Jump to content
Top Shelf Aquatics

GU10 LED Build Thread (Chinese Ebay Lights)


TinyGiant

Recommended Posts

I'll have to get back to you on that one. I am assuming that they are dimmed via a dimmer switch, similar to what you would have for accent lighting in a living room (like those big white knobs). I could be completely wrong though :P. The biggest selling point for me though, is that they are crees and they look to have a better heatsink than the 3w ones i have worked with before, which I didn't have good luck with.

 

Heads up! I just received one of those 3x3w dimmable Cree Led bulbs.

The construction seems to be good and they seem to be bright but they do not pull anywhere close to 9 watts

At full power this 3x3w bulb pulls around 4.8 to 4.9 watts. The leds without any dimming don't look anywhere as bright as the real 3w Cree leds in my DIY fixture

This makes me think that they are being falsely sold as 3w Cree led bulbs.

I have contacted the seller on ebay ( this is the seller : http://myworld.ebay.com/wiseller/ )

lets see what he has to say.

 

This is the bulb I bought :

 

L2012-1.jpg

 

Kill-a-watt reading :

 

IMG_4465.jpg

Link to comment
C.I._Reefer

interesting. I dont know too much about the actual electronics of this, but is it possible that the lack of brightness be due to the fact that they are probably driven at 400mA where as yours are probably driven at ~900mA? does the spectrum appear correct? I expect these to pull around 6-7 watts since the 1x3w ones actually pull just over 2 watts, which is good for the longevity of the emitters.

Link to comment

The bulb I mentioned above is pulling 4.9 watts at 700 mA.

The color is around 10K

I should also mention that the bulb gets pretty warm after running for 15 minutes

Edited by devmasa
Link to comment

Fote03

Cool fixture. what size of tank is this going over? I was goin to but 10gu10 over my 10g. maybe thats too much?

got any pics of it over your tank. I wanna see how high up you need that light.

Link to comment
C.I._Reefer
Fote03

Cool fixture. what size of tank is this going over? I was goin to but 10gu10 over my 10g. maybe thats too much?

got any pics of it over your tank. I wanna see how high up you need that light.

naw, anywhere from 8 to 10 will be perfect

Link to comment
The bulb I mentioned above is pulling 4.9 watts at 700 mA.

The color is around 10K

I should also mention that the bulb gets pretty warm after running for 15 minutes

 

3x3w in that bulb fixture is going to burn out for prolonged usage w/o active cooling.

the heatsink size is identical in size to the 3x1W epistar bulb but looks to have open slits in the heatsink. The epistar bulb heatsink is solid from luckdzl and after 6 hours of use it gets very warm.

 

The middle bulb is 5x1W and that gets burning hot.

 

The one of the right is a 3x3W and the heatsink makes it warm.

post-42164-1333253807_thumb.jpg

Edited by bizzarro
Link to comment

Does anyone know how deep the GU10s will penatrat into sw with optic off?

Jus wanna be sure 3 bulbs 2blue 1 white will cut it for a mixed 9" cube.

I did keep optic on and it will pentrat at least 12" under sw. no issues.

Link to comment
Does anyone know how deep the GU10s will penatrat into sw with optic off?

Jus wanna be sure 3 bulbs 2blue 1 white will cut it for a mixed 9" cube.

I did keep optic on and it will pentrat at least 12" under sw. no issues.

 

I have a standard 29G tank, I use a blue bulb no optics for moon lighting and it has no problems reaching all the way to the bottom.

 

Now what I can't answer is how intense it is at varying depths.

Edited by bizzarro
Link to comment
C.I._Reefer

I wouldn't run with anything greater than 60 degree optics(I.E. only run 30, 45, or 60 degree) on anything deeper than 10". In my opinion the reason these seem to do so well compared to other 1w LEDs is due to the tight optics causing higher par values, and better penetration. The beam is gonna be like 120 degrees without optics, and the penetration will be much less

Link to comment
I wouldn't run with anything greater than 60 degree optics(I.E. only run 30, 45, or 60 degree) on anything deeper than 10". In my opinion the reason these seem to do so well compared to other 1w LEDs is due to the tight optics causing higher par values, and better penetration. The beam is gonna be like 120 degrees without optics, and the penetration will be much less

 

 

3 bulbs no optic over a 3g pico. 4" off water line. tank is only 9" tall.

Should be alright for lps.

Link to comment

Hi All,

 

I just finished my frag tank build. I am only lighting a very small area so I only used 3 bulbs. I plan on doing another 3 shortly, once I have more frags. Here are the pix

Link to comment

Just purchased 7 blue and 6 cool white bulbs 4x1 with 45 degree optics from led-hk. got the sockets and ordered some of these to connect the sockets to the extension cord. anyone have any experience with these or think that they'll work?

 

I'll be building a canopy to go over my JBJ nanocube24 and will mount everything into the canopy. Super excited! I'll post updates as things progress.

Link to comment
C.I._Reefer
Just purchased 7 blue and 6 cool white bulbs 4x1 with 45 degree optics from led-hk. got the sockets and ordered some of these to connect the sockets to the extension cord. anyone have any experience with these or think that they'll work?

 

I'll be building a canopy to go over my JBJ nanocube24 and will mount everything into the canopy. Super excited! I'll post updates as things progress.

 

Why you ghetto rigging your wiring with those crap ass quick connects? They'll work but god knows for how long. You would have been much happier with the 3x1w with individual optics.

Link to comment
C.I._Reefer
Haha they aren't ghetto, that is what they are made for mine has been working for at least six months no problems. :)

 

Well, if they arent ghetto, they are made for ppl who are too lazy to strip a wire and crimp on a butt splice :P. In all honesty I look at those as something that is temporary at best, and should be used as such. Thats why they are removable :)

Edited by C.I._Reefer
Link to comment

Hey guys and gals

 

inspired by this thread, I just finished a fixture of my own. I have a standard 29G tank with SPS, clams and anemones. I have 27 bulbs of the 3x1W gu10 30 Degree lens. 14 of them are blue and 13 are cool white. Is this going to be good enough light. Compared to the other tanks in this thread I think I may have over did it but the light doesn't look that strong.

 

Any input?

Link to comment
Salty Baulls

Over the weekend i ordered:

 

30: sockets

5: 3x3w Cree Cool White 60 deg-Dimmable

http://www.ebay.com/itm/170811845591?ssPag...9#ht_4104wt_905

9: 4x1w Blue 45 deg

http://www.ebay.com/itm/400287153717?ssPag...#ht_2592wt_1185

9: 3x1w Blue 30 deg

http://www.ebay.com/itm/270946336845?ssPag...9#ht_2107wt_952

 

 

CANNOT wait to see how it looks. Im only planning on using 16 or so blues while mixing and matching 30's and 45's in the "B45B45" section of the front. These two areas will ideally shine back onto the front of the rock work to minimize shadowing. Im also toying with the idea of having 2 warm whites (w/o optics) shining back instead of 2 of the blues.

 

B30_ _ _ _B30_ _ _ _ B30_ _ _ _B30_ _ _ _B30

 

W60_B45_W60_B45_W60_B45_W60_B45_W60

 

B30_ _ _B45B45_ _ _B30_ _ _B45B45_ _ _B30

 

This is going into a old current usa 6 bulb t5 fixture. I cut it down to 24". I will be running the 2 original cooling fans along with the splash guard. Im thinking about hanging 10" from the surface over my 26 bow front.

 

 

IMAG0397.jpg

 

IMAG0399.jpg

 

Any chance the 3x3w dimmables will run at a higher wattage with better cooling?

Link to comment

for my 9" cube I simply removed the optic lenses and left the gaurd off. and starting using it. 3" over water. This should work?

Link to comment

Anyone tried contacting the seller of the epistar bulbs(luckzdl2008)?

I asked him if it would be possible to get these with 2 white/1 blue but he doesn't answer.

Link to comment

Anyone tried contacting the seller of the epistar bulbs(luckzdl2008)?

I asked him if it would be possible to get these with 2 white/1 blue but he doesn't answer.

[/quote

I did not even know we could get this. nice.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...