AquaticLife LED retro fit build

[jstan]

So I've been itching to try some led's over my tank, but just haven't taken the plunge yet....that is until now. I ordered all the parts I've needed, from rapid led and nano tuners. The parts list consists of

6 - cree 3watt royal blue leds's
6- thermal pads (didn't want to mess with thermal epoxy just yet)
1- 1.1" X 18" heat sink
1 - 3 prong power cord
some extra wire
1 - linear 10k slider pot
1 - TRC- 040S070DS driver

still need to purchase a rocker switch and a project box (radio shack here I come)

The plan is to retro fit the heat sink(w/LEDS's) into my current twin lamp 24" T5HO fixture. Seeing as how one of the lamps no longer lights up. Go figure I go out and buy brand new lamps to replace the old, and the blue lamp won't light up. Just flickers on for a sec then turns off. But the white lamp works fine. However if you switch the lamps around in the fixture neither will light up.....go figure. Someone said it's a connection somewhere.....
Well I could try and fix that or I could just disconnect the non working side remove the reflector and get some LED's in there.

Right now I'm just waiting on parts to arrive via USPS. Then the real fun begins, hopefully it will be finished before the swap since the light fixture is also my "show" fixture.

The tank this will be on is just a small 20 gallon tank only 12" deep and 24" long by. Pics will be added when the building starts.

[jstan]

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All the parts I ordered arrived today. So now the project can really begin.
Royal Blue 3watt led


And the rest of the parts

(ignore the date stamp, I've been to lazy to reset my camera with the correct time..)

I've decided to use an old computer power supply housing as my control box for the driver, dimmer switch, and the on/off switch.

And here is where I'm running into a problem. I have no clue what kind of rocker switch I need to buy for this project. I went to radio shack and they had a bunch of different ones to choose from. All rated differently 6A -125V or 10A - 125V or 6A - 250V and on and on and well you get the point there's a lot.
So can anyone enlighten me as to what I should buy ? I really don't want to plug and unplug the LED's every time I want them to turn on/off.

I'd like the wiring to go as follows (someone please jump in if I have this wrong, it's been many years since high school electronics class). Power cord to on/off switch to driver to LED's.

Or should it go power cord to driver to on/off switch to LED's ??

And also when attaching the power cord, if to the driver directly( I know the rocker switches have a place for the ground to be attached to already), where should the green ground wire be attached to ? The TRC driver only has a Live and a Neutral(the power going into the driver goes to the black and white wires in the above picture, The black/red wires are to supply power to the LED's, the other wires go to the dimmer switch) wire coming out of the driver. Any info would greatly be appreciated.

[jstan]

LEDs are up and running


Jason's phone

[jstan]

All in all, the project went well. Only lost one led due to my own stupid mistake. But even with 5 these guys really brighten up my tank very nicely. The two pictures I posted were with just the new 3watt royal blues running, at full power. Though I've been running them now at about halfway on the sliding dimmer switch. And still real bright. I can't wait to start my next project now, home made LED pendant coming soon.


Jason's phone

[Sir Patrick]

Looks great!!

This the one you are bringing to the swap?

[jstan]

Light fixture, yes yes it will, it'll just be on my smaller swap tank. And the Royal blue LEDs balance very nicely with the T5HO bulb I have running, ATI aquablue special. Also I'm only using 39watts of power total for this fixture now, 24watt bulb, 15watts of led.


Jason's phone

[thepanfish]

That is pretty sick! I'd like to see that at the swap!

[jstan]

I just wish I'd read all the warnings before I fired up the driver the first time around. I wanted to see how bright the LED's were, so I plugged the driver in grabbed the + and - wires and held them to the +/- on one of the LED chips without soldering the connections(just touched the wires down onto the contact surface. And POP!!! went the LED. Will never never ever do that again. Always make sure your connections are solid before turning on the power......Oh well live and learn. At least it was only one LED and not the whole set. I'd be crying if that happened.

[larryandlaura]

Awesome setup can't wait to see it at the swap.

[rcombs]

where did you order your heat sink from? and is that a one up or three up l.e.d.