LED Craze

[ponokareefer]

Thanks for the info Mike. Here is a link to a build on reefcentral using PAR38's.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...ight=par38+led

In terms of cost, they seem like they would be the cheapest out there, and easiest to do. Are their any sponsors or Canadian companies that sell PAR38's for reef tanks?

[mike31154]

Not sure about Canadian distributers at this point, I've been somewhat lazy in researching that since I'm on the MR16 kick at the moment. All lighting providers in Canada seem to be really dragging their feet in getting decent LEDs on to store shelves. This is why I'm still holding off and ordering bits & pieces though fleabay from China. I got a LED screw in bulb at London Drugs last week on a coupon so cost ended up being fairly reasonable at under $20. It's a dimmable Phillips 8 watt 470 lumens at 2700K bulb meant for household use, so not much good for our application. But it's surely only a matter of time until reasonably priced goodies are available more suited to our purpose.

This is why I continue to wait and use my current 2x250 MH & T5HO set up. If I had more disposable income, I'd have purchased a LED fixture some time ago. The EcoTech Radion is awful tempting since I run MP40 VorTech pumps, but the price is too high at the moment and in the end, I'm not convinced that the light communicating with my pump drivers is really necessary. I could buy a hell of a lot of MR16 bulbs for the price of a Radion. Yes, the pumps are costly too, but I started with a single new one & purchased the others used.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by mike31154

Not sure about Canadian distributers at this point, I've been somewhat lazy in researching that since I'm on the MR16 kick at the moment. All lighting providers in Canada seem to be really dragging their feet in getting decent LEDs on to store shelves.

your not going to see a lot of canadian companies producing low cost led lighting. its a fact of economics. the canadian market is to small and our power is to cheep for them to sell a reasonable amount that why you tend to see new stuff starting to trickel in in the home lighting market but its not cheep. Home depot actualy has the new philips ones on for 15 bucks off which makes them afordable.. I have bought 10 so far and have another 4 ot 8 to go to finnish switching my house over to LED. these ones are exelent bulbs.. look yellow when there off and put out light just like a normal light bulb when there on.

if you watch the market we will start getting ones that are big sellers in the US.

I reciently ran into this issue with my smoker and the pucks I like. the crown royal pucks for the bradley are now discontinued (I bought the last 4 boxes they had in canuck rubber here) the reason being that it is not cost effective to make them for the canadian market alone and due to them being a by product of booze they are no longer alowed to be inported in to the US with out large tariffs so they are no longer making them.

it sucks, but it is a result of our cross boarder teriffs and trade agreements.

Steve

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

Home depot actualy has the new philips ones on for 15 bucks off which makes them afordable.. I have bought 10 so far and have another 4 ot 8 to go to finnish switching my house over to LED. these ones are exelent bulbs.. look yellow when there off and put out light just like a normal light bulb when there on.
Steve

That's the exact same Phillips bulb I got at London Drugs with the coupon.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by mike31154

That's the exact same Phillips bulb I got at London Drugs with the coupon.

don't need the cupon at home depot. and they extended it till into nov also now.

Steve

[ponokareefer]

Just out of curiosity, what should I be looking at for the number of LED's? For PAR38's, I have the exact same tank as the reefcentral thread, which is a 125 gallon. He suggest using 7 PAR38's. That's only 49 led's, and all XR-E's. Modularled has a kit for a 4 foot tank that has 72 LED's in it, but now carry the HO XR-E's, which, I would assume, would mean I would need less. Reading some theards on reefcentral, they recommend even higher numbers though, which is where the numbers came from my initial post. My tank is 24 inches deep, I have 2 clams, RBTA, frogspawn, and soft corals.

[mike31154]

Hard to say what each individual should be looking at with any particular LED solution, since we all have slightly different tanks & requirements with respect to the livestock we choose to keep. If someone is having success with a particular size tank that's similar to yours, especially with a PAR38 set up, you will likely be in the ballpark for your own system. The great thing about the PAR38 form factor, is you can always add another without too much rewiring. PAR38s are continuing to evolve with more and higher power emitters being installed in them all the time. Pretty sure I've seen some with 12 individual LEDs in them.

I was at the Home Depot yesterday and there are already a number of new offerings in the LED lighting section compared to when I was last there a few weeks ago. The lights Steve (StirCrazy) purchased for home lighting are currently on sale for under $13, so I picked up a couple more myself. This price would have been unheard of just a few months ago, let alone even having something of this nature on the shelf. Not for aquarium, but the writing certainly appears to be on the wall. Other lighting technologies will eventually be eclipsed by LEDs.

I mentioned I was looking at a 12 volt DC solution with my MR16 schtick. I just read that one of the LED manufacturers is actually working on an AC powered LED, no driver required. Most folks may not be aware of the fact that conversion of AC to DC to run LEDs (DC devices) results in a 15 to 30% power loss in the process. So each of those Meanwells, buck pucks or whatever driver you use, is consuming extra power that would be better utilized using a straight DC voltage source.

I just ordered a couple of these to see how they may work:



They are 10 watt Cool White LEDS & the price is right for experimenting. Chips similar to these although at 50 & 100 watts look to be the ones used in the Ecoxotic Cannon type LED lights that cost a freakin' fortune. By buying these chips yourself, with the reflector & lens assemblies, you can build something similar for less than $50. I got two sets of two of these for $21. The reason I chose the 10 watt jobs is again, they can run directly off 12 volts DC. Might be wise to add a regulator/driver to ensure the voltage & current does not deviate too far off the 12 volt nominal voltage. If this ends up working well, I may ditch the MR16 build and do this instead, or a combo. To me, the craze in DIY LEDs seems to be single Cree emitters in the 3 watt range. Not sure everyone needs that much light and am trying to see if alternatives such as this are viable.

[evaneatspie555]

i was just wondering why led is soo expensive

[Samw]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

don't need the cupon at home depot. and they extended it till into nov also now.

Steve

Too bad I missed the half price sale by a week. Those $15 one are now priced back to $30. I wanted one so I bought one tonight at full price. I like it. Many Home Depots were out of stock due to the sale. I also bought a 3W LED GU10 replacement and a 3W LED Chandelier replaceennt. I like these as well.

Philips AmbientLED 12W

http://www.homedepot.ca/product/12w-...t-white/926038

3W LED Chandelier

http://www.homedepot.ca/product/3w-l...t-white/926044

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Samw

Too bad I missed the half price sale by a week. Those $15 one are now priced back to $30. I wanted one so I bought one tonight at full price. I like it. Many Home Depots were out of stock due to the sale. I also bought a 3W LED GU10 replacement and a 3W LED Chandelier replaceennt. I like these as well.

Philips AmbientLED 12W

http://www.homedepot.ca/product/12w-...t-white/926038

3W LED Chandelier

http://www.homedepot.ca/product/3w-l...t-white/926044

Sam, would the chandelier one be good for a dining room with a 5 light chandelier? ya I was hoping the sale would extend to dec also... I bought 10 of the LEDs alread and I need 10 more


Steve