chinese led lights

[AcroBluz]

Those pictures look great, I can't wait to see what the light look like on my 150g

[Ianwraab]

Originally Posted by customreefer

Actually, I didn't end up getting the UV's. After ordering them and paying for them, Hendy told me that the 6 UV's in the fixture didn't look good. So he suggested 48 blues and 24 whites, which is what I went with. They did sent me 15 UV Led's separately, which is kinda useless because I have no clue how to solder, so I asked for a refund to my Paypal account. Still waiting on that one.

Guys, pink and purple increase alge growth more than coral growth and they light your tank pink...
Also red is for plants not tanks... I'll post spectrum picture when I get home...

Even what i got ( 30blue : 25 white )looks quite blue
Atinic color (blue) Is the most absorbed color spectrum for corals

[jfeva0049]

Originally Posted by Ianwraab

Guys, pink and purple increase alge growth more than coral growth and they light your tank pink...
Also red is for plants not tanks... I'll post spectrum picture when I get home...

Even what i got ( 30blue : 25 white )looks quite blue
Atinic color (blue) Is the most absorbed color spectrum for corals

are you referring to the UV led's??? so your saying that there are more cons then pros to having UV leds???

[bhazard451]

Originally Posted by jfeva0049

are you referring to the UV led's??? so your saying that there are more cons then pros to having UV leds???

Personal preference. You increase PAR range near 420nm at less intensity compared to having the blues instead, at the expense of growing more algae. Coral can benefit from it, but would probably benefit from blue more.

I had 2 420nm Violet T5 actinics before yesterday, and algae did grow pretty quick despite a 0.07 phosphate reading.

I think 1 420nm violet led per grouped circle would look interesting. I like the actinic/violet look. I have the leds already to give it a try in the future.

[tankaddict]

Just made my customized A6 with Sam last night, what a great guy. I was able to put in any color I wanted.

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/3178...-lighting.html

[bhazard451]

Looks like this could be used to convert to PWM for a Typhon or ReefKeeper (if the drivers aren't outputting PWM already)

http://shop.stevesleds.com/Aquarium-...rs-harness.htm

[bhazard451]

Originally Posted by tankaddict

Just made my customized A6 with Sam last night, what a great guy. I was able to put in any color I wanted.

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/3178...-lighting.html

What is the ratio of leds you went with? Looks like a really nice blend.

[Amoore311]

Guys, pink and purple increase alge growth more than coral growth and they light your tank pink...
Also red is for plants not tanks... I'll post spectrum picture when I get home...

The problem is the look of the corals, not the growth. Ever see an ORA Red Planet under only Blue/White LEDS? Or a Yellow Tang under a heavy blue LED Set up?

The color on the Red Planet is not the same as it is under a more "full spectrum" light set up. The Yellow Tang looked damn near Orange lol, but admittedly that set up was a bit crazy on the blue side of things when I saw it in person.

[docstach]

I was up in the air about the 120w units, but saw a couple in person. Seemed to run quite cool and lit up the tank well. I think 2 of these will work nicely on my (soon to be) 55 gal. setup.

[WinnipegDragon]

Well I have the pinouts and I'm not sure these are going to work with the Apex.

Basically the pinouts on the quick connect PCB are:

1 - DIM-
2 - DIM+
3 & 4 - Power Switch

The pot on the unit is a standard 1k Ohm resistor. So, I'm not sure how you would pump 0-10VDC into this? We are going to check voltage on the wire from the driver next.

[Amoore311]

Could a solution be as easy as replacing the generic black box driver with something compatible with the Apex?

[bhazard451]

Originally Posted by WinnipegDragon

Well I have the pinouts and I'm not sure these are going to work with the Apex.

Basically the pinouts on the quick connect PCB are:

1 - DIM-
2 - DIM+
3 & 4 - Power Switch

The pot on the unit is a standard 1k Ohm resistor. So, I'm not sure how you would pump 0-10VDC into this? We are going to check voltage on the wire from the driver next.

Aren't DIM- and DIM+ the 0-10v analog dimming signal itself, controlled by the pot? I would think you just splice into the first two, and connect - + accordingly to the apex module vdc ports. Each channel would be 1 driver. The apex would control the output.

[WinnipegDragon]

Originally Posted by Amoore311

Could a solution be as easy as replacing the generic black box driver with something compatible with the Apex?

Possibly, and that's what I'm thinking. However each of these driver is running 24 3W LEDs so the replacement drivers are not cheap. Inventronics has a 700mA one that should do the job but they are $70CDN each.

I'm looking at this unit in particular.

[ctsieber]

Originally Posted by docstach

I was up in the air about the 120w units, but saw a couple in person. Seemed to run quite cool and lit up the tank well. I think 2 of these will work nicely on my (soon to be) 55 gal. setup.

Im kicking around the idea of putting one of those over my 40g

[WinnipegDragon]

I'm also trying to find out from Sam if these drivers are VDC or PWM dimming. If they are PWM, forget about it!

[WinnipegDragon]

Originally Posted by bhazard451

Aren't DIM- and DIM+ the 0-10v analog dimming signal itself, controlled by the pot? I would think you just splice into the first two, and connect - + accordingly to the apex module vdc ports. Each channel would be 1 driver. The apex would control the output.

I'm no electronics guy, so I leave this to my friend to figure out, but he suggests that the return voltage is the key and if it's not 0-10VDC that we are boned.

Dunno yet. Still working on it.

[tankaddict]

Originally Posted by bhazard451

What is the ratio of leds you went with? Looks like a really nice blend.

1. Dimmer one: 12 blue, 30 royal blue, 3 UV, 3 Violet
2. Dimmer two: 18 white+6 royal blue

Ratio is pretty close to 2 blues to 1 white and everything else.

[bhazard451]

Originally Posted by WinnipegDragon

I'm also trying to find out from Sam if these drivers are VDC or PWM dimming. If they are PWM, forget about it!

PWM would also be a good thing. You would need to use a Reefkeeper or Reef Angel instead of an Apex, or you could buy a Typhon ($54) or make a DIY arduino board to program sunrise/sunset and just plug that into an apex outlet.

[WinnipegDragon]

Well looks like we are out of luck. We pulled the PCB for the pot out and tested every scenario we could think of, and there is no way it takes 0-10VDC on the dimmer pins.

If you want to make these dimmable via controller, it looks like you would need to do a driver swap.

[bhazard451]

What about the red/black output wires from the driver itself, instead of the pot wires? I'm wondering how it can dim if it isn't 0-10 or pwm.

[WinnipegDragon]

The dimmer control circuit is one or the other, the output to the LEDs is something completely different.

This dimmer circuit seems to just measure the resistance of the pot, that's it. it's not designed for control by any other method, so you'd need to swap the driver.

[Snausy]

Pretty nice little cree fixture here http://www.aliexpress.com/product-gs...olesalers.html

Stuff is coming out so fast I'm afraid of buyers remorse! The new multichips are cool too.

I read that they are still recommending the 120 dimmable over the new A6? Why is that? Did I misunderstand because that A6 looks pretty awesome if you can just swap out LEDs and optics. Just get the latest as they come out. Am I missing something?

[bhazard451]

Originally Posted by WinnipegDragon

The dimmer control circuit is one or the other, the output to the LEDs is something completely different.

This dimmer circuit seems to just measure the resistance of the pot, that's it. it's not designed for control by any other method, so you'd need to swap the driver.

Well, we like the lights from Hong Kong, maybe we can find compatible drivers for less too

[WinnipegDragon]

Originally Posted by bhazard451

Well, we like the lights from Hong Kong, maybe we can find compatible drivers for less too

Yup, I really have no complaints, I was just hoping we might be able to extend the functionality a bit.

[Amoore311]

Has anyone asked Sam if they could include 0-10 VDC Compatible Drivers in the fixture?