LED-WATER-HEATSINK

Eliminate the coils

Just an idea, but you can eliminate the coils indefinitely depending on the type of grow your doing - Using a blast chiller inserted into a 5 gallon bucket, you can use that for your feed line (note: this will cause condensation during lights on)

I know the heat given off from my transformers is going to be an issue in the type of rooms I'm going to be setting up, I can't post specs here because of everything else I've posted, but I've now got enough space to play with it :D

Another idea I had for your heat sink was to mount your transformers directly to an aluminum spreader and solder that into your frame. Although I feel this would adequately dissipate almost all the heat generated from those two transformers (or three, however it works out) this would be a marvelous application in what I'm building. Although unfortunately it would increase the cost exponentially.

anyway, if you could let me know the source of your circuit board and let me know if you just ordered a blank or had it manufactored that would be great. As I said, mine are $45 each for what I want so far, and thats not exactly cost effective for what I want to do.

(The idea is to create large quantity grow rooms for under 10k each including CO2, RDWC, lighting, and cooling in a sealed environment)

"The rig will ONLY be hotter than the ambient temp during lights on. "

It's a good thought, but you quit thinking about it a little too soon:
It will be ~at the ambient during lights out.

Relax, condensation will not be a problem. :cool:

If you decide to sweat solder, I'd advise you to do it right.
Use plumber's solder, acid flux, and a torch.

If you decide to goop it instead.
There is an epoxy stop-leak available that has the look and feel of modeling clay.

I had a thought about your thin tubes.
Not sure how you plan to do the manifold, but I see no reason to bother spiraling them.
You could just slide them into a larger pipe for a counter-flow chiller.
Or, you could just buy a counter-flow chiller.
The are sold at brewing supply stores for chilling wort.

'twere me, I'd just spread them out and let them radiate the excess heat directly to the air.
I mean, it's only 90 watts, yah?
Water cooling, while cool, is total overkill here.

I do have a suggestion to simplify.
Take all those fitting back to the store.
Buy a roll of 3/4" soft copper that's used for supply lines.
It's very soft, with thick wall. Can be bent by hand.
Mark it off at intervals and use a vise to compress flat spots at those nodes.
Sand the flat spots and thermal glue the leds to 'em.
Then hook up your slow pump if you wish.

But, since you are already burning energy to produce the excess heat why not use that heat to move the water.
Google "thermal siphon".

Designed one of these for a 400 Watt unit.
Then realized that 400 Watts was overkill for my purposes and scaled it down to 150W.
That eliminated any need for the complexity and expense of water-cooling.
I get by on a cake pan with a single fan now.
Attachment 290405Attachment 290406

But, I really wanted to build my kick-ass, water-cooled, monster just for the coolness factor.
Hence my vicarious interest in yours. :)

So, how can I he'p?

Weeze

Okay, as this forum has been down for maintenance and I'm on my way out the door, this will only be a short reply!

low_rdr: You've got an awesome project going on there! Sounds like you're plan is to make "kits" for big grow-room, right? That would be a cool thing to design.. I'm curious as to what you're planning to "use" the excess heat from the LEDs for... And what do you mean by "sealed environment"? like underground? :cool:

The voltage on my LEDs are as follows, 460=14V, 623=9V and 660=10,5V
It should be possible to cram those in to two transformers, but that's just what the math says. (If i'm not wrong).

I don't have a circuit-board, as I will be mounting the leds on the brass caps you see in my first post and soldering the wires onto the stars. (If you're not talking about the stars, themselves)

And the plan for the transformers was to place them outside of the cab.


Weezard: I was afraid I'd need a torch and all that... would a pen-torch work or do I have to buy a "real" one?

I just googled the copper supply line, and that would probably be an easier way to do things:) I didn't know such a thing existed. I'll check it out and calculate cost and all... I also got some copper Ts in mind, that I know they have at the store, so next week, things will be happening.

Oh, and I have actually got two professional copper heat exchangers... (don't laugh) I thought they were overkill, that's why i didn't decide on them. They're called "doucette suction line 1/1,5 heat exchanger" and they're meant for gas I think. Big tube with small coil inside for reversely flowing-coolant agent, if I got that right. But that would mean an extra water loop, right? I'm very stressed on time right now, so I can't think too much about this!

Thermal siphoning was an option! I didn't know if it would work, but in a vertical rig, the hot water at the bottom of the rig (at the LEDs) HAD to flow up to the top, cool, and fall back down.

Is that lamp 150w? I think I have over-estimated the heat-issue with these LEDs:D But, that's a good thing. next time I'll do something like you did there. You've helped plenty already, weezard, just check in once in a while and I'll be posting every step on the way!

Now, I'm desperately late! Got to go!

Back in a couple of days, thanks so far guys:cool:

Oops!
Did I say 150 Watts?

That's my 70 Watt unit.

I blame the meds.

The 150W. array has a honkin' big heatsink.

Attachment 290438Attachment 290439

Sorry for any misdirection.

Aloha,
Weeze

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Weezard

Attachment 290438

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awesome sunset/sunrise? in the background

Wow, that's a big fan. The heat doesn't stand a chance in that airstream, I bet. Is that 15w you got there? I was out to get those from mouser but it seems they're off the shelves.

But! I got the Ts from the plumber-store today and did my first soldering! Also, I've decided to buy new pipes in the right dimension. Been a hassle tryng to fit stuff on the old pipes, so I had to make a decision to either stick with the water-rig and do it right even though it's not saving me any money, or giving up and going for the fan/heatsink-deal.

I'll be checking for leaks before mounting but if you can tell the soldering isn't good, let me know.

Yeah, nice habitat man:cool:


Attachment 290512Attachment 290513

Yep, them's the elusive 15W. emitters.

The fan is over-sized so that I can under-drive it.
They run quieter and last longer that way.
The dimmers ran too hot for my taste so pulled them from their cases and mounted them under the shroud.

Attachment 290514Attachment 290515 I run the 12V fan on ~9V and have it on a thermal switch.
(No point running it on a cool sink.)
When I have the reds turned down the fan does not even kick on.

Solder?
Good work!
You've done this before, yah?

Actually, on closer inspection, those soldered joints look a li'l too good.
I don't see the marks of soldering paste.
Acid flux is usually pretty messy.
Did you scrub 'em up a little, post soldering?

While it's possible to sweat solder without flux, it can turn a small job into a career. :)
And even if I could blow your photos up big enough to see pinholes.
The ones you see are not necessarily the ones that leak.

When you get it pieced together, jam a rubber hose in one end, seal the other, dunk it in the bathtub and blow in the hose.
No bubbles? Power it up. :)

I'm liking it more alla time. :D

Aloha,
Weeze

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LedElk

Wow, that's a big fan. The heat doesn't stand a chance in that airstream, I bet. Is that 15w you got there? I was out to get those from mouser but it seems they're off the shelves.

But! I got the Ts from the plumber-store today and did my first soldering! Also, I've decided to buy new pipes in the right dimension. Been a hassle tryng to fit stuff on the old pipes, so I had to make a decision to either stick with the water-rig and do it right even though it's not saving me any money, or giving up and going for the fan/heatsink-deal.

I'll be checking for leaks before mounting but if you can tell the soldering isn't good, let me know.




Attachment 290512Attachment 290513

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Soldering tip: Whenever you finish soldering each joint, grab a rag and a bottle of vinegar and clean up each solder joint to remove any residual flux left (process is known in the plumbing field as "pickle-ing the joints"). The vinegar serves to neutralize the acids contained in the flux. Any residual flux left behind will eventually turn green (sign of corrosion on copper piping which can lead to leaks ).

Thanks for the tip, burnt toast, I've got lots of soldering ahead, too.

This is indeed my first time soldering like this, weezard, so I don't really know how it's done. BUT, I remembered you mentioning "acid flux" when soldering, so when the guy at the plumber-store said I should use "solder-grease" (translated from my language) and to "wash your hands afterwards, because it etches" (I didn't touch it) I assumed it was the acid flux he was talking about. This stuff I smeared on the small piece of pipe between the T and the cap. You can see the piece of pipe on the first pic in my last post, and it's inside the T and the cap when mounted.

Was I supposed to put the flux on the outside of the joint, as well? I tried to consult youtube on this, but the flux part wasn't that emphasized.

Aslo: I have this cpu-heatsink to serve as the second lamp (blue-lamp) but how many LEDs can I mount on it? I was thinking 2 x 10w blue and 1 x 10w red, but if I could put one more red on it (40w total), I could power that lamp alone with one of the Meanwells instead of wiring an LED on the "rig" in series with the 3 LEDs on the cpu-heatsink.

I'll be rigging fans soon too, so I'll be looking for a heat switch! It's a simple mechanical device, right?

Attachment 290532Attachment 290533Attachment 290534

I can answer that one.
Did one of dem for phototropism and stretch experiments a ways back;

Attachment 290536

It will handle 3 5W. stars without breaking a sweat.
That's a stainless steel cat watering bowl.

I have tried to drill stainless before.
That's why the wires exit via the rim on this one. :)
With 3 5W. blues I can leave the fan off and it runs about 95° F.

I have used an old liquid-transfer heat-sink that claimed to use sodium metal as the fluid.
I'm gonna cut it open one 4th of July and find out. :D

Really enjoyin' watching this build.
When you get serious about something, you have skills.

But then all my best projects started by getting ripped to the tits and mucking about with "pipe dreams".
If the idea has merit the next morning, I start drawing up plans.

Tickles me to see you doing similar.
:cool:
Aloha,
Weeze