The Propagator Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 Sweet ! I would like to see better over all shots of something I am actually considering dropping close to 4k on ya know ! Link to comment
evilc66 Posted June 22, 2008 Author Share Posted June 22, 2008 Well, I obviously couldn't take the unit apart, but I got a few shots of the underside of the unit white it was running. Light was running full tilt when these were taken. These are probably not the best because I didn't feel like draging my DSLR up there. Sorry They were busy so I didn't want to push my luck at the LFS (these guys have been very accomodating to me with all this). I hope they meet with your approval Prop. If not, I can try and get some more pics if you have anything specific you want to look at. There was a thread on here about 6-8 months ago that someone had taken apart a Solaris. I'll see if I can find it. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted June 22, 2008 Author Share Posted June 22, 2008 Also, one thing to consider when looking at the comparison shots back a few posts is that the light is really high off of the tank. With the light only a few inches from the water, the performance and brightness will be much better. As an example with my DIY, before the PAR meter flaked out, I got 620 µmol m-2 s-1 at the bottom of my pico with the light 1" off the water. In my BC14, I was at ~180 at the sand bed (around 12" from light). With optics similar to the Solaris, the performance could be improved. With the optics, the difference in the amount of PAR from top to bottom of the tank is reduced a lot less with LEDs than with MH of T5. The very focused light fairs much better at penetrating and keeping the numbers high in comparison. Link to comment
Gomer Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii45/evilc66/CIMG1472.jpg Are those LEDs really current regulated? Look at how different the brighness is between some of them. Either no current regulation or random bins. Link to comment
The Propagator Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 Pretty dam slick Evil ! Are those LED "pods" or one bulb encapsulated in a reflector ? Link to comment
Gomer Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 Pretty dam slick Evil !Are those LED "pods" or one bulb encapsulated in a reflector ? prop, the solaris used individual optics per LED very similar to this: Link to comment
The Propagator Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 Sweet. Any Idea as to what brand or wattage they are ? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted June 22, 2008 Author Share Posted June 22, 2008 They are using older Luxeon K2's, probably driven at the max current they are rated for, 1.5A. Gomer, I don't know if the slight color shift on the blues are because of bin differences (seems extreme), or if the LEDs in question are not fairing too well after years of use. It's also possible that they are 470nm blues and I just didn't pay enough attention that they were different LEDs, used for different things. Next time I'm up there I'll take a closer look. Abe should be able to give us some insight on this too. Maybe he has the same slightly off color LEDs too. Link to comment
Gomer Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 They are using older Luxeon K2's, probably driven at the max current they are rated for, 1.5A. Gomer, I don't know if the slight color shift on the blues are because of bin differences (seems extreme), or if the LEDs in question are not fairing too well after years of use. It's also possible that they are 470nm blues and I just didn't pay enough attention that they were different LEDs, used for different things. Next time I'm up there I'll take a closer look. Abe should be able to give us some insight on this too. Maybe he has the same slightly off color LEDs too. It isn't just the blues but also the whites. In White XR-E bin terms, it looks like you have LEDs spanning say, the P4 Q5 in there (at the most extreme). Pretty wide range Link to comment
evilc66 Posted June 22, 2008 Author Share Posted June 22, 2008 It's very possible. We have no way of knowing what kiind of control PFO has on bins from Lumileds. It would be nice if Abe showed us his. Maybe this one was a fluke from years of use. Link to comment
Gomer Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 It's very possible. We have no way of knowing what kiind of control PFO has on bins from Lumileds. It would be nice if Abe showed us his. Maybe this one was a fluke from years of use. I could believe that. The solaris LOOKS really nice, but dig up the thread showing the insides. They way they heatsink the LEDs is sorta scary. 1 year with poor thermal conductivity could easily cause thermal excess at the junction, shortening the life, causing a dimmer look to whatever LED was poorly sinked. LEDs really do have a future in reefing. I am sorta saddened by all the shortcuts taken by people who really don't understand the beast well enough to do it right. I THINK the aquailluminations one is actually doing it right. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted June 22, 2008 Author Share Posted June 22, 2008 I THINK the aquailluminations one is actually doing it right. I'm going to agree with you here. They seem to have a much cleaner setup than PFO. Just wish they would bring the cost down. Wasn't Coralife and Current USA prototyping all LED fixtures? Thats what we really need here. Get competition into the mix and drive the cost down. Two vendors on the market isn't enough. Get three or four and then the price wars start. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted June 23, 2008 Author Share Posted June 23, 2008 No dice on any of the links. (404 errors) The links get truncated somehow when you are pasting them in. Link to comment
acrofish Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 Sorry, let me try that one more time... http://www.reefbuilders.com/2008/06/10/lim...dant/#more-1201 http://www.reefbuilders.com/2008/05/27/sfi...-t5s/#more-1039 http://www.reefbuilders.com/category/saltw...reef-equipment/ I think many of you may have seen the ELOS one...anyways, here they are again. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted June 23, 2008 Author Share Posted June 23, 2008 The first one gets me sceptical right off the bat when "9000K white" and "420nm blue" is thrown around. Unless they are getting these custom manufatured there are no such thing as these LEDs in the high power market. The second one I have seen before and has been posted here. Virtually no information on it yet. The Elos one has been on here too. Looks cool, but I think it was geared as more of a freshwater light as there was only ever mention of 6500K color temp. Some of these fixtures are basically vaporware. I don't know if any of these are currently being sold. Link to comment
davidncbrown Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 So I had nothing to do today and I read this whole thread... WOW. Lots of information. I'm curious as to whether it would be possible to supplement the stock 72W PC lighting in my 24NC with some led's. What is the lighting angle for each emitter? I might not even be able to do it because the hood is right on top of the tank but it would be worth a shot to check it out. Link to comment
Gomer Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 So I had nothing to do today and I read this whole thread... WOW. Lots of information. I'm curious as to whether it would be possible to supplement the stock 72W PC lighting in my 24NC with some led's. What is the lighting angle for each emitter? I might not even be able to do it because the hood is right on top of the tank but it would be worth a shot to check it out. I did a hybrid with 6x Cree XR-E Q5s and use 2x PC actinics. It needs maybe 2 of the cree blue LEDs worked in there. The crees whites are too yellow without some blue and the actinics are too purple to be blue. Link to comment
Zombo Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 What do you guys think would work for lighting over a 9 gallon that's 15.5" L x 12.75" W x 13" D? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted June 27, 2008 Author Share Posted June 27, 2008 Well, thats actually closer to 12 gallons, but who's counting For simplicity, Cree's work out a little better because of the narrower viewing angle without optics. The Luxeons work well if the tank is shallow-ish and the LEDs are right on the water. My fixture had considerably more PAR at the sand bed of my BC14 than my Astralux 14K, so that may be something to judge by. On a 12gal, you could do something like 8 cool whites (Cree XR-E Q5) and 10-12 blues. Some of this really depends on what your color temperature wants to be. Two whites for every blue gets you more of a 12K look. 50/50 mix is more 14K+. With the higher output of the Q5 whites, you need more blue to ballance things out. This configuration should get you PAR equal to or better than any 70W MH, and close to a 150W. Link to comment
davidncbrown Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 I did a hybrid with 6x Cree XR-E Q5s and use 2x PC actinics. It needs maybe 2 of the cree blue LEDs worked in there. The crees whites are too yellow without some blue and the actinics are too purple to be blue. Hmm interesting. I wonder if you could literally do a spotlight so you could keep a clam in a regular nano. You know, just spotlight the clam with 4 or so cree's. I wonder if it would make the tank lighting look ugly or if you wouldn't be able to tell much of a difference. Link to comment
Zombo Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 Well, thats actually closer to 12 gallons, but who's counting For simplicity, Cree's work out a little better because of the narrower viewing angle without optics. The Luxeons work well if the tank is shallow-ish and the LEDs are right on the water. My fixture had considerably more PAR at the sand bed of my BC14 than my Astralux 14K, so that may be something to judge by. On a 12gal, you could do something like 8 cool whites (Cree XR-E Q5) and 10-12 blues. Some of this really depends on what your color temperature wants to be. Two whites for every blue gets you more of a 12K look. 50/50 mix is more 14K+. With the higher output of the Q5 whites, you need more blue to ballance things out. This configuration should get you PAR equal to or better than any 70W MH, and close to a 150W. And you'd want how much $$$ to retrofit my hood for me? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted June 27, 2008 Author Share Posted June 27, 2008 Sadly it's not cheap to do it effectively. But, once you add in the long term benefits it can be worth it. You just need to be in it for the long haul. Link to comment
KDris Posted June 29, 2008 Share Posted June 29, 2008 Sadly it's not cheap to do it effectively. But, once you add in the long term benefits it can be worth it. You just need to be in it for the long haul. Rather than using a current driver could you use an adjustable voltage power supply to raise or lower the Voltage until the desired current draw is reached? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted June 29, 2008 Author Share Posted June 29, 2008 No, thats a good way to cook something very expensive. LEDs (all of them) are current driven devices. They need the current regulated for proper operation. The voltage will actually vary based on the needs of the LED. But even then, the regulators can be made cheaply. It will always be the LEDs themselves that will be the bulk of the cost. Link to comment
KDris Posted June 29, 2008 Share Posted June 29, 2008 No, thats a good way to cook something very expensive. LEDs (all of them) are current driven devices. They need the current regulated for proper operation. The voltage will actually vary based on the needs of the LED. But even then, the regulators can be made cheaply. It will always be the LEDs themselves that will be the bulk of the cost. Thank you, Somehow I overlooked the diy current drivers you made, my mistake, I never knew it was that simple! One more quick question, can you use a pot instead of a resistor as the adjustment? Link to comment
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