How do I mount LED light to canopy?

Ok, measured the canopy and there is 6 inches of space between the water level and top of the canopy. So if I allow the recommended 3 inches between the light and hood, that will put the lights about 1 inch above the water! I'll have to do some more thinking here... Maybe recess the lights into the canopy so the heat sinks stick out the top? Stupid weird sized tank

Can you build a little adapter to raise the canopy up a few inches? Can you mount the canopy off of the tank and on the ceiling?

If you could post a few pics of the canopy maybe we can get a idea of how you could do this.

I think as long as you have a small airgap between the wooden canopy and the light, and have holes drilled for the top fans you should be ok. You could always mount it and take temp readings.

Just keep in mind that increased heat and less ventilation will reduce the lifespan of the LED's. Who knows how much though.

A well placed fan, and especially the fans blowing upward, and lifting the heat away, will do quite a bit of cooling. You can have a 500w power supply, 2 crossfire video cards and an overclocked cpu pumping out way more heat than those led's in a relatively small box. One fan hitting the heatsimk, and 2 more lifting the heated air out of the canopy should be just fine.

Cool. I think I'll try the vented holes thing, am kind of worried about the salt getting into the circuitry since they'll be so close to the water, so if that's an issue, I may just abandon the canopy or make little boxes to separate the units from any potential water.

if the canopy can be avoided, just hang the modules. it's a nice sparse look! modern

Ok, finally got the lights. Because the wife won't allow me to hang them, they went in the canopy. I used tin snips to cut small strips of 1 inch by 1/8 inch thick aluminum and attached those perpendicular to the light module using the bolts that came with the fixture. So there are two aluminum brackets attached to each light. Then I drilled holes in the aluminum brackets and secured those to the canopy with screws. I put a spacer between the bracket and fixture so there is a gap between the wood and fins. I will see how often the fans turn on, if at all. They will only be running about 30% I think, so hopefully this will be fine. If not, then I'll make some modifications to the canopy to allow more cooling.

Any update?

I have 75 gallon acrylic hex(14"x30"panel x 6) with canopy, and thinking to install Aqua Illuminations SOL Blue inside canopy.

Since it's odd shape, and I want to install it inside canopy, I also thinking samething with you.

How hot inside canopy become?

How often fan turns on?

Will it work without making holes in canopy above moudle fans?

Hey, nobu, welcome to reef geeks! So far, just bolting them to aluminum strips and bolting those to the canopy works pretty well. The fans actually run backwards than I thought, they pull air in from the top and push it sideways across the fins. This is actually better because it limits places that salt spray can get onto the fins. Also, the circuitry is pretty well sealed, so even if small amounts of water/salt get onto the top of the unit, it should be fine. The only opening is a very small hole that allows the wires for the cooling fan to pass through.

The fans only seem to turn on when I run them at over 50%. If I keep them at 30%, they don't come on at all. So the fixtures are pretty cool running. When I run them at 50% plus, you can feel heat coming from them, but not a lot, not anywhere even close to the kind of heat metal halides put out! So the canopy is maybe 10-20 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than outside the canopy when running at high percentages, but it's not even enough to heat the tank any. So I would say it will work fine without holes in the top of the canopy as long as you allow a gap between the canopy and the fixture to permit some airflow and the canopy has ventilation of some kind (holes in the back) or in my case it's completely open in the back.

I will try to remember to get some video or pics up. If you don't see any posted here in the next 2 days, remind me, I am pretty forgetful about that stuff.

I just got my light today, and planning to install it to my hex canopy.

The problem I have is that I'll install Al Sol in the middle of canopy between 2X T5 lightings, so even I had airgap between the wooden canopy and the light,it might get hot,and not get enough air from top.

I 'm thinking make 3"hole on canopy above the Al Sol fan, and also make 1" airgap between the wooden canopy and the light.

I'm planning to get 2 X 3 1/2" screws ,and screw them directly in moudle.

I'll place 1" wood piece between canopy and moudle to make 1" airgap.

Will air blow to 5.375" side of moudle? I'll have about 6.5" space on both side(5.375" side) of moudle.

I now have 1X 120mm cpu fan inside canopy.

Do you think it will work out?

Originally Posted by nobu

Will air blow to 5.375" side of moudle? I'll have about 6.5" space on both side(5.375" side) of moudle.

Yep, it blows to the short side. Your set-up should work just fine, I hope you enjoy your light as much as I do!

Thanks!

Here is a much belated picture of what I did

Looks like it does the trick.

Do you get salt/water splashing on them??

Yeah, there is salt spray on the lenses, but they're pretty well sealed so not a big issue, not yet anyways