[Matt] wanted to drive a Yuji LED array. The LED requires 30 V and at 100 watts, it generates a lot of heat. He used a Corsair water cooling system made for a CPU cooler to carry away the heat. The parts list includes a microphone gooseneck, a boost converter, a buck converter (for the water cooler) and custom-made brackets (made from MDF). There’s also a lens and reflector that is made to go with the LED array.
This single LED probably doesn’t require water cooling. On the other hand, adding a fan would increase the bulk of the lighted part and the gooseneck along with the water cooling tubes looks pretty cool. This project is a good reminder that if you need to carry heat away from something with no fans, self-contained water cooling systems are fairly inexpensive now, thanks to the PC market.
We might have put a shorting jack in the LED power line to do the current measurement. In the video, he cuts the wire to monitor it for a first-time calibration. Another alternative would be to build a digital ammeter into the box.
The link in the parts list looks like it moved. The LED is the 400HS which is a 100-watt array and is available in both a warm white and daylight white version. There’s also a circular version and the cost is around $75 at the moment. If you want something much less expensive, there’s an eBay link to a similar device for about $7. However, the parts list notes that the color rendition is not as good as the Yuji unit (and in the video below, you can see the color difference in a photo at time 13:30).
This build is not inexpensive but is certainly simpler than previous water-cooled lamp projects we’ve seen. On the other hand, a custom system can let you make use of the hot water you produce.
Filed under: led hacks
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