you are correct on the finned heat sink and fan issues, but for a 5-6ft one... if you can find it, it is much much more costly. if you have a source that is not, please share! I have experimented with a few versions, and if on a budget.. doing it like this replacing the fan every few (if needed - and as you say, it often is) years still comes our far ahead cost and effort wise.

[@robiog1]

Great video thanks

[@BlueBladeFish]

thank you!

[@jimgeorge7390]

Hello Blue Blade Fish, thanks for the video as it was much informational. I have noticed that you havn't used resistors for the LEDs, so can we make the setup without resistors too? I would like to ask help from you. I have bought below specs LEDs and want to know how can I light this up in 1 single panel, like what driver is required of what specs: 3Wx10 White LED 1Wx10 Blue LED 1Wx10 Full Spectrum LED Thanks in Advance.

[@BlueBladeFish]

hello! well, the LED driver serves the same role as a resistor - limiting the current so the LED doesn't burn out - the drivers do a much better (and more economical) job. to locate the proper driver you need to know the voltage and current specs for the led's - for example many "3 watt" leds are rated at 800mA, 3.2v - so you want a constant current driver that limits to a max of 800ma. lower (say 700mA) would be slightly dimmer, but would make the bulbs last longer. the 1w bulbs likely need a 300mA driver. on top of that you need to take the total power and voltage into account - driving 10 of the 3w mentioned above would require a minimum of 32v (more like 35), and 30 watts. so a constant current driver that output in a range of 24-42v at 800mA (and at least 30w) would drive the whole chain.

[@technomad9071]

only 2 hands... amateur