Water cooled LED fixture

[Paul B]

I just soldered the wire management system on the water cooled fixture. It's those small copper rings that will support the wires around the frame. I installed about 20 of them. Next I want to clean it up, make it nice and shiny, then shoot it with some clear coat to keep it from tarnishing. The next step after that is to glue on the 72 LEDs and solder them together. I doubt I will finish this for a while because of some hand surgery this week, but I will try,

 

[Mark_C]

You should make an entire Steampunk themed tank. I would replace the pictures of my children in my wallet with yours.

 

[Paul B]

I love Steampunk which of course is the theme with this fixture. I also love working with copper.

 

[Paul B]

I finished soldering the 72 LEDs on the copper and tried the thing out. I can't believe it works. I had my doubts because the terminals on the LEDs are meant for a robot to install them on a circuit board so the terminals are the size of a pin head or smaller.
Now to make the enclosure for the drivers and get a heater core.

 

[Paul B]

I decided to build my heat exchanger so I just ordered a bunch of 5/16" rigid copper tubing. I realize I could use a heater core but after seeing these things work, I don't think I will need that much cooling. I would also rather build the thing myself.

 

[JRWOHLER]

Paul, just asking because every party needs a pooper. Are you concerned about the copper being close to the tank? I am sure you did but just in case.

 

[Paul B]

Paul, just asking because every party needs a pooper. Are you concerned about the copper being close to the tank? I am sure you did but just in case.

Do I look concerned?
The tank has lasted for decades so if the fixture falls in the water now and crashes the tank, it has had one heck of a run. If it were not for experiments, we would have no hobby.
I could have built this with stainless steel tubing but I can't solder it. Some day if I get the bug, I will make a stainless steel one and bring it to a welding shop to weld it. But I doubt that will ever happen. Besides how many times did your fixture fall into your tank? Mine never has.
I'd be more concerned if a Supermodel accidently tripped over a raisin and kicked the tank with a high heel and gave my copperband butterfly a heart attack.

 

[JRWOHLER]

Nope not yet ... what are you using to hold the water for cooling?
PS I was thinking more of copper getting into the tank somehow and causing problems that way.

 

[Paul B]

There is very little water to hold. Then entire system has little more than a pint of water in it. The water from the fixture goes to the heat exchanger which will be about 20' of 5/16th in copper tubing to a small pump and back to the fixture. No need for a holding tank. There will be a sight glass built into the water flow valve so I can fill the system and see if it is running.

 

[myrjon]

can't wait to see the supermodel showing off this (cool) build ..

 

[reef_paddy]

Would be cool to use tank water to cool the led's, cut down on heater run times and recycle that spent electricity.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Paul B]

I could use tank water but only for about 2 or 3 minutes as corals frown on copper infused water. But there won't be any parasites.

 

[Paul B]

I just got home from the hospital for some knee and hand surgery and was surprised to see my circulating pump for my water cooled fixture arrived. It is smaller than I thought. I figured I would post it before the anesthesia wears off and I start screaming. This little pump is very cool but I hope it will run continousely.
I am tryng to type with two fingers from my left hand and not having much luck

 

[Paul B]

I am working on the pump/power supply/ shut off switch/ LED drivers etc and it is all in this enclosure, I tested the pump and am very surprised that that little pump pumps faster than my sink can supply. The pump pressurizes the system, pushing up the glass with the magnet in it, engaging the magnetic switch to turn on the relay that energizes the LEDs. It all works seamlessly and I may try to wire it all together permanently. My hand is all bandaged up so I will have a little trouble, but not insurmountable. I am now waiting for the copper tubes to build the radiator. If it all works together on a bench, I will go out and get the splash shield. I don't want to get that yet because I have to go to the Bronx for it and it will not be cheap so I will test the system first but I think it will all work perfectly.

 

[Paul B]

I finished the schematic and will start wiring it.

 

[Paul B]

The control box is built and tested. The copper tubes also arrived today so I can start building the heat exchanger.

 

[saltkreep88]

Very cool. Still following.

 

[Paul B]

The system is finished except for the acrylic splash guard and some bleeder valves to get the air out of the system. It is being tested on my bench to see first of all how it runs and second, how efficient the cooling system is.


Here is the heat exchanger. I still need to put it in a housing and I may build another one to connect to it depending on how much cooling I need. It has been running for 15 minutes and the pipes and heat exchanger are only slightly warmer than room temperature.

 

[Paul B]

Completed heat exchanger. I am so glad I decided to build it rather than buy a car heater core. It was a fun build and a core would have been very heavy and over-kill as I don't need that much cooling. I am getting the stitches out of my hand tomorrow and if I get the time I need to drive to the Bronx to buy the acrylic to make the splash guard. Then it is ready to install. I am rather proud of this thing and am glad I built it.

 

[Paul B]

I just installed the new water cooled lights and they work perfectly. They seem brighter than my old lights and they should be because there are almost twice as many LEDs. I am running them a few inches higher than the old fixture for a day so the corals have time to put on sunscreen. So far I am very happy with it. The only complaint I have is that now the back of my tank is lit up and I don't like that. These LEDs have no lenses so the light goes all over the place. I will think of something to alleviate that.