LED Aesthetics: What do you really think of your color?

[Kylebeano]

My wife says the tank looks periwinkle.

I lol'd

[CausticGuy]

I lol'd

It was great... My wife and I are talking about the tank and she says "but what does it look periwinkle, its very periwinkle." That word was then banished from her vocabulary.

[beeker]

So do you guys with CB experience think it would be safe to do a fixture of 6NW 6CW 8RB and 4CB? Would the blues blend well and not overpower the royal blues if driven on the same channel? If not could i add resistors in order to still run them on the same channel?

 

the blues would blend fine like that man they won't be overpowering, Royal blue is far more noticeable than the cool blue is

 

i highly reccomend trying out cool blue, just make sure it's 470nm cool blue

 

i've notcied It helps with purples, greens and blues i've noticed this on my own tank

[Genj]

beaker,

 

In the blue channel, would you say 1:1 RB to 470nm blue? So in an array of 12, 6 and 6?

[evilc66]

Any real difference in using XRE or XPE when using the regular blues? I have a XRE 10 royal blues and XPG 11 cool whites currently and its too lavender looking to me. My wife says the tank looks periwinkle. Im thinking of adding 8 regular blues. They will all have their own dimmable ballast so I can further play with the color. Im running no optics, 2.5" above water and I want to avoud spot lighting.

For output, there is no difference between XP-E's and XR-E's.

 

beaker,

 

In the blue channel, would you say 1:1 RB to 470nm blue? So in an array of 12, 6 and 6?

Seems like too many. Like Blasterman has mentioned before, cool blues can very quickly turn your tank to windex. I'd probably go 9 RB and 3 CB.

[Genj]

Ok, here we go. Based up on this thread, what evil has said, and my own curiosity, I've drawn up this setup for my hood.

 

10 CW + 2 NW will be on 1x meanwell eln-60-48d

10 RB + 2 CB will be on 1x meanwell eln-60-48d

2 Cy + 3 TV will be on 1x 500 ma buckpuck with pot

 

Tear it apart.

 

[evilc66]

Looks better than the first layout. I'm almost tempted to say to up the number of neutral whites. 2 seems like not enough to make a considerable impact.

[DaveFason]

Try swapping out all the CW with NW. Like blaster has said in the past set up a small rig and see how you like it.

 

-Dave

[beeker]

IMO

 

you should always shoot to have 2 more blues than the whites because the whites are poweful and are yellow/white so when you combine them with 2 blues the blend is wonderful cause you don't notice the yellow tint

 

it won't look windexy at all

 

Even if you were to run 1 Royal blue, 1 cool blue and 1 cool white together it won't look like windex believe me, if they are spaced close enough together they will overlap and blend properly

 

if it was me and i had a heatsink to mount leds too

 

it would be a blend of Royal blue, cool blue, neutral white, cool white and cyan, and even the Violet led evil posted up yesterday may help with color but i have a feeling that cyan is needed more than violet is because royal blue is almost purple by itself

 

if i was to do a 24 led setup it would be

 

5 royal blue, 5 cool blue, 5 cool white, 5 neutral white and 4 cyan

 

or

 

6 royal blue, 6 cool blue, 4 cool white, 4 neutral white and 4 cyan

 

IMO either option will net good results, the top one won't be as blue maybe more of a 14k look, the bottom would be my setup if i wanted something with a little more blue maybe a 20k look

[CausticGuy]

For output, there is no difference between XP-E's and XR-E's.

 

 

Seems like too many. Like Blasterman has mentioned before, cool blues can very quickly turn your tank to windex. I'd probably go 9 RB and 3 CB.

 

Would you think 8 is too many regular blues to add to my tank then? I cant really take away any of the 10 RBs and 11 CWs because I bonded them to the heatsink. I wanted to use 8 to avoid spotting and have a more even spread currently my 21 are in 3 even rows spaced over a 12x 25 footprint. Would 4 probably get me what Im wanting? Or should I just dim the 8 blues down?

[beeker]

Would you think 8 is too many regular blues to add to my tank then? I cant really take away any of the 10 RBs and 11 CWs because I bonded them to the heatsink. I wanted to use 8 to avoid spotting and have a more even spread currently my 21 are in 3 even rows spaced over a 12x 25 footprint. Would 4 probably get me what Im wanting? Or should I just dim the 8 blues down?

 

 

how many leds are you working with?

 

if you have 21leds on your setup 11 CW and 10 Royal blue, i'd shoot to add atleast 8 cool blues

 

you want 2 blues per every 1 cool white IMO but with 8 cool blues added to your setup you should be fine, IMO cool blues are needed more to get color out of sps more than any other coral, so if you have sps center the cool blues around there placement

[Genj]

Ok, here are some revisions.

 

Dave, BTW, I'm not going to go full on NW just yet.

 

Nanotuners will get my business for everything that they stock. Which should be CREE XP-E Royal Blue, CREE XP-G Cool White, and the TV as soon as they can get me some.

 

Blaster or Dave, since it sounds like you guys have already procured some where you suggest I pick up the Cyan, NW, and CB?

 

 

This one spaces the CB out a bit...

[evilc66]

We have neutral white XR-E and XP-G on order and should be here soon.

 

Would you think 8 is too many regular blues to add to my tank then? I cant really take away any of the 10 RBs and 11 CWs because I bonded them to the heatsink. I wanted to use 8 to avoid spotting and have a more even spread currently my 21 are in 3 even rows spaced over a 12x 25 footprint. Would 4 probably get me what Im wanting? Or should I just dim the 8 blues down?

8 seems a bit much. Start with 4, and add more as you need it.

[Miami797]

Ok, here are some revisions.

 

Dave, BTW, I'm not going to go full on NW just yet.

 

Nanotuners will get my business for everything that they stock. Which should be CREE XP-E Royal Blue, CREE XP-G Cool White, and the TV as soon as they can get me some.

 

Blaster or Dave, since it sounds like you guys have already procured some where you suggest I pick up the Cyan, NW, and CB?

 

 

This one spaces the CB out a bit...

 

 

What brand are you using for the violet? I've had problems trying to find a brand name 3w violet. I have found a few 1w violets, but it's hard to find any feedback with people's experience on them.

[evilc66]

3W (700-1000mA drive currents) are extremely rare. The ones that we (Nanotuners) are getting have a max current rating of 500mA. It's the best LED I could find without spending an arm and a leg.

[skunker]

This thread has really peaked my interest in LEDs. I'm a few months away from having to replace my T-5 bulbs but have been thinking of switching to LEDs instead. I'll continue to watch this thread and draw up plans while waiting for the "perfect" design.

 

I have found a couple things that could be of interest.

 

Sylvania has a program that allows you to calculate the color temp of LED combos. You can create LEDs for specfic colors based on datasheets and it will give you the spectral output and CCT value.

http://www.sylvania.com/BusinessProducts/I...ColorCalculator

 

Also, someone mentioned upthread about getting custom multichip LEDs to blend colors. You can do it, but it isn't cheap. You can pick any 3 Rebels mounted on a 3-up star. So you could get a RB-CB-C on one chip to cover the entire 450-500nm spread.

http://www.luxeonstar.com/Any-3-Rebel-LEDs...r-custm-20t.htm

 

One question: What are peoples thoughts on high power multi-chip 4-color LEDs? Cree has RGB/CW in the MC-E format and LedEngin has a 10W RGB/CW. LedEngin also has a RGBA chip but we probably don't need the amber. In theory shouldn't one of these chips be able to tuned to almost CCT and then be supplemented with CB and RB? Thanks!

[Mr. Microscope]

http://www.sylvania.com/BusinessProducts/I...ColorCalculator

 

Coolest-link-ever!

Can't wait to check out tomorrow. I hope it works like it says.

[blasterman]

The problem with using color temp (or correleated color temp / CCT) as a reference is it really doesn't mean anything other than a rough guide. The lights we're using over our reef tanks are full of such extreme spikes and valleys that you could have two lights at 20k, and neither look the same. Actually, this is the case for halides where two different brands of 20k rated lights look the same reflected off a white sheet of paper, but look entirely different on deeply colored corals. So, we use base color temp to get us in the ballpark, but then things go crazy from there.

 

Multi LED boards like 3-up and 4-up chips are actually very economical, and allow you concentrate some really high light densities. Problem is optics are rather limited, and I don't think you could mix XR-Es and XP-Gs on the same board. I'm pretty sure the AI units use three ups.

 

IMHO, the MC-E is a dog, and for color mixing applications the MC-E is being crushed commercially by Phlatlight.

[Machupicchu]

This is what im gonna try i think.

[beeker]

This is what im gonna try i think.

 

looks good i'd add 2 more cool blue at the top above the neutral whites and IMO that would be a perfect blend

[Mr. Microscope]

Beaker, could I get your opinion on my layout?

[DaveFason]

The only problem I see with both is the spacing. With five different colors you will not have the color blending well. In fact it would look like a disco ball of colors.

 

Keeping the LED's VERY close is the only way I have had success.

 

-Dave

[Machupicchu]

the layout here shows 16inches but i think ill do something more like 13 or 14.

Beeker, you dont think 6 cools would overpower the tank and get the windex look? Also, is this enough neutral?

 

Have any of you guys had success with using say a 4mm aluminum sheet as a heatsink with high fan cfm? Im trying to keep this low profile. This is my only off topic question

[Mr. Microscope]

Have any of you guys had success with using say a 4mm aluminum sheet as a heatsink with high fan cfm? Im trying to keep this low profile. This is my only off topic question

 

M@rinelover's build uses a 3mm Al sheet, but his heat is very close to maximum working temps on the LEDs. You might be shortening the life of the LEDs with that. HeatsinkUSA heat sinks are only 1.3 inches thick. Not quite 3mm, but still could be built with a pretty low profile, especially if you put the fans on the sides instead of on top.

[doctaq]

ive had pretty good results with .190 thick aluminum which works out to closer to 5 although mostly with lower led density than you see with most reef setups