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This instructable shows how to design and build a very bright LED lamp for your Aquarium. What makes this instructable different from other that have gone before is that I'm using HBLEDs instead of traditional LEDs.
I found a new HBLED from Optek which are much less expensive than most high power LEDs. The Optek LED is around 50 cents in quantities of 100+. The LED is small at only 3.5mm square. But, the LED kicks out a 1/2 watt of light. There are some downsides to these LEDs. First, they are surface mount. Second, they must be attached to some kind of a heat-sink.
A couple of things that make the lamp presented here really cool. First, the lamp is made by sandwiching the LEDs between two pains of glass. The glass acts as a really good heat-sink. The glass sandwich is also sealed around the edge to make it water tight. Second, the lamp is almost totally clear being made of glass. Plus, since the HBLEDs are really small, they don't obstruct other aquarium light. This makes possible to simply add the new LED lamp and continue to use existing aquarium lights you already have.
The rest of this instructable discusses designing the 14 watt HBLED lamp for your aquarium.
I found a new HBLED from Optek which are much less expensive than most high power LEDs. The Optek LED is around 50 cents in quantities of 100+. The LED is small at only 3.5mm square. But, the LED kicks out a 1/2 watt of light. There are some downsides to these LEDs. First, they are surface mount. Second, they must be attached to some kind of a heat-sink.
A couple of things that make the lamp presented here really cool. First, the lamp is made by sandwiching the LEDs between two pains of glass. The glass acts as a really good heat-sink. The glass sandwich is also sealed around the edge to make it water tight. Second, the lamp is almost totally clear being made of glass. Plus, since the HBLEDs are really small, they don't obstruct other aquarium light. This makes possible to simply add the new LED lamp and continue to use existing aquarium lights you already have.
The rest of this instructable discusses designing the 14 watt HBLED lamp for your aquarium.
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Signing UpStep 1Design LED Carrier PCB
The Optek LED, being surface mount, needs to be mounted to some kind of a circuit board. I designed the following carrier circuit board to be as easy to use as possible. Also, the board needs to facilitate heat transfer. The life expediency can only be assured if the LED does not get too hot.
The carrier board is flat on the back side so that it can be thermally bound to a heat-sink. The board also allows wires to be solder along the edge of the board. Lastly, the board has large thermal pads to help wick away the heat and transfer it to the heat-sink.
Have a look at the attached pictures for more details.
The carrier board is flat on the back side so that it can be thermally bound to a heat-sink. The board also allows wires to be solder along the edge of the board. Lastly, the board has large thermal pads to help wick away the heat and transfer it to the heat-sink.
Have a look at the attached pictures for more details.
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Thanks a lot for your help,
Fabio
Anyway, here is the rebuilt page. This should work for you.
http://ph-elec.com/archives/hbled-example/
Thanks,
Jim
The reef aquarium field is where aquarium lighting varies the greatest. Some reef aquarium keepers use VHO (Very High Output) fluorescent tubes, compact fluorescent lighting, and metal halide lighting since they provide much brighter light than average fluorescent bulbs and come in a variety of spectrums. Reef keepers often opt for light of varying spectrum. Since many corals require a deep blue or actinic spectrum of light to thrive many aquarists must supplement traditional white light with light of this color. Also popular with reef keepers is T5 High Output fluorescent bulbs. These bulbs are thinner than traditional T8 bulbs and provide a much brighter, more powerful light.
No, my goal was simply to provide some accent lighting. A stretch goal would be to provide some extra lighting so as to replace some lighting that uses a lot of electricity.
My neighbour has a big tank - I think he said it is 80 gallon. For sure, at 12 watts, there is plenty of light penetrating all the way to the bottom. I think the tank is about 18" deep.
I visited a retail pet store the other day. They had a small 8 watt LED lamp and a larger 16 watt lamp. So, my 12 watt lamp looks like a good compromise.
I would suggest you try and experiment with red LEDs before building. Our experiments showed us that green and red did not help.
Note, we were not trying to add any light to help the plants grow. This was strictly done as an accent light.
So far, I have not followed through and built my neighbour another lamp. Boy, now that you mention it, he must be getting ticked at me. I better get busy!
Thanks for the interest,
Jim