Comments on: Cooling LEDs by heating the water saves on electricity

By: Nischay Mohan

Nischay Mohan — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:06:58 +0000

Hi, can you tell me how much time it takes to heat up that tank? additionally what is the capacity of the tank, and how many LED lights are there??

Thanks

By: Matthias

Matthias — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:34:37 +0000

HI, if you have some basic skills to work with metal, you sure can build it from the pics on flickr. Important is to use eloxated aluminum as tube. Pure Al will kill your fish!
The beta point at this version is the connection between the square al-tube and the stainless input/output tubes. Looking forward to get my lathe ;)
At the moment i got not much time to do a howto, but you can contact me on fb if you like. I ll sure answer any question to this theme.

http://www.facebook.com/matthias.neumaier

By: please help

please help — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 01:51:11 +0000

hey guys is there a HOW-TO-Do-IT guide for making this project? i would love to do this project…please help

thanks :)

By: Matthias

Matthias — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:31:27 +0000

k, think ill sing up there. Seems to be the right forum for me ;)
rgds

By: Ragnar

Ragnar — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:45:51 +0000

Sorry, I meant at the led-tech forum. (www.ledstyles.de)

By: Matthias

Matthias — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:13:46 +0000

sorry if i understand it wrong, but do i have to sing up somewhere in the forum? My name is Matthias

By: RagnarRoeck

RagnarRoeck — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 21:28:58 +0000

A fellow led-techer here! What is your name in the forum?

By: Matthias

Matthias — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 20:30:38 +0000

Sorry fo being late, i haven t noted that this treat has grown this much
to answer the main questions:
1.)Pure Aluminum sure is dangerous for the fish, but in my case its eloxadized and also for outdoor use w/o getting stained. So i think it will not contact the water that much. Also the tube will get an algae layer inside due longer flooding time.
2.)The energy “harvest” is not enough to keep the tank heated up to the desired temperature while the average temperature in my living room is at night 17degC(62F) and at day 20degC (68F) in winter times(Central Europe -Germany) It’s rather to waste not the energy loosing of the LEDs and saddle them with huge heatsinks.
The insulating tube is detachable for warmer outside temperatures to let the heat flow in the ambient air.
3.)Yep i have fish in there, but make a portrait of every one is not the subject here ;)
4.)The LEDs and datasheet you ll find here:
http://www.led-tech.de/de/Chip-On-Board-Technik/EdiLine-II-6W-COB/Edison-EdiLine-II-6W-COB-Modul-LT-1485_134_148.html (site is in english too)
5.) When every aquarium owner gives up his (luxury)hobby there can be switched off much carbon firing and atomic power plants. If the half reduces power by changing to efficient light there can switched off some of them.

By: jproach

jproach — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 10:00:51 +0000

@scott: no, because transferring the waste heat to the water is probably not as efficient as as straight up resistance heater. Also the more power you are able to control, the better, say if you want zero heating on a warm day.

By: cath0de

cath0de — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 08:27:51 +0000

planted tanks like this don’t need heat unless it’s in your garage or cold basement. there doesn’t seem to be much room for fish in there. on the other hand, my coralife 96w has four fans on it for cooling and i still have to heat the water to keep the fish happy…

By: Greg

Greg — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 06:19:23 +0000

@Eliot – Not saying I never needed a heater, just that I more often (vastly more often) needed cooling than heating.

@anyone wondering about spectrums and plants
http://www.sunmastergrowlamps.com/SunmLightandPlants.html
This is a pretty comprehensive article.

By: hex4def6

hex4def6 — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:43:16 +0000

I’m not convinced that he’s actually saving energy.

Most high power LEDs are less efficient than fluorescent lights, sometimes significantly so.

By: ratt

ratt — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:04:49 +0000

first problem Aluminum leaking as stated
second temperature overheating
third -if led lights burn human eyes if looking close to it– what about the fish – are we going to blind the fish – that why the fish are at bottom to get away from the light

By: Dean in Des Moines

Dean in Des Moines — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:27:45 +0000

Please don’t use salt water to cool your electronics.

By: googfan

googfan — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:41:06 +0000

al isn’t good for fish.