Advice with the driver needed

bilaliz · Jul 16, 2015

Hi All,

I am planning on making DIY lights for my fluval edge aquarium. they will be two bars (heat sinks) with lights attached.

LED Lights i have picked are below, I will put either 3 or 4 lights on each heatsink
http://www.banggood.com/10W-Warm-Pure-White-High-Brightest-Save-Power-LED-Light-Lamp-p-88169.html

Heat sink
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/231543777004?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Now i need help with the driver, on the page it says Note: suit for 3*3W Power Supply i have read up but i think i am becoming dumber by the day and just cant get a good idea what driver i should pick to power all 6/8 of them, can some one please link me to an ebay power supply that can power these. i am willing to solder them in series or parallel whatever the experts here seem is more appropriate.

evilc66 · Jul 16, 2015

6 to 8 of those LEDs over a tank as small as a Fluval Edge is massive overkill, even if you underdrive them by half. I know they are cheap, but I'd suggest at looking at something more appropriate for a tank of that size. Also, is this intended for freshwater (planted or fish only?), or marine (coral or fish only?)? I can help you pick out a more appropriate setup if you would like.

As for the driver for those LEDs, you really only need to worry about the voltage range that the driver can output, and what the total forward voltage of the string of LEDs will be when wired in series. The current output of the driver will set the brightness. With there being no datasheet for those LEDs and only a rough guideline for the voltage range, use 12v as the worst case scenario even if you aren't going to drive them at full current. The page says that the LED can take up to 1050mA, but I would say to limit the maximum current to 750mA, as these LEDs can be improperly rated by whoever is selling them, and will have a short life if run all the way up to 1050mA.

With 6 of these LEDs in series, you would need a driver that can supply 72v (6 * 12v). 8 would require 96v. While drivers with that kind of voltage output exists, they aren't as common as those that supply up to 48v. 48v is a threshold point for what is considered high voltage, and as a result, requires additional certification and testing. You would be better off using two drivers and splitting the LEDs up between them.

bilaliz · Jul 19, 2015

evilc66 said:
6 to 8 of those LEDs over a tank as small as a Fluval Edge is massive overkill, even if you underdrive them by half. I know they are cheap, but I'd suggest at looking at something more appropriate for a tank of that size. Also, is this intended for freshwater (planted or fish only?), or marine (coral or fish only?)? I can help you pick out a more appropriate setup if you would like.

As for the driver for those LEDs, you really only need to worry about the voltage range that the driver can output, and what the total forward voltage of the string of LEDs will be when wired in series. The current output of the driver will set the brightness. With there being no datasheet for those LEDs and only a rough guideline for the voltage range, use 12v as the worst case scenario even if you aren't going to drive them at full current. The page says that the LED can take up to 1050mA, but I would say to limit the maximum current to 750mA, as these LEDs can be improperly rated by whoever is selling them, and will have a short life if run all the way up to 1050mA.

With 6 of these LEDs in series, you would need a driver that can supply 72v (6 * 12v). 8 would require 96v. While drivers with that kind of voltage output exists, they aren't as common as those that supply up to 48v. 48v is a threshold point for what is considered high voltage, and as a result, requires additional certification and testing. You would be better off using two drivers and splitting the LEDs up between them.

Thank you so much for your input, it is a 12 gal fresh water planted tank with high light requirements for the plants I have put in. I'd be very greatful if you can guide me to something more appropriate.

Also if i put these lights in parallel then what kind of diver would i need?

evilc66 · Jul 20, 2015

You certainly don't need 80W of LED light over a 12g tank for high light. I have an array at about 20W above my 12g planted tank that is in high light territory and growing HC Cuba without any difficulty.

If you want a basic but effective setup, then 6500K white LEDs will work well. They make greens pop pretty well, and the overall look is good. If you want better color rendition for red plants, then you can add warm white LEDs. I like using warm white over red due to the fact that it blends much better. Royal blue can help with the colors in some fish, but certainly aren't necessary in my opinion.

I would look at using just 3W class LEDs. At least that way you can mix and match what colors you can put into the array while keeping the total power reasonable. If you can swing the extra cash, I would keep each color on it's own dimmable driver so that you can adjust the way the light looks. A good setup to try would be 4 cool white (6500K), 2 warm white (3000K), and 2 royal blue (455nm).

Unless you absolutely have to, I would avoid running LEDs in parallel.

Advice with the driver needed

bilaliz

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evilc66

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bilaliz

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evilc66

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