LED Intensity

[RuGlu6]

Just wondering what is the difference between one 3w LED and the other?
Other then dimming and fancy controls what is the difference between AI sols and these
http://www.aquatraders.com/EVO-48-LE...ht-p/56234.htm
?
They have single fixtures 5" wide and double fixtures 9.25" wide. If everyone is running their "fancy" LED's at 35%-50% anyway?
Really want to know what is the difference. thx

[Nano]

Originally Posted by RuGlu6

Just wondering what is the difference between one 3w LED and the other?
Other then dimming and fancy controls what is the difference between AI sols and these
http://www.aquatraders.com/EVO-48-LE...ht-p/56234.htm
?
They have single fixtures 5" wide and double fixtures 9.25" wide. If everyone is running their "fancy" LED's at 35%-50% anyway?
Really want to know what is the difference. thx

You get what you pay for, with anything, AI has a proven track record as well as radions, sure the evo may have 3w LEDs but what do we actually know of the quality of the lights, etc. having features like dimming or sun rise sun set etc, is very ideal and healthy for the tank stimulating all aspects of a day/night cycle, something you can't do with out a controller. Honestly, and please dont take this the wrong way, but I have seen a couple of threads from you in regards to Evo Leds, and I just want to say that if you are considering jumping into LEDs that you make the right choice the first time, so as not to waste money (potentially) I would personally go with a light that has testimonial from people you are familiar with to back it up. it looks like it would be more suited for planted/refugiums or little frag tanks if anything, but for a main display tank I would put your money to good use on a good light just my opinion though

[RuGlu6]

Originally Posted by Nano

You get what you pay for, with anything, Honestly, and please dont take this the wrong way, but I have seen a couple of threads from you in regards to Evo Leds

yes You are right I am posting everywhere I can to find out the answer I am looking for. It is sometimes hard to motivate people to share knowledge and experience to answer in my own separate thread, so this time I have decided to highjack this thread (sorry Aquattro) and finally got better answer then just "you get what you pay for"
And the answer was: I need to know what kind of LED is used (actual coating etc), proven record of the fixtures and angle of the optics so I did learn something and thanks to the person who answerd that (StirCrazy). I will continue my own research obviously

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by RuGlu6

so this time I have decided to highjack this thread

And you're still doing it? Time to clean up my thread, me thinks

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

And you're still doing it? Time to clean up my thread, me thinks

you going to use soap?

Steve

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

you going to use soap?

Steve

Are you back??

[wolf_bluejay]

Just getting to the original question -- and I'm amazed no one has mentioned or seem to have considered in a build, but the efficiency curve of all LED's in not a straight line. The lumens per watt is ususally calculated at a low power level (300-700mA) and it drops as you run the blubs closer to 100%.

SO when I built my 112 LED fixture, I took this into account. At the upper end (80% and up) you add 20% more electric use and you really get about 12% more light. So, adding 10% more bulbs gives the same light at a lower power bill. I know it's not a whole lot, but over the life span of the LED it does add up.

IE: Cree XPG whites:
700mA = 228 lm = 325 lm/A
1000mA = 305 lm = 305 lm/A
1500mA = 406 = 270 lm/A
So on 100 bulbs running at 100% you get 487 Watts and 40,600 lm of light.

for 130 bulbs at 1000mA (66%) you get 422 Watts and 39,699 lm of light

So, you get almost the same light at 14% less power usage (65 watts less). And if you are running the light 12 hours a day you get about $27 less a year in power costs, for the extra 30 bulbs.

considering I got the LED's pretty cheap, it pays for itself in about 5 years without factoring in the extra heat that come off at 100% and the extra A/C needed to deal with that extra heat as well.

If you consider that you can go with a smaller heat sink even tough you have more bulbs due to less power going into heat, you can almost save enough on the sinks to pay for the extra LED's anyways

So, over the expected 10 year life span, you get longer bulb life (due to lower temp), cost savings on power, better control of colour, and the wonderful ability to just turn the fixture birghter if you wanted to without having to rebuild. It's pretty much hands down better to go with more bulbs

BTW. for the number crunching I did, I found that 112 bulbs at 75% worked out to be the best cost point for what I was building.....

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by RuGlu6

Just wondering what is the difference between one 3w LED and the other?
Other then dimming and fancy controls what is the difference between AI sols and these
http://www.aquatraders.com/EVO-48-LE...ht-p/56234.htm
?
They have single fixtures 5" wide and double fixtures 9.25" wide. If everyone is running their "fancy" LED's at 35%-50% anyway?
Really want to know what is the difference. thx

for one they don't say what kind of LEDs there using, if they are using Cree (or another good brand) then no difference, if they are using some of the cheep ones that use a coating to get the color then the coating will break down eventually and these ones will give you a spectrum shift. there has even been reports of the coating pealing off in places. so it basically comes down to how the LED is made. you get the expensive high quality that use the actually metal of the diode to give off the color you want and you get the cheep and sometimes expensive ones that use a cheep metal to give a blueish color and then coat the dome with colored phosphorus to tune the color to what they want.

Also you want to check into the power supply and if it can be controlled. there are cheaper power supplies that are not regulated as much so this can lead to early failure, and controllability adds cost (although not much)

and finally what is there heat sink and how is the temp managed, you can get systems that use a aluminum heat sink that is enough on there own then add fans as a back up, and you can get systems that if the fans fail your system will be cooked. allot of the companies now are using a heat sink material as the circuit board and mounting the bare LEDs directly to it. nothing wrong with this as long as it is rated for proper thermal dissipation, some companies will do this but use the cheapest material they can find then over size fans. So you really have to looking to the construction and parts used in the system.

Steve

[jorjef]

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

for one they don't say what kind of LEDs there using, if they are using Cree (or another good brand) then no difference, if they are using some of the cheep ones that use a coating to get the color then the coating will break down eventually and these ones will give you a spectrum shift. there has even been reports of the coating pealing off in places. so it basically comes down to how the LED is made. you get the expensive high quality that use the actually metal of the diode to give off the color you want and you get the cheep and sometimes expensive ones that use a cheep metal to give a blueish color and then coat the dome with colored phosphorus to tune the color to what they want.

Also you want to check into the power supply and if it can be controlled. there are cheaper power supplies that are not regulated as much so this can lead to early failure, and controllability adds cost (although not much)

and finally what is there heat sink and how is the temp managed, you can get systems that use a aluminum heat sink that is enough on there own then add fans as a back up, and you can get systems that if the fans fail your system will be cooked. allot of the companies now are using a heat sink material as the circuit board and mounting the bare LEDs directly to it. nothing wrong with this as long as it is rated for proper thermal dissipation, some companies will do this but use the cheapest material they can find then over size fans. So you really have to looking to the construction and parts used in the system.

Steve

dude, get this out of my thread!!