JB`s LED Build Thread

Honestly no. They are REALLY super easy to build. In fact, if anyone wants a lesson in how to build them, I might be able to put together an impromptu "build party" at my house. My heatsinks are on backorder so it's going to be a couple weeks before I have all the parts, but I'd be more than happy to walk people through the process if they want.

 

BTW, the dimming circuit above (which is by far the toughest part) is NOT required for the build if you have an Apex.

 

I haven't been monitoring the heat situation that closely, but I've never felt the fixture get warm at all. However, I'm only running the XM-L's at 60% power right now. If I turned them up full blast for an extended period, I'm guessing they would get warm.

With a 10 x 12, you do 30 LED's with the 2" spacing that I used, though I bet you'd have no problem with 36. I believe the recommended minimum spacing between LED stars is 1"

 

By the way. I can't emphasize enough how good the customer service is from ReefLEDlights.com. If anyone wants a one-stop shop where everything you need is available, check them out.

 

Yes, it's just a normal RJ-45 cable end, so you can use Cat-5 if you want. I decided to go the route that Neptune uses (or at least used to use) for their own cables and used normal phone cord type wire instead. You can put two phone cord wires into an end and run one wire to each driver...

The link to the 9 conductor wire is posted with the picture a little further back in this thread...

-JB

 

Here's the link for the Apex stuff including the DIY cable:
http://reefledlights.com/neptun-apex-setup-programing/
It's pretty easy though:
P1: 1-Pos
P2: 1-Neg
P3:
P4:
P5: 2-Pos
P6: 2-Neg
P7:
P8:
I still need to order another thing of the street wire for my display tank build.   Thanks for the reminder... /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/smile.gif
-JB

 

FYI, ledgroupbuy.com now has optics available for the XM-L LEDs.

 

I haven't been able to get any good pics of it over my frag tank. My crappy little point & shoot camera just can't do it justice.

You're welcome to stop by and check it out sometime Troy...

 

Ok, I have almost all of the parts two build three more fixtures... Just waiting on some Cool White XP-G's (should show up tomorrow) and some fans (from China so who knows)....

A few people had mentioned that they would like to come over and walk through the process of building these lights. I'm more than willing to do that, but it's probably going to have to be sooner rather than later because I'm not going to be able to resist the urge to get these over my display tank ASAP.

I could maybe do it this weekend (assuming the parts are all here) or next weekend.

Is anyone still interested?

-JB