Neya Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 just have it end on a socket. So it ends on the last light. No need for tails Yeah i was going to wire in more sockets for when I get the 10gal but left tails for now. Btw: no electrocutions(caused by this project). I owe you a frag at the next swap. Quote Link to comment
digitalfreq Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 How bulbs should I have for a 40b? Quote Link to comment
Neya Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 (edited) Timer is currently setup to go on and off several times a day to light acclimate. I have the fixture up high because I ran out of chain. The color blending is pretty much the same at 2" as it is at 20". No spotlighting at all is noticeable with 60degree optics. Fear not! The brackets will be painted black. Or the next permanent box will be white. Undecided. Chain is 10lb load It is slightly bigger than 17x9x4". I wanted something less tall, but re-thought this in case I want to put in a fan. It is built from mdf (hence temporary, until the husband can get hardwood scraps or waterproof materials) and primer coated black. I like the primer, but it does show every fingerprint. Most of the marks you see can be whiped off. Wiring. It looks really messy, but that's cause I overkill taped everything up post wiring. There will be 3-4 more bulbs added later My big "ugh". See those 2 big dots? I went through the other side with wire holding screws. Dumb dumb dumb. And fts as close as I'm willing to get. Right now there's tons of red dictoya (apparently, lights off only fueled the stuff) Kenya tree, and mini mini nems. this picture is slightly more blue then real. It is quite blue, however the neutral whites in there make the red algae and pink/purple in the mini nems "POP" so it's not washed out blue at all. After staring at this tank, my blue+ on the 37gal look green. What else you see in this picture: my coffee plant, aipstasiax, rodi water. Apparently there were aipstasia I didn't know about before I took the pc light off a couple weeks ago. When I put this on I would've though I was purposely culturing them -.- Edited July 8, 2011 by Neya Quote Link to comment
DIstudio Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Hey there guys, I'm utterly confused. I've spent a few days searching on Ebay for these lights and I've found dozens of them, but I can't make heads or tails. I'm looking at building them for my 40b project, so I was thinking along the lines of 24 lights. But I can't figure out if I should get 3x1w or 3x3w, or 4x1w etc etc... Anyone think they can shed some "light" on this for me? I know I want either Neutral white or cool white and the blue in a 2:1 ratio. But I was hoping to have a single solid Blue that was a moonlight. and was hoping to be able to dim the other blue and white lights. Quote Link to comment
Neya Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Hey there guys, I'm utterly confused. I've spent a few days searching on Ebay for these lights and I've found dozens of them, but I can't make heads or tails. I'm looking at building them for my 40b project, so I was thinking along the lines of 24 lights. But I can't figure out if I should get 3x1w or 3x3w, or 4x1w etc etc... Anyone think they can shed some "light" on this for me? I know I want either Neutral white or cool white and the blue in a 2:1 ratio. But I was hoping to have a single solid Blue that was a moonlight. and was hoping to be able to dim the other blue and white lights. Any will work for 40br. The 3x3w have been said not to run at 3w each;but 2w. It's possible the 3x3w or 4x1 throw more heat and may fail sooner. I don't know yet. To get them in a 2:1 ratio in each bulb you have to find someone willing to customize the bulbs - I've done the legwork and found 2 sellers willing to do so in previous posts in this thread. The upside to this is they also custom the optics. The downside is you cannot time the blues separately from the whites (having say blues only wired to seperate timer come on for one hour in the AM/Pm). My husband also wants to do a 40br build and we havent yet figured out how many bulbs we need, so I'm hoping for suggestions also. Quote Link to comment
DIstudio Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 thanks Neya, so its not a must for me to get 2:1 bulbs or customized bulbs. I can do the blues and the whites, slap a dimmer switch on each string and call it candy right? Quote Link to comment
Neya Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 thanks Neya, so its not a must for me to get 2:1 bulbs or customized bulbs. I can do the blues and the whites, slap a dimmer switch on each string and call it candy right? Yeah, you don't need to do custom ones. I'm the only one in this thread who has so far. I like my 2 customs for the pico, but may end up doing just blue and white bulb only for a 40br. You can only dim certain ones. They'll usually be listed as dimmable and cost a little more. But dimmable ones are out there on eBay. Otherwise it's just on/off on an analog timer ($4.90 @ home depot). Quote Link to comment
TinyGiant Posted July 8, 2011 Author Share Posted July 8, 2011 most of these aren't dimmable. Make sure it says it is if you plan to dim them. I would go with 1 blue gu10 for every white gu10. The 4x1w are pretty bright. Just got some today . If you went 3zx1w in white and 4x1w in blue you woulg a nice color Quote Link to comment
DIstudio Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 (edited) perfect. I found three different ebay items that are 3x1w dimmable Cool White GU10 lights. but this is where I get confused...which one is the one that would work best for me? I'm assuming i could just dim the white and leave the blue alone...this would still allow me to tune it to get the color that i want right? here are the three auctions I found. first one second one third one I'm still hunting for Blue. Also is there any different between GU10 and Es27 sockets? the arrangement I was thinking is this BWBWBWBWB WbWBWBWbW BWBWBWBWB all the Blue will be 4x1w while the one's labelled "b" will be the moonlights so I was thinking 3x1w on those, not as bright. the whites are all 3x1w dimmable Cool Whites. I would wire the whites up together, the blues minus the moonlights, and then the moonlights together. the fixture would be 27"x9". do you think that this would give even coverage on a 40b if hung 10"-12" above the water? also, what degree lens' should I be looking at? Edited July 8, 2011 by DIstudio Quote Link to comment
fote03 Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 DIstudio the arrangement looks good. I would buy ones with 60 degree lens. Send the seller a message when ever you figure out the ones you want and im sure they will have blue. If not the guy tiny and i bought from has everything you will need and will customize them for u. I going to get some custom ones build and replace the standard ones i have. Quote Link to comment
DIstudio Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Fote03, I did email the seller and he responded within ten minutes. he said he has 4x1w blue's and can do 14 blues and 13 whites. blues being 4x1watt, whites being 3x1w dimmable for a total of $220 shipped. I think thats a pretty good deal, you>? Quote Link to comment
TinyGiant Posted July 9, 2011 Author Share Posted July 9, 2011 (edited) 220 /27 is 8.14 per bulb shipped you can get the whites from ledhk for 6 each shipped.. and the blues for 7 each.. sometimes they dont do as good of a deal if you deal directly and they try to get more out of you for shipping. most times its easier to deal through the listings. but considering the whites are dimable its an okay deal I honestly dont see the point in diming. i'm pretty sure you will like it 50/50 if not just sell some of the ones you dont want and play with the color mix rather than diming it. anyone on here will buy the ones you dont want to save on shipping time another ebay listing refresher. all these sellers have been great thus far sockets http://cgi.ebay.com/Lot10-GU10-Lamp-Bulb-W...=item1c1b33208e Blue LED 3x1 http://cgi.ebay.com/3W-Gu10-High-Power-Foc...=item2a10b82134 or Blue LED 4x1w http://cgi.ebay.com/1pc-GU10-85-265V-4W-Bl...=item19c650193f White: http://cgi.ebay.com/3W-GU10-High-Power-Whi...=item2c58ddcc60 white: http://cgi.ebay.com/1pc-GU10-85-265V-White...=item19c6c16b14 I also wanted to note. that i had three bulbs burn out (bad drivers. LEDS tested okay). Its been about 1.25yrs since i started with them. I ran the bulbs without the optics for probably 4 months of that and probably caused them to over heat because of that. So i dont blame the quick death on the craftmanship. The seller i bought them from LEDHK replaced the three bulbs free of charge (i did order a few more too while he was being so nice .. figured it would help him with shipping.) the new ones i ordered were the 4x1w. they are noticeably brighter. Edited July 9, 2011 by TinyGiant Quote Link to comment
Neya Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 (edited) Fote03, I did email the seller and he responded within ten minutes. he said he has 4x1w blue's and can do 14 blues and 13 whites. blues being 4x1watt, whites being 3x1w dimmable for a total of $220 shipped. I think thats a pretty good deal, you>? At over 8 a bulbs I personally think thats too high (if the blues are usually at $6 ea then your white dimmables are $10.46). I was locating dimmable 3x2w for about $8-9 I think you could find a better deal if you were willing to keep looking. OR Find the cheapest blues 4x1 or 3x1, then search for the cheapest 3x1w dimmable white and order seperately. I find that interesting they try to charge more when ordering more. The one guy I was working with said anything above like 10 bulbs would be cheaper per bulb even fully customized. I guess it depends on each sellers standpoint. Just a note too, my bulbs are 2:1 blue, and it may be too blue for some tastes. I like it though as I got a very neutral white for them so while the tone is very blue, the reds, pinks, and purples are not drowned out. Still, its so blue that after looking at the tank I go to my 37gal and the ATI Blue+ look green Edited July 9, 2011 by Neya Quote Link to comment
TinyGiant Posted July 9, 2011 Author Share Posted July 9, 2011 i noticed something interesting today. the new 4x1w run cooler than the 1x3 or the 3x1w I just wired up another 10 string of sockets and will be adding 5 more bulbs to each side of my row of 22. the 5 will help get the blue on the corners of the rock piles i have. I held them up spaced about 8" apart and it made a great difference.. so i will have a total of 21 blue and 11 white. I just need to remake what the bulbs are mounted to. Quote Link to comment
TinyGiant Posted July 9, 2011 Author Share Posted July 9, 2011 I made a picture tutorial of wiring a socket chain. here is the link http://www.nhfragswap.com/forum/index.php?...msg2572#msg2572 Quote Link to comment
fote03 Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 I have emailed 4-5 sellers and LEDHK is by far the cheapest and most helpful seller on ebay that i have dealt with regarding these led. Bulb combo and the amount you put on your tank is all up to you and the coral you want to keep. Tiny has proved to all of us that they work and they work well. Quote Link to comment
Philip271 Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Yeah, LED-HK really has the best communication and fastest shipping. I've also upgraded to their 4x1w bulbs for both blues and whites.. whites should be here next week. The 4x1w blues does run a bit cooler with the design of the heatsink.. but there is also a lot more stray light that's making my room glow blue. Lastly, yes, they are brighter than the 3x1w but the lens seem to focus the light more in a tighter angle. Quote Link to comment
iheartJMS Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 If anyone has any extra LEDs that they're looking to get rid of, I'll buy em! PM me Quote Link to comment
TinyGiant Posted July 10, 2011 Author Share Posted July 10, 2011 I will be ordering a few more blues at some point. I added sockets for 10 more blues today . I got 6 in the mail and i have two more in route. the 4x1w i got today were just for getting color on the sides of my rock columns so the wider spread works better for what i got them for. Tank looks much better with the extra 3 bulbs i have on there now. it will look great with a total of 10 more bulbs. i have a frag rack on the back side of the tank that wasnt getting any light so the xtra ones are getting more of the blue where its needed. Looks better for sure Quote Link to comment
iheartJMS Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Get some more pics up! Quote Link to comment
TinyGiant Posted July 10, 2011 Author Share Posted July 10, 2011 i'll have to snag the camera from my wife. my camera phone is crappy. Quote Link to comment
michelleshusband Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 (edited) Finally, I've figured out how to post pictures. Here is my setup with 4*1w bulbs. Never tried 3*1w so I can't really say if they run cooler or not but they run pretty cool. This is my 2.5g setup with 3 blue and 2 cool white. Bought them from HK LED folks. Pretty blue This is my 5.5g setup with 5 blue and 4 cool white. Lights on FTS Edited July 10, 2011 by michelleshusband Quote Link to comment
michelleshusband Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Detail on the build. super glued to wood power on one of the white seems little weak. am i mistaken? other side of the wood on off switch Quote Link to comment
Philip271 Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 few things I'm worried about... 1. shouldn't be hard to find screws to mount the sockets...? superglue... I don't know... 2. while you are at the hardware store, get a roll of electrical tape to replace the scotch tape! 3. search the DIY forum on making a snail guard for your float switch asap. also recommend that you take the coral off the plugs and mount them to the rocks. it'll look10x better. Quote Link to comment
michelleshusband Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 superglue some powerful stuff. 3M makes some good tapes. its designed to keep snails off. agree on coral off the plugs. too lazy. Quote Link to comment
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