Water cooled LED fixture

[TheEngineer]

This is a little off-topic, but related to liquid cooling...

I've always wondered why we don't do more with "waste heat" in our homes. Why shouldn't the warm air from the clothes dryer be used to heat hot water or the house? Or pump water through a hot attic in the summer. I know some of the systems exist, but it seems like it should be catching on more.

 

[Paul B]

Systems like you say are already in operation and you can buy or build them. The problem is that for what you will pay for the system there is very little pay back. Of course you can make a heat exchanger for your drier that can put some heat in your house but the savings in heat will be neglible as driers don't get that hot because they don't want to burn your clothes. Of course you can't just vent the drier in your house unless you want to grow ferns because of the humidity. I save a load of money in my home because I installed solar electric which saves me $110.00 a month on my electricity but my biggest saving was when I demolished my old oil burner boiler and replaced it with a 98% efficient condensing gas boiler. The thing is so efficient that you can't use a chimney. There is just a PVC pipe for the air intake and exhaust. My heat bills went from $5,000.00 a year to $960.00 including hot water and cooking. The thing is also tiny and hangs on a wall. My old boiler was the size of a small car. My utility bills are a joke now. I did all the work myself and with the rebates, it was almost free.
Instead of complaining about high utility bills, I did something about it.

 

[Paul B]

I punched out and soldered on the 70 copper disks that will support the LEDs. Now (if I get time) I will clean it up more and shoot the entire thing with some clear coat because copper turns green and ugly. This way my Steam Punk look will last. But before I do that, I will make and solder on the supports for the plexiglass shield and also the supports to hang it over the tank. I am waiting for the thermal adhesive. I still have to either build or buy the heater core for the cooling.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I must admit, for an electrician, you do nice pipe work.

Following with this build.

 

[Paul B]

Thanks, I was a plumber for a while before I was an electrician and I would much rather do plumbing work because it is so much easier and so many less fittings are required. I did more plumbing side jobs than electric.
One of my hobbies is copper work. I build fountains with all sorts of moving parts. It's a lot of fun and allows you to stretch your creativity. I have planned a copper hippopotamus that will stand in shallow water and lift his head to chew. Every time he does that water will come out of his mouth and it will all be powered by water. I have a bird in my front yard that does that.

 

[Paul B]

I decided not to use thermal switches for this project because I have a better idea. Today I built a water flow cut off switch that also allows me to see if the water is flowing visually. What I am planning to do is have the timer that turns on the lights, turn on the water pump instead of the lights. When the water starts flowing through the pipe, The water flow will raise a magnet encased in a glass cylinder that is in a vertical acrylic tube. When the magnet gets near the top of the cylinder, it trips the magnetic switch that turns on the LEDs. When the pump goes off, the magnet will drop, breaking the circuit to the lights. I would like to take credit for this, but I didn't invent it. I saw a very similar switch on the net. With this installed, the LEDs can't go on unless there is water flowing and if water is flowing, the fixture will stay cool. Even if the water leaks out of the system, the lights will not turn on whish is what I want. By looking at the position of the magnet, I can determine if water is flowing.

 

[Pagey]

Following. I hope you BLAST these LEDs so bright they can see them on the moon!!
Then turn them down and put them on your tank.

 

[Paul B]

The people on the moon may not like that.

 

[Paul B]

I built and tested that water flow, sensor/ pump, shut off switch and it works perfect. Now I need to solder on the copper wire management system, glue on the LEDs, wire and test them.

 

[FcSteve777]

Looking awesome

 

[Pagey]

The people on the moon may not like that.

People who live on the moon are over rated anyway so a short blast won't hurt!

However in the name of thorough science I think a prolonged blast is also quite justified. Just be sure to wear an Armadillo helmet or the CIA will start reading your brainwaves and stuff.

 

[Paul B]

I just soldered the wire management system on the water cooled fixture. It's those small copper rings that will support the wires around the frame. I installed about 20 of them. Next I want to clean it up, make it nice and shiny, then shoot it with some clear coat to keep it from tarnishing. The next step after that is to glue on the 72 LEDs and solder them together. I doubt I will finish this for a while because of some hand surgery this week, but I will try,

 

[Pagey]

Nice. Good idea. I would have just zip tied them but that's pretty awesome.

 

[Paul B]

I have plenty of zip ties, but I like copper work.

 

[Rybren]

What's taking you so long?

 

[Paul B]

What's taking you so long?

First off, I am old. And remember I have other hobbies like sneaking into someone's house and ripping off those tags that say "Do not remove under penalty of the Law" and going to the drug store and reading the instructions on shampoo bottles.

 

[redfishbluefish]

First off, I am old. And remember I have other hobbies like sneaking into someone's house and ripping off those tags that say "Do not remove under penalty of the Law" and going to the drug store and reading the instructions on shampoo bottles.

You forgot your hobby of Supermodels....but at your age, that's understandable.

 

[twilliard]

Looking good I must say!
The only copper work I have done is with bending feeders lol

 

[haninja]

Very interesting and scary at the same time...

 

[Paul B]

I finished soldering the 72 LEDs on the copper and tried the thing out. I can't believe it works. I had my doubts because the terminals on the LEDs are meant for a robot to install them on a circuit board so the terminals are the size of a pin head or smaller.
Now to make the enclosure for the drivers and get a heater core.