chinese led lights

[dsdaley77]

No Cyan (485-500nm), what other specific colors would you like to see moving forward?

[dsdaley77]

This is the number of bulbs(76) and their spectrum I think I'm going to order thru Evergrow for a DIY depending on when the new ones come out, and what it actually does. Pretty sure this should be a great light, what do you think?
4x- 660 nm *Red

4x- 630 nm *Orange/Red

4x- 520 nm *Green**

8x- 460 nm *Aqua Blue

12x- 450-455nm Sky Blue

12x- 440-445nm Royal Blue*

6x- 410-420 nm UV/Violet/Pure Blue

4x- 3000-3500k Warm White

10x- 4100-5000 High Noon White

6x- 6000-6500k*Pure White

6x- 10,000-12,000k*Cool White
If I end up with the DIY fixture I will split the lights into 4 equal amounts and build 2 star patterns for each fixture. I heard also that when laying out your bulbs and color, it best to avoid symmetrical patterns and instead develop a stretched egg shape 2-3 inches closer to center edge of light fixture to get the best spread and uniformity. What are your thoughts on this? Seems legit, gonna draw some stuff up tomorrow and will post for opinions

[osi]

Correct me if I’m wrong I think optics plays a very important role in LED light systems.

I bought 3 of these lights sets from http://www.aliexpress.com/product-gs...olesalers.html

And it all came with exact same lenses which in those pictures. I think it’s a pretty basic lens and maybe with better lenses it’s possible to enhance the power of those lights. So I already sold the 3 I got and I’m going to order another set.

These guys are very flexible when it comes to customizing the lights to my exact need. Mr Keen is very good seller and I’m very happy with his communication.He’s offering me a chance to customize the lights with any lens I choose.

But the problem is I don’t know jack about optics. Few weeks back I knew nothing about LEDs either but thanks to this tread and all the people contributed to this thread (special thanks goes to TropTrea ) I can say now I know my way around LED.

So I’m really appreciate someone can look through these links and tell me which optics are best.

http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm...olesalers.html

http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm...olesalers.html

http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm...olesalers.html

http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm...olesalers.html

http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm...olesalers.html

http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm...olesalers.html

[boxer385]

Can you please post photos i'm considering the same fixture it looks like the apollo reef dimmable. Will they add color if requested for additional cost?

[dsdaley77]

Here's two ideas. Gave up on the star pattern

[bhazard451]

Originally Posted by TropTrea

I red through the tread on these "stunner" light. 36" with a total of 15 watts? They claim it can be cut at 3" incriiments so I'm suspecting it is on a constant voltage driver and there are at least 40 LED's. Now 40 LED's totaling 15 Watts means they are running at 375 mw each. This sounds like a nice moon light strip to me. With the T-5's on I seriously doubt you will see any difference if the LED's are on or off.

I have a 24 LED home built strip that runs at 24 Watts total on my 120 gallon. It is bright for a moon light but is unnoticable against 2 HO T-5 bulbs.

This was for someone who forgot to include or wanted to add some 420nm without rebuying another fixture. For the price of the ebay one, it is great, but yes it isn't exactly powerful. The official stunner light is a bit pricey and the same power.

[cmantis]

Optics don't enhance the power of the light what they do is focus the light. So they will be just as bright as before but that light will be either more spread out with wider optics or focused with narrow optics. Narrower optics are used for deeper tanks wider optics for shallower and for better blending of colors.

[dsdaley77]

Here is a short excerpt regarding "secondary optics"

For simplicity’s sake, if a 100 lumen will produce 100 lumens of light at the center and a measurement taken 25 degrees from its central axis, the output of the LED will appear to drop to only 80 lumens. Continuing on the path away from the center axis a measurement taken 45 degrees off axis will yield only 40 lumens, and so on, until at 60 degrees, only 10 lumens or so are emitted.

Now that we have a better understanding of the primary optic, let’s delve into secondary optics. The secondary optic are separate components that are usually made from optical-grade acrylic or polycarbonate mounted over the primary to help further shape the beam of light. The purpose of the secondary optic is to increase the relative luminous intensity. An example Littlejohn uses is the Fraen 8 degree optic that can actually increase the intensity of the LED 27 times.

“2,700 lumens out of a 100 lumen LED sounds great, right?,” notes Littlejohn. “Not so fast. All of this extra intensity is still only achieved directly under the central axis of the LED. In the case of a narrow optic, there is a SEVERE drop off in light intensity only a few degrees from the central axis. A narrow optic creates a “pencil” of high intensity light, and almost no light is emitted outside of this very narrow beam.”

The numbers sound incredible but in your typical aquarium lighting application the light would have to be mounted so high above the tank to get any usable spread off the LEDs making them unusable from a practical standpoint. There are some more practical secondary optics for use in the hobby, Fraen wide beam or the Ledil Rocket W for example, that do increase the light output of the LED but at a much smaller scale. The Fraen wide optic *increases output 2.4 times and directs it into a 58-degree come.

“Besides the obvious advantage of achieving more light from the same number of LEDs, for deeper tanks, the addition of a secondary optic will greatly benefit the light penetration through the water column,” he adds. “In my opinion, for tanks up to 24-inches deep, LEDs do not require a secondary optic to reach the bottom with a significant amount of light energy intact. For tanks over 24-inces deep, the extra light penetration provided by the secondary optic overrides enough of their disadvantages to warrant their use.”

So why aren’t optics used everywhere then? According to Littlejohn, there are disadvantages of secondary optics with some of them being pretty significant:

They can be expensive. They typically add between 25%-50% to the cost of each LED.
With few exceptions, they create a harsh transition from bright to dark. In other words, the “edges” of the cone-shaped light pattern can be very distinct. This creates a “flashlight effect”, where everything within the light beam is very bright, and everything just outside the beam is very dark.
They hinder color blending. Since most of us like the actinic effect of all blue lighting, and since most of us prefer a cooler color than the coolest white LED available, we must use a combination of royal blue and white LEDs in our systems. When secondary optics are added, you may see obvious white and blue spots in your tank. This effect can be reduced by reducing the center to center spacing of each LED, so that the cones effectively overlap, but it may still be very apparent as our corals grow towards the top of the tank. Also, our rock formations and corals cast shadows, which may be distractingly blue or white under secondary optics.

Hope you found some useful info in there

[JJIM]

The below list is what I was looking at for a D120 several white, both blue and royal blue, red, violet, and green.

White:
4x- 3000-3500k Warm White
8x- 6000-6500k Pure White
5x- 6500-7000k Cool White

Blue:
10xx- 450-455nm Blue
16x- 440-445nm Royal Blue

Red-Green-Violet:
2x- 660 nm Red
4x- 520 nm Green
6x- 420 nm Violet

Now the real question- When considering whites is it best to get a single higher "K" bulb/diode, say 10,000k, or several separate ones such as listed above. Does the 10,000k have all the aforementioned "white" colors within it, or is there another one that may do a better job? If one bulb can do the job of many it would seem that you will get a better "even" distribution of white rather then to systematically attempt to blend them? Is that logic accurate, or am I missing something? Should I keep it the way I have it?

I also see Evergrow has the 4100-5000k, and thus should this be used in place of other whites I have listed?

Thank you in advance!

[cmantis]

I would mix the 4100-5000 with the 6000-6500 or 6500-7000. 10k will have a lot of blue in it.

[JJIM]

Perfect cmantis, that is what I was looking for. I just figured why have so many whites when two or even one can do the same job as good if not better.

Would you suggest I distribute the 4100-5000 with the 6500-7000 evenly for the white spectrum?

It is also possible I wait until Evergrow releases their new light, if at the very least to see what it offers. But, I am reluctant due to the fact it will have a build in controller (if I recall). Having an all inclusive box seems like more room for error, and if access to the warrenty is hard to come by being a China based company it may not bode well should "something" break down.

[cmantis]

I would split them evenly or do 3:2 6.5-7:4.1-5. As far as your red and green I would either do 2 of each or 4 of each.

Here is something I came up with based on the new layout the other night, probably still tweak it (not sure if 8 violet is too many):


As far as the controller goes it is not hard to open these lights up and with the 3 year warranty it shouldn't be hard to get parts sent to you. Also they only have one power plug instead of two and can be linked together (although I believe the timers will still be separate).

[osi]

Thanks dsdaley77. So it does enhance the power.

I red few other articles as well but any of that doesn’t solve my main problem. I cannot understand what’s the difference between clean surface lens (1 pic) and lenses with compact eye kind of surface ( 2 and 3 pic ) and also some with cone shape directly in front of the LED. ( last pic)

Same angle but few variations. So what’s the best for 48” × 24” ×24” tank.

This is what my first set of lights came with. its 90 degree.



and this looks nice and this is what i want on my lights. its also 90 degree but i want to know whats the diference between this and the lense on upper picture.



Ok here are the few lense im going to select one of thees to my next set of lights. im having trouble with selecting best one. its all 90 degree.

















so plz someone help me to select a best lense for my 48" × 24" × 24" tank. its going to be 90 degree coz i know 90 works good from my previous light set with normal lense ( 1i picture ). please help me to understand thees other lenses.

Thanks.

[dsdaley77]

Using my experience in the Optomotrist field I would say it just widens the focal beam of light in the center cone. What I mean is that with the solid lens it's like a jumbo maglight with a pencil beam, the Prisim type lens will have the same effect, a little wider and will be like several smaller (mini) maglights bunched together but in smaller more numerous beams. Then again it could just be aesthetics so they can charge more, are they more?

[dsdaley77]

I like 2,6 &7 by the way

[dsdaley77]

All secondary optics truly do is just redistribute the bulk of the beam, if you make more of a spotlight with low angle beams you just lower the levels of your border. Theoretically that would make blending harder and IMO would cause a little disco action. Since most led manufacturers seem to use such a wide array of primary optics it makes knowing which secondary is best.

[osi]

no dsdaley its all cost between .15 to .32 dollers. you can check on my previous post i post the links. units i got had basic lense (1 picture) and it blended nicely and im very happy with that.

what i want to know is if i use one of thees other 90 degree lense is it going to make it better. and also some of thees got flat surface and other ones got round surface. whats the difference?

[dsdaley77]

Because primary optics differ brand to brand and sometimes model to model, you end up with just as many options for secondary optics so that you can achieve true coverage. More info to come, just can't find the article

[dsdaley77]

Here's a pic that might help.


So the different shape optic covers,grooves and prisms are just different methods to get the same result.

I would go with the middle cost one as it will be most likely better quality and a little cheaper.
On a tank your size though, depending on your lights, they are not required if you have 90-180 degree primary optics.

[zigzag1]

[QUOTE=osi;20599259]

QUOTE]

Glad you posted this pic OSI, thanks. Notice how the led chip is off center.. The Evergrow D120s are very noticeably this way and not all of them, some worse than others. Is this a quality issue? Are all bridgelux leds this way? Will it reduce efficiency and effectiveness?

[dsdaley77]

The optic can change the the "appearance" of the led placement. If the picture was taken even 1 degree off center axis the led can look distorted.

[dsdaley77]

Ok final design, I think this should wreak perfection



As always, any input is appreciated.

[bhazard451]

Originally Posted by dsdaley77

Ok final design, I think this should wreak perfection



As always, any input is appreciated.

As with any untested custom ratio, you won't know until you see it.

Is this for your own DIY build? I'm not sure there is a chinese fixture with 3 channels where the 3rd channel is more than just 3 leds of rb moonlights.

[rad1687]

Originally Posted by dsdaley77

Ok final design, I think this should wreak perfection



As always, any input is appreciated.

This looks pretty awesome! What company do you plan on using for this unit? I would be very interested in getting something like this as well, depending on the price.

[dsdaley77]

Originally Posted by bhazard451

As with any untested custom ratio, you won't know until you see it.

Is this for your own DIY build? I'm not sure there is a chinese fixture with 3 channels where the 3rd channel is more than just 3 leds of rb moonlights.

Well it's kinda both, I am going to wait first off to see Ever's new light and then if I like it customize as close to this model I have done up. Worst case I will get a plug and play with 2 dimmers rewire it a little to add the third and mess with placement if needed. Is this sound thinking or am I crazy?