guitar82 Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 Does anyone know anything about the new reef brite leds strips on reef builders? I can't find any info on which cree leds they are using. It looks like they are spaced every two inches apart. For someone wanting to replace actinic pc bulbs can anyone speculate what kind of performance I could expect? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 They aren't Cree LEDs, but they are "Cree" LEDs. What I mean by that is that the die (the actual light emitting part) is Cree made, but the entire package is made by Edison Opto. They use the same LEDs that we (Nanocustoms) use in our AIO retros. They work pretty well though. They had a custom setup over a frag tank at MACNA and the royals certainly made the colors pop. If the LED strip is going in a hood or fixture, make sure there is airflow. These strips are not designed to be kept in closed areas with little to no airflow. Link to comment
thewire Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 They aren't Cree LEDs, but they are "Cree" LEDs. What I mean by that is that the die (the actual light emitting part) is Cree made, but the entire package is made by Edison Opto. They use the same LEDs that we (Nanocustoms) use in our AIO retros. They work pretty well though. They had a custom setup over a frag tank at MACNA and the royals certainly made the colors pop. If the LED strip is going in a hood or fixture, make sure there is airflow. These strips are not designed to be kept in closed areas with little to no airflow. are they a cheaper way to get led retro? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 Build it yourself. LEDs are expensive no matter what. Link to comment
guitar82 Posted January 6, 2010 Author Share Posted January 6, 2010 Are they using the 3 watt leds in the fixture? I want to replace a 130 watt pc actinic and I don't want to go t5. Would this be an easier way for me to go without building something or will I have to build something myself? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 They are 3W rated LEDs, but they are not driven that hard. More like 1W. You should be ok replacing a 130W PC, as long as it was an actinic only bulb. Building it yourself may not be cheaper overall, but you get more control as to what goes in it. You can get higher output LEDs, and drive them harder to make the effect more noticable. It's a lot more work though. Why don't you want to go T5? There are a ton of great options for actinics available, and it will be far cheaper than any LED solution. Link to comment
guitar82 Posted January 7, 2010 Author Share Posted January 7, 2010 Thanks, for the info. My fixture has two 130 watt actinics and they are really poor output. Would running 1 of these longer with 2 150 watt mh on a 75 gallon be fine? I figured if I added some time to my mh light schedule and I would also get more viewable tank time with the leds as well. I really don't want to do t5s as I would have to mod my fixture and it would cost me about the same as these leds anyhow. I was thinking that if the heatsink, cooling, and such on the fixture was decent I could always switch out the leds to beef up the light when I need to. (or I could sell it later) Link to comment
evilc66 Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 Cooling the LEDs will be the biggest challenge to putting them in the fixture to replace the PCs. With the MH so close, temps will go beyond what is safe for the LEDs, unless you add some fans for active cooling. If the PCs you have currently are crap, and maybe want to try and inexpensive stop-gap, try the UVL PC-Rs. They have some really nice actinic bulbs, and they have internal reflectors that bulb the typical output by about 20%. The biggest they make is 96W, but the ballast in the fixture will adjust down to match. They come in square and straight pin. Link to comment
guitar82 Posted January 7, 2010 Author Share Posted January 7, 2010 Cooling the LEDs will be the biggest challenge to putting them in the fixture to replace the PCs. With the MH so close, temps will go beyond what is safe for the LEDs, unless you add some fans for active cooling. If the PCs you have currently are crap, and maybe want to try and inexpensive stop-gap, try the UVL PC-Rs. They have some really nice actinic bulbs, and they have internal reflectors that bulb the typical output by about 20%. The biggest they make is 96W, but the ballast in the fixture will adjust down to match. They come in square and straight pin. I figured since these are one unit I could just mount them outside of the fixture and just not use my pcs. I haven't seen the uvl pc-r's before. I might check them out too. I still think it would be nice if the led fixture does ok for a few years. It would be cheaper than buying pc bulbs every 5-6 months. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 If you are mounting them to the outside, then you are fine. They will last longer than any other bulb, so that's a nice bonus. The 460nm/420nm actinic PC-Rs are pretty nice though. Link to comment
rrcg50 Posted May 4, 2010 Share Posted May 4, 2010 i have personally seen the reefbrites and that s the way i would go. i will be selling my icecap 660 and replacing my vho actinics with these roughly 250watts for 2 4 footers with a 24 w reefbrite strip. Link to comment
phattypeeps Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 How do these LED's compare to the truelumen 10" LED strips? I am building a 5 gallon display tank and my interest is in choosing lights that will generate minimal heat build up under a low hood. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 Truelumen strips are not designed for primary lighting. They aren't high power LEDs. A Reefbrite strip will blow the doors off it. Link to comment
phattypeeps Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 Truelumen strips are not designed for primary lighting. They aren't high power LEDs. A Reefbrite strip will blow the doors off it. Thank you Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.