DIY LED Biocube retro
- Thread starter cdrewferd
- Start date
I will say that I never really understood what you guys said when you talked about your colors "popping" under the blues. My tank came alive last night when I had just the blues on. The TV also really makes green come alive. My neon green tipped hammer looked amazing. I'll see if I can borrow my sisters camera this weekend to try and figure out how to take pictures of this tank. Full write and pictures to come this evening when I can get the pictures off my camera.
Finally getting around to typing this all up, sorry for the delay.
Once I had all the LEDs soldered on the heatsink it looked like this:
It was then time to work on the hood.
Take the stock hood:
Make it look like this:
Then I cut off all the little mounting poles that I wasn’t going to use. I also cut off the plastic surrounding the stock exhaust fan:
Next I installed the fans:
The 60mm fan that I used is twice as thick as the stock fan. To make it fit I did this:
Basically I just used a drill bit and enlarged the bottom holes so that they would slide over the stock posts. This is the exhaust fan so it should work great.
To connect the hood to the stand I wanted something that I could disconnect. I wanted to be able to remove the hood and tank completely without having to remove all the drivers and everything as well. To do that I used a 24 port Molex connector:
For wire I ended up finding some 18-10 sprinkler wire at Home Depot. This gives me 20 wires total, even though I’m only using 14. I have some room to expand down the road if I decide to add moon lights or another fan if needed:
At this point I mounted the drivers on rails that fit in my stand:
Once I had all the LEDs soldered on the heatsink it looked like this:
It was then time to work on the hood.
Take the stock hood:
Make it look like this:
Then I cut off all the little mounting poles that I wasn’t going to use. I also cut off the plastic surrounding the stock exhaust fan:
Next I installed the fans:
The 60mm fan that I used is twice as thick as the stock fan. To make it fit I did this:
Basically I just used a drill bit and enlarged the bottom holes so that they would slide over the stock posts. This is the exhaust fan so it should work great.
To connect the hood to the stand I wanted something that I could disconnect. I wanted to be able to remove the hood and tank completely without having to remove all the drivers and everything as well. To do that I used a 24 port Molex connector:
For wire I ended up finding some 18-10 sprinkler wire at Home Depot. This gives me 20 wires total, even though I’m only using 14. I have some room to expand down the road if I decide to add moon lights or another fan if needed:
At this point I mounted the drivers on rails that fit in my stand:
I then wired them to the other end of the Molex connector:
All together it looks like this:
Now it’s time to put the heatsink in the hood and wire everything up. I was able to put the 2 18-10 cables I used through the stock holes, so it makes for a pretty clean install:
Then I put the splash shield on to make sure I had enough clearance:
Wired everything up and put the splash shield on for good:
I then mounted the drivers and DIM4 in the stand:
Plug it in and power up the DIM4:
All together it looks like this:
Now it’s time to put the heatsink in the hood and wire everything up. I was able to put the 2 18-10 cables I used through the stock holes, so it makes for a pretty clean install:
Then I put the splash shield on to make sure I had enough clearance:
Wired everything up and put the splash shield on for good:
I then mounted the drivers and DIM4 in the stand:
Plug it in and power up the DIM4:
At this point I just had the hood on the floor making sure that all the lights turned on correctly.
Here’s all the Royal Blues:
Add the Neutral Whites:
Add the Deep Red and Turquoise:
Then add the True Violet.
Opps, didn’t light up. Check and I had the feed wires crossed. 5 minutes later and here is everything lit up:
This is only at about 10% as the DIM4 wasn’t sending any signal to the drivers.
Then I upped it to 100% just to see:
You can see where the light is in relation to the tank. It already lit it up like this:
Ok, now we know that everything is working the way it’s supposed to. Time to put the hood back on.
Didn’t take a pic of that, sorry.
Here’s all the Royal Blues:
Add the Neutral Whites:
Add the Deep Red and Turquoise:
Then add the True Violet.
Opps, didn’t light up. Check and I had the feed wires crossed. 5 minutes later and here is everything lit up:
This is only at about 10% as the DIM4 wasn’t sending any signal to the drivers.
Then I upped it to 100% just to see:
You can see where the light is in relation to the tank. It already lit it up like this:
Ok, now we know that everything is working the way it’s supposed to. Time to put the hood back on.
Didn’t take a pic of that, sorry.
Now it’s time for pics of the tank.
These were all taken last night when just the blues were on. I’m going to be borrowing my sisters T3i to see if I can get some better pictures of everything.
I’m loving the color though. The blues just make the colors pop. No way I can do the tank justice in pictures. I can tell that the zoas especially are happier as when I got home last night, after the lights being on all day, they weren’t extended like they were with the PC lights.
These were all taken last night when just the blues were on. I’m going to be borrowing my sisters T3i to see if I can get some better pictures of everything.
I’m loving the color though. The blues just make the colors pop. No way I can do the tank justice in pictures. I can tell that the zoas especially are happier as when I got home last night, after the lights being on all day, they weren’t extended like they were with the PC lights.
Now for the PAR readings that everybody has been so anxious for. These will be listed top to bottom in the tank.
Back left Back Middle Back Right
11.5 25 11.5
20 50 40
6 0 45
Middle Left Middle Middle Middle Right
55 240 65
50 110 75
45 60 50
Front Left Front Middle Front Right
16.5 30 15
40 45 50
50 60 56.5
Now the after readings. Here is where the light percentages are at:
RB – 30%
NW – 20%
DR & T – 30%
TV – 40%
Back Left Back Middle Back Right
40 52.5 12.5
45 121.5 55
10 0 70
Middle Left Middle Middle Middle Right
80 450 50
120 270 115
105 115 105
Front Left Front Middle Front Right
0 15 0
15 60 30
100 90 80
Then I cranked it to 100% and did a few quick readings down the middle middle of the tank
Top – 875
Middle – 610
Bottom – 325
I’m pretty sure that I won’t have a problem getting the PAR needed for anything in this tank now. Also remember that these LEDs have 120 degree optics, numbers would have been even higher in places if I had done 80 degree. Also, If I had used CREEs I probably would be getting over 1000 on 100%. I’m more than happy with the Bridgelux and the way that they are working. They are plenty bright enough, have great spread with the wide optics, and the color blending is really good. I get good shimmer as I have a lot of surface agitation, but I also am not getting the disco ball effect that a lot of people complain about with the LEDs. I think this has a lot to do with the layout that I chose to use. Grouping the colors lets them blend quickly. If I do another build I’ll probably try some of the 3up and 5up boards that are coming out. That won’t be for this tank though.
I really enjoyed building this. If anybody has any questions, or want to come see the light in action just let me know. Also, if you want to do a DIY, but don’t really want to build it yourself, let me know. I’d be willing to help out wherever I can. I would also be willing to build the light for you, for the low cost of a frag or 2.
Let me know what you guys think.
Sorry, don't know how to fix the formatting on the number.
Back left Back Middle Back Right
11.5 25 11.5
20 50 40
6 0 45
Middle Left Middle Middle Middle Right
55 240 65
50 110 75
45 60 50
Front Left Front Middle Front Right
16.5 30 15
40 45 50
50 60 56.5
Now the after readings. Here is where the light percentages are at:
RB – 30%
NW – 20%
DR & T – 30%
TV – 40%
Back Left Back Middle Back Right
40 52.5 12.5
45 121.5 55
10 0 70
Middle Left Middle Middle Middle Right
80 450 50
120 270 115
105 115 105
Front Left Front Middle Front Right
0 15 0
15 60 30
100 90 80
Then I cranked it to 100% and did a few quick readings down the middle middle of the tank
Top – 875
Middle – 610
Bottom – 325
I’m pretty sure that I won’t have a problem getting the PAR needed for anything in this tank now. Also remember that these LEDs have 120 degree optics, numbers would have been even higher in places if I had done 80 degree. Also, If I had used CREEs I probably would be getting over 1000 on 100%. I’m more than happy with the Bridgelux and the way that they are working. They are plenty bright enough, have great spread with the wide optics, and the color blending is really good. I get good shimmer as I have a lot of surface agitation, but I also am not getting the disco ball effect that a lot of people complain about with the LEDs. I think this has a lot to do with the layout that I chose to use. Grouping the colors lets them blend quickly. If I do another build I’ll probably try some of the 3up and 5up boards that are coming out. That won’t be for this tank though.
I really enjoyed building this. If anybody has any questions, or want to come see the light in action just let me know. Also, if you want to do a DIY, but don’t really want to build it yourself, let me know. I’d be willing to help out wherever I can. I would also be willing to build the light for you, for the low cost of a frag or 2.
Let me know what you guys think.
Sorry, don't know how to fix the formatting on the number.
Thanks guys.
I'm using the DIM4 controller from www.ledgroupbuy.com. It controls my sunrise, sunset, max intensity, fans the whole 9 yards. It's really slick. If you'd like to come check it out just let me know.
Drew
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I'm using the DIM4 controller from www.ledgroupbuy.com. It controls my sunrise, sunset, max intensity, fans the whole 9 yards. It's really slick. If you'd like to come check it out just let me know.
Drew
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
