Brotherjericho's stupid questions about DIY and such

brotherjericho

Well-Known Member
Thanks. They work for Philips Rebel ES too, which is great because that is what I am using for 660nm.

Oh, and thanks for the signature too, now using Tor browser for a few sites!
 

brotherjericho

Well-Known Member
Just for anyone's info, both the XP-E and XT-E have a 3.45mm anode, so the above reflectors should work. The reflector has a 7mm opening in the center, so big enough for either.

Damn, mo' money!!
 

RainerRocks

Active Member
Thanks. They work for Philips Rebel ES too, which is great because that is what I am using for 660nm.

Oh, and thanks for the signature too, now using Tor browser for a few sites!
That's great they also work for the Rebels...I bought the Rebel lenses themselves which are different
than the cree lenses from rapidled.

Be sure to also change your search/web engine also. I use Startpage and DuckDuckGo. Startpage is also working on a private Email which should be coming in a few months.

Glad I could help !
 

brotherjericho

Well-Known Member
Well, as usual, I over-analyzed the next part of my build...the fans! Looks like I will be getting some Corsair SP120 Quiet Editions to cool the heatsinks. I was all over the place between Coolink, Enermax, Bitfanix, and Cooler Master, but for the price, the Corsairs are probably some of the best, and the SPs are good for heat sinks.
 

brotherjericho

Well-Known Member
Well, due to work and family time (I am stealth, no one knows about my op except my pets), I am not complete yet. Not too bad, have all of my LEDs on the heat sink, all whites and most of reds wired up. I tested every single LED before adhering to sink, all looks good. I chose to go solder-less since this was my first time and 60 LEDs are involved, and I have not soldered since high school unless you count some time soldering copper pipe about 10 years ago. Even back in HS my soldering was very limited (one or two classes)? So I was hesitant to go that way for my first time.

Some mistakes I've made thus far:

(1) Going with 2 - 8.46" x 10" sinks instead of 1 - 20". The idea was to be able to build one fixture per 1 ft^2, for each plant basically. I ended up going with one whole fixture because of the way my tent is and me using boxes to keep plants at different levels. That meant tying them back together into one unit using 3/4" angle and self-tapping screws. Not that bad, but had limited equipment and messed up a couple of holes. Nothing major, just detracts from the visual build quality.
(2) Not buying all of my solder-less red LEDs from one source. I bought the XP-Es from LedGroupBuy and the Rebel ES from RapidLed. Two different types of connectors which is not that hard to overcome, but if you make a stoner move...well, I ran out of connectors of the latter type. I would not have had I paid attention to what I was doing...I wasted many connectors. I am debating my next move (see below).
(3) Not fixing issues as they arise. I had one screw from (1) above that needed to be pulled out, should have done it long before mounting the LEDs. Well, tried to do it afterwards and broke one of the RapidLeds connectors off when I hit it with the other side of the angle nose pliers. That means either buying a replacement, popping the broken one off and replacing, or soldering.

I tried to find some more connectors locally for the RapidLed type. The Led GroupBuy solder-less only require wire, the RapidLeds have a 2-pin molex. RadioShit did not have anything, sadly, that is all I have. So I then debated ordering more and waiting to the end of the week at earliest for them to arrive or biting the bullet and finishing the job with solder. I already had a 25w pen with a fine tip (never used!), so I started reading up and watching videos. Looks pretty simple imho.

So I went back to the Shack and picked up some 60/40 solder and a small cheap bread board to practice on. Pre-tinned both the wire and the contact, then put the wire onto the contact and the soldering iron onto the wire. Walah! Did this a couple of times, checked the resistance, and none of the joints were bad! So I'm going to finish up by soldering. Its pretty easy, actually, but I'm still happy I went solder-less for my first go. My only concern is that the LEDs are already in contact with the heatsink and I've read it makes it harder to heat up the contact on the star. We'll see.

Here is a pic of one 30 piece set. I changed a few things around, just orientation, but this is pretty much how they were distributed:

LEDlayout.jpg

I will update more when I can get back on the project.
 

brotherjericho

Well-Known Member
Arctic Alumina epoxy. That stuff sets up fast once you mix it, so go with enough to do only 3-5 at a time.

Well, my 25w pen was great for the unattached breadboard, not so much at all for the RapidLed stars already affixed to the heatsink. Seems I never could get the pad hot enough to actually get the solder to flow well enough, and I did not want to keep the pen on the pad for too long. So either I find a higher wattage pen or just order the additional supplies from RapidLed.

Pretty small working area


Versus

 

turnip brain

Active Member
Arctic Alumina epoxy. That stuff sets up fast once you mix it, so go with enough to do only 3-5 at a time.

Well, my 25w pen was great for the unattached breadboard, not so much at all for the RapidLed stars already affixed to the heatsink. Seems I never could get the pad hot enough to actually get the solder to flow well enough, and I did not want to keep the pen on the pad for too long. So either I find a higher wattage pen or just order the additional supplies from RapidLed.

Pretty small working area

Already attached to heatsink? I think it was Rrog (on another forum) showed laying out the LEDS but using popsicle sticks as spacers under the stars for soldering then attaching to heat sink after soldering.
 

brotherjericho

Well-Known Member
Already attached to heatsink? I think it was Rrog (on another forum) showed laying out the LEDS but using popsicle sticks as spacers under the stars for soldering then attaching to heat sink after soldering.
Yeah, if I had gone the soldering route I would have soldered before attaching to heatsink. Too late for that :).
 

jcmjrt

Well-Known Member
Yeah, if I had gone the soldering route I would have soldered before attaching to heatsink. Too late for that :).
With a small wattage soldering iron, that's probably necessity but with a good work station (I'm using a Hakko 937) you can solder them attached to the heatsink. I just got done doing that yesterday as I've been building up my big diy light (big meaning long - two 50 inch sections - to go all across the back of my grow space). I got my soldering station used off e-bay several years ago and have used it on many and various projects over time. There's one on e-bay right now - $85 or BO. Being able to digitally control the temp is nice and makes it far less likely to burn up parts while trying to get a piece hot enough to melt the solder.

Pretinning the wire is also a good technique to get a faster solder joint. WebRep


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brotherjericho

Well-Known Member
I pre-tinned the wire but could not get the star hot enough to flow 60/40 solder without touching the iron itself, which is no good for a proper solder. I am going to try again tomorrow with a different tip (slightly thicker).
 

SupraSPL

Well-Known Member
Ya it is hard to solder when they are already on the heatsink because the iron constantly has to try and catch up. For whatever reason I prefer to mount the stars first so I do it that way anyway. I use a 26 watter and recently discovered that using flux would have made this job much easier and quicker. I got a flux pen from ebay for $6 and it made a world of difference. Much easier to tin the wire/pads and much easier to get a good solder joint. You just dab a bit of flux on before soldering and somehow when heat is applied the flux acts like a surfactant, allowing the solder more easily into small spaces. This also allows for a quicker heat transfer between the two things you are trying to solder.

I like the 80 degree reflectors you found I will have to look into those.

I found some very cheap 650mA drivers that operate at or near 90% efficiency and they even have a decent power factor ~.9. Also available in 1000mA and 1600mA but I haven't tested those: http://www.fasttech.com/products/1612/10004218/1320605 The one I tested was 670mA @ 23vF and 645mA @ 34vF with 90% efficiency in both cases.
 

brotherjericho

Well-Known Member
Update time: Well, I have no fuckin' update. I haven't progressed much further beyond picking up some stuff to mount the fans. I have had company with me for several days now, and my time to fiddle is very limited. I typically do my work in the mornings, but other things (real life shit) can intrude on that as well.

The good thing here is that my 4 plants in flower are doing well with their present lighting. When I take them out and groom and water them, they ask me when they are getting better light, and I feel guilty. After all, you can live off McDonald's but its not the ideal situation.

I hope to get a couple hours in tomorrow morning and some throughout the weekend. Some time will have to be set aside to possibly harvest an Emerald Triangle Lost Coast OG, but only the initial chop.
 
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