Luxeon Vs Cree and other DIY Q

[banditpowdercoat]

OK, Just got turned onto Stevesleds.com And seeing some things. I am a heavy DIY person. I had a plan on my LED's but now questioning. I have 3 70W Bridgelux 5000K chips, and supplimenting with RapidLED's Cree RB. The 1500ma max ones. XT-E I belive? or is ot XP-E? My plan was 14 RB with each Bridgelux. Heatsinks are one dilema. Wondering if I might be better to just go with all Luxeon? I only have 12 of the high current RB right now, and 12 700Ma. I know I need more RB!!! Color too brown/red. Need 4 more Meanwell ELN 48 60D Drivers to complete though. Atleast on my present plan of 3 setups on a 50" tank.

Anyone with exp on Steves sqyare tube heatsinks and Luxeon? I am also controlling through a Apex. so 0-10v control

[banditpowdercoat]

PS I like about a 14K Phoenix MH Look!

[daplatapus]

I don't have any experience with Steve's LED's. Heatsinks seem to be a bit of personal choice.
If it's up in a hood, you could probably get away with almost any piece of stock aluminum. No real need IMO for a factory heatsink. There's lots of examples of guys using square tubing and stuff.
I also found that trying to get a perfect mix of X amount of RB LED's to X amount of NW LED's to acquire a 14K MH look is kind of like finding a needle in a haystack. I tend to subscribe to overbuilding the fixture but have the different colours on dimmers and dial in the colour you want.
And in all the reading I've done about LED fixtures (and believe me, I've read tons!) you have to go as full a spectrum as you can afford. LED's emit a VERY narrow spectrum of light compared to MH. And I don't think we fully understand the need for which parts of the spectrum are needed for optimal growth and appearance. So the closer we can fill that spectrum in, the better odds we have of supplying what our tanks inhabitants need.
On my fixtures I run RB, NW,CW, OCW (red, green, blue), 405nm TV, and 430nm TV and I still don't think I've got the spectrum in full. Thus I chose a heatsink that doesn't permanently mount the LED's so I can fill in and replace LED's as the technology and our understanding progresses. So far, it's grown everything I've put under it except some purple poccilipora. No idea why, it just won't grow.
Anyway, sorry if that wandered off your questions there, it's fairly early and still drinking my 1st cup of coffee

[sphelps]

I used mostly steveleds for my build back in the day. I went with the tube style heat sink as well, mainly for hopes of a lower profile and quieter fans. It all preformed ok but the fans pretty much always had to be on to keep temperatures within allowable and they weren't that quiet. If I would build again I'd use either standard heat sink or u-channel. I would definitely say the tube style is less effective.

The Luxeon RBs use to be considered somewhat better than the crees but I'm not sure that's still the case, haven't kept up with the latest trends. The advantage was a lower spectrum peak so potentially better for color I guess.

I pretty much bought everything that guy sells and I'm not using any of it, lots of stuff never even used. If there's something you need or want to try out shoot me a PM. I have the fans for tube heat sinks, all the LEDs in most colors, drivers, 0-10V adapters and so on.

[banditpowdercoat]

I'd be interested in LED's, Sphelps. I'm going Meanwell drivers, I use them at work and they do seem good, even though Steve says there unreliable.
Shoot me a PM on what you got. Possibly try the fans too.

[daplatapus]

If you think you can use them, I'll probably have 2 HLG-185-42B Meanwell drivers that I'm not going to use that are BNIB.

[banditpowdercoat]

WOW, Thems large drivers!!!! PWM tho I think I want to stay individual sets of 3. Not sure why? Idea of sunrise at one end and sunset at other, would be cool. But only a 5' tank so really..... What you want for them?

[daplatapus]

It seems to me I paid $70 plus shipping per driver. I'd sell them for the same.

[byee]

Originally Posted by banditpowdercoat

I'd be interested in LED's, Sphelps. I'm going Meanwell drivers, I use them at work and they do seem good, even though Steve says there unreliable.
Shoot me a PM on what you got. Possibly try the fans too.

I've been planning my LED build for the last few months. Now that I've sold my aquarium, once I get my 60 gal cube I'll start building.

If I sell my own drivers, of course it's better than commercially sold products! Just my opinion!

My driver selection would be the Meanwells. They're IP67 as well........,basically means its waterproof!

I believe Steves drivers require a 24vdc external open frame power supply. Not very safe near moisture especially salt water!

Much safer with the self contained Meanwells.

[byee]

Originally Posted by banditpowdercoat

OK, Just got turned onto Stevesleds.com And seeing some things. I am a heavy DIY person. I had a plan on my LED's but now questioning. I have 3 70W Bridgelux 5000K chips, and supplimenting with RapidLED's Cree RB. The 1500ma max ones. XT-E I belive? or is ot XP-E? My plan was 14 RB with each Bridgelux. Heatsinks are one dilema. Wondering if I might be better to just go with all Luxeon? I only have 12 of the high current RB right now, and 12 700Ma. I know I need more RB!!! Color too brown/red. Need 4 more Meanwell ELN 48 60D Drivers to complete though. Atleast on my present plan of 3 setups on a 50" tank.

Anyone with exp on Steves sqyare tube heatsinks and Luxeon? I am also controlling through a Apex. so 0-10v control

Heat radiates up....convection helps with cooling.

My preference would be to use C channel with low speed computer fans to help move the air for cooling. Need to think about surface area. The larger the surface area, the better the cooling.

Tubular channel requires "pressure" fans for cooling. Natural convention for cooling plays a smaller role here.

I hope this info helps.