Advice fo small diy led

megs_clark · #1 08-22-2011, 10:00 PM

I wanted to thank everyone for their advice. I am going to go with the
XM-L Neurtal white and the XPE royal blue. Because I want to do a light for my little 5g nano and my biocube I didnt buy the biocube kit. I think it will be cheaper this way, or more entertaining, lol. I kind of like the hunting for things @ good deals.
I Loved the idea of the modularled.ca but leaned away for two reasons. 1 beacuse I didnt see the XM-L leds which I read are much more powerfull (you dont need as many?) and their smaller and use less power also for similar pricing to the other types so I figured might as well pay the tiny bit more and a little more work for more light meaning more options on what I put in the aquarium down the road. My 2nd reason for not going with them was that I like that with the stars I can place they where ever, where as the boards with the two on them im limited to where Im spacing them since its two per board.

I was all ready to order from the ledgroupbuy site but found their shipping high. It must be a base rate because its $33 to ship one led by itself or 24 leds. Seemed high, but im cheap. So I called around and found a place ETGTECH that will do similar pricing and charge actual shipping, with no inflation even to canada. A bonus they will ship pritty fast. Im hoping to have the order placed by the end of the week. (Im tryin to decide if I should throw in a few violet leds) And have them by the end of next week. The only downside is you have to call or email for pricing but its not really a big deal.

Mike I really liked the par lamps. The reef par lights look slick and its not a bad price (I seen a similar light out here for close to $200 so the ones you pointed out seem like a good deal. It would have been nice for the smaller tank but I figured since I need to replace the lights and fans in the biocube I might as well replace them with leds and DIY allows for more options, and I think the expierince of the build will be neat....if it works out, and I dont kill my husband in the process lol. Who knows mabe ill do a led for my 90 gallon one day. :O) The not replacing bulbs for 10 year sounds great, heck id be thrilled with 5 years!

martinmcnally · #2 08-22-2011, 10:13 PM

Hi Megs, thanks for the feedback its always good to hear what people are thinking. Glad you are getting it figured out with your LED build.

XM-L was one of our considerations when we were designing the Modular LED stuff. You are right they are brighter by twice as much as the XP-Es however the downside is they consume just over three times the power. So they are three times as expensive to run.

Good luck with the build, let us know if there is anything you need, happy to help.

Martin

Milad · #3 08-23-2011, 12:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by megs_clark

I was all ready to order from the ledgroupbuy site but found their shipping high. It must be a base rate because its $33 to ship one led by itself or 24 leds. Seemed high, but im cheap. So I called around and found a place ETGTECH that will do similar pricing and charge actual shipping, with no inflation even to canada. A bonus they will ship pritty fast. Im hoping to have the order placed by the end of the week. (Im tryin to decide if I should throw in a few violet leds) And have them by the end of next week. The only downside is you have to call or email for pricing but its not really a big deal.

FYI the cost of the shipping is going to be close even with ETGTech as we really dont add any mark up on the shipping (I believe its only a couple bucks to handle all the customs paperwork). I believe they ship via UPS so then you have to factor in the $50 or so for the brokerage fees for UPS.

StirCrazy · #4 08-23-2011, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Milad

FYI the cost of the shipping is going to be close even with ETGTech as we really dont add any mark up on the shipping (I believe its only a couple bucks to handle all the customs paperwork). I believe they ship via UPS so then you have to factor in the $50 or so for the brokerage fees for UPS.

UPS is 35.00 min charge. thats why I don't deal with any company that won't use USPS.

speaking of which Milad, how do you guys ship, I was looking on your site this morning and had a few questions so I'll send you a PM.

Steve

megs_clark · #5 08-23-2011, 04:21 PM

ETGtech asked me how I want to ship, I asked for USPS. They also beat the prices. I havnt recieved the final order so we will see. He had told me on the phone that they have many methods of shipping so im hoping they will go with USPS.

mike31154 · #6 08-23-2011, 04:54 PM

Ya, shipping is often a deal maker/breaker for me when ordering stuff from the US. UPS is outrageous with the brokerage fee, you simply have no choice, they just nail you with it. Fedex is similar but perhaps not quite as greedy as UPS. With a little planning & patience, USPS is the way to go provided the seller will do it that way for you.

Milad · #7 08-23-2011, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike31154

Ya, shipping is often a deal maker/breaker for me when ordering stuff from the US. UPS is outrageous with the brokerage fee, you simply have no choice, they just nail you with it. Fedex is similar but perhaps not quite as greedy as UPS. With a little planning & patience, USPS is the way to go provided the seller will do it that way for you.

What drives me insane is that my friend is a border agent and they watch UPS come in with a stack of shipments and they stamp these papers @ about 2 per second. Each stamp is that $50 charge. I need to get into that business!! LOL

We ship USPS express only for international shipments (outside USA)

StirCrazy · #8 08-24-2011, 12:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Milad

What drives me insane is that my friend is a border agent and they watch UPS come in with a stack of shipments and they stamp these papers @ about 2 per second. Each stamp is that $50 charge. I need to get into that business!! LOL

We ship USPS express only for international shipments (outside USA)

yup min chard was 35, and once your over a set amount then it is a persentage of the value.

I was talking to a guy who does canada post boarder clearance.. they charge 5 bucks for the clearance, and they only charge duty on items over 100 bucks and that is a randome thing also. not everyone will pay duity which explains why some stuff I ordered for my truck had duty assigned and some didn't.

Steve