Hey, guys, what's up?
And welcome back to the channel now in today's video, I'm
going to show you how I built that LED panel that you just saw in the intro
and hopefully inspire you to be able to build one yourself.
Now, I would categorize this as a soft light LCD panel.
So how did I get here?
Well after purchasing a camera which can shoot up to 1000 frames per second,
I quickly realized
I didn't have sufficient lighting to correctly expose the images.
And so I started doing my research
into which lights on the market would solve this new problem that I had.
Now, the three most important things to me were one high power output
to High CRI, which is to do with the quality of the lighting.
And three and light that will be flicker free
at 1000 frames per second.
Now two of the lights that caught my attention were the Arri Sky Panel S60,
which is a 480 watt panel for around
£5,500, and the light panels Gemini two by one,
which is a 380 watt fixture which is just short of £3,000.
Now, during my research, those were also tried and tested
in high speed film production by other guys in the industry.
And the results were pretty awesome, to say the least.
Now this one that i've built came in just under £1,000.
So that is quite a saving if you're willing to sacrifice some time
and some elbow grease.
Now the specifications, as provided by the supplier of these LED panels,
puts these around 5600 Kelvin as the color temperature
with a CRI of 95 plus.
And I've actually measured the light output in the studio to be 50,000 lux
one meter and 14,000 lux at two meters, and that is on full power.
And this is with the diffuser fitted as well.
So the light fixture itself weighs twelve kilograms,
which for the sake of comparison, is two kilos
heavier than the light panels Gemini two by one.
Now, the heatsinks and the LCD panels in total less than five kgs.
So your final weights on your fixture would depend
on the accessories and the fans that you choose for your build.
Now, before I begin, guys, if you decide to take on this project,
please look after your health and safety, wear the appropriate PPE
and follow the safety guidelines for any substances that you might use.
OK, now let's get into it and remember, you can always skip to a specific chapter
if you wish.
I'm going to try to keep this as concise,
but also as informative as I can.
I'm going to be starting with the heatsink and build on it from there.
Oh, the heatsink has two functions, and the first is its primary
function of transferring
the heat away from the source, which is that LEDs in this case
and dissipating that heat with the help of these fins
and cooling fans, which we're going to discuss in a bit anyway.
Now, the heat sink also doubles as the chassis
and provides the mountain platform for, well, pretty much everything else.
Now, this is the point where you get to set the dimensions
or the configuration of your overall panel.
Now with this setup, you can choose to have either an 800 by 300
mm or a 600 by 400 mm fixture.
The latter being what I chose to go for for my specific build.
Now for this, I joined to heatsinks together.
Each heatsink is 300 mm wide with a custom length of 430 mil.
Now, the LCD panels are 200 mm wide,
which makes 400 mm when you put two of them together.
Now that extra 30 mil gives a total of 15 mil each side.
That allows you to put this mounting brace
or this box section that you're going to be using to join these two together.
Now, this brace will also provide two other functions
one as a protection to the LED due to the raised lip
and also as an attachment point for the diffusion panel.
Now to join this together.
All you do is put your brace.
You screw this down into the panels,
into the heatsink using self tapping screws.
Make sure to drill appropriate sized pilot holes and use
countersunk screws for a flush finish at the top here.
Next up, are the
cooling fans which will form the active cooling system.
These are going to force cool air in the middle of the heat
sink and across the fins for a more efficient cooling system.
Now, during testing, which was at least four hours of use,
the back of the heat sink remained very, very cool to the touch.
So it's quite an effective cooling system, maybe a bit over the top.
But it works.
Now I'm using 48 volt 2500 r.p.m.
fans, but you can use fans of any voltage up to 48 volts in your build.
Just be sure to add the appropriate voltage converters now,
regardless of what voltage the fans are you'll need to attach them to the panel.
So here's how I did it.
I drilled straight through the panel
and use a countersunk bit to create this little crater for the head of the bolt.
And this is important because the flat side of the heatsink
needs to remain totally flat and flush to accommodate the LED panels.
When you finally put these on using a countersunk bolt and nut ,
i secured two diagonally opposite corners, and you don't need to do all four holes,
you don't need to go overboard here, to be honest, to fixings will suffice.
I then added grilles at the top to protect the fan blades from damage
and not to accidentally chop my fingers off as well obviously.
A point here, though, is that there is no speed control on these fans.
So as soon as you turn is on would 48 volts, they're going to go up to max rpm.
So these are going to be spinning 2500 rpm once you apply 48 votes to them.
Now, you're
definitely going to hear these fans when they're on, so think about that
if you might want to use these where you need to record audio
in your video as well.
Now next up are the LED panels.
These screw directly
onto the flat surface of the heatsink, using self tapping screws.
Now, remember to drill the appropriate pilot holes,
and don't forget the straight through holes for the cables as well.
Now, I would advise to do all the prep work for this.
But wait until the end to actually fix the LED panels
just to avoid damaging them as you carry out further work on the fixture.
And it is super important to apply thermal paste
between the back of the LED panels and the heatsink as well.
Now the function of this is to reduce thermal resistance
during the heat transfer process and, in other words, to effectively transfer
heat from the LED onto the heat sink because you want all that heat
that the LEDs as generating transfer through the heat sink and out,
the wires can then be soldered onto the connection points on the board.
You have to be very careful here because these solder pads are very small
and is so close together, which, in my opinion, is a massive design flaw.
So be careful when you do doing that bit.
Now, if you have to drill these holes here
in the LED panels, for example, to accept a bigger screw.
Be careful not to exceed this little square boundary.
Or you might end up damaging the LED circuit.
Right now So let's talk briefly about cable management,
the matter of the fact is, I hate seeing untidy wires.
So here was the before, and I wasn't really happy with that.
Now, all the wires from the LED panels and the fans are now routed into this
trunking via these holes, and then they're connected to the terminal bars.
So all of the red or the positive wires go onto one bus bar
and the blacks go into the other bus bar.
You can also check out this little wiring diagram that you're seeing on the screen
right now via a link in the description at your leisure.
So the LED panels are connected in parallel, and so are the fans as well.
Everything is supplied with 48 volts as both the LED panels
and the fans are all rated at 48 volts, which makes things
a tad bit more streamlined as opposed to having to add converters.
If using fans that has a lower voltage rating,
Now this trunking is secured to the heatsink in the same method
as the fans using countersink bolts and nuts.
And it goes without saying that all of this needs to be done before
mounting the LED panels at the front.
Now this brings us nicely onto the power supply.
Now when choosing a power supply.
It is important to use an appropriately rated power supply.
OK, so
each of these panels are 250 watts.
So many times that by four, that's 1000 watts.
Now the current draw in each of these panels is 5.5 amps, times
that by four, that's 22 amps plus one amp for each of the fans, five fans.
So we're looking at 27 Amp load in total.
There's also the most obvious factor of voltage to consider as well.
So the nominal voltage of these panels is 48 volts, so you're going to need
a power supply capable of providing all of the above requirements.
And this one does all of that, plus a little wiggle room.
Now connecting this is also pretty straightforward.
You plug 110 or 240 volts from your main sockets into the input
terminals of the power supply and it outputs up to 48 votes.
So on this power supply, it automatically detects the input voltage,
but on others, you might have to tell it so you might have to flip a switch
to change between 110 and 240 volts, depending on where in the world you are.
So check with the instructions that comes off your power supply
as to what it is that you need to do.
You then connect your 48 volts to your light panel
via an optional switch, and you're good to go.
However, before you connect this
to a light fixture, you should do a couple of things before that.
So the first thing is to do a resistance check.
Make sure that there is no continuity between your supply and your ground.
That is, your positives and negatives should be open circuit.
And I'm talking about the light fixture now.
So you've already connected all of your blacks to one bus bar
all reds to the other bus bar put a meter across that check the resistance.
It should be open circuit.
There should be no crossfeeding going on there whatsoever
because the moment that you would connect to your 48 volts,
it might end up in smoke.
So that's the first thing to do.
Now the second thing that you're going to do is use a multimedia like this one
to check or confirm the output voltage.
If your power supply doesn't have a display panel like this one
that you're going to need to use the volt meter.
So even if it does, I would still use a meter to confirm
the display is correct, at least for the first time around.
Now, you can adjust the brightness of the light by using a small screwdriver
to turn this voltage potential meter
so you can turn this clockwise or anti-clockwise,
depending on if you want to reduce or increase the intensity of the light.
So if we go anti-clockwise on this, you can see that the voltage.
Starts to decrease,
so we started to decrease the voltage here, and that, in turn,
is going to decrease the intensity of the light panel as well,
so we can take it back up all the way.
It's a 49.8 volts so this one wouldn't even let you go any further
any higher than 49.7, which is a good thing
because you don't want to be over cranking
the voltage to these panels in any case.
Now, if you want to mount your power supply to the light stand,
then you can use a super clamp and a quick release plate like this one
from Ulanzi, It's in the parts list as well.
I've actually attach an extra bracket
to the power supply to mount a quick release place and tapped a
quarter 20
thread into this plate in order to screw it on directly.
Next up is the mounting bracket.
Now this is a heavy light fixture weighing in at twelve kilos,
so you need to find a secure way of mounting this onto your light stand.
There are many different ways to do this,
but I'm going to show you two ways that you can do this.
So there's a simple version
and there's a fancy version, so I'm going to start with it first.
So you get a baby pin plate or this is actually a baby pin wall plate
and you attach it to the back of the heatsink
using the same principle that you did with the fans.
So you're going to drill from below,
countersink it and screw this on like so and you're done.
Now, if you want to get a bit more techie,
then you can get an aluminum bar, cut some bits off at the end,
carve some square holes into the short bits like.
So then you can attempt to bend a five mil thick aluminum bar
after watching a YouTube video and thinking that you're, you know,
you're a metal smith and ended up having to take it to the workshop
to get it folded in any case within a few minutes.
Don't do what I did.
Just take it to the metal work and shop it and do it for you.
So then we're going to attach the short bits to the heatsink using
self tapping screws and
then attach to
frame using these coach bolts with the square shank
and finally securing it with these locking handles.
You can then attach the baby mount plate to the middle of the bar
by tapping holes in the bar or straight drilling and using nuts and bolts.
If you don't have a tap.
All right, so that's the main base out.
Now onto the accessories or the nice to have.
Now let's start with the diffuser.
No, you do not have to have a diffuser or fit a diffuser to the front of this.
There are a lot of other ways to diffuse a light.
However, this removable panel provides some extra protection for the LED chips
at the front as well, and it just helps to blend the hundreds of individual LEDs
into a more cohesive even output to mount the diffuser.
I just attach an aluminum angle profile to the upper and lower box sections.
Be sure to use the diffuser as a guide,
so use it as a guide when you're fitting it, when you're marking the holes
so you get a snug fit when you eventually slide it into the fixture.
Next up is the handle now fitting a handle to this again
you don't have to, but it makes it easy to position the light fixture
when it's on a light stand.
And believe it or not,
it's also very useful as a means of carrying around the light.
Next up is a switch and a switch box.
Now you don't necessarily have to have a switch, but being able
to switch the light on and off without unplugging cables or disconnecting
cables is quite handy and probably quite safe as well.
Now you can use a plastic junction box like this one to mount the switch.
I've just cut a hole in it
where I can put the switch in, and I've also added an XLR plug
so I can totally disconnect the power cable from the fixture itself.
Oh, and last
but at least once you don't have access to 1,000,000 different colors on this panel
because it's not an RGBWW panel, it is a single color daylight output.
You can use gels just to give yourself a little bit more creative freedom.
So if you want a change of colors, you have a few different colors to choose
from if you just add some gel panels or some gels at the front.
OK, so now we're in the homestretch, and I've just got a few tips
that's going to make your life a little bit more easier.
So the first one is to use sharp or new drill bits.
So the drill bits that you have laying around your box,
get rid of them, get some new drill bits or you're going to end up
being really frustrated
when you realize you drill in and you know nothing's happening.
And to add to that, if you do have a center punch, then use one as that's going
to help you to create more accurate positioning and drilling off your holes.
Tip number three, so ask your acrylic or your perspex supplier
if they can cut the diffuser to your specified size
so you don't have the hassle of cutting it yourself, just leave them a message
or send them a message.
Say, Hey, can you cut this to this exact dimension?
And then all you have to do when you get it is a slide it into position.
So it kind of goes without saying that you're going to need
to have some basic hand skills and the necessary tools to undertake
a project like this, or at least know someone who does or who can help you.
So special thanks, though, to the team at LED
Chip and the people who help me by answering their DMs.
Yes, there are people
who has done these projects before and I was able to tap into some of them.
Knowledge to help me to create this as well.
So I've put together a parts list with prices and theres
a link in the description below, so you can get an idea of costings
and the names of different things and also obviously vary based on your location
and what is accessible to you wherever you are.
So my biggest challenge of this whole build was having to wait
for certain posts, or sometimes this would be weeks.
And I was getting parts coming in from Turkey.
I was getting parts from Russia, some things I was getting from China.
So, you know, understandably, that can take some time.
So do consider that, in fact. Factor that in.
So when you're building, you know that you may have to wait a lot of time
for certain things, but at least give me some time
to tweak the design and to fine tune certain things and finesse
certain things to make the finish a little bit more polished.
And I am going to be building a couple more lights as well.
The next one and I'm going to be building is going to consist of twelve volt fans
and it's going to be 500 watt panels instead of 250.
So I'll be building a new one.
I'll kind of show you the difference on another video
ill post a link to that video in a description.
I'll probably put a card up here.
If you don't see, either of those two things that mean
it's not been done as yet, but as soon as I do
so, I will update this video to add the cards and a description.
But anyways, that is it for this video, guys.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Link up with me on IG as well, because I have a lot more content,
a lot more frequent content on my Instagram as well.
If you have any further questions asked me in my DMs or in the comments below.
And most importantly, guys, if you have any suggestions
about any improvement that could be had here, do leave it in the comments below.
For anyone else
who is looking to maybe build this project for me myself in the future,
but that is it for today, and I'll see you guys in the next video Peace!