DIYC Flood

DIYC Flood

== THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS - NOT FINAL!!! PLEASE CHECK BACK FOR UPDATES!!! ==

What is the DIYC Flood?

The DIYC Flood is a four channel LED based floodlight designed for RGB+W lighting. DIYC Flood makes use of inexpensive piranha style LEDs. The use of temperature compensated constant current LED drivers allows the floodlight to operate across a wide range of temperatures and voltages.

How does the DIYC Flood work?

The DIYC Flood was designed to be used primarily as a RGB+W floodlight. The design allow 4 channels to be switched on/off or dimmed by switching the V- power to ground for the respective channels. It provides a common V+ across all of the channels.

The DIYC Flood was designed to provide a more stable environment for the LEDs by using constant current LED drivers. The Supertex CL2 device provides a constant 20ma thru the LEDs. By using the Supertex CL2 the LED output is maximized while at the same time providing a longer LED lifetime by eliminating the potential to overdrive them due to temperature or voltage variations.

To ensure the best possible color mixing, the LEDs are arranged with the 4 LED colors clustered physically adjacent to each other on the PCB.

Revision History

The v1c version is currently the only version of the DIYC Flood in production.

DIYC Flood (v1c) Parts

In addition to the PCB, you will need the following components:

Mouser

Mouser BOM
Mouser PN	Description	Qty
689-CL2N3-G	LED Drivers 90V 20mA Temp Comp	20
651-1727078	Fixed Terminal Blocks 8P 3.81mm 90DEG	1

LEDs

The design calls for a total of 60 Piranha Style Super flux LEDs. These LEDs are single color 20ma devices. The DIYC Flood is designed to use 15 Red,15 Green,15 Blue and 15 White LEDs.

Housing

The DIYC Flood needs to be placed in a housing for display. The small design of the pcb allows it to fit in many common waterproof housings. A common Halogen floodlight fixture can be purchased at most hardware stores. The PCB is approximately 5"x3".

Building the DIYC Flood

Assembly

TBD

Congratulations! That completes the construction of the DIYC Flood!

Final Testing

TBD

Mounting in Housing

TBD

Power Requirements

The DIYC Flood is optimally driven by 12vdc, but it can be driven by 12-24vdc. The design draws approximately 100ma per channel (400ma total). It is not recommended to use 24vdc if you are planning to use these as a full-time ON floodlight. The constant current regulators get pretty warm (about 200degF or 95degC) but are still within spec - but not by much. At 12v full on, they run at about 120degF or only just warm to the touch.

When tested with a "typical" lighting sequence (looping - never all off) of single/multiple/all color fades and on/offs at 24.5vdc and again, everything ran just warm.

Controlling the DIYC Flood

The DIYC can also be driven by a variety of controllers. The Ren4Flood was specifically designed to connect directly to the back of the DIYC Flood in the same housing and provide RENard/DMX control directly at the floodlight.
Other DC controllers may be used, examples of these are the Frank's Ren24LV, a Ren64XC with DCSSRs and the Ren48LSD.
The unit may also be directly connected to a 12vdc power supply and act as a constant floodlight.

Schematic

The basic electrical layout of the DIYC Flood is an array of clusters of 3 LEDs connected thru a constant current LED driver. There are 5 clusters of 3 LEDs (15 total LEDs) connected to each of the 4 channels.

PCB

The PCBs for the DIYC Flood were designed by Brian Ullmark (budude). The PCB was designed to allow users to home etch the board. The layout can be found here.

Design Options

Due to the modular nature and the use of constant current LED drivers, users can substitute any color LEDs they would like into each of the channels. In addition to the usual Red,Green,Blue and white, super flux LEDs are also available in Yellow, Purple/UV and Infrared. The DIYC Flood could also be built as a solid color floodlight by filling all positions with a single color.

To reduce the cost, the DIYC flood can be built omitting the terminal block by soldering the power wires directly to the PCB.

To reduce the costs even further, it is possible to substitute a fixed value resistor for the Supertex CL2 constant current device. Users are warned that this may lead to reduced LED lifetime and the need for a stable power supply.

Other Information

DIYC Flood Discussion Threads

Initial Thread
Interest Thread
2011 Group Buy

Video

TBD

FAQ

TBD