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Originally Posted by Ron99
I would add nanotuners.com for LEDs and drivers as they have slightly better prices than ledsupply and also carry the Meanwell drivers which are a good choice. The Meanwells are nice because they come in dimming versions, run off AC power so there is no need for a separate power supply and can drive a good number of emitters.
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Aha, forgot about nanotuners... they also carry some other cool stuff. LEDsupply carries Meanwell drivers also, I'm sort of leaning towards non-dimming since I no longer have the patience to experiment with PWM controls. That may change in the near future as I need a temperature controller and Arduino may be the ticket.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ron99
Heatsink USA is not bad if you want a brand new heatsink. But the heatsinks I bought are actually wider at 12" than heatsink USA's widest at just over 10" and for a similar length of the 10" wide from heatsink USA it would have cost well over $200 with shipping. I have 45" x 12" of surplus heatsink at a total cost with shipping of $75. So keep your eyes on eBay as there are lots of used heatsinks available. If you are patient you can find what you need at a good price.
I'm not sure the MC-Es offer a huge advantage over the XR-Es. Yes, they have more lumens but they also generate more heat since they are essentially 4 emitters on one die. Also, are there any good choices in optics for MC-Es? I feel that the XR-Es with good optics provide more than enough PAR and if you need more for say a deeper tank than the XP-G may be a better option at this point.
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I really just meant to list some websites that I had found for such things. Ebay can definitely get you a better deal on just about anything (though I don't trust cheaply built Asian anything). I like the idea that people could salvage good aluminum heatsinks from computers and put them to good reuse as lighting equipment also (though this only works in nano-sized situations).
The MC-E's only advantage is that they are basically 4 XR-Es on a single die that can't be run as hard as the XR-E because of their higher 'thermal density'. There are just as many optic options for the MC-E as the XR-E. I am choosing them because they offer exactly that, more power with less space. If you're using more than 12 LEDs though, I doubt there is any reason to even glance at the MC-E. XP-Gs seem to be the most efficient, but any of the high powered LEDs will do the trick with the right optics (and optics are made for all of the popular LEDs), no matter the depth of the tank. I'm pretty sure that with 8 degree optics you could get good coverage on the bottom of a very deep tank.
My setup personally will consist of about 10 LEDs, so MC-Es = more light, less space when working with PCB stars.
EDIT: I meant to post this earlier this week but forgot... check out the 'Relative Spectral Curve's for the MC-E RGBW chips.
http://ledsupply.com/docs/cree-mce1.pdf Shouldn't the curve for the 6.5K be heavier in blue than in red than 4K, rather than the other way around?