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I thought DIY was supposed to be cheaper :P


cocojakes

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I'm working on a new 20 long peninsula build, and was planning on doing a DIY LED bar, with three clusters, each consisting of:
2x 3up

2x TV

1x OCW

 

but everything together is coming out to $500CAD, I could buy a pro fixture like a radion or hydra for close to that. Am I missing something? I'm tempted to pull the trigger anyway just because it will do a slightly better job covering the 20x12 footprint than most pre fab puck style, but at the same time, I have no clue how the colour will end up, if I'll be upset that I ditched my kessil if I end up with disco effect again, or if I'll mess up something and ruin the whole fixture. I'm decently confident in my electronic skills as I'm an engineering student who has played with soldering irons plenty, but still don't want to burn up 500 dollars when I accidentally connect an LED backwards.

 

Any advice and help is greatly appreciated. I want this tank to be the sexiest thing I own, but so far I've burned through tanks faster than anyone I know (have upgraded 4 times in the past year) I have a serious case of the I-can-do-better's and keep losing money as I sell old stuff and buy new stuff, and want to do this right and be happy with it.

 

PLEASE HELP :$

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I like to DIY as much as the next guy, but you won't save anything buying these "kits" from a middle man, that is for sure.

Most all of our lights have at most a few dollars worth of LEDs if bought from the proper source.

LEDs are a dream come true for some business.

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I like to DIY as much as the next guy, but you won't save anything buying these "kits" from a middle man, that is for sure.

Most all of our lights have at most a few dollars worth of LEDs if bought from the proper source.

LEDs are a dream come true for some business.

who would you buy from then? LEDgroupbuy looks like good prices until you add it all up :P 75 dollar heat sink, 120 worth of LED stars, 90 worth of drivers/power supplies, plus all the miscilanious stuff like wire, thermal grease, it goes on and on and gets super expensive, especially with 50 dollars of shipping to canada, and then add on the bad canadian exchange rate we currently have, and its stupidly expensive

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who would you buy from then? LEDgroupbuy looks like good prices until you add it all up :P 75 dollar heat sink, 120 worth of LED stars, 90 worth of drivers/power supplies,

For most DIY'ers who talk about it being cheaper, this is what they're paying, ~285$

plus all the miscilanious stuff like wire, thermal grease, it goes on and on and gets super expensive, especially with 50 dollars of shipping to canada, and then add on the bad canadian exchange rate we currently have, and its stupidly expensive

And this is why you're having trouble!

 

Seriously though, the real savings come when you talk about lighting large tanks. The driver costs don't go up much, the heat sink goes up some, and the LED stars are fairly linear. And of course you only pay 1 shipping fee, and the misc stuff once.

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I have a 20 long penisula tank on my counter. I was going to do a diy build but after I added up my materials and figured in my time doing it, I ended up just buying a photon 24 from reef breeders. No complaints

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its only 40 dollars of miscilanious, and then almost 60 dollars of shipping at the cheapest option + exchange rate is whats putting me up so high. My cart sub total is only ~340 which seams reasonable and I'm 100% good to go, until I get 150 dollars of shipping, tax, insurance, and exchange rate slapped on. Grrrr. This was supposed to be a reasonably cheap upgrade. It sucks that shipping to canada isn't free, since its free to the states once you're over 200, but go a few kilometres over the border and you have to pay out the ass. this is annoying because I really want it but don't want to pay 500 for my light. Maybe I'll have to keep looking into the other cheaper options.



I have a 20 long penisula tank on my counter. I was going to do a diy build but after I added up my materials and figured in my time doing it, I ended up just buying a photon 24 from reef breeders. No complaints

 

I had a photon 16 over my 16 tall (footprint of a 10g but 19 inches tall) but prefer my kessil, and want the puck design (don't like the multiple shadows I get from an array) and was hoping i could group my 3 pucks tight enough that it would work out similarly. I like my kessil but would need two over a 20, and want more control over the spectrum, I find the 15k too blue, and the 10k too yellow. Lighting is impossible to get right. I'd love to go with t5 but can't live without the shimmer now that I've had a taste of it.

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DIY is cheaper than a manufactured light in the same specs. For instance, you could build a diy light that would out perform a radion Gen 3 for quite a bit less,

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Milad LEDGroupBuy.com

As Crazyeyes said, spec to spec, DIY is going to be much cheaper.

 

However comparing something like the Lumia 5.2 with a radion isnt spec to spec. Customer after customer tells us the Lumia 5.2 really blows it out of the water for output and color.

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I've never built a light that hasn't cost me $500+ in this hobby.

 

I've started sourcing certain parts on ebay sellers to help cut costs on my new fixture but it's still looking to cost me about $600 to light my 40B. It was originally somewhere between $750 and $800 but some smart buys and getting some bits from Ben really helped with cost cuts.

 

My lights got the powah though.

 

Edit: deleted some bits of post I thought this was generall lighting subforum not milads.

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even the kessil A360, the problem is that a single point source will spill WAY too much on the two sides. 12x30 (12x27 after I install the overflow) is too skewed of a ratio for a single source.

 

Do you think I could get away with just two of my pucks over a 20 Long, each one would be covering a 12x13.5 inch square. is that unreasonable to expect from only 11 LEDs? it would cut my cost a fair bit. I could just get a 12 inch heatsink, 2/3 the LEDs, only need 2 drivers.. any input from the peanut gallery? :P

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if I just do two, I could get away with 2 lumina 5.2 on a 12 inch heat sink, with 5 mean well drivers and a 30 dollar power supply. is there any cheaper way of controlling them other than a storm controller? I would feel better with two of those than 2 of my little "full spectrum pucks" for a similar price point (200 for luminas, 30 for power supply, 40 for drivers, 50 for heat sink) not too shabby, its the stupid shipping/taxes/exchange rate that screws me up. hey LEDgroupbuy, there wouldn't happen to be a way you could do free shipping to canada? its like, an extra 100km across the border, pretty please? hahaha

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When you say $50 for heatsink I assume we're talking about a makers heatsink? If so you will also need a fan power supply.

 

For thermal grease just get something good and cheap. Ceramique 2 is a good one.

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its only 40 dollars of miscilanious, and then almost 60 dollars of shipping at the cheapest option + exchange rate is whats putting me up so high. My cart sub total is only ~340 which seams reasonable and I'm 100% good to go, until I get 150 dollars of shipping, tax, insurance, and exchange rate slapped on. Grrrr. This was supposed to be a reasonably cheap upgrade. It sucks that shipping to canada isn't free, since its free to the states once you're over 200, but go a few kilometres over the border and you have to pay out the ass. this is annoying because I really want it but don't want to pay 500 for my light. Maybe I'll have to keep looking into the other cheaper options.

 

 

I had a photon 16 over my 16 tall (footprint of a 10g but 19 inches tall) but prefer my kessil, and want the puck design (don't like the multiple shadows I get from an array) and was hoping i could group my 3 pucks tight enough that it would work out similarly. I like my kessil but would need two over a 20, and want more control over the spectrum, I find the 15k too blue, and the 10k too yellow. Lighting is impossible to get right. I'd love to go with t5 but can't live without the shimmer now that I've had a taste of it.

 

Have a friend in Wisconsin or Minnesota? Maybe arrange for a little trip by? (idk where you are, maybe this is an 800 mile journey for you or maybe its just a day trip)

 

I will say I probably didnt save much going DIY but my fixture is also more over the top than most peoples. Personally I sourced other stuff from 3rd parties, but again, location may make that unreasonable or even impossible for you.

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closest place would be niagara falls, NY, about an hour away, but I don't know anyone that lives on the states side.

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for a similar price, I can either do my 3 pucks, spaced out across an 18 inch heat sink, over the 27 inches of display in my 20 long, or I can do 2 lumina 5.2 at opposite ends of a 12 inch heat sink, over the same 27x12 inches of display. What would people suggest? the 3 pucks would do a more even distribution, but the 2 lumina would definitely be more powerful, and I would end up splurging for the controller (since I can't seem to find any other way of dimming it) so it would be more controllable as well. any thoughts?

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As Crazyeyes said, spec to spec, DIY is going to be much cheaper.

 

However comparing something like the Lumia 5.2 with a radion isnt spec to spec. Customer after customer tells us the Lumia 5.2 really blows it out of the water for output and color.

I've never seen any DIY light that is spec to spec with a current market light like a radion pro for less than the pre-made light. Maybe I've been designing them wrong or have the wrong parts? Do you have a parts list that would be the equivalent of the radion pro?

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Can you have them ship to a UPS store in Lewiston or Buffalo and then pick up from there?

 

My vote goes to using two Lumias so I can check them out before I buy for my build. :D

 

Actually, I would go with the three pucks to spread things out a little more.

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would it be okay to just use thermal glue, to stick 14 of the bare LEDs that reef breeders sells for super cheap (1.50 each) as tight as possible, each group on its own cheap (compared to the makers heatsink) amazon heat sink, with its own fan, wire them up to the mean well drivers, and call it a day? it would cut my cost in HALF

 

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Milad LEDGroupBuy.com

I've never seen any DIY light that is spec to spec with a current market light like a radion pro for less than the pre-made light. Maybe I've been designing them wrong or have the wrong parts? Do you have a parts list that would be the equivalent of the radion pro?

 

off the top of my head (someone else was asking about this) two lumias on makers heatsink, makers drivers, makers controller, optics, grease, wires, hanging kit etc etc was about 30% cheaper than a radion

 

I've had a few of our customer compare the light output to a radion (one of which has several) and they are switching to the dual Lumia setup instead because of how great the light is.

 

What ends up happening is people compare a radion with a setup with twice as many LEDs and the price comes in close to the same but output his HUGE difference.

 

Here is a vid comparing kessils, some off brands and the Lumia we got from a customer awhile ago:

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off the top of my head (someone else was asking about this) two lumias on makers heatsink, makers drivers, makers controller, optics, grease, wires, hanging kit etc etc was about 30% cheaper than a radion

 

I've had a few of our customer compare the light output to a radion (one of which has several) and they are switching to the dual Lumia setup instead because of how great the light is.

 

What ends up happening is people compare a radion with a setup with twice as many LEDs and the price comes in close to the same but output his HUGE difference.

 

Here is a vid comparing kessils, some off brands and the Lumia we got from a customer awhile ago:

Gotcha - to be honest, I never know when I design a light if I have enough drivers/power supplies/etc. I know what LEDs I want, and the heatsink, and the wiring, but I never know what other stuff needs to be added.

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Milad LEDGroupBuy.com

Gotcha - to be honest, I never know when I design a light if I have enough drivers/power supplies/etc. I know what LEDs I want, and the heatsink, and the wiring, but I never know what other stuff needs to be added.

shoot us an email and we can help you out

support@ledgroupbuy.zendesk.com

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