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GU10 LED Build Thread (Chinese Ebay Lights)


TinyGiant

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Ok, so I have ordered my lights and all, but I still need to know how many of these bulbs can I wire to one extension cord? Is it safe to wire 30 bulbs to one extension cord?

 

And if it is okay, would it be any less powerful wiring that many say compared to about half that amount of bulbs?

 

Also should I have a grounded extension cord or does it not matter?

 

I dont think the ground matters as from what I can tell the gu10 sockets dont have a spot for a ground to hook to, Im using a groundless extension cord. As far as how many bulbs I'm not sure. Im not planning on running more than 12 on one.

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Ok, so I have ordered my lights and all, but I still need to know how many of these bulbs can I wire to one extension cord? Is it safe to wire 30 bulbs to one extension cord?

 

And if it is okay, would it be any less powerful wiring that many say compared to about half that amount of bulbs?

 

Also should I have a grounded extension cord or does it not matter?

 

When I'm doubt better be safe than sorry, i would suggest doing 2 cords with 15 each. I will be using 28 over my 40B but i will do 14 blue on one cord and 14 white on a separate cord.

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Just dont wanna wait for the shipping but oh well LOL

Youd think they would have express shipping

I think a few of the hong kong sellers offer ups or fedex. You will just have to search through quite a few listings to find them. I really don't understand the price difference between the HK sellers and US sellers. I could understand a markup (25%), but not 300%+. Unless there is some kind of tariff that is causing it, I can't believe someone hasn't started importing them in bulk and shipping from a stateside location for reasonable prices.

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Monsieur Kam
are there any not from china? lol

 

 

Not for the $4.50 a bulb unfortunately. I am hating that I have to wait a month to start this project. I will be glad when they arrive at my door, and it's like a birthday present to myself since they arrive around my birthday. :)

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if anyone feels like giving back a little to the OP (me) lol my band is raising funds for cd production.. we are past our minimum but need about $1000-1400 to get the whole thing paid for.

 

a $1 or $2 from a bunch of people would get us there :)

 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vessel...els-debut-album

 

 

as far as lighting goes lol

 

havent updated in a while . both tanks are still running the gu10s in my house, havent had a bulb go bad in a long time. things are growing well, fully colored and looking good. I can't keep up with the chaeto growth from these bulbs in the basement frag system.

 

I also cant believe this thread has over 100k views now. pretty incredible! thats a lot of electricity saved! less bulbs being replaced.

 

i'll try to clean my tank in the next couple days and do some more pics and a video.. its been a while since i've done a good update on the systems.

 

 

 

Two bulbs - 2 blue 1 white

One bulb - 3 cool white

 

Wired into a broken OTT-LITE. TinyGiant thanks for the great idea :)

 

TankGu10.jpg

looks sweet.

 

 

I bet witha heat gun you could bend a thin piece of plexi around that to hide the bulbs from view a little more

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looks sweet.

 

 

I bet witha heat gun you could bend a thin piece of plexi around that to hide the bulbs from view a little more

Thanks, that is a nice idea. I'll have to toy around with it.

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Ok, so I have ordered my lights and all, but I still need to know how many of these bulbs can I wire to one extension cord? Is it safe to wire 30 bulbs to one extension cord?

 

And if it is okay, would it be any less powerful wiring that many say compared to about half that amount of bulbs?

 

Also should I have a grounded extension cord or does it not matter?

 

You have to think about the power you are using - no reason to guess. You should acquire/borrow a KillAWatt meter to measure the power usage of your fixture. Highly recommended - totally cool device.

 

Until then we'll work in theory: 30 bulbs x 3 watts/bulb is 90 watts. 90 watts / 120 volts = .75 Amps

 

Most likely your extension cord will carry a power rating, an unless it's a Barbie toy extension it should be rated for way over .75 Amps - go by what the package says. I used a "heavy duty" 2-wire cord which has 16-gauge wire - this was rated for a full 15 Amps IIRC. Put another way, would you hesitate to plug a lamp with a 100-watt bulb or a computer into it? Most people would not hesitate because most people will even run (e.g.) things like hair driers on these extension cords, which take 10 times the amount of power.

 

A grounded cord is technically unnecessary but it would also technically be nice for your wiring to have a metal, groundable chassis around it for added safety. (But not necessary for operation.)

 

I hope this helps! :)

 

-Matt

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What do you connect the sockets to that provides power?

Doesn't it need to plug into the wall?

 

 

read through the first post.

 

wire them parallel and then wire the pos a neg sides to a plug or extension cord

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Hello!

 

I can't find back to the seller (Luczdl) of the gu10 bulbs, looks like he has dissapeard from Ebay?

 

Anyone that know where to by the bulbs with epistar chips now?

 

I have found something interesting though, this seller has cree/epistar bulbs, but they are 3x3w and i now this tread dont recomend 3x3w beacuse of durability. But if you look at these bulbs you can see the heatsink differs some from the 3x1w bulbs, and the seller have 1 year factory warranty for failure. The bulbs is also dimmable, and with 60 angle lenses.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ultra-Bright-Epist...1#ht_4501wt_920

 

What do you think, any opinions about these leds?

Edited by jnad
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Hello!

 

I can't find back to the seller (Luczdl) of the gu10 bulbs, looks like he has dissapeard from Ebay?

 

Anyone that know where to by the bulbs with epistar chips now?

 

I have found something interesting though, this seller has cree/epistar bulbs, but they are 3x3w and i now this tread dont recomend 3x3w beacuse of durability. But if you look at these bulbs you can see the heatsink differs some from the 3x1w bulbs, and the seller have 1 year factory warranty for failure. The bulbs is also dimmable, and with 60 angle lenses.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ultra-Bright-Epist...1#ht_4501wt_920

 

What do you think, any opinions about these leds?

 

Don't know what happened, but luckzdl seems to have disappeared from ebay. This is a shame because they were very easy to contact and willing to work with you if you needed something custom (lenses, different bases, or mixed color bulbs).

 

As to the 9w cree bulbs, I think some have tried them but they generate too much heat and don't last long. Maybe the 6w would work better. That would only be 2w/led chip, so I would think the heat would be better.

 

I currently have an order in with another ebay seller for some 5w bulbs just to try them out. They didn't advertise as epistar chips, but they offer to do a mixed color bulb, so I'm trying a couple to see if they can be like a smaller and cheaper version of this (http://www.ledwholesalers.com/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=702).

Edited by babboa
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I noticed luckzdl2008's store was empty the other day. Same thing as during Chinese New Year. -- I'm betting he'll be back.

 

In the mean time LED-HK is another good seller I've communicated with about customizations before.

 

-Matt

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The ledwholesalers bulbs are pretty bad; their whites have a habit of going out after a few days.

Understood. I was meaning more from a comparison of >3 1w chips in the same bulb.

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apparently i bought the wrong lights which wont fit on the bases i've purchased? Did i throw away money or will i be able to make these work somehow?

 

11ih0tz.jpg

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apparently i bought the wrong lights which wont fit on the bases i've purchased? Did i throw away money or will i be able to make these work somehow?

 

11ih0tz.jpg

 

just order a couple mr16 sockets. no biggie.. and sell the gu10 sockets.. or keep them for when you order moey bulbs :P

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im putting a 40 breeder together, if i did just softies how many bulbs would i need? ill add more later when i start doing sps and lps

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