Hig789 Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 Just saw these on Reef Builders. Look pretty cool and a easy way to add LEDs to a t5 fixture. Curious on what they will cost. Wonder if you have a dimmable fixture if you can dim them. http://reefbuilders.com/2015/09/28/e5-retro-series-led-tubes-swap-hot5-lamps/ Link to comment
reefernanoman Posted September 30, 2015 Share Posted September 30, 2015 Just saw these on Reef Builders. Look pretty cool and a easy way to add LEDs to a t5 fixture. Curious on what they will cost. Wonder if you have a dimmable fixture if you can dim them. http://reefbuilders.com/2015/09/28/e5-retro-series-led-tubes-swap-hot5-lamps/ There's chatter about it over another reefer site. The manufacturer stated that they can be used with dimmable fixtures and the the cost is like $60 for 24 inch tubes I believe. The LED'S are supposed to be covered with phosphor. I want to know what Jedimasterben and others think once they are out into the public. Link to comment
reefernanoman Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Also watching these. I'm surprised that there hasn't been that many comments about these bulbs here so far. Link to comment
Horerczy Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 I can't find enough info on them to comment. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Looks interesting, but the low cost worries me. They claim to be using 'Cree and Osram' LEDs, among others, but even at ridiculously wholesale prices of less than a buck a diode, you can't sell a 60" tube with dozens and dozens of LEDs for $80. I'm also interested in their cooling, as it looks to be roughly nonexistant. LEDs abhor heat, it will kill them much faster the hotter it gets. Mix that with piss-poor cooling of nearly all T5 fixtures that exist and you've got a losing combination. I'm also VERY interested in how the hell they're powering them. There are several types of ways to start a T5 lamp, ranges of ballast factors (which is how much power is actually applied to the lamp), etc, so many variables, I have a very hard time believing that it will be plug and play except for a small amount of ballast types. I also am, admittedly, not fully versed in how ballasts work. I know that fluorescent lamps are A/C, and that the ballasts take A/C from the wall, convert it to D/C, then convert it back to a 'cleaner' A/C voltage for the lamp, but do they strive for a certain voltage only or a certain current? Every ballast I see says it always pulls a certain amount of power, are the ballasts 'ok' with pushing less power? Or is the power still sent but just dissipated in the driver circuitry? (which would not make sense, as this would make pretty tremendous heat in a small area) Link to comment
plainrt Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Lol the low cost has me thinking also...... Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Lol the low cost has me thinking also......Even if they're using cheap from china LEDs, most of them are still rated for 30k hours or so, and though they're less heat tolerant, they'll be running only a small amount of power into each diode, which helps tremendously with die temp. If they're only matching the radiometric output of T5 lamps and not looking to exceed it, they don't need a lot of power to do so. Link to comment
Hig789 Posted October 2, 2015 Author Share Posted October 2, 2015 Wow. They are only $60 for a 24" tube? Sounds a little too good to be true to me. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Wow. They are only $60 for a 24" tube? Sounds a little too good to be true to me.No, actually cheaper than that. 2' - $49.99 3' - $59.99 4' - $69.99 5' - $79.99 Link to comment
Hig789 Posted October 2, 2015 Author Share Posted October 2, 2015 Well I guess if they last 18 months to 2 years and have good output then it wouldn't be much different than changing bulbs. Link to comment
reefernanoman Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Looks interesting, but the low cost worries me. They claim to be using 'Cree and Osram' LEDs, among others, but even at ridiculously wholesale prices of less than a buck a diode, you can't sell a 60" tube with dozens and dozens of LEDs for $80. I'm also interested in their cooling, as it looks to be roughly nonexistant. LEDs abhor heat, it will kill them much faster the hotter it gets. Mix that with piss-poor cooling of nearly all T5 fixtures that exist and you've got a losing combination. I'm also VERY interested in how the hell they're powering them. There are several types of ways to start a T5 lamp, ranges of ballast factors (which is how much power is actually applied to the lamp), etc, so many variables, I have a very hard time believing that it will be plug and play except for a small amount of ballast types. I also am, admittedly, not fully versed in how ballasts work. I know that fluorescent lamps are A/C, and that the ballasts take A/C from the wall, convert it to D/C, then convert it back to a 'cleaner' A/C voltage for the lamp, but do they strive for a certain voltage only or a certain current? Every ballast I see says it always pulls a certain amount of power, are the ballasts 'ok' with pushing less power? Or is the power still sent but just dissipated in the driver circuitry? (which would not make sense, as this would make pretty tremendous heat in a small area) All very good observations. The manufacturer says that you just have to remove your T5 bulbs and just throw their LED tubes right in. Well I guess if they last 18 months to 2 years and have good output then it wouldn't be much different than changing bulbs. Well put. They would have to last more than 24 months to be worth it. The manufacturer is claiming that they will last up to 8 years. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 I'd love to get my hands on a few of them and tear one down and see what makes it tick and see what kind of cooling its got so we can figure out how long they should actually last with decent cooling. A new baby has me pretty drained though, so not sure when or if that will happen. :/ Link to comment
Hig789 Posted October 3, 2015 Author Share Posted October 3, 2015 A new baby has me pretty drained though, so not sure when or if that will happen. :/ Haha. Same here. It lets why my 40b has been in the planning for a few months. The wife said as long as nothing comes out of the bank account she doesn't care what I spend. Luckily I've has a few expensive hobbies in the past that I have leftovers from. Sold my last custom flashlight to fund my NanoBox Hybrid. Link to comment
reefernanoman Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 A quote from the manufacturer : They are not "off-the-shelf" parts, we actually have a custom phosphor applied to the LED chips. It's not a mix of LEDs to "look" like the kelvin temp you want. By using these phosphors we get a truer full spectrum (minus UV)! Link to comment
Horerczy Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 A quote from the manufacturer : They are not "off-the-shelf" parts, we actually have a custom phosphor applied to the LED chips. It's not a mix of LEDs to "look" like the kelvin temp you want. By using these phosphors we get a truer full spectrum (minus UV)! Truer full spectrum? Meh, Marketing jargon. Link to comment
reefernanoman Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Truer full spectrum? Meh, Marketing jargon. You might be right, but we need to see what they look like once they are out and after some of us play with them to see if they are worth it. Link to comment
Horerczy Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 It should be interesting to say the least. I dabbled with the idea myself but without the plug and play aspect. Couldn't come up with a feasible way to keep cost down. Based on some comments from euroquatics these don't change the par output of a T5HO fixture so much as provide long life, high efficiency alternative that will have the same appearance (no shimmer). Unless there's something to replace the mercury spike in a t5 lamp I imagine they will appear to be dimmer visually. I think the warmer white or the marine pink one week be popular for the warmer colors as well. There are possible plans for 18" ones at a later date from the sounds of things. That would be nice since 18" t5 lamps have virtually zero selection for decent lamps. Link to comment
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