DIY LED Lighting

[johnd651]

its been a while since i have had to think about electricity and worked with leds... thought i would ask

a) any one know if these are any good?

b) would i be able to use 10 of them to make an led strip light for a 55 gallon? (i also have blue 30mA 3.2 V leds that i was thinking of using in between as moon lights)

c) if (a) is good and would work for (b), what would be the best way to wire them up. i was thinking 4-5 leds in parallel with 10 ohm resistor powered by a 6vdc 1amp power block

thanks

 

[johnd651]

or something like this for the white ones

 

[O2surplus]

Those are only 1 watt leds. You'd need quite a few of them to produce any appreciable light for you tank. You'd have better results using leds with a higher power rating, such as 3W Cree or BridgeLux leds. Also- leds should be wired in series, as opposed to parallel. Series wiring will assure that all the leds in the string receive the same amount of drive current and you'll only need 1 ballast resistor per string. Parallel wiring of leds requires much more planning and parts to pull off successfully, because each led has a slightly different forward voltage, which will cause some of the leds to become "current hogs" and appear brighter than other leds in the circuit. You'd be better off using a conventional led constant current "driver" rather than a ballast resistor and a voltage source. Look for a Meanwell driver or other equivalent.

 

[backpack]

try looking through mouser for leds. they have good prices if your ordering enough.

 

[johnd651]

yeah... i know the led's are small... but i am not looking for anything to over the top... also its been 3 years since i last did anything with led's... i have been drawing up some schemes and such... i will try to get them scanned in and up at one point in the next few days

 

[johnd651]

Ok... so to give you more an idea of what i am working on... i know its not great... i am just getting my feet wet and back into the led stuff for now

images thanks to http://ledcalc.com/

10 white leds, 3.2-3.6V, 1 watt


8 blue leds, 3.0-3.6V, 30mA max


i do have a 9V 350mA power supply... is that an issue for the blue set? do i need to find a 100mA supply?

thanks

 

[johnd651]

oh... and any mounting ideas?

they are just regular 3mm blue leds, and i have rubber grommets for them

and the white 1w leds are 20mm on pucks