# 100W LED - 10K lumens 6500K Lighting rig for tropical planted viv



## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

first up - please don't copy the design on this page, its not been tested, I don't know if its going to be safe, although its low voltage, its high power and high current and could be dangerous if not done properly, it may even run hot enough to cause burns...time will tell, anyways... (if you want to see if it works safely...that'll be a few weeks until it's fully built, tested, installed and re-tested)

This will be a bit of a build diary, my first time working with high power LED's (other than ready made units), so any experienced and helpful info much appreciated!

So far I've ordered all my parts (below), any recommendations welcome, or warnings, changes..etc..this build will happen as already designed, but things to look out for will be useful!

The componants...


10 X 10W 12V 900ma (upto 1amp) 6500K LED's (~1000 lumens each)
2 X Aluminium U Profiles, 500mm long, 1inch U, 3.3mm thick - to act as heat sinks as 10W LED's run VERY hot, and structure
10 X 10W 1.5R resistors (coz I bought cheap unbranded Chinese LED's, and I'm not convinced they can quite take the current they claim!)
Terminal Blocks
16amp wire
12.5amp / 150W power supply
Various self-tapping screws
Thermal paste
2 X 12V 0.2a fans
...that's it i think...anything obvious I need, that I've missed?
 Whole unit will be suspended 1cm from the viv ceiling with hooks, a false ceiling hiding it away, and 2 fans cooling the false ceiling area if needed)

There will be a 5% 36W tube supplementing it aswell when I finally add some little lizards (emerald long tails! woo!)

The new rig will be inside a false ceiling with 2 fans cooling it, as my current lighting setup is heating the inside the enclosure to 32~34C ambient...and I want more control over it...and more light lol

I'm replacing the current lighting rig in my jungle enclosure (just plants, no animals), which consists of 2 X 15W LED, 2 X 32W 6500K CFL and a 3 way GU10 fitted with 2 1W LED's and 1 3W LED)

supposedly that's around 6000 lumens...give or take manufacturers higher estimates :whistling2: everything has been growing nicely...but pretty soon there will be further growth higher up, so need something more penetrating aswell...hence the 10k lumen setup....


I'm a little concerned about running 50W of LED's on just a 1inch U profile, not entirely convinced it will handle the temp required, anything below 60C without fan assistance and i'll be very happy, anything below 60C-50C with fans and i'll be happy...anything else...eeep guess I'll have to start again with proper heat sinks, which are not easy to find at this size, and not cheap!

here is the basic design for the project...(coming soon...sketchup is driving me up the wall lol)


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## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

gah i hate sketchup...but heres the basic idea (very rough and ready pic)...high powered LED strip...

 fingers crossed the aluminium U will cool it enough!...there will be 2 of these


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## Arcadiajohn (Jan 30, 2011)

I think we have a programme to test it for safety, remember LEDS do cause fires when the heat is not transferred away from the chip and heat reduces their lifespan HUGELY!!

A 50k hour cell will last for just10k hours if it is over run by as little as 20% and so on.

Let me see if our lab will check the math

John


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## vukic (Apr 9, 2010)

Looks good so far.. Will be following this one..


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## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

Arcadiajohn said:


> I think we have a programme to test it for safety, remember LEDS do cause fires when the heat is not transferred away from the chip and heat reduces their lifespan HUGELY!!
> 
> A 50k hour cell will last for just10k hours if it is over run by as little as 20% and so on.
> 
> ...


def interested in any numbers and advice!

it'll be run first without fans, and then with fans...aiming for 50C or lower (inside enclosures false ceiling)

I've seen it done with 5W's and smaller U profiles and tiny fans, big difference between 10W of power on a single profile and 50W, of course lol... but i'm hoping!

well if not...I have a whole stack of old amp's with heat sinks rated for 200W, 500W and 1kW, so I've got options 


(the LED's are rated for 9-12V, claimed 10W, but I recon 9W, with the extra coming from "overdriving" the led array?)


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## s6t6nic6l (May 15, 2010)

what are the dimensions of the enclosure?


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## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

s6t6nic6l said:


> what are the dimensions of the enclosure?


4 x 3 x 2 

upping the lummens from ~6K to 10K because I'm growing a canopy halfway up, so want a little extra light for the ferns n mosses in the base


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## bigd_1 (May 31, 2011)

have to keep my eye on this as may work of my next viv 4(L)x2(D)x6(H)


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## reptiles-ink (Nov 4, 2006)

Rather than just the resistors to help regulate the power I suggest using 900ma drivers. A quick look on ebay actually shows them as being used for the 10w led's. This will ensure that they aren't over driven and only draw the correct current.


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## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

reptiles-ink said:


> Rather than just the resistors to help regulate the power I suggest using 900ma drivers. A quick look on ebay actually shows them as being used for the 10w led's. This will ensure that they aren't over driven and only draw the correct current.


I have got a few current limiters ready to go if I need that route, but my power supply is variable voltage, 9-12V, so first up, i'll be running things at 9V, which means lower current will be drawn anyways...I want to avoid over complicating things, but if I find that things are not stable, I will be adding current limiters aswell

also a note - these LED's are intended to be overdriven slightly to provide the full 10W - my only concern is the heat dissipation tbh, but we'll see what happens at 9V and work from there up


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## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

will now be cutting the LED's down to 2 per U profile, based on some good info from people who know more than me (ie the heat sink is essentially 1/3 the area it probably should be)


watch this space


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## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

completely redesigned...expecting that U profile to keep 100W cool was a little optimistic  so heres the new one....and solves another problem aswell, spreading the light out nicely over 1m, aswell as a space to hang the UVB tube in the middle
(view is upside down of course! and not to scale - they are 150mm X 60mm X 30mm heat sinks, giving me about 20% more surface area per LED than is provided by the purpose built 10W led heat sinks...so should run a little cooler)


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## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

final version, to scale, all finished up, including T5 UVB Tube 

20% headroom on the heat sinks, plus fans, coz I want this to run as cool as possible so it doesn't interfere with any heating

all the parts are ordered, lots have arrived, still gotta make a small form factor reflector for the tube...hopefully this will be up and running within the next 2 weeks  ...assuming the LED's ever make it out of china :whistling2:

Fans will run off a cooler thermostat if needed, but i'm really hoping they wont be needed, considering the temps people are managing with U profiles and 5W LED's











If I cant grow a jungle with this, then i cant grow a jungle lol


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## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

ditched the UVB tube underneath, no point putting an 80C tube under a bunch of heatsinks that are supposed to be <50C lol

last few bits waiting to be delivered and the build will start...will post pics of the stages and readings as I go along...fingers crossed it runs cool!


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## s6t6nic6l (May 15, 2010)

CloudForest said:


> 4 x 3 x 2
> 
> upping the lummens from ~6K to 10K because I'm growing a canopy halfway up, so want a little extra light for the ferns n mosses in the base


so you will have 136w/10K+ of Lum' for the 24"' of upper area of enclosure?


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## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

s6t6nic6l said:


> so you will have 136w/10K+ of Lum' for the 24"' of upper area of enclosure?


kind of, its not a true canopy, in that it will not be a virtual block out of light, but the light at the base will be allot less than at the top, and there is a layer in the middle which is mostly branches and twigs, which will be something in between

its being designed so that there will be areas of full exposure where needed on the base, of full spectrum lighting, areas of full UVB and full spectrum on the middle layer, and then full whack of everything in the top layer


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## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

little update...

after lots of experimenting, i've settled on running these a little lower than their full input voltage, running at 11.2V, rather than 12V - the LED's are mounted on 150mm X 60mm x 25mm heatsinks (2 per sink) with a silver thermal paste

surface temp of LED's is 45-46C at that voltage, in a 20C room, after 90minutes of operation; at 11.9V they ran at 60-64C on the same setup, so if I need to push the voltage, i think i'll definitly need fans - but even at 11.2V they are very very bright, too bright to look at directly 

will be installing them in a few days once i've tidied up the wiring, then will drop them back down to 10V and build it up slowly over the next few weeks - hoping I wont need any fans or a huge vent...but we'll see, if the temp goes over ~52C (allowing for an ambient temp of 24-26C in the enclosure), then i'll be sticking fans on

think the difference will be 1/10th lower ~9,000 lumens, maybe, my maths is a bit rusty, and their output may (will almost certainly) not be whats "on the box" lol still a fair wack of light tho


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

Interesting thread,

I built my own lighting rig and controller for my marine reef tank, but opted for running single 3W CREE LEDs in series from constant current LED drivers. Using a 48v supply turned down to 39v the drivers run 4 chains of 10 LEDS (mix of cool whites and Royal Blues). To keep the LEDs cool I use a passive method (ie no fans) and simply mount tthe LEDs to a large heatsink










First version shown here










The hot part of the heatsink reaches no more than 49c, but I suspect with your high power LEDs it might get hotter local to the area around them.

My concern using high power LEDS in a vivarium would be how to dissipate the heat, so that there is no chance of over heating the enclosure. You mention that the LEDs run between 45c and 64c depending on the voltage you are running them at, if so then within the confines of a vivaruim this will raise the temperature higher than the estimated 24c, especially in summer time when the room temperature can be 28C - 30c

Is there a reason why you need such a high intensity of light in the vivarium


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## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

tempreture management isnt a big issue inside the enclosure, as there will be a sealed false cieling/diffuser, even if the LED's do hit 55+, it wont affect the temp inside the enclosure very much at all - so far I've had it running for a week inside the enclosure (empty atm), hasnt made a dent in the ambient temps (running 8hrs on, 16hrs off)

the only concern I have regarding tempreture is the plastic of the enclosure, so I will be adjusting the setup to maintain 55C or under as much as possible (the plastic is fine upto 80C, but i want the margin) - replacing the LED's isnt something I am concerned about at the moment, 2 minute job at most (besides they are cheap chinese jobs, i dont expect good life from them anyway)

the light is needed because it needs to pentrate through ALLOT of branches, plants etc from top to bottom, and I want good bushy growth from the plants

In the past the most I have used is ~6,000 lumens in this size enclosure (3 tubes), and although things grew reasonably well, the plants tended to grow long and gangly - number one sign of a lack of light  (and the effect on ambient temps is much more significant, each tube runs 80C+)


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