chinese led lights

[oceanarium]

Originally Posted by Soju

oceanarium,
I am looking at this 24 x 3W led unit with dimmer for my 17" deep 12 gallon nano for $180 including shipping from China. It comes with bridgelux led. The same unit will come with CREE led for an extra $60. Base on your experience, is the extra $60 on CREE worth it?
Thanks.

Cree has a good reputation for efficy I don't use cree in my fixtures so wont comment on how great the difference is. I have seen good results from these lights running cree emitters.

Hey guy's just trying to demonstrate you can get some reasonable results from these lights. A good way to run a tank if funds are limited IMO.

A few more pictures if it helps....

Daisy corals we started with a three polyp head and continually harvest this tank.

12 months growth on a hammer coral.


12 months on a daisy


10 weeks on a acro.

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by Rakkah

If I wanted to measure the output of my Chinese LED lights, how / what would i use to do so?

The general standard is using a PAR meter which is realy great for terestial plants and even good for fresh water plants that grow near the surface. The problem with a PAR meter for Reef tanks though is that it evaluates red light and blue light on the oposite ends of the spectrum equally. Therefore you can get a fantastic high PAR reading with a Warm white LED and a Red LED. however corals can only ise a small amount of that red light which you have an abundance of and they will be getting insufficient Blue light which is there main form of natural light.

The spectrum anylizers for light are the ideal way to measure whatt you realy have. However for even the most advanced aquariuasts this equipment is very cost prohibitive.

So we basicly end up using a comprimise with the PAR meter realizing that the light distribution needs to be Blue heavy for the readings to be realistic. There is also an argument that we should be using PUR however there are no reliable meters regardless of price that will give us a true PUR readng. The PUR reading is also misleading as every type of coroal will use slightly or even drasticly different amounts of light compared to another.

Lightt is mad up bsicly of red, green and blue. If you know you have a ratio of roughly 1 part red to 3 parts green and 1 part green to at least 3 parts blue that the PAR can be a valuable guide. When I look at an advertisement that claims a said ligh produces a said PAR the next thing I look at is the type of light sources they are using. If there getting the high PAR a lot of Warm White LED's and only have an equal amount of blue LED's I know they designed the fixture more for the PAR numbers rather than actual coral growth.

If you lo0k at horocultural high PAR lighting fixtures you will notice they are extremly heavy in the yellow to orange part of the color spectrum. While they do produce great PAR numbers and results growing Tomatoes they are useless for the Reef tank with corals.

[Ucyibd1]

Originally Posted by Ucyibd1

Yeah, I got them on Monday. I will post some pictures and my thoughts when I get home tonight.

They came packaged very well. No damage.



Pictures of just the whites on and then just the blues on.


On the left is the lowest setting and on the right is the max.

Now keep in mind these pictures were taken with my iPhone and it is hard to explain how bright the lights are, the light is very intense and crisp. These fixtures have he Epistar led's in them. Coverage is good on my tank (48x24x24). The ripple effect on the sand bed is pretty mesmerizing too. The fans are just a bit quieter than what was in my T5 fixture. I guess the only real complaint I have is with the hanging hardware it is kinda hoaky but picking a hanging height is made easy due to the dimmers. Mine are 6" off the top of the tank and I may move them up a little. I made a DIY hanging setup by hanging a 48" long piece of conduit between cables on either end made of picture hanging wire, so I just clip the lights on the conduit, and I can move them side to side if I have to, works rather well for now. I really like the lights, they are pretty light and seem to be made well. Take it how you will but I think they will be just fine. I first saw these on Ebay, contacted the seller and he works for the company that makes them, and the rest is history. Hope this helps some of you if you are on the fence about them, either way it guides you. Have a good night and happy reefing.

[AndrewLL]

I"m am trying to decided between E.shine or Houyi LEDs. There is fair bit of info on peoples experience with E.shine 4G lights but I haven't seen much on the Houyi LEDs (link below).

http://3ledaquagrow.hyt3.61916.org/en-view-cp364.html

Does anyone have any experience?

Cheers

Andrew

[biecacka]

I think I'm gonna order the dimmable ones
Corey

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by AndrewLL

I"m am trying to decided between E.shine or Houyi LEDs. There is fair bit of info on peoples experience with E.shine 4G lights but I haven't seen much on the Houyi LEDs (link below).

http://3ledaquagrow.hyt3.61916.org/en-view-cp364.html

Does anyone have any experience?

Cheers

Andrew

I looked up the web page and the fixture sound great but in reading the details I have some real questions.

"white10000k18pcsx3w,
white14000k18pcs*3w,
white18000k12pcs*3w,
blue460nm24pcsx3w,
moonblue453nm8pcsx3w,
purple427nm8pcsx3w "

Neither Cree or Bridglux make a 14,000K or 18,000K LED, yet they say they are using Cree or Bridglux LED's.

The second question is many companies claim to be using 3 Watt LED's but are not driving them anywhere near 3 Watts. So you may want to find out what they are driving the LED's at.

If you have a choice of the color distribution I would go with:
22 neutral whites CREE
22 Royal Blues Cree
33 Blues Cree
11 Cyan Philips

Note if the Cyan are not available go with 24 Neutral Whites, 28 Royal Blues and 36 Blues.

Finaly there is a question of if you get Cree or Bridglux LED's. Crees are basicly costing 50% more per LED and producing about 10% to 30% more light at the same wattage depenedent on the individual LED. If price is the same you want the CREE's.

[jrp1588]

I wonder if there would be any benefit to upgrading the drivers on these lights so they could use all 3 watts per LED. They seem to stay exceptionally cool with their heatsinks and 3 fans. Drivers are a bit pricey though. I think these have 55 LEDs split between 2 drivers. What kind of driver would be needed to drive these to 3 watt?

[Phishguy]

Originally Posted by AndrewLL

I"m am trying to decided between E.shine or Houyi LEDs. There is fair bit of info on peoples experience with E.shine 4G lights but I haven't seen much on the Houyi LEDs (link below).

http://3ledaquagrow.hyt3.61916.org/en-view-cp364.html

Does anyone have any experience?

Cheers

Andrew

I looked into these too.. Would have went this way if they werent out of my budget. Eshine offers the same thing really just that the layout and dimensions are different. I think you are taking the se chance on either light. They are made in the same place and both can use under driven Crees. It seems you need the controller with each light so that can get a bit steep. Also, people with the controllers say that when power goes out, that the timers reset.

[BigAirHarper]

Sorry for the delay on getting pics up, but here is my lights that I received from eshine, they are the 4G 24x3W Cree lights. Took exactly 1 week for me to receive them after I ordered them. No damage in shipping. I have 2 of them over my 57G rimless (36"x18"x21"). They are non dimmable and 1:1 color ratio hanging approximately 6" off the water.

Lights are a crisp 14K with all lights on. Blue is ridiculous. Way more blue than T-5 actinics I have had in the past. I'm running the daylights for 6 hrs and the blues for 12 hrs. I also bought their digital 3 way timer. Works well, only quirk is if you say turn on the lights manually to show people, it waits until the start of the time cycle to turn back on when put in Auto mode. No big deal and still works well.

As far as coral response goes, I have GSP, acan, gorgonias, and shrooms as well as a random SPS (digitata i think). All are doing well after 2 weeks. Shrooms and acan have lost some color on the areas that directly face the LED's, but as we have all read, this is expected and color will hopefully return like others have. All in all, I'm extremely happy. The its amazing how intense they are and how cool they are, you can just walk up and grab the fixture if you like. The exhaust fans run unbelievably quiet and I can only hear my return pump running. LMK if you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer.

[jeffesaurusrex]

Does anybody have more details on hanging one of the aquariumleds.com units from the ceiling? Will I have to buy a different hanging kit like the Radion one to hang the units using two points? I heard the stock ones are designed for one point hanging, but they can be modified for two point hanging using a carabiner - how is that done and can it be done using something other than an ugly carabiner? Also, what about adjustment for light acclimation?

I want to hang them from the ceiling probably using either toggle bolts through the drywall, or a piece of wood screwed to the studs but I don't want to hang them from one point each if they are going to twist around, and I DEFINITELY don't want to drill for one point hanging then have to drill again to switch to two point.

I was kind of toying with the idea of using keyhole shelving brackets attatched somehow to the lights - you could raise and lower each fixture simply using the keyhole brackets.

Any advice?

[jrp1588]

Don't waste your time with the 1 point hanging system. It will twist like crazy. Here's my setup.

I have the chain hanging from some ceiling hooks and you adjust the light height my moving it up or down a rung on the chain.

I tossed the janky carabiners in favor of these S hooks. They are a lot easier to work with. I plan to eventually invest in a grip-lock light hanging system.
http://www.usalight.com/griplock-system-s/1927.htm
I priced it all out at around $50 to hang 2 lights. This hanging system will look a lot better and be much easier to adjust height.

[jeffesaurusrex]

Originally Posted by jrp1588

Don't waste your time with the 1 point hanging system. It will twist like crazy. Here's my setup.

I have the chain hanging from some ceiling hooks and you adjust the light height my moving it up or down a rung on the chain.

I tossed the janky carabiners in favor of these S hooks. They are a lot easier to work with. I plan to eventually invest in a grip-lock light hanging system.
http://www.usalight.com/griplock-system-s/1927.htm
I priced it all out at around $50 to hang 2 lights. This hanging system will look a lot better and be much easier to adjust height.

This looks like it works very well. I like the idea that you can basically adjust the height within seconds. How did you attatch the chain to the ceiling? With toggle bolts or were you able to screw into ceiling joists?

[Ucyibd1]

Yeah, as long as you dont use the 1 point hanging system and separate the cables and use 2 on each end it will work fine.

[jrp1588]

I tried toggle bolts, but I didn't really like them. I ended up just using plastic drywall anchors.

[pentrix2]

i tried reading up on this but couldn't take it reading so many pages. where can i buy these bad boys? I'm interested in getting this.

4G 24x3W Cree lights

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by jrp1588

I wonder if there would be any benefit to upgrading the drivers on these lights so they could use all 3 watts per LED. They seem to stay exceptionally cool with their heatsinks and 3 fans. Drivers are a bit pricey though. I think these have 55 LEDs split between 2 drivers. What kind of driver would be needed to drive these to 3 watt?

With 55 LED's running at 3 Watts each your talking a total of 165 Watts. The comercial drivers only go up to 60 watts for these LED's so you would end up spliting them into at least three strings.

If you want to run these non dimmable I would reccomend the Mean Well LPC-60-1050 driver. It will handle 14 LED's running at 1,050ma. for a comparison with the different CREE LED's it will mean your running
XP-E's @ 3.5 Watts each
XT-E's @3.1 Watts each
XM-L's @ 2.8 Watts Each (these can be run to 3 Amps for 10 Watts)
XP-G's @ 3.15 Watts each

Reagardless which of these you are running they are now all rated to handle 1050 ma. with 55 LED's however you would have to run 4 of these drivers and these trivers are under $30.00 each from most sources.

Now if you want to go adjustable go with the 60-48'D's but these drivers do run up to 1,300ma and you need to set them assure they do not exceed the recomended power for the LED's in your fixture. yes the cost does come up as these drivers are under $35.00 each and you also need a dimming cuircuit and seperate 10 vlot power supply so the cost for 4 drivers wwith controls will be about $50.00 more.

[bezlar]

Okay ive read the entire thread and ready to buy lights. I have a few questions. First my lights will have to sit on top of tank only 3 inches off the water, will i get enough spread with the 120 watt ebays? Second my tank is 60x24x24 how many would i need? Hoping to get away with just two? Third i have just a few sps, some rose tip bubble anemones, and one clam, and lots of green soft corals or small carpet anemones. I have never figured out what they are but they have gone wild in tank and they look good. Tank is 11 years old and does very well. My third question is would i have to dim these lights? If so I would buy the ones with dimmers. Also I like the one that is 48 inches and has the controller built into side of unit. I have emailed that company with no response but will still try to contact. Budget is around $700 or so. I have a aquanitics constellation t5 fixture now.

Thanks

[drktemplar]

i have chinese leds been running them for about 6 months and they work perfectly. nothing bad about them. corals are growing nice and have been having a lot better turn out then t5 lighting i used to have

[jrp1588]

I have a 48" tank and use 2. I think you'd be okay as long as the extra 6" on either side don't have light demanding coral.

On a side note, I got some SPS frags about a week and a half ago. All of them were fresh frags simply snapped off the mother colony and epoxied directly to the rock. In the week and a half that I'd had them under this light, they have encrusted about 1.5-2mm over the epoxy and shown great polyp extension. Color isn't the best yet as they were all snapped off of lower branches. My established colony of red monti cap has also shown accelerated growth compared to the old ATI sunpower 6x54watt.

[david pinder]

Origanly bought 6 of the 120 wt chinese lights did like them my problem its been about a yr and 4 of the 6 have lost at least 1 section of lights. Bought 16 units cree from eshines in the last 3 months my corals seem to love them but cant tell you about dependability. Havent had them that long. Did have problems with 3 of them eshines replaced parts promptly. Only 2 with the controllers and dont like them as others stated total electric losss means you have to reprogramm. wouldnt be bad mine are too hard to get too.

[galkito]

Hi all,

has anyone tried this one:?
http://eshinesystems.com/aqua/4g-60x...ium-light.html

it is made by e-Shine. Any feedback on them?
I am thinking of buying one and I would really like someone who “knows” about LEDs to tell me his opinion…

Thanks

[ganjero]

Originally Posted by TropTrea

The general standard is using a PAR meter which is realy great for terestial plants and even good for fresh water plants that grow near the surface. The problem with a PAR meter for Reef tanks though is that it evaluates red light and blue light on the oposite ends of the spectrum equally. Therefore you can get a fantastic high PAR reading with a Warm white LED and a Red LED. however corals can only ise a small amount of that red light which you have an abundance of and they will be getting insufficient Blue light which is there main form of natural light.

The spectrum anylizers for light are the ideal way to measure whatt you realy have. However for even the most advanced aquariuasts this equipment is very cost prohibitive.

So we basicly end up using a comprimise with the PAR meter realizing that the light distribution needs to be Blue heavy for the readings to be realistic. There is also an argument that we should be using PUR however there are no reliable meters regardless of price that will give us a true PUR readng. The PUR reading is also misleading as every type of coroal will use slightly or even drasticly different amounts of light compared to another.

Lightt is mad up bsicly of red, green and blue. If you know you have a ratio of roughly 1 part red to 3 parts green and 1 part green to at least 3 parts blue that the PAR can be a valuable guide. When I look at an advertisement that claims a said ligh produces a said PAR the next thing I look at is the type of light sources they are using. If there getting the high PAR a lot of Warm White LED's and only have an equal amount of blue LED's I know they designed the fixture more for the PAR numbers rather than actual coral growth.

If you lo0k at horocultural high PAR lighting fixtures you will notice they are extremly heavy in the yellow to orange part of the color spectrum. While they do produce great PAR numbers and results growing Tomatoes they are useless for the Reef tank with corals.

Where did you get this info? do you care to link references? what PAR meter are you referring to?

Thanks

[jg210302]

What optics are you guys ordering??? I am going to be putting together a 110 Tall which is 48" X 30" deep so I am wondering how many units and what optics to run???

Thanks,
Jeremy

[radbluesfan]

Originally Posted by galkito

Hi all,

has anyone tried this one:?
http://eshinesystems.com/aqua/4g-60x...ium-light.html

it is made by e-Shine. Any feedback on them?
I am thinking of buying one and I would really like someone who “knows” about LEDs to tell me his opinion…

Thanks

I don't know about these personally but I have been looking at them too, but the 48X3 version. I have been emailing them and doing some research. The 48X3 Crees were $395 and Bridgelux $295 with solar controllers--knock about $100- $125 without controllers. With Bridgelux you can ask them to put some red or UV or whatever mixed in---not sure about the Cree. I've been mostly looking at the Bridgelux because of budget. I have read the fans are quieter than the other black boxes. Shipping is really high --- $72 for one, $122.60 for 2, and $128 for three units (48X3s, 60X3 are probably more). Strange thing is this morning's daily email reply stated that if I bought 4 of the lights the price was much, much less. So much that I had to email her back to ask if it was a typo or mistake---no reply yet. Still not sure what I will get. Luckily I have a lot of time to think about it. If you want to discuss anything further or see my email chain with them, PM me.

[jg210302]

Originally Posted by radbluesfan

I don't know about these personally but I have been looking at them too, but the 48X3 version. I have been emailing them and doing some research. The 48X3 Crees were $395 and Bridgelux $295 with solar controllers--knock about $100- $125 without controllers. With Bridgelux you can ask them to put some red or UV or whatever mixed in---not sure about the Cree. I've been mostly looking at the Bridgelux because of budget. I have read the fans are quieter than the other black boxes. Shipping is really high --- $72 for one, $122.60 for 2, and $128 for three units (48X3s, 60X3 are probably more). Strange thing is this morning's daily email reply stated that if I bought 4 of the lights the price was much, much less. So much that I had to email her back to ask if it was a typo or mistake---no reply yet. Still not sure what I will get. Luckily I have a lot of time to think about it. If you want to discuss anything further or see my email chain with them, PM me.

I am looking into buying at least two also, maybe we could go in on a qty. buy for the lower price?