GU10 LED Build Thread (Chinese Ebay Lights)

[th64]

Looking to do this on my 4 gallon evolve... I am thinking 4 bulbs. 3 blue and 1 white in the middle like a diamond shape... any thoughts? Anyone selling a few bulbs and sockets?

[bubblealgae]

alrighty, the 60 degrees lens from LED-HK came today along with some 5x1w bulbs w/ 60 degree lens I asked them to make me:

 

compared with the 4x1w on the right, the 5x1w bulb has a larger heat sink:

 

 

Here are the lens side by side. 60 degree on the left, 30 degree from the 4x1w on right:

 

Inside of a 5x1w cool white bulb:

 

Some beam shots. all bulbs are placed 22" above the cutting mat. grid on mat are 1 inch squares. camera at the same height with same settings for all shots below. all bulbs are cool whites. no other lights on in the room.

 

Let's start with good old 3x1w 30degrees:

 

now 4x1w 30degrees:

 

4x1w with 60degree lens:

 

and lastly the 5x1w 60degree lens:

 

The 60 degree lens were $1 each. the 5x1w 60 degree bulbs were $8 each. same price for blues and cool whites. prices included shipping.

 

Phil.

 

 

@Phil,

 

Is there any shimmer loss from using the 60deg optic lens, does it still shimmer? I'm about to buy 30+ need to know asap. Anyone else who knows please feel free to chime in.

 

Also hi, my eyes are still bleeding from reading this whole thread.

[mcarroll]

I don't think the lenses have much impact on shimmer...IME at least. I've run 30º, 60º, 90º and 20ºx50º(oval) lenses and all shimmer like crazy. (Almost too much sometimes.)

 

-Matt

[bubblealgae]

Just got 40 4x1w gu10s 20 blue and 20 whites 60 deg optics

 

paid dec 5th DHL just delivered them the 11th

 

From user luckzdl2008 on ebay - I did msg him to request the 60 deg optics, very friendly person - usually takes him about a day to respond maybe 2 - also he asked me to pay outside ebay via paypal invoice which left me a little on edge but as you can see it all worked out. Bad thing is the sockets havn't gotten here yet. Ordered them from China at the same time from a different person.

 

Happy so far!

[drunkenmonk21]

Anyone have any blues they could sell?

[bubblealgae]

My 55 gallon setup using 1x6 lumber. I plan on putting a 1x6 on the front just too poor atm to do so. Lumber aint cheap! Spliced into a few extension cords wired parallel.

 

Blue & White

Blues Only Tip: Leaving the fixture uncovered will hurt your eyes (no joke).

Moved everything to a 75 gallon - ordered 20 more gu10s

 

Also setup a trial planted 10 gallon using 3 bulbs so far everything is growing great!

 

[fastuno]

This thread is amazing, thanks for starting this!!!

 

I have crazy reading to do, but I love sticking it to the greedy reef retailers & love the power of DIY.

 

 

Some questions I have before beginning my homework reading:

 

1) How is the heat? I would imagine the bulbs gets pretty hot & your tank temp goes up at least 2 degrees on 30-40g.

 

2) Instead of using these bulbs can you use the PAR38 bulbs. Maybe just hookup 4-6 bulbs per 24x24 area?

 

3) Are there any multichip LED bulbs, Dreamchip or Kessil style?

[mcarroll]

The 3x1w bulbs get just a little past warm - totally comfortable to put your hand on while running. Nowhere near enough heat to affect tank temperature.

 

PAR38 bulbs would be a different thread entirely I think. None of the dynamics used in building the DIY fixtures here would apply.

 

I haven't seen any multi-chip GU10's, but it's possible a 5w or 10w version (tuned down to run at 3w or 4w...to match the heatsink) would be out there.

 

-Matt

[Turbo4toy]

Very good work I'll have to consider this if I end up getting another tank.

[frankdontsurf]

For a 10 gallon tank am I better off with 1x3w or 3x1w, it's only a foot wide so I'm guessing it doesn't even matter?

 

There is only 9" of head room above my tank, what angle lens should I opt for? I was thinking none.

 

I'm planning to have 9 bulbs, 5x blue & 4x white. Should I look for a vendor who specifies their BLUE kelvin scale? I see very few vendors with this color and none of the ones that do have it available say how many many K or NM their blue LEDs are..

[mcarroll]

For a 10 gallon tank am I better off with 1x3w or 3x1w, it's only a foot wide so I'm guessing it doesn't even matter?

 

There is only 9" of head room above my tank, what angle lens should I opt for? I was thinking none.

 

I'm planning to have 9 bulbs, 5x blue & 4x white. Should I look for a vendor who specifies their BLUE kelvin scale? I see very few vendors with this color and none of the ones that do have it available say how many many K or NM their blue LEDs are..

 

Don't think it'll matter on the number/size of emitters.

 

Since you have reduced headroom AND a pretty shallow tank, I think I'd opt for 60º lenses.

 

Should give you about a nine inch spread of light at the surface - not bad at all.

 

Don't forget you really want whites on the ends so the ends don't look dark.

 

Kelvin is an approximate measure of white light, not blue. If they don't specify in Kelvin, either Natural or Cool white will be fine. In Kelvin, that translates very roughly to 4500K-70000K.

 

All of the plain, blue LEDs you'll see offered are fine for your blue bulbs. Deal with one of the several vendors mentioned in this thread if you have any doubt about getting the right thing though.

 

Hope this helps!

 

-Matt

[zoohed]

So pumped I just ran across this. I think this will be perfect for my 10g without breaking the bank. Going to read throught the whole thread but I have a quick question. Has anyone tried dimming these at all or are they even dimmable?

[zoohed]

I've been using these leds over a 12" cube since the beginning of this thread and had excellent results. My fixture uses 6 blue 3x1w and 1 white 3x1w plus another 2 bare leds from a cannibalized bulb for moon lighting. I've prototyped a fixture/controller that controls bulb bank 1/2 on and off, does moonlight fade out at night, monitors 3 temps( water, room, and led heat sink) , has tank overtemp/undertemp alarms and LED overtemp alarm/ cutoff, and active cooling for the bulbs ie. a fan attached to the support structure.

http://s162.photobucket.com/user/diceroller00/media/DSC02331_zps645defb7.jpg.html'>

http://s162.photobucket.com/user/diceroller00/media/DSC02334_zps9ed0270c.jpg.html'>

 

this is the led temp sensor and the metal clip that attaches it to the bulb.

http://s162.photobucket.com/user/diceroller00/media/DSC02332_zpseb5c5089.jpg.html'>

 

Sorry for the hack-ish nature of the next pic, it seems this fixture is in a constant state of tinkering/ modification.

http://s162.photobucket.com/user/diceroller00/media/DSC02336_zpsfee94821.jpg.html'>

Is there a write up on your light by chance?

 

I'm thinking of trying something along the lines of 10 total bulbs with

1 RGB

3 RB

2 Custom 2b 1purple

4 CW

 

If anyone can let me know if this is a decent idea that would be great. Wondering if I should skip the custom bulbs and just do 5 RB.

Planning on the 3x1w bulbs and this will be over a 10g.

Thanks for any help.

[mcarroll]

There's a ton of good info in this thread if you're up for a little reading - including all the answers you're looking for so far.

 

The standard layout (alternating blue and white bulbs, 3 watts each, 12" off the water) in the first post is solid if you want to succeed but avoid all the reading.

 

In a nutshell, dimming and RGB both don't work like you'd want them to, and probably aren't really worth it as far as the corals as concerned anyway. "Neato" for the tank owner and that's about it.

 

And depending on what you're goals are, I wouldn't worry about custom bulbs. If you want to get fancy, consider the 2-blue, 1-white bulbs some on here have used. But again, the standard formula in the first post is all you really need to do. (Maybe consider 60º lenses instead of the standard 30º if you have a very shallow tank or where the lights can't be mounted as high as prescribed.)

 

Hope this helps!

 

-Matt

[pensiveone]

Quick question folks: Where I intend to put my 5.5 gallon tank there is only about 6" to 7" between the bulbs and the water. Would this be too close? Too hot? Maybe I could use fewer bulbs to keep things at the right balance?

[zoohed]

From what I read these don't tend to run too hot. I have yet to build mine yet so I can't confirm this. How many bulbs are you planning on running? Distance from the water seems to affect the pattern of the lights more than anything depending on the optics. From what I've read it would seem closer to the water would be more in favor of the 60 degree optics I've also seen recommendations for no optics at all.

[pensiveone]

From what I read these don't tend to run too hot. I have yet to build mine yet so I can't confirm this. How many bulbs are you planning on running? Distance from the water seems to affect the pattern of the lights more than anything depending on the optics. From what I've read it would seem closer to the water would be more in favor of the 60 degree optics I've also seen recommendations for no optics at all.

Well, according to the first post I should have 7 lights for a 5.5 gallon. When you say "no optics" are you referring to the plastic covering of the bulb?

[mcarroll]

From what I read these don't tend to run too hot. I have yet to build mine yet so I can't confirm this. How many bulbs are you planning on running? Distance from the water seems to affect the pattern of the lights more than anything depending on the optics. From what I've read it would seem closer to the water would be more in favor of the 60 degree optics I've also seen recommendations for no optics at all.

 

+1

 

...only for a tank this small with that little room over the tank, I'd even suggest 120º optics.* Definitely nothing tighter than 60º.

 

Well, according to the first post I should have 7 lights for a 5.5 gallon. When you say "no optics" are you referring to the plastic covering of the bulb?

 

You're right, seven should do it. As for the lenses, check out the second bulb picture in the first post. There are three lenses, one over each LED emitter. (The first pic is a single-emitter bulb...even less common now than they were when the thread started, so you're not too likely to get any like that.)

 

Hope this helps!

 

-Matt

 

* 120º optics would be preferred to no optics, though nominally they are the same. You'll get better results with lenses, plus they do protect the inside of the bulbs a bit. You'll have to ask you vendor to ship them with these lenses vs the standard 30º lenses, but don't expect to pay any more.

[pensiveone]

+1

 

...only for a tank this small with that little room over the tank, I'd even suggest 120º optics.* Definitely nothing tighter than 60º.

 

 

You're right, seven should do it. As for the lenses, check out the second bulb picture in the first post. There are three lenses, one over each LED emitter. (The first pic is a single-emitter bulb...even less common now than they were when the thread started, so you're not too likely to get any like that.)

 

Hope this helps!

 

-Matt

 

* 120º optics would be preferred to no optics, though nominally they are the same. You'll get better results with lenses, plus they do protect the inside of the bulbs a bit. You'll have to ask you vendor to ship them with these lenses vs the standard 30º lenses, but don't expect to pay any more.

 

Great advice. Any vendor that is easy to deal this you could recommend?

[pensiveone]

WHich is better; warm white or cool white? A little confused about this.

[Chew_Magna]

WHich is better; warm white or cool white? A little confused about this.

Warm is going to be slightly more orange/yellow natural sunlight and is going to fill the green spectrum. Cool white is more white/blue.

[pensiveone]

Warm is going to be slightly more orange/yellow natural sunlight and is going to fill the green spectrum. Cool white is more white/blue.

Which then is more desirable in a nano reef? Which is better for coral?

[Chew_Magna]

Which then is more desirable in a nano reef? Which is better for coral?

Desirable is totally up to you. Only you can decide what you like better. As for coral they don't care that much, they'll do just fine under either. If you want max growth the 6500k spectrum is best but the tank will look mostly brown. If you want max color, 10000-14000k is my preference, but you can go really blue if you like that and head into the 20000k range.

[pensiveone]

Desirable is totally up to you. Only you can decide what you like better. As for coral they don't care that much, they'll do just fine under either. If you want max growth the 6500k spectrum is best but the tank will look mostly brown. If you want max color, 10000-14000k is my preference, but you can go really blue if you like that and head into the 20000k range.

Thanks!

[slowngreen]

* 120º optics would be preferred to no optics, though nominally they are the same. You'll get better results with lenses

 

Wouldnt they be a bit brighter without the lenses?