HID xenon lighting

2smokes · 11/05/2016, 10:43 PM

I present my lamp made with HID xenon bulbs for cars and 5mm led diodes (not smd led chips).The lamp has 1000 plus leds ,a couple houndreds resistors and 2 xenon bulbs.The glass of the lamp is double where the HID bulbs are to keep the heat away from spreading to the tank.The fan is a noctua fan(most silent fan brand) and blows air into the xenon bulbs chamber with reflector.The 12V source used to drive the HIDs is 12V and goes up to 18 amps(its verry imposrtant to be this strong,otther weaker 12 v sources wont be able to fire the xenon lights).

2smokes · 11/05/2016, 10:48 PM

The fan flow is split in 3 sections.The middle area under the fan cools the HID xenon bulbs and the edges of the fan cools the resistors that go from the 5 mm led diodes.The HID xenon bulbs are available in a wide range of color (spectrum).Somme even in 20 000K color.HID xenon bulbs are just as economical as the smd LEDs.Hid have better lights than any led because they include the whoole UV spectrum but the disadvantage of the HID xenon bulbs is that they need to be changed at every 4-5 months when the MH salts in them start to get burned.

mpierce · 11/06/2016, 06:54 AM

Thats a pretty radical lighting fixture. How many watts does it pull? PAR? Most importantly, when is it going on a tank?

2smokes · 11/06/2016, 08:06 AM

The xxenon on this lamp are 35W each and the 5mm leds i didnt calculate.The PAR value never interested me but an interesting fact is that somewhone did measured blue and white 5MM led diodes with a par meter on another forum and it was cloose to T5 HO tubes.The 5mm leds look verry dim but an asiam reefer made himself a lamp only with 5mm led diodes for its sps tank and amazingly the corals he had,mostly acropora ,did well for a few months.This lamp was allready in use like a year and a half and is the best lamp ive owned.Now i dont use it because ive quit reefing meanwhile in favour of the cold water ,pelagic aquarium.Hid xenon lights are verry good and economical to light a reef aquarium but they have the problem of any otther MH lights wich is to find a source of bulbs that always have same spectrum.Chinese HID bulbs of 15000 k spectrum difer in the color ratio they deliver.Somme have more green or red than otthers.I would use T5HO for a reef tank instead of HID xenon because you can find T5 tubes with well ballanced spectrum easy.

2smokes · 11/12/2016, 04:49 AM

One nice thing about HID xenon is that the ballast and the bulb itself is waterproof.Here you can see a 35W HID xenon bulb and ballast completely submerged into a jar of water.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebWii9jwVOU

dz6t · 11/14/2016, 09:53 PM

Please stop peddling your blue car head lights.
These car head lights are small metal halide and xenon is only used to ignite the bulb.They are not true xenon lights and they are max out around 60 to 80 lumins per watt for the warm color ones.

Here is the catch:
12V at 18 Amp is 216w, not 35w as you claimed.

11/05/2016, 10:43 PM	#1
2smokes Moved On Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: romania Posts: 515	HID xenon lighting I present my lamp made with HID xenon bulbs for cars and 5mm led diodes (not smd led chips).The lamp has 1000 plus leds ,a couple houndreds resistors and 2 xenon bulbs.The glass of the lamp is double where the HID bulbs are to keep the heat away from spreading to the tank.The fan is a noctua fan(most silent fan brand) and blows air into the xenon bulbs chamber with reflector.The 12V source used to drive the HIDs is 12V and goes up to 18 amps(its verry imposrtant to be this strong,otther weaker 12 v sources wont be able to fire the xenon lights).

11/05/2016, 10:48 PM	#2
2smokes Moved On Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: romania Posts: 515	The fan flow is split in 3 sections.The middle area under the fan cools the HID xenon bulbs and the edges of the fan cools the resistors that go from the 5 mm led diodes.The HID xenon bulbs are available in a wide range of color (spectrum).Somme even in 20 000K color.HID xenon bulbs are just as economical as the smd LEDs.Hid have better lights than any led because they include the whoole UV spectrum but the disadvantage of the HID xenon bulbs is that they need to be changed at every 4-5 months when the MH salts in them start to get burned. Last edited by 2smokes; 11/05/2016 at 11:15 PM.

11/06/2016, 06:54 AM	#3
mpierce Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: EC, WI Posts: 133	Thats a pretty radical lighting fixture. How many watts does it pull? PAR? Most importantly, when is it going on a tank? __________________ 40B / 20L sump, custom stand - Kessil A160WE, RO 110 classic, Kalk dosing, Apex, MP10QD http://www.tcmas.org/v4/forums/showthread.php?49391-Pierce-s-40-breeder 120 - RETIRED

11/06/2016, 08:06 AM	#4
2smokes Moved On Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: romania Posts: 515	The xxenon on this lamp are 35W each and the 5mm leds i didnt calculate.The PAR value never interested me but an interesting fact is that somewhone did measured blue and white 5MM led diodes with a par meter on another forum and it was cloose to T5 HO tubes.The 5mm leds look verry dim but an asiam reefer made himself a lamp only with 5mm led diodes for its sps tank and amazingly the corals he had,mostly acropora ,did well for a few months.This lamp was allready in use like a year and a half and is the best lamp ive owned.Now i dont use it because ive quit reefing meanwhile in favour of the cold water ,pelagic aquarium.Hid xenon lights are verry good and economical to light a reef aquarium but they have the problem of any otther MH lights wich is to find a source of bulbs that always have same spectrum.Chinese HID bulbs of 15000 k spectrum difer in the color ratio they deliver.Somme have more green or red than otthers.I would use T5HO for a reef tank instead of HID xenon because you can find T5 tubes with well ballanced spectrum easy. Last edited by 2smokes; 11/06/2016 at 08:14 AM.

11/14/2016, 09:53 PM	#6
dz6t Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Boston MA Posts: 414	Please stop peddling your blue car head lights. These car head lights are small metal halide and xenon is only used to ignite the bulb.They are not true xenon lights and they are max out around 60 to 80 lumins per watt for the warm color ones. Here is the catch: 12V at 18 Amp is 216w, not 35w as you claimed. Last edited by dz6t; 11/14/2016 at 09:58 PM.

11/12/2016, 04:49 AM	#5
2smokes Moved On Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: romania Posts: 515	One nice thing about HID xenon is that the ballast and the bulb itself is waterproof.Here you can see a 35W HID xenon bulb and ballast completely submerged into a jar of water. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebWii9jwVOU