Reef Discussion

[MagicJ]

would 13 core irrigation wiring do the job?

http://www.brightonirrigation.com.au/category55_1.htm

http://aquatrad.com.au/products.htm...e=flypage.tpl&product_id=1050&category_id=253

I am not an electrician but I would say the 0.5mm wire is a bit fine for what we need. The wire I used is around 1.3mm so 1.5mm in the wire you linked too should be OK.

The LED's draw a fair bit more current than a solenoid :)

 

[Joshwaaaa]

I'll have to put the question to my sparkie mate see what he says

 

[MagicJ]

Excellent, let us know what he says - the wire needs to carry around 1 amp.

 

[Woody Mackay]

good quality stranded 18awg wire (1mm2 roughly) comfortably carries 2A constantly @ 240V 50Hz. Which means it will EASILY carry the current/power for leds plus its not too big and lumpy. I recommend go bigger than trying to go as small as possible, its not going to hurt.

 

[Joshwaaaa]

how warm/ hot do meanwells get throughout the day? Just looking into what I'm going to put them all in while still keeping it aesthetically pleasing and not sure whether they will need active cooling with 6 drivers and my typhon controller in an enclosure

 

[DavidS]

I've gone for 6 core alarm wire (7/0.2 flexible stranded conductor). Can't find any exact specs on this grade of wire, but a couple of suggestions rate this stuff for about 1amp. Haven't tested it yet.
The hookup wire I got from Rapid was thinner than this stuff.

 

[MTG]

cheap led spotlight that would work well for a nano on the cheap.
http://www.aquastyleonline.com/products/Aquarium-18-watts-Sportlight--LED.html

 

[MagicJ]

cheap led spotlight that would work well for a nano on the cheap.
http://www.aquastyleonline.com/products/Aquarium-18-watts-Sportlight--LED.html

Could be OK, but using unknown 1 watt (I assume) LED's is not necessarily the best way to go - 6 high quality 3 watt LED's would achieve a better result.

 

[noah]

aqua style use brightlux led and have been getting good reviews ... true not cree but are growing sps well and for 200$ for a full 72 led kit thats hard to beat even if you give it away in a couple of years the led technology will drastically change very fast long before these leds die.

heres a indepth evaluation on them
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2082235&highlight=aquastyleonline

 

[Joshwaaaa]

I use aquastyle/bridgelux LEDs over my nano, absolutely no complaints at all except their potentiometers are crap. Everything is growing awesomely, going to put an acro frag in from a mate once I rein in my phos

 

[newbiereef]

Going home now - I will answer this later tonight.

Short answer for now - for most builds some of the heatsinks used are overkill.

would thinner be better than thicker currently have 3mm sheet 1150 by 500 gets warm not hot would thinner be better shed heat quicker?????

 

[MagicJ]

Thicker is better as it has more mass and is thus able to draw more heat away from the led's.

Heatsinks are meant to get warm - if they don't then it means one of two things:

• the system is very efficient at removing the heat e.g. active cooling is employed to remove the heat
• the heat is not being drawn away from the led's

You don't want the second scenario ;)

 

[newbiereef]

cool 3 mm it is going to stay then

 

[firechild]

Actually, the ideal thickness depends on the application. Thicker is better for uses where there is short periods of high heat, thinner (but higher surface area) is better for applications with prolonged heat production - as we have in ours. Thicker materials mean a longer pathway from source to exposure, thin materials aren't able to build up as much energy but they are able to get rid of it much more quickly.

 

[shane_h]

Anyone have any ideas where one might acquire some cables that are 6+ core that would be suitable? Some 9 or 10 core cables would be ideal.

Scotts or repco? Some multi core for wireing trailers.

 

[DavidS]

Scotts or repco? Some multi core for wireing trailers.

That's a hell of a delayed response given I built that light in December :D I wound up using alarm wire - it's a little easier to work with for fiddly stuff.

 

[shane_h]

Woops I blame early morning and not looking at dates lol. I hit "Whats new" and hit the top thread.. didn't realise I was 4 pages back lol.
You got it sorted though :)

 

[newbiereef]

Scotts or repco? Some multi core for wireing trailers.

jay car 6 wire alarm

 

[Synodontis]

Now we all know I'm not the smartest when it comes to numbers, & this is one of those stupid questions that you post, then read the reply, & think, bloody dickhead.

I have a Typhon controller, four channels, running 4x M/wells on each channel. Because you have to supply a current to the dimming circuit, will having 4 drivers on one circuit have the same current as if there was only 1 driver? or am I loosing / restricting the channel by having 4? Does that make sense lol. :confused:

 

[firechild]

Unless the required current of the 4 in total is greater than the supply (unlikely since the dimming circuit draws so little current) then there is no issues.