High Tide Aquatics

LED supplemental lighting

MontanaBay

MontanaBay

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Hi All,

So I've been doing some research on supplemental lighting for my reef tank and have been thinking about getting some high powered LEDs.

The CREE Xlamp XRE looks like a great option for bright white lighting. They can now be powered to 1000mA putting out 210lumins, which is pretty impressive. They have a great range in spectrum for reds and blues along with whites, but I have only found the whites for sale online and no red or blue.

Here is an interesting product that might be worth a test shot http://www.besthongkong.com/product_info.php?cPath=19_82&products_id=720

it has a built in driver, runs off a 12VDC and looks compact, perfect of a DIY

First I think I will be modding the hood on my 24DX, which should be simple, since it is stock right now and as a bunch of room.

It looks like they make a royal blue (460nm) spectrum in the XRE, but I haven't found any for sale, this paired with the 10,000K white should get the job done huh?

Anyways, thoughts would be welcome, Gomer you seem to have some experience with this stuff, care to chime in?

Thanks,

Josh
 
That driver isn't worth your money or time. There are better options. You won't want red LEDs. Cree makes red XR-C's but luxeon is better for reds now. for blue cree makes then and you can order from cutter. There is a blue 465 and a royal blue 455. LEDs do well fo white and blue but not actinics.
 
[quote author=Gomer link=topic=3988.msg47407#msg47407 date=1214539485]
That driver isn't worth your money or time. There are better options. You won't want red LEDs. Cree makes red XR-C's but luxeon is better for reds now. for blue cree makes then and you can order from cutter. There is a blue 465 and a royal blue 455. LEDs do well fo white and blue but not actinics.
[/quote]

Gomer,
Thanks for the help. On my 24DX I have 2x32watt PCs and the bulbs are about due for replacement, do you think if I ran both at 420nm I could balance them with the cool white Xlamp XR-Es? What would you ball park for the number of LED's required? I'm thinking 6@1000mA, which would be 21 total watts in white.

Also, I see Cutter sells some wide angle/defuser optics, is this worthwhile or is the light still too focused?
http://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut227


Thanks!

Josh
 
I did a hybrid on my BC14 with 6x Cree XR-E Q5s and use 2x PC actinics. It needs maybe 2 of the cree blue LEDs worked in there. The crees whites are too yellow without some blue and the actinics are too purple to be blue.

If it were a high light tank (your 24), I would do 12x Q5's at 700ma*, 4-6 blues (depending on how blue you like your tank. You will not need any optics using crees on a cube tank since they have a 90deg spread vs luxeon's 120deg.

You can drive the crees at 1000ma if you have adequate cooling. Also keep in mind that LED lumens/watt efficiency goes down the more you power it. It is ~ 100lumens/watt at 350ma. I wouldn't be supprised if it were 70lumes/watt at 1000ma.
 
so 16 (12white,4blue) total LEDs? Might be a tough fit in the hood.

the XR-E drop to 60lumes/watt when you hit 1000mA, but they also go from 5,000K at 350, to 7000K at 700 and 10,000K at 1000mA, so they should become whiter right? The 24DX has a metal heat shield and I could upgrade the stock fans if the heat got too much.

What type of driver would you recommend? Most I see only power up to a total of 12watts.

Cheers,

Josh
 
easy to fit in the hood :p Here is my proof of concept DIY fun. tempted to do it again in a more elaborate fashion.
http://www.bareefers.org/discussion/index.php?topic=2789.0


Where do you get the 5000 to 7000 to 10,000K data?

I would either do luxdrives or xitaniums to drive. got xitaniums (they have 700ma line AC driver) since I had a small project and didnt' have a high current DC powersupply for the luxdrives(they are fed DC)


It is tempting to do a 24 or 36 LED array (60 or 90 watts) at 700ma using
6up38mm.gif
 
[quote author=Gomer link=topic=3988.msg47483#msg47483 date=1214597007]
easy to fit in the hood :p Here is my proof of concept DIY fun. tempted to do it again in a more elaborate fashion.
http://www.bareefers.org/discussion/index.php?topic=2789.0


Where do you get the 5000 to 7000 to 10,000K data?

I would either do luxdrives or xitaniums to drive. got xitaniums (they have 700ma line AC driver) since I had a small project and didnt' have a high current DC powersupply for the luxdrives(they are fed DC)


It is tempting to do a 24 or 36 LED array (60 or 90 watts) at 700ma using
6up38mm.gif

[/quote]

awesome link, thanks!

all the data sheets show it is rated from 5,000 to 10,000K and here (http://www.besthongkong.com/product_info.php?cPath=19_53&products_id=609&osCsid=89b55acd2c479af6847b63140ebf0b72) it suggest that to achieve 10,000K you need to drive it at MAX, 1000mA.

the luxdrive is the "luxpuck"? I see 1000mA version for $25 should drive 12+ LED in parallel, that might be the ticket.

Cheers,

Josh
 
Best hongkong..I avoid them and don't trust them much. I have heard not so good stories about them.

You need to learn a bit more on the electronics :p first, if you had 12 LED in parallel on a 1000mA driver, they would each receive 83mA. You want to run series. The 1000ma DC buckpuck has a max input of 32V. You need about 2V of excess voltage to run in regulated mode. This means you can have at max 30V for the LEDs. at 1000mA, the crees will run at about 3.6V. You can only run int(30/3.6)= 8 LEDs
 
[quote author=Gomer link=topic=3988.msg47486#msg47486 date=1214598144]
Best hongkong..I avoid them and don't trust them much. I have heard not so good stories about them.

You need to learn a bit more on the electronics :p first, if you had 12 LED in parallel on a 1000mA driver, they would each receive 83mA. You want to run series. The 1000ma DC buckpuck has a max input of 32V. You need about 2V of excess voltage to run in regulated mode. This means you can have at max 30V for the LEDs. at 1000mA, the crees will run at about 3.6V. You can only run int(30/3.6)= 8 LEDs
[/quote]

good to know about Hong Kong.

Yeah, I'm definitely a rookie when it comes to electronics, but I'm learning as I go, I don't know why parallel was in my head, it will have to be in series.

I have about 5 pdf that I'm comparing and I was thinking I could do 12 @ 700mA with the puck or 12-18 @ 1000mA with the 120v Xitanium series, so I'm getting jumbled in my head, might spend the extra on the Xitanium just so I have more options.

But does it makes sense that it would become closer to 10,000K when driven at 1000mA?
 
12 LEDs will require a voltage drop of over 40v. 18 will be 65v. It won't happen in series like that. 1-8 is the range you will be looking at.

As for the color. You are saying that there is a blue shift in spectrum as you drive it to a higher current. I haven't see much data with that. I would believe a slight shift, but that is a mighty big swing. I'd want to see some data before believing it.
 
hmmm, I had the forward drop at 3.0 for 700mA(which must have been a min on another chart), but I see on the data sheet on Cutter says 3.5 "typical" for 700 and 3.7 for 1000mA. (ugh newbies ::)) , looks like there is a lot different models that could be confusing my numbers too. I'll just go with the Xitanium 120v, that should power everything in my needs and it is only $50.

Yeah, I guess that one chart "implied" that MAX temperature would correspond with MAX current, but maybe not. They list them as 5,000 to 10,000K, so what does that mean? Won't a stable LED configuration emit a constant temperature? I haven't had much luck finding anything online either, might be a good question for Cutter or CREE.

Cheers,

Josh
 
which xitanium are you thinking of? They have like 8 models. the 700ma one will only drive 6 LEDs.

You are getting confused with color temperature and heat temperature (I think)>
 
the Xitanium 120V 40W 1750mA Driver

but I guess I could do two or three pucks for the same price

so here (http://www.leddynamics.com/LuxDrive/datasheets/3021-BuckPuck.pdf) they show the puck powering 12 LumiLED at 700mA and it looks like the LumiLED models are all 3 to 3.5fV. What is happening there?

Thanks,

Josh
 
I've gone thru a few of those BuckPucks...I'm not ll that impressed with them. What do you think about them Tony?
 
Gresham, I have not used a single puck yet. Which one specifically did you use, what did youdrive it with, and what were you driving? I've been tempted to use some luxdrive modules since running 6 or so xitaniums can get a little bulky.
 
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