LED Fixture - cheap

[Dez]

Hey Mark,

First impressions is that it's got good build quality. It doesn't have heatsinks but seem to stay very cool. The fans are loud, but thank goodness I pretty much have a sealed canopy. Once you open the canopy that's all you hear are the fans. My tank temp has remained so consistent without the degree or two temp creep throughout the day.

It's been 5 weeks and several people have noted that there has been no change in my coral colours. Polyp extension and growth seem to be normal for my system. I have kept the same hours of lighting as my halides to keep it fair.

One thing I do miss is the "large" shimmer. These leds produce several "mini" shimmering effects in the water.

Like I said, I'll give it 6 months before selling my halides.

Only time will tell I guess. Hope this helps.

[mark]

helps, thanks Dez.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Dez

First impressions is that it's got good build quality. It doesn't have heatsinks but seem to stay very cool. .

they use a PCB board as the heat sink. I was asking my buddy about this as he lives in china and his company is producing a lot of LED products. that is why the fans are needed on these as the parts are all surface mount so they type of board they use has heat disapating propertys and then the fan cools the other side of the board.

I am actualy trying to design something with him, but the problem is to keep it cheep enough I would have to order a container load.. or part container load so I am waiting to find out how many units that entails before I go any further. I was hoping I could get 3 to 10 units at a reasonable price but it is soundling like I would have to buy a lot more than that. but who knows.. maybe I could flood the market with cheep high quality lights.. good thing I have a new job that pays real good

Steve

[Milad]

You realize these are cheap, cheap quality lights. I hope no one is putting these on anything deeper than 10in tanks. 1w LEDs, no optics aren't going to penetrate the water well enough to give you good growth.

Also I cant tell which LEDs they are using from the description but in most cases, these fixtures from China are using sub par cooling and LEDs. This will mean you will be replacing them every few years and you will be using more electricity than a standard CREE LED setup so in the long run they will cost you more than a higher quality setup within a couple years with less growth.

Please don't consider these anything close to equivalent to a AI Sol or CREE DIY fixture. These are the reason people say "LED don't work, ive seen it first hand"

Stick to fixtures with 3W CREE XP-G, XP-E or XM-L LEDs that have been proven.

My 2 cents

FYI I sell and work with LEDs on a daily basis so I know a few things about them.

[mark]

Originally Posted by Milad

You realize these are cheap, cheap quality lights. I hope no one is putting these on anything deeper than 10in tanks. 1w LEDs, no optics aren't going to penetrate the water well enough to give you good growth.

Also I cant tell which LEDs they are using from the description but in most cases, these fixtures from China are using sub par cooling and LEDs. This will mean you will be replacing them every few years and you will be using more electricity than a standard CREE LED setup so in the long run they will cost you more than a higher quality setup within a couple years with less growth.

Please don't consider these anything close to equivalent to a AI Sol or CREE DIY fixture. These are the reason people say "LED don't work, ive seen it first hand"

Stick to fixtures with 3W CREE XP-G, XP-E or XM-L LEDs that have been proven.

My 2 cents

FYI I sell and work with LEDs on a daily basis so I know a few things about them.

have you seen Dez's tank?

[Milad]

Originally Posted by mark

have you seen Dez's tank?

Actually no I haven't. Have you seen all the reviews, studies, posts, and comparisons all over the net on these 1w LEDs?

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Milad

You realize these are cheap, cheap quality lights. I hope no one is putting these on anything deeper than 10in tanks. 1w LEDs, no optics aren't going to penetrate the water well enough to give you good growth.

Also I cant tell which LEDs they are using from the description but in most cases, these fixtures from China are using sub par cooling and LEDs.
"

Stick to fixtures with 3W CREE XP-G, XP-E or XM-L LEDs that have been proven.

My 2 cents

FYI I sell and work with LEDs on a daily basis so I know a few things about them.

I need to make it clear that I am not suporting this e-bay light nore and my saying it is junk. but rather questing the post

so you think edison and bridglux LEDs are sub PAR? not saying thats what these spicific ones are but there are a lot of china made fixtures that are using them. the problem with a blanket statment like yours is it is totaly false. things made in China are made to the spec YOU design, if you spec high quality parts, you will have a high quality fixture.

If you do some real digging most products you are seeing are probably more properly labbled "designed in germany, or US ect... Made in China" but instead they say things like "German enginering" ect

when it comes right down to it I order a run of so many pieces. they gear up for my order and get the parts as per my spec tool up and then make my run. now if I spec a lumin output and temp in kelvin then I have no control over the LED used and they will use there own that they make in house. this is the cheepest option. I can also spec a brand name LED which ups the cost slightly.

now I don't know about this spicific e-bay light but the one I am looking at is a bonded board. so the PCB board which is made of thermal clad, which mean they use a thermal epoxy for the PCB part of the board and they clad that to an aluminum, or copper backing. now even here you can go cheep on the backing as you have the choice in thickness between 1 to 3mm I am looking at 3mm but I guess if I wanted to go cheep I could pick 1mm.

so basicly its not the fact that the product is from china that makes it cheep but rather it is the specs of the person in Canada or the USA that makes it cheep.


One other thing I would add is year there are a lot of bad LEDs out there but not all are bad, there are several very good quality brands of LEDs. do they have as high of an output as the Cree's? some yes some no, are they as efficient as the cree's in Lumin/watt.. no but some are close. is that efficiency difference going to cost a lot of extra power.. nope. pennies a month in the range were talking about. the biggest complaint about the no name LEDs are that the coatings are flaking off changing the output color. if you are using one of these ones then ya you have a hugly cheep setup, but any of the major brands are not like this, so there is Cree, bridglux, edison, philips, and a few others I can't remember right off the top of my head.

edison and cree are both 3 watt LEDs but they come about it different. cree uses lower voltage higher current, edison uses higher voltage lower current which is why you use 700mA max for the edison LEDs. Bridglux makes high power LEDs which are producing some pretty wicked outputs. Now a LED that is starting to become very popular is the "Steve's LED" all this is, is a guy name steve gets a deal on spec edison LEDs and resells them. edison LEDs are slightly less output then crees but they are more than enough and 1/3 the price. If you look at people running cree LEDs most are setting them up at 700 mA which is 70% to start with then using dimming circuts to run them at 70% so they are realy running there fixtures at about 50% which surprises me, very few are actualy running 100% so what does this say.. cree is actualy way more power than we need on a normal tank.

Steve

[mike31154]

Read the specs in the listing provided by the OP in Post #1 carefully and you will see that the fixture uses BridgeLux LEDs:
"LED configuration: BridgeLux 1w/LED"
I also mentioned that in my Post #8.

So unless the seller is lying or misrepresenting the product.... and to reiterate, not everyone's system needs the intensity of 3 watt Crees beaming down on their livestock. I have to agree with StirCrazy here, in that blanket statements about a certain wattage of LED aren't that informative and helpful in the broader sense of our hobby.

How about, 1 watt LEDs will run cooler than 3 watt LEDs, perhaps reducing the requirement for monster heat sinks? Or you have more flexibility with colour options since you can use more 1 watt LEDs in an array than 3 watters?
"LED quantity: 119pcs x 1 Watt LED (71 White + 48 Blue)"

Ask the folks who spent thousands on the now defunct company that produced the first generation of controllable LED fixtures how they feel about the quality of that product.

eBay like any other source for goodies, has its pros & cons. I've made many good purchases and also a few lemons, but generally, if you do your homework, you can often get a very good deal there.

[Milad]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

[b] If you look at people running cree LEDs most are setting them up at 700 mA which is 70% to start with then using dimming circuts to run them at 70% so they are realy running there fixtures at about 50% which surprises me, very few are actualy running 100% so what does this say.. cree is actualy way more power than we need on a normal tank.

Steve

incorrect sir

They run them at 70% to keep heat down and extend the life, that is the general consensus of output with extended longevity using standard hobby cooling.



I don't know what else to say other than try posting that light on any reputable board that has people who know about LEDs and you will get your answer very quickly. 1w LEDs just do not cut it. That is what im trying to get across, most of the cheap LEDs fixtures that come from china use sub par 1w LEDs (not all of them but MOST of them).

Also, if anyone has that fixture, we can put it up against 1/3 or 1/4 number of CREE LEDs and see the difference with a par meter and just your eyes.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Milad

incorrect sir

They run them at 70% to keep heat down and extend the life, that is the general consensus of output with extended longevity using standard hobby cooling.

actualy your not corect at all, I am sorry that you are pushing them for you group led buy, but they are running them at 70% because they don't need to run them at 100% so yes they are also reducing the requirment of the heat sink a bit also.

I do agree watt to watt cree is the most powerfull out there, but don't let that fool you into thinking that they are built better than the other major brands. all the major brands are that for a reason.. they are good.

with the emergent of briglux and there 5, 10, 50 watt LEDs the 3 watt Cree is starting to go the way of T5's where they are being used for actining surounding more powerfull high quality LEDs. you should start selling briglux and edison also to give people more of a choice.

better yet, you should try out a 120 watt LED like the one I was playing with a few days ago.. I am still seeing spots

Steve