Ridding the washed out look

[slowngreen]

So this is what my led units have for a layout. Its just too washed out for me. No pop unless I leave the white down real low but then it lack in color. Any tips on replacing some of them for ?

 

SW1

Blue 460nm 12pcs

Royal Blue 440nm 15pcs

SW2

Cool White 6000-18000K 10pcs

Neutral White 4500-6000K 6pcs

Warm White 3500-4500K 6pcs

Deep Red 660nm 4pcs

Green 520nm 2pcs

[evilc66]

Can you re-type that so it's a little more legible? It's more so the channels (I'm assuming that's what SW1 and SW2 are) and what LEDs you are running on them.

 

What I can seem to glean from that, you have:

• 12x 460nm blue
• 15x 440nm royal blue
• 10x 6000-18000K cool white
• 6x 4500-6000K neutral white
• 6x 3500-4500K warm white
• 4x 660nm deep red
• 2x 520nm green

Please correct that if it's wrong

 

At first glance, I'm assuming you are running generic LEDs from the likes of Aquastyle (the wide CCT range on the whites is a dead give-away). If that is the case, that's not helping your situation. I'd be willing to bet that the white LEDs are on the higher end of their CCT ranges. That by itself is going to kill your color. Secondly, you're running a low ratio of white to blue, which is why you are washed out.

 

If you want to keep using the same style of LEDs to save a few bucks, try the following:

 

• 18x 3000-4500K warm white
• 22x 440nm royal blue
• 8x 460nm blue
• 4x 660nm deep red
• 4x 520nm green

Like I mentioned before, the warm whites are more likely to be on the higher end of the CCT range, which works out well here, as 4500K neutrals are the white of choice. Sadly, generic LEDs have terrible CRI on average. Getting rid of the higher CCT whites will reduce the washed out look from the high blue to red ratio seen in those LEDs. Reducing the number of 460nm blues will help too. While they are great for bringing out certain colors in corals, they can make a tank look like windex in a hurry. Increasing the greens to 4 will help to make the light less purple, as well as brighter to the eye (even though it has no benefit to your corals).

 

Now, if you are willing to pony up for some better LEDs, especially the whites and greens (switch to lime), then we can improve things even more.

[Horerczy]

Sounds like the 2014 Evergrow fixture layout.

[slowngreen]

Thanks for the huge reply! Sorry about the way it was typed out, I had pasted the list from another site and it didnt work right apparently. They are the Evergrow led's Im using by the way.... Horerczy was correct.

 

Definitely lacking in color, either its white, blue or both, like a generic t5 setup look.

 

I think since I have already noticed alot of growth on some coral with them I do want to stick with led's and cost has been and still is an issue. So with the list you made me I think I will start piecing a pile of leds together and get these built better.

 

Thanks again!

[Horerczy]

I only knew because I just ordered one.

 

The one I ordered had a slightly different layout though as there are 4 less cool blue and 4 420nm violets in their place. I figure I have enough led knowhow to change bits and pieces of the fixture if I'm not satified. It's for my new mantis tank though so not too worried about it since coral wont be the main focus.

[slowngreen]

Ive been wondering about adding 2 t5's for color with this, it would obviously be the way cheaper route and most available route for me at the moment. But would 2 t5's even be noticeable with these running?

[slowngreen]

Hopefully an expert will check back in.

I can order some leds now to start building them with better color but not all. I can do about 12 or 14 for each unit now.

Should I do 7 royal blue's replacing 6 blues and one cool white, then 5 warm white replacing 5 more cool white?

 

Which would make my layout

 

22 royal blue

5 blue

10 warm white

4 cool

6 nuetral

4 red

2 green...

 

Would the difference be noticed and for the better with that change?

[Horerczy]

I just got my unit in today. I'll pop it open when i get home to see what's what before giving suggestions.

[Horerczy]

Ok looked at the light. Things a trainwreak imho. Warmer whites will probably help a lot. I would trade the reds with PC ambers and replace the greens with limes I don't have a lot of surface tension on the tank I set the light over so I see some serious color shadows at a glance.

 

If you're going under the hood I seriously suggest getting some better drivers in there too. These resistance dimmed drivers are just awful. I can see the nonlinearity of the dimming when i'm adjusting them. I'd also consider a seperate power supply being slipped in there for the fans as well so they're on all the time instead of when the led channel their connected too is turned up high enough. :/ There seems to be enough room to do so in any case (though my case may be different).

[slowngreen]

thanks for the input! I'll have to do it some now, some later. I'll start off with some led's, then maybe next month do more and the drivers at the same time.

 

Still horribly new to this, is the size I need 20mm?

[slowngreen]

Would RB and Blue be different to the eye, not over the tank but just while they were on? I have mine open to get started with the new leds I got and the layout I printed out is different than the one that I listed which is what was posted on the ad.

 

When I turn the channel with just blues/rb they all look the same to me.

[slowngreen]

So Im guessing the bluer ones are the cool whites?

 

http://s183.photobucket.com/user/slowngreen/media/random%20stuff/IMAG0724.jpg.html'>

[Horerczy]

From my understanding the blues used in that form are only 10nm from each other. So i would treat them both as royal blue.

 

Yeah the non yellow whites are the cool whites.

 

I popped mine open last night. Thinking about alterations that are plausible atm.

[slowngreen]

Is there an easy or best way to remove an led from the star? The ones I bought are all mounted on stars.

[Horerczy]

Care, precision, and an exacto knife.

 

unless it's soldered down in the middle in which case a heat plate will be more useful.

[slowngreen]

I got all the ones off I was going to replace, soldered the new ones on and cant get anything on that channel to work.

 

I jumped a couple of them and see with doing that, that 3 of them dont light at all, the rest are very very dim. Bad leds? Ive resoldered all of them twice now with now change.

[evilc66]

Make sure the thermal pad is isolated from the MCPCB. They are normally connected to the anode or cathode (depends on the LED manufacturer), so if they short to the MCPCB, then you create a shot between all LEDs connected to it (thermal pad to MCPCB that is). Cree and Philips thermal pads are electrically isolated, so you never see an issue with this.

 

One trick is to coat the thermal pad with a thin uniform layer of thermal epoxy before installing. It creates the dielectric layer that you need before applying thermal past and attaching to the MCPCB. The alternative is to order adhesive thermal pad isolators from Deal Extreme, Kai Domain, or similar.

[slowngreen]

Wanna come over?

[evilc66]

Might take a while

[slowngreen]

Even though I dont know the technical terms I gather that the underside of the led, when all 3 spots are soldered, needs to not be touching the + or - or it wont work, correc?. Ive checked all of them and cant find a problem with that at all. By jumping them with a little wire, I can get 6 out of the 10 I replaced to work and the rest of the stock leds I didnt touch come and and they are all bright but just cant get all of them. And again thats only with me jumping them.

 

Feel like giving up on led's already and going back to t5's. So much easier to understand.

[Horerczy]

picture of where you soldered? Might be able to get an idea of what's up.

[slowngreen]

I gave up and put it back together for now. I took them all off one more time, made sure the negatives where on the correct side on all of them, redid my paste, resoldered them and couldnt get them to work at all even when trying to jump them.

Might order from reef breeders so they dont come on a star next time, although I dont see that as being a problem since they came off easy but Id be starting with fresh leds that I havent heated several times while soldering.

[Horerczy]

Ac-rc.net has a few different diodes available that reefbreeders doesn't.

 

Can at least get some turquoise

[slowngreen]

Man Im so relieved, I removed all 10 that I put on today since I couldnt find a problem and luckily had 10 more new ones that were meant for my other unit, put them on and it works now.

So what does the turqouise help visually? Im really wanting to get reds to stand out more too, I have alot of red zoas and red mushrooms that arent even noticeable, atleast with the old layout, not tried the newer one yet.

Do I want any violet? If so do I use them in place of some blues?

[slowngreen]

Ok this is the side that I changed.

 

Right now it has...

 

9 neutral

6 warm

4 red

2 green

34- 450-460

 

So now what? Got ahead and double the greens?