My Jazzed Up LED.

[Alpha & Omega]

Hi all, id like to show you my newly customised LED Growlight,
Yeah I know its 'one of them LEDs' but,cmon, its GOLD!

But gold isn't its only improvement;
I've also;
Fitted a new custom spectrum, using Whites & Reds.
Skimmed the Heatsink Cooling Bars a couple of mm.
Change the cooling thermal paste for higher quality PC CPU cooling paste.
Re-soldered & made the internal wiring longer so it doesn't get in the way of the airflow.
Fitted 30 Degree & 90 Degree Lenses, pretty intense angles.
Replaced the Fans with higher RPM Server cooling fans.
and finally,
replaced all of those Terrible Allen key screws with Philips cross head ones.

It is only a prototype, as I wanted to try the 'white & red' LEDs but also just wanted to prove you can upgrade them 'now old' LED units.
Its going into a test grow pretty soon and will post its progress.
Oh and ive called it the Sunshine LED aswell,,was advised too, blah blah blahhhhh legal boring stuff.
But im not selling it or ones like it, its mine, all mine, my fingers bled soldering all this shit into it.
So its got me in it aswell. lol.
Enjoy

 

[spazatak]

Hi all, id like to show you my newly customised LED Growlight,
Yeah I know its 'one of them LEDs' but,cmon, its GOLD!

But gold isn't its only improvement;
I've also;
Fitted a new custom spectrum, using Whites & Reds.
Skimmed the Heatsink Cooling Bars a couple of mm.
Change the cooling thermal paste for higher quality PC CPU cooling paste.
Re-soldered & made the internal wiring longer so it doesn't get in the way of the airflow.
Fitted 30 Degree & 90 Degree Lenses, pretty intense angles.
Replaced the Fans with higher RPM Server cooling fans.
and finally,
replaced all of those Terrible Allen key screws with Philips cross head ones.

It is only a prototype, as I wanted to try the 'white & red' LEDs but also just wanted to prove you can upgrade them 'now old' LED units.
Its going into a test grow pretty soon and will post its progress.
Oh and ive called it the Sunshine LED aswell,,was advised too, blah blah blahhhhh legal boring stuff.
But im not selling it or ones like it, its mine, all mine, my fingers bled soldering all this shit in it.
So its got me in it aswell. lol.
Enjoy

awesome stuff...

got any pics of the internals.... would love to see it...

 

[Alpha & Omega]

cheers mate, ive got pics of the same type of LED, just more modules,

I did a strip down journal for people who had the same LED many moons ago,

This is its internals, my power drivers in my gold one are exactly the same aswell.

 

[spazatak]

cheers mate, ive got pics of the same type of LED, just more modules,

I did a strip down journal for people who had the same LED many moons ago,

This is its internals, my power drivers in my gold one are exactly the same aswell.

View attachment 3191978

4 drivers are powering 6 clusters?

 

[Alpha & Omega]

4 drivers are powering 6 clusters?

Yup mate. 2 clusters to each driver, the drivers have two seperate power connectors for them.

 

[KineBoisin420]

How intensive an effort was that to do all that customization? Do you think the average punter with a technical mind and experience dealing with the guts of desktop computers could learn and pull something similar off?

It looks like a straight forward process, but you've done it a hell of a lot more...so it may be easy for you, but a real pain in the arse for most punters.

 

[Alpha & Omega]

Do you think the average punter with a technical mind and experience dealing with the guts of desktop computers could learn and pull something similar off

Yes mate, I do

It looks like a straight forward process, but you've done it a hell of a lot more...so it may be easy for you, but a real pain in the arse for most punters.

.
I totally agree that I have done this lots of times etc.. but I know anyone who likes tinkering about with guts of pc's could cope with this easily, no operating system to sort out either, well, that might come later with the evolution of LED's. in fact, that was my background anyway, IT Engineering, software etc.... well used to be... now its LEDs.
Over 20 years of Field Service Engineering mate under my belt and that's enough for me, Computers are the biggest pain in the arse, LEDs are a breeze in comparison

The hardest part with these LEDs is taking the 'modules Lense' covering plate off, when you do this all those lenses just fall off, as they arnt stuck to the covering plate at all.
so that bit is a pain in the arse, but manageable.

and the first thing any PC engineer would change is that AWFUL white goo shit that china think is a good thermal heat transfer paste compound, errr no, its crap and largely to blame for all the LEDs popping on their boards.
So change that to CPU paste, like Artic Silver for example and you've already lengthened the lifespan of your LED, Artic Silver is about £5 a tube. but there are cheaper ones out there now.

but overall,, yes mate, I think anyone is capable of stripping these down and getting stuck into designing their own spectrums etc.. you can get the parts easily enough aswell from the main supplier.

Some solder iron work is also needed if you want to change LEDs etc.. plus you need to add up all the forward Voltages of each LED to see if the power driver will run it... there are loads and loads of posts about that on here so I wont come across all patronising and start to explain 'how' and 'why' as it was from good forum people that I learnt from in the first place & I thank you all for that for I wouldn't be doing this today if it wasn't for the excellent information I have learnt over the last years from excellent forums like this one.

 

[Alpha & Omega]

Ill put on a Strip down journal I did for this type of light a few years back, you already have one of the pictures but ill also include that in the order that it was meant to be.
Hang tight people, I got a lot of typing to do.

 

[Alpha & Omega]

Modular Apollo type LED Growlight Strip Down Manual


This is the type of light im stripping;





First Step:
Remove the Face Plate, This has many Allen Key type screws holding this down. I removed the ones in the middle first, then move onto the outside ones.
This what it will look like with the Face Plate Removed




Second Step:
Removing The LED Cluster Boards, Seconday Lense Cover and Secondary Lenses
Remove all the screws on the LED Cover plate first, then this will lift off
Note : You can see in the picture that the LED cover plate is actually clear, the most common type of cover will actually be metal and not clear.

Be Careful!!!! As all the secondary lenses are not attached to the face plate or the cluster board and they will fall all over the place

Update! A newer improved version of this secondary lense has now been released, if you have one of these newer models with this type fitted then removal of the secondary lenses is a lot easier




Next is the LED Cluster Board itself (Primary LED's Location),
Unplug the Power Connectors (Black & Red Wires) then remove the LED CLuster Board itself,
this is held down by small screws, remove these and this will lift off

Note : it might be a bit stuck as they have this white goo all over the backs, this is Heat Transfer Paste, I always clean this off and replace it with Artic Silver Thermal Paste

This is the LED Cluster Board



Now to remove the Ally HeatSink Bars you first have to undo the screws holding the Side Exhaust Vent onto the case




Now, you have to remove the screws holding the Side Exhaust Vent to the Heat Sink Bars

Be Careful when doing this!!!! As the Heat Sink Bar is attached from underneath the scoop screw attachment, so when you undo them, the heatsink bar will drop down, so support it before undoing the screws
Repeat for other side and again support the bar as it will drop down




Remove the Bars to reveal the internals of the Light itself, The Power Drivers (LED Power Supplys), Cooling Fans and the Fan Power Supplys




This is with everything removed apart from the Fans themselves.




Thats all there is too it

Heres Some Tips I Picked Up On The Way

When replacing the LED Cluster Board, dont overtighten the screws holding it in place as the board will lift off the heat sink bars

Also make sure the holes in the board actually line up with the holes in the Secondary Lense Cover Plate before re-installing.

Use a small fine paint brush or something similiar to clean the fans with, a earbud gets to the corners of the blades

When replacing the Secondary Lenses and Lense plate, This is the hardest part!!
Place all the lenses flat onto the LED itself, then gently place the lense cover onto it,
the lenses themselves should 'go flush' with the cover,
to get this, put the centre screw in but dont tighten it right up, you can now wiggle the cover plate and pop all the lenses into it,
easier said then done tho, it takes practice but dont worry too much if you cant do this,
aligning 15 lenses up with 15 holes perfectly is understandably tricky,
as long as the lenses are on central to the cover plate, ie not leaning at angles,
it will be ok.
Walk away and have a smoke, then go back to it.

When reclipping the LED Cluster Board wires, i go over the top of the heatsink bar instead of underneath it as it makes the Air circulate better from the cooling fans over the heatsink bars inside

When replacing the face plate, insert all the screws but dont tighten them down, you can move the plate about if it comes out of alignment with the other holes.

The gold thermal insulating tape on the heatsink bars can be replaced for better quality thinner one, but dont attach the LED cluster board onto the heat sink bars without this as the board will short out and only one led will light.

And Finally, Please Check Your Warranty On Your Light First!!! You could warrant it Void if you open and/or modify your light.

Hope that's helps a lot of people who are worried or scared about the internals of this type of LED, due to certain 'scare mongering'

well, as you can see, its no more then a technical mechano set really with a bit of electronics thrown in.
so get stuck in!

Or please feel free to Mail me if you get stuck.

Peace All.

 

[medicinehuman]

Excellent example of tear down. Looks like a pro job A&M.

 

[Alpha & Omega]

Cheers bro.