Ok, been researching on here heavily for about a year now on how to build led panels and i think im ready. 1st im just gona build 2 panels for veg with 20W drivers each to get me started.

But ive fallen at the 1st hurdle, Heatsinks!

I cant find heatsinks at the size 370mm x 240mm. They are all alot smaller so was wandering, could i get say a 1.5mm thick sheet aluminum cut to that size, then glue some smaller heat sinks onto the back of it? I guessing the silver glue with conduct the heat through to the heat sink, and i will hang the light from the corners of the sheet, not the heat sinks.

Another question as i see alot of you run your reds and blues/ whites on seperate strings, Is it not ok to run them all on 1 string in this case. As i said i was thinking 20w driving pushing 600-750ma running 4 reds 4 blues and 3 whites.

Then in the future i was planning on added another string to the panels, of just reds and 2 farreds for flowering.

Let me know what you think.

[grow_right]

personally, with all the issues purchasing 3w led's, and the case and the fans and the heat sink, and not mentioning the red to blue ratio, wouldn't iot be easier to purchase a pre made lamp?

[Bunz]

Coral reef tank guys are all over these homemade leds. Do a search at www.reefcentral.com .......there must be 80 threads over there on this.

Bunz

[GoeRilla]

Originally Posted by Habel

Ok, been researching on here heavily for about a year now on how to build led panels and i think im ready. 1st im just gona build 2 panels for veg with 20W drivers each to get me started.

But ive fallen at the 1st hurdle, Heatsinks!

I cant find heatsinks at the size 370mm x 240mm. They are all alot smaller so was wandering, could i get say a 1.5mm thick sheet aluminum cut to that size, then glue some smaller heat sinks onto the back of it? I guessing the silver glue with conduct the heat through to the heat sink, and i will hang the light from the corners of the sheet, not the heat sinks.

Another question as i see alot of you run your reds and blues/ whites on seperate strings, Is it not ok to run them all on 1 string in this case. As i said i was thinking 20w driving pushing 600-750ma running 4 reds 4 blues and 3 whites.

Then in the future i was planning on added another string to the panels, of just reds and 2 farreds for flowering.

Let me know what you think.

That´s what i am about to do so i believe it will work:-)
I bought drivers from Dealextreeme that can supply from 9 to 12 diodes and i use an 2mm alu sheet as base and a heatsink on that.

Rilla.

[BattleAxe]

Good luck with your build dude. You must be holding a helluva set of soldering skills and some steady hands.

Originally Posted by grow_right

personally, with all the issues purchasing 3w led's, and the case and the fans and the heat sink, and not mentioning the red to blue ratio, wouldn't iot be easier to purchase a pre made lamp?

Now wheres the fun in that?!

Thanks for the advice guys. check that site out now.

[rives]

I bought my heatsinks from the following company. I don't know how viable it would be to have them ship overseas, but they were fast, accurate, and reasonable. The link will take you to the 10" wide (@ 250 mm) heatsink.

https://www.heatsinkusa.com/10-000/

You can put the various colors in a series string as long as they all pull the same current. Reds usually pull less current than blue or white, so choose your components carefully.

[AlexTrebek]

^^^^
Write down anything rives says,
he knows the secrets of the matrix.
(don't tell Agent-Smith though)

[analogue]

shipping might be more than the heatsink, but you never know! good luck and have fun.

[blimblom]

I used Alu profiles , they are quite cheap to buy and have 2 fins each cost is around 15eur per 3000cm2 of surface area

check my thread for the details
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=222690