WHY GO LINEAR?
The reason behind this is so that I can replace my T5's set by set and not all at the same time. Since my T5's have two bulbs per ballast, I will be replacing them by two's. This way, I dont have to spend lots of money upfront thus upgrading one at a time when there is budget for it.
If you are really tight on budget, another option is to do 8 LEDs instead of 12. Since meanwell drivers can do minimum of 8 LED's. So with 24 LED's, you can do 3 linear strips with 8 LED's on each.
Another option for you is to use Steve's Led's which is more cheaper than the CREE's. At least, something to work on and get your feet wet with LED's. Although I havent seen any "PAR" reading on these emitters, I wont comment on how efficient it is. This is why I went with CREE's, I believe Santoki and Taqpol showed very good PAR readings on these emitters on their LED build.
The goodies
This is what XR-E looks like. They are very very small.
And the XP-G R5 is even smaller.
Here are the two for comparison
Adjusting the mean well driver.
Before you begin, "you need to adjust the internal trim pot" or SVR2 for your dimmable mean well drivers.
You will need to remove 4 screws on the driver.
Be careful when you crack it open, its really hard (in my case) to remove it. There are two notches on the center of both sides that locks the cover from the bottom part.
On the DC side, or where the big metal part is located, you will see a white plastic screw.
You have to turn this counter clockwise. Remember that this does not turn 360 degrees. If you turn it carefully counter clockwise then you will notice that it stops to a certain degree.
We are not sure what the current setting is right now thats why we are trying to make sure that we start at a very low current (amps) in order not to damage the LED's. And the only way to adjust it in the correct position is by using a digital multimeter (we will do this later).
When your done adjusting it counter clockwise, then do not put back the cover yet. We will need to readjust it again once we connected our LED's later.
Remember, dont rush yourself. Dont try to connect one or two LED's with this driver to test it if it runs or not. There is a minimum volts that these runs and in my case for the 48D, it runs 24 to 48 volts, or 8 to 12 LEDs. The best way to test your LEDs is thru AA batteries. I ended up using a 3 volt adapter I already have. The milliamps on my adapter is 300 ma. Not enough to damage the LED or run the it in full blast, but enough for me to check polarity of the LEDs and shorts on soldering touching the sink.
BASIC DIAGRAM
Here is the basic wiring diagram that I will use as guide.
Pay attention to the number of wires and corresponding color. 2 wires coming out on the AC side, and 4 wires on the DC side. You also have labels on the driver cover. On the AC side, there is no polarity or postive/negative. So you can put it either way on a plug.
I ended up using a 1"x1" square aluminum tube. Tried to find C chanel but only found 1/2". Remember that the Cree Star is about 20mm diameter.
So here is a SketchUP model showing LED spacings.
Its 3.5" between LED and on the center, it is 4" spacing. This is because of the brace on the center of the tank.
I can really go with 3" spacing and then bigger spacing on the center, just worried that I might have a noticeable shadow spot on the center. Either way, we can always adjust it in the future.
Note: 4" spacing on the middle is not enough. 8" is better. The tanks bracing in the middle is blocking a lot of lighting.
12" OFF THE WATER
These are at 12" above the water line and 3 inches between strips.
I dont know if I mentioned it already but I bought 60 degree optical lenses. So I have been playing around with SketchUP or SU, to determine if my 3.5" distance will work with my tank which is a 75 gallon.
so here are some images showing the 60 degree lenses.
Here you can see the scope of the cone.
Another view with the same configurations.
9" OFF THE WATER
Now what if we have it at 9 inches....
I am worried that with 3" spacing between strips that Im not covering the front and back area of the tank.... some people will probably like that so that less algae grows on your glass and all the light are focused on the corals...