A picture of my wiring diagram, I tried to simplifly it, take a look:

[chriswf]

Heat sinks are ~9.5x3". There's 2 of them. Double sided screen.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a35/psychoninja911/mywiringdiagram.jpg

I read somewhere this is how you wire the reds and blues, differently?
Also, I'm unsure about how to do the plug thing... They're blue and brown.
It says AC IN on the Blue/Brown wires side, so that's alternating current. I was just unsure how to get it plugged up to something, and figured they didn't put a 'plug' on it - so... People can put whatever country plug they have on it?
Right?

I don't know... I was just going to splice an old fan cord to it.

I tried searching on the forums to find out answers to this part but I couldn't find a single thing.

If I should run all the LEDs in a series circuit, let me know.


Also I have these 2 screens:
One has holes just a bit smaller than 1/4 inch, the other has holes smaller than 1/8 inch.
Is either better? I'm about to rough them up with a sharp saw blade:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a35/psychoninja911/2013-01-02_17-43-31_486.jpg

I'll keep up with your replies!
Thanks,
Chris

[Ace25]

Just put the blues in line with the rest. As drawn, it will now work. If you do parallel strings you have to use equal amounts of the same type of LEDs per string. You can't do 12/2 like you drew up. You could do 7/7 but since you are using a 700mA driver that would cut the current to each string down to 350mA, which equals about 1w per LED. I have the exact same red/blue ratio and driver and I just put them all in line and run 14 LEDs in a single string.

Plug, yes, those drivers can handle 110-220 so different countries can put a plug on it. I usually cut an old computer power cord and splice that on the end to get a plug on it.

I would use the smaller hole screen, more area for roots to grab onto.

[chriswf]

You sir, thank you much!

[chriswf]

I just textured both of the screens till they were quite rough.... I say, I think dragging my knuckles across the saw blade would feel better than dragging it across the plastic canvas screens after they're roughed... (I hit my knuckle on them 3 times, and it hurts now!)

[SantaMonica]

:)

[chriswf]

What about the plug thing, is that right? Just use a plug off an old fan or something I don't want anymore?

[Floyd R Turbo]

If you're going to wire blues in with an attempt to make them half-power, then you need to do this:

http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt191/FloydRTurbo/00%20Algae%20Scrubbers/DIY%20LED/IMG_0295.jpg

...and I would recommend using 2 half-power blues for each 6 reds, like I show here. a single full power blue in the middle will overpower the screen and leave a bare (burnt) spot.

Just for clarity, this pic above shows all LEDs in series, with a set of blues in parallel within the series.

[Devs]

If you're going to wire blues in with an attempt to make them half-power, then you need to do this:

http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt191/FloydRTurbo/00%20Algae%20Scrubbers/DIY%20LED/IMG_0295.jpg

...and I would recommend using 2 half-power blues for each 6 reds, like I show here. a single full power blue in the middle will overpower the screen and leave a bare (burnt) spot.

Just for clarity, this pic above shows all LEDs in series, with a set of blues in parallel within the series.

Are those blues you're using in the above pic 3 watts each ?

[Floyd R Turbo]

All LED are 3W, yes

[like-fish]

i am going to jump on board the questions.....

SM youstated that the RB will overpower the reds? I added one RB bridglux to 4 red LED (all 3W ). I have 4/1 red/blue on each side of scrubber. Power is dialed down on my POT as my screen was a bit burned before the addition of the blue. I laso spaced everthing out much more.

Do you anticipate the Blue being too strong if powered the same as the reds?

[Floyd R Turbo]

I would. This is why I switched my lighting on my L2s from 6 red / 1 blue @ 700mA to 6 red @ 700mA and 2 blues in parallel @ 350mA (current divider). The results so far have been starkly different - no burning.

also are you using 630nm red or 660nm?

[like-fish]

660

[like-fish]

i have 5 LED on each side of the screen. all leds in series. I suppose with a bit of creative wiring i could make the 2 RB parallel. Wont be pretty but the results is what i am after. This is version 1.0 anyway!

[Floyd R Turbo]

Yeah what you would have is like I do, and the wires that interconnect between the 2 sides would be the parallel "divider" wires between the blues.

So if - is one wire and = is a parallel run of wires, you would have DRIVE(+)-R-R-R-R-B=B-R-R-R-R-DRIVER(-)

So you would come off the last red on the first half into the (+) terminal of the blue, then one wire from the other (+) terminal of blue to the other blue's (+) terminal, then wire the (-) terminals the same, then from the (-) terminal on the second blue to the first red on the second half of the string and on like normal. Works great. I searched RC for a while and even asked a few questions and apparently no one has really done it this way, or at least isn't talking about it. It seems that everyone is focused on parallel strings running at full power and this type of application just doesn't fall under their radar of options.

[chriswf]

I have a situation similar to "like-fish".

I'll only have ONE blue on each side of the scrubber.
Do I have to run that extra wire that connects them from 1 side to the other side to tone them down some?

EDIT: Okay I now see what you said.

So I'll run reds in series, jump 2 wires in parallel from 1 blue to the other side of the scrubber to the other blue, then continue with the reds in series.
That's pretty weird lol, but I'll take your word for it.

Edit again: I don't get frustrated at all reading into this, this is kind of reading is super freakin' fun lol! I guess that's part of the hobby for me.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Just right-click and save that pic I posted and zoom in. you can see how the connections are made.