FishKiler Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 I got some pics just have not had time to post, all the work, hunting and mushroom picking taking most of my time will try later this week. Anyone have good ideas on how to take a good pic of the light working? When I try taking a pic of the light working looks just like a flash light; you can't see the intensity. I will try making an HDR pic if I can remember how. Thanks for the offer but it's a bit of a drive from Vancouver, and the seller on ebay said he will send the correct switch. Already thinking on getting a second one, just need to collect some extra cash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaticEngineer Posted November 15, 2011 Author Share Posted November 15, 2011 Take a video of it. Start out in a normally lit room and then turn it on and show the difference. Either that or point it at a wall along with another light like a halide and take a picture of the light pattern and differences in color and intensity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justjohnny86 Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 Hey, guys. I'm just wondering what ever became of this project! AquaticEngineer, that looks like the perfect alternative to both inefficient metal-hallides and expensive made-to-order LED setups! Edit: Disregard my comment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaticEngineer Posted April 30, 2012 Author Share Posted April 30, 2012 Hey, guys. I'm just wondering what ever became of this project! AquaticEngineer, that looks like the perfect alternative to both inefficient metal-hallides and expensive made-to-order LED setups! Edit: Disregard my comment. Still running over my 3 ft deep coldwater tank I planned on making more of them just been busy with the new business. If you have access to a big chunk of aluminum and a CNC machine, you could make a heatsink that would eliminate the need for the fan, but its far cheaper to go with the cpu fan/heatsink combo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justjohnny86 Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 http://www.alibaba.com Reefsickness, you mentioned that you went there. I just checked them out and I'm curious if anyone has ever ordered from them before...I sent an inquiry but I've never dealt with them personally, so I guess I'm just a little apprehensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justjohnny86 Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Also, AquaticEngineer, congratulations on the new business! I am very interested in this project and whereas I have background as a reactor operator/electronics technician, I have been out of it some time now. My point being that I catch on quick but I am relatively lost as of now about the particulars of this endeavor. As I understand it, you have the LED and you mount it in some lens apparatus. The driver is some kind of power supply that goes between the wall socket and the LED assembly, which is mounted to an aluminum heat sink, which has a fan accompanying it to blow generated heat away from the sink and the LED. Is this accurate? Is it possible to get a single driver to power, say, four 50 watt LEDs? Also, would four be a bit much in a 36x36x30 reef cube? I have seen par ratings as well. How exactly does it come in to play and is it easy to control for? It seems like it's normally distributed and tapers pretty rapidly from the center-point. Furthermore, when it has been mentioned that an individual could use a giant piece of aluminum, is that to suggest that it would suffice to take some sheet aluminum (to provide as ceiling structure) to mount these babies to that perhaps had a fan or two to blow across the top of it for heat removal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaticEngineer Posted May 2, 2012 Author Share Posted May 2, 2012 If I was going to do it over a 36x36x30 tank I would us a single 100 watt LED and with a 60 degree optic and hang it about 6" off the water. With the 60 degree optic you get a 12"x 12" light footprint for every 12" you go up. So if it was a total of 36" away from the bottom of the tank you would have zero light wasted and have complete coverage at the bottom of the tank. Take into account 3" of sand and youd could mount your light 9" over the tank. Granted if you ran a 30 degree optic, you could mount your light 72" away from the tank and get the same results if you wanted to I was going to do that and use a recessed can light into my ceiling. For heat distribution the best way I figured out to make a very cheap high output cannon style light was to combine 4 equal sized round heat sinks end to end (grab em used at goodwill) with thermal conductive material to create a larger heatsink. Large fan at one end, LED Chip with your choice of lens mounted to the other end. Wrap the whole thing in a thin sheet of aluminum or a solar tube and hang it where you want it. You can mount the LED driver anywhere you want in line, and a very small power supply for the fan so it could be all the way by the power plug in. Shove all the driver/power supply stuff in a 3 dollar project box from radio shack and you're done. I just have no need for high powered lighting anymore since none of my animals are photosynthetic really, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaticEngineer Posted May 2, 2012 Author Share Posted May 2, 2012 Oh, and dont forget to put your $3 dollar thermal switch inline on it so that if your fan dies it doesn't over heat I learned that the hard way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justjohnny86 Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Extremely insightful, AqusticEngineer! I am much obliged. I suppose the only question I have left is whether the aquarium having a center overflow makes any difference to light configuration. I suppose I would rather have a little overlap and make sure there aren't any unintended shade spots. Is this notion applicable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaticEngineer Posted May 3, 2012 Author Share Posted May 3, 2012 Center overflow on the back wall of the tank? You could mount the light on a swivel head and slightly forward of the center of the tank so that you could angle it to point slightly towards the back of of the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justjohnny86 Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 No...Center overflow dead center in the aquarium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justjohnny86 Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 No...Center overflow dead center in the aquarium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaticEngineer Posted May 3, 2012 Author Share Posted May 3, 2012 No...Center overflow dead center in the aquarium. Hmmm, are you planning on running a canopy or running it open top? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justjohnny86 Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 Well, there is a canopy now that reefsickness setup. I have no preference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justjohnny86 Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 Hey, I checked out alibaba.com the other day and contacted a supplier. He responded with a pricing list of their LED products and whereas I am generally inclined to go for the more expensive items (having been conditioned to believe they are superior), I am curious how much of a difference there could possibly be. I personally cannot discern any useful data from this list beyond the lumen rating--which I've been reading isn't actually a very useful figure at all--but maybe someone with some insight can...[ATTACH]12653[/ATTACH] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burningbaal Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 looks intriguing...wonder if I hung 4 ish of these above a 90g (48"x18"x24")...as cheap as theyare, I could probably put 6 of them up and make it look like a supernova... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramy Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 I would wonder if these would grow corals or just algae though =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burningbaal Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 I would wonder if these would grow corals or just algae though =) Mostly depends on the nutrients available...now the COLOR of the corals depends on the spectrum of the bulb. realistically, coral's favorite (natural) light to grow in is 6-8000K (sunlight), the only reason we use such weird spectrums is cause it stresses them into producing typically-rare pigments that we like to look at (they're purrrty)...but algae growth vs coral growth is a nutrients, herbivore and water movement question, not really a lighting question...IMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaticEngineer Posted May 7, 2012 Author Share Posted May 7, 2012 I would wonder if these would grow corals or just algae though =) Same exact light that Ecoxotic is selling for $400 plus dollars. You can even get the high end LED chip that they use if you really wanted to, they are not that much more expensive than the cheapo chinese ones I've been using. I believe theres is a Bridgelux. Only difference is the brand of LED Chip, and they use a passive heatsink by making the entire housing out of aluminum whereas I've been going the cheap route with a CPU Heatsink and fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramy Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 Mostly depends on the nutrients available...now the COLOR of the corals depends on the spectrum of the bulb. realistically' date=' coral's favorite (natural) light to grow in is 6-8000K (sunlight), the only reason we use such weird spectrums is cause it stresses them into producing typically-rare pigments that we like to look at (they're purrrty)...but algae growth vs coral growth is a nutrients, herbivore and water movement question, not really a lighting question...IMO[/quote'] Same exact light that Ecoxotic is selling for $400 plus dollars. You can even get the high end LED chip that they use if you really wanted to, they are not that much more expensive than the cheapo chinese ones I've been using. I believe theres is a Bridgelux. Only difference is the brand of LED Chip, and they use a passive heatsink by making the entire housing out of aluminum whereas I've been going the cheap route with a CPU Heatsink and fan. Good to know thanks for informing me =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramy Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 Mostly depends on the nutrients available...now the COLOR of the corals depends on the spectrum of the bulb. realistically' date=' coral's favorite (natural) light to grow in is 6-8000K (sunlight), the only reason we use such weird spectrums is cause it stresses them into producing typically-rare pigments that we like to look at (they're purrrty)...but algae growth vs coral growth is a nutrients, herbivore and water movement question, not really a lighting question...IMO[/quote'] Same exact light that Ecoxotic is selling for $400 plus dollars. You can even get the high end LED chip that they use if you really wanted to, they are not that much more expensive than the cheapo chinese ones I've been using. I believe theres is a Bridgelux. Only difference is the brand of LED Chip, and they use a passive heatsink by making the entire housing out of aluminum whereas I've been going the cheap route with a CPU Heatsink and fan. Good to know thanks for informing me =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenifer123 Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 I haven't used these LED lights but recently I have planned to buy it, so would you like to tell me your experience and total cost with shipping? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaticEngineer Posted July 6, 2012 Author Share Posted July 6, 2012 You can get the major components off ebay for under $60 shipped. The heatsink, fan, wiring etc can be sourced locally for pretty cheap. As long as you have an adequate heatsink and fan your light should last forever. I added in a thermal switch that kills the power to the LED chip if it ever runs over 130F to prevent it from frying. The switch was like $2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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