Ultimate LED guide

[streetlamp]

Was just curious if these LED spotlights are worth anything?

 

http://www.divinelighting.com/par-38-led-t...x-1w-p-275.html

 

Heres a link to a thread on RC where a guy is using a few of them over a tank

 

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...hreadid=1596729

[evilc66]

With 30 dgree optics, the area that it will light will be very small. The PAR won't be that great either. There are some that run at 2W and 3W each, but they are typically much more expensive. With a 12x3W lamp, you can get the 60 degree optics on it and have way more PAR than the 12x1W with 30 degree.

 

Also, unless you are planning on using all blue or all white, you are going to have to hack the unit to get the color temp you want.

[LSUtiger]

Evil, what minimum width of an array could I get away with on a 22.4" wide tank that is 20" high? I may have a 9.5" wide fixture that I could use, but I'm not sure if that will be enough. I'd be looking for the equivalent of two 250W MH.

 

Thanks,

Mark

[evilc66]

It's going to be tight. For tanks that wide I normally recommend using two of the small (5.375" wide) heatsinks spaced a few inches apart.

[Nguyen]

is there any way to dim multiple buckpucks with one pot? im having a hard time to finding ganged 5k pots.

[LSUtiger]

Thanks!

[evilc66]

is there any way to dim multiple buckpucks with one pot? im having a hard time to finding ganged 5k pots.

 

Just wire them all in parallel to a single pot.

[Dice_cage]

Hy evilc66,

 

You've done such a great job regarding that led thing. I have a cube(22x22x22), i have a Sunpod 150 (14k) on top that need a bulb replacement soon so the $100.00 question: what would you suggest me if i want to replace my Sunpod with LEDS?. It's for mix reef (few sps are montis). I control my lights with an Ac Jr. so will need the white leds on one channel and the blues on another (dusk and dawn).

 

PS: i know you've been asked many times same question but i'm no that good in estimations so to avoid mistakes i prefer to call the expert..

 

Thank's and keep on the good work.

Dan.

[evilc66]

Wide tanks get expensive. A tank like yours could be set up with two heatsinks running 3 rows of 9 on each heatsink. Using 60 degree optics you will get performance similar to your Sunpod. You could go beyond that if you used 40 degree optics (250W levels), but you would need to increase the number of LEDs

[skeet103]

Evil

 

Love the new Pico light in your other post, but I think I want to do my own LED set-up to have more control over the blue and wht lights independently.

 

that being said I am having my acrylic cut today for a pico and the dimensions will be

 

10" long x8" widex14" high.

 

My guesetimate is for 8WHT and 8 R BLU + 1 UV Cree's

 

I was going to do 4 rows of 4 leds horizontal alternating colors. then stagering the rows vertical to blend the light across an 8.5 X 8.5 Heatsink.

 

I was going to use 60 degree optics since it is 14"deep with the ability to upgrade to 40degree if I wanted higher par levels down the road

 

Is this overkill on such a small tank even though it is 14" deep?

 

Cheers!

[Dice_cage]

Wide tanks get expensive. A tank like yours could be set up with two heatsinks running 3 rows of 9 on each heatsink. Using 60 degree optics you will get performance similar to your Sunpod. You could go beyond that if you used 40 degree optics (250W levels), but you would need to increase the number of LEDs

 

 

Thank's.

[thelastlaugh9]

Hey Evil.. I have a Red Sea Max and they are pretty deep.. Are LED's capable of producing enough light say 20-24" deep? I'm changing to hood off on it and not sure how many LED's to use or if it's even an option

[evilc66]

Definitely possible. What size RSM?

[thelastlaugh9]

It's the120 which is 34 gal total. 29 gal in the display. Not home right this second. On the iPhone but can have dementions in about 10 min for a better gauge

Edited April 4, 2009 by thelastlaugh9

[thelastlaugh9]

OK Evil.. 24" front to back, 19.7" wide, 19.7" high.. I'm at my girls house now but I'll assume since the display looks equally long in dimentions that it is also approximately 19.7".. Wow, big dinner and as lazy Friday for me

Edited April 4, 2009 by thelastlaugh9

[evilc66]

4 rows of 8 would be the absolute minimum, and that would be on one heatsink. Ideally, two heatsinks with 3 rows of 8 each would be better. optics will depend on what light levels you want.

[thelastlaugh9]

Right on.. I'll have to go way back in the thread to figure out the equiptment list for it. Any chance you're not so busy and want to throw me a bone on it? Or even PM me if you're up for building something for the RSM 120 and toss me a estimate? As far as optics.. I want "some" SPS and my girl wants a clam so fairly high intensity toward the bottom.. My fear in that is... I love polyps and softies but it seems that going with LED's I may be able to do both without fear of burning up lower light needing corals.. I may be mistaken

Edited April 4, 2009 by thelastlaugh9

[Sherman]

How we take measurement using a PAR meter?

We calibrate to Sun or electric?

The white part of the sensor must face the light?

[evilc66]

Agogee PAR meters are more accurate with a sunlight calibration. White spot facing the light.

[Sherman]

ok.

We take reading how far from the LEDs.

Reading taken in air or under water?

 

Regards n Thanks

Sherman

[Giga]

Evil what are your thought on the aqua illumination units? I was thinking for my LED project useing the same format-8 units of 3 cluster LEDs, with a couple of UV's thrown in as well?

[evilc66]

Sherman, take measurements in water, and at whatever depth you want. Sandbed is most common.

 

Giga, The AI units are pretty nice, and a lot better than the Solaris was. The triple lens has some advantages with color blending, but you create more of a spotlight with the grouped optics, unless the groups are close together. To me they don't seem as flexible as using single LEDs.

[Giga]

How close would the triple optics have to be to avoid spotting say with 40 and 60 degree optics?

[vanep]

Hopefully I can get some advice here.

 

I have a 12 G front curve glass tank, that is running with a couple of 11 W PCs. I thought of getting the aquaray lled ights by tmc, but since I´ve been reading this post quite carefully and others related with "diy led lighting" I am thinking on giving a DIY try

 

First of all I would like to know if this arrangement is fine. The tank is 11.8 ´´ (30 cm) deep.

 

 

Is it ok?

[evilc66]

The layout seems fine, but I'm sure you could cut back on the number of LEDs required to light the tank. Not saying that you can't use that many, just that you could save a little money. You could easily remove the middle row.

 

This setup (any DIY setup for that matter) will give you far better performance than the Aquaray units. I haven't seen a tank yet that looks good with those.

 

Giga, you would probably have to have them almost touching to elliminate it.

Edited April 5, 2009 by evilc66