chinese led lights

[jefftse]

What's the latest on apex VDM compatibility?

[bhazard451]

Originally Posted by ghrorick

bhazard, do you like the d120s with the red and greens better or is basically a toss up? I am putting these over my zoa/poly tank (180gallon) and since I will not be doing any upgrading/modifing of the lights I thought the d120s would be a better bet than the novas. I saw your fixture with the reds and greens and thought that maybe they could help the zoas out even more with color.

It really does help out with color in reds and oranges, but they also stick out like a sore thumb. You gain visual appeal, but you also can see 2 red/green somewhat spotlighted areas in the sand. Its a toss up.

With that said, I gutted my Nova and I'm installing Cree/Luxeon Reds, Greens, Cyans, and 420 violets. No more than 2 reds/greens/cyans each. See if Sam has reds and greens.

[bhazard451]

Originally Posted by jefftse

What's the latest on apex VDM compatibility?

Nothing yet, and its somewhat of a pain to convert it. You would need 4 meanwell drivers, or 2 high voltage 0-10v drivers. Hopefully someone offers something soon.

Apollo Solarblast fixtures offer it, but are $359. Almost $200 more. Same with the Reefbreeders fixtures.

[jefftse]

Originally Posted by bhazard451

Nothing yet, and its somewhat of a pain to convert it. You would need 4 meanwell drivers, or 2 high voltage 0-10v drivers. Hopefully someone offers something soon.

Apollo Solarblast fixtures offer it, but are $359. Almost $200 more. Same with the Reefbreeders fixtures.

Damn.. $200 more??? and I want to A8 style too...

[bhazard451]

Originally Posted by jefftse

Damn.. $200 more??? and I want to A8 style too...

I gave up waiting and started building my own DIY fixture. There just aren't any cost effective lights that are Apex dimmable. I refuse to pay $359 for a unit that can be gotten for $165 without Apex dimming... shipped overnight from China.

[fetta]

I totally agree with bhazard451.....maybe you should make some lights that you can control with the apex......and then you sell them to us.......lol

[jefftse]

Originally Posted by bhazard451

I gave up waiting and started building my own DIY fixture. There just aren't any cost effective lights that are Apex dimmable. I refuse to pay $359 for a unit that can be gotten for $165 without Apex dimming... shipped overnight from China.

AI sol is only 400 bucks? and it's made in US and apex dimmable?

[bhazard451]

Originally Posted by jefftse

AI sol is only 400 bucks? and it's made is US and apex dimmable?

AI Sol only uses 72 watts and doesn't cover as large an area compared to 110watts on these. It has similar or maybe even less PAR/PUR (usable light). You can buy 2-3 d120 boxes for less than $500 to cover a 6ft long tank. You would need close to 5 sols over that same tank to cover it, costing $2,000.

The killer is Apex dimming right now. It wouldn't cost much more to implement in the chinese fixtures either. I did it for $52 (shipping included from Hong Kong), so it would only add around $20 per fixture if one of them actually did it.

[bhazard451]

Originally Posted by fetta

I totally agree with bhazard451.....maybe you should make some lights that you can control with the apex......and then you sell them to us.......lol

Haha, I was thinking about it, but I just don't have the time. Someone could totally buy a bunch of the custom 0-10v chinese drivers in bulk and add them in for a fee.

[jefftse]

so did you get it working with apex?

[bhazard451]

Originally Posted by jefftse

so did you get it working with apex?

Yes. It took me two sets of drivers to find the right combo that would work. I posted the specs many pages back, but they look like this:

0-10v dimmable (must dim down to 10%)
650mah
60-90v DC

They are also too big to fit inside the d120 fixture, but fit into the Nova A4. They were $52 shipped.

[Chicago]

Buzzard. Is there a site that shows the hard ware connections to attach an apex. Also. I have a connection in the heating and ac business . He has machines that can make amazing stiff from sheet metal ect. Wonder if could use him to make some housings. Hmm.

Is there a computer board to attach LEDs to. Is that what the Chinese units are doing. ?

[jefftse]

Originally Posted by bhazard451

Yes. It took me two sets of drivers to find the right combo that would work. I posted the specs many pages back, but they look like this:

0-10v dimmable (must dim down to 10%)
650mah
60-90v DC

They are also too big to fit inside the d120 fixture, but fit into the Nova A4. They were $52 shipped.

Wow.. amazing!! you should show these chinese manufactures how it's done!!! Is it hard to do?

[bhazard451]

Originally Posted by jefftse

Wow.. amazing!! you should show these chinese manufactures how it's done!!! Is it hard to do?

DriversAndFans by TKIY, on Flickr



Use wire nuts, solder and heat shrink, or the same molex plugs if you can find them. Molex would be plug and play and really easy.

- The bottom 2 wires connected to the AC plug is the input, which gets replaced with the 2 input wires on the new driver. The third wire from the AC plug leads to the grounding screw.

- Brown and blue output on the new driver connect to the other end of the red molexed wire that the one on the original driver leads to (the leds).

- Connect the 2 dimming wires from the new driver (DIM+ DIM-) to wires 1 and 2 of a cut ethernet CAT5 cable (1: Orange-White,2: Orange). For driver # 2, connect to wires 5 and 6 of the same ethernet cable (5: Blue-White, Green). (Drill a hole in the back for the wire to go through)

- Disconnect the fans from the drivers. Cut the red and black wires from each fan so they are on their own, and not connected to the heat shrunk board they are attached to.

- Get a 12v Universal AC adapter plug, and cut the multiple plug piece off. Run the cut cord into the fixture. Connect the red wire from each fan to the striped cord, connect the black wires to the solid black cord. If you use a 12v Adapter, you can control the speed of the fans by flipping through the different voltages on the adapter. Make sure the fans blow air into the fixture. If they dont, flip the polarity switch on the adapter, and the fans will reverse.

- Put the fixture back together, and test the dimming via the Apex. Make it ramp from 0 to 100 in 1 minute.

If you are good with wiring, it would take you minutes. If you aren't, it will take hours.

This makes the Nova A4 Apex dimmable. It will only dim down to 10%, which is still sort of bright. All DIY drivers basically do this though.

You will not be able to control it with the Pot switches anymore. It will only work with an Apex or other 0-10v dimming controller.

This probably wont work on the d120 or other Novas. I haven't seen how those are wired or what the specs on the drivers are.

[jefftse]

do you have pictures that from 10%, 50%, 100%?

[Chicago]

Would this work on an a6?

[Chicago]

Great pics of build by the way.

[cmantis]

Ok I need some help. I want to order from Sam for my 40g breeder tanks. Will one d120 be enough? Also what diy ratio should I request? One tank will be coral/fish and the other will be a frag tank.

[cmantis]

Here is a summary of the DIY that have already been ordered:
* (and = separate dimmers)

1) 26 blue + 4 violet and 25 white

2) 23 blue + 4 violet and 19 white + 9 blue

3) 26 blue + 4 uv and 25 white

4) 24 blue + 4 uv and 27 white

5) 26 blue + 4 violet and 21 white + 4 uv (with 90 degree optical lens)

6) 28 blue and 14 white + 9 blue + 2 uv + 2 violet

7) 24 blue + 4 violet and 27 white

[WinnipegDragon]

Just a reminder I bought two of those replacement dimmable LED drivers that bhazard has but I'm not going to use them. PM me if you want them, I'll sell them cheaper than China

[bhazard451]

Originally Posted by WinnipegDragon

Just a reminder I bought two of those replacement dimmable LED drivers that bhazard has but I'm not going to use them. PM me if you want them, I'll sell them cheaper than China

I'm surprised you didn't do the mod. What changed your mind?

Not gonna lie, I did miss the ease of the pot switches, instead of having to re program the controller each time I wanted to play around with light color.

[ghrorick]

So I am going to order 3 d120s with optic lenses and was wondering if this is a good setup, Dimmer one: 28Blue, Dimmer two: 14White+9Blue+2UV+2Violet(440nm) or should I get 4 less blues and 2 more uv and violets.

[WinnipegDragon]

Originally Posted by bhazard451

I'm surprised you didn't do the mod. What changed your mind?

Not gonna lie, I did miss the ease of the pot switches, instead of having to re program the controller each time I wanted to play around with light color.

Way too much light for my tank which is an 18" cube. 48 x 3w LEDs was overkill and then I also decided to go full spectrum. I figure now was the time since I resold the A4 for the exact same price I paid for them

The LFS here are really limited for LED, I was seriously considering importing ten and selling them off locally for a $100 per unit profit! The only LED fixtures in town are rebranded dimmable 120s for $399!

[Trevenator]

Originally Posted by ghrorick

So I am going to order 3 d120s with optic lenses and was wondering if this is a good setup, Dimmer one: 28Blue, Dimmer two: 14White+9Blue+2UV+2Violet(440nm) or should I get 4 less blues and 2 more uv and violets.

This is the DIY ratio i sent to sam. 3 to 1 white to blue and I put the 2UV+2Violet because I have seen a few posts of people saying they wish they had only got 2 or 3 Violet because it made the tank to pink.

So 4 of each would be way to much I think. You would have a full on purple or pink tank

[AcroBluz]

Thanks for posting this, I might give it a try when(if) I ever get a new tank. I bought the lights and just before they arrived i found out that i had to move across the country.

Originally Posted by bhazard451

Use wire nuts, solder and heat shrink, or the same molex plugs if you can find them. Molex would be plug and play and really easy.

- The bottom 2 wires connected to the AC plug is the input, which gets replaced with the 2 input wires on the new driver. The third wire from the AC plug leads to the grounding screw.

- Brown and blue output on the new driver connect to the other end of the red molexed wire that the one on the original driver leads to (the leds).

- Connect the 2 dimming wires from the new driver (DIM+ DIM-) to wires 1 and 2 of a cut ethernet CAT5 cable (1: Orange-White,2: Orange). For driver # 2, connect to wires 5 and 6 of the same ethernet cable (5: Blue-White, Green). (Drill a hole in the back for the wire to go through)

- Disconnect the fans from the drivers. Cut the red and black wires from each fan so they are on their own, and not connected to the heat shrunk board they are attached to.

- Get a 12v Universal AC adapter plug, and cut the multiple plug piece off. Run the cut cord into the fixture. Connect the red wire from each fan to the striped cord, connect the black wires to the solid black cord. If you use a 12v Adapter, you can control the speed of the fans by flipping through the different voltages on the adapter. Make sure the fans blow air into the fixture. If they dont, flip the polarity switch on the adapter, and the fans will reverse.

- Put the fixture back together, and test the dimming via the Apex. Make it ramp from 0 to 100 in 1 minute.

If you are good with wiring, it would take you minutes. If you aren't, it will take hours.

This makes the Nova A4 Apex dimmable. It will only dim down to 10%, which is still sort of bright. All DIY drivers basically do this though.

You will not be able to control it with the Pot switches anymore. It will only work with an Apex or other 0-10v dimming controller.

This probably wont work on the d120 or other Novas. I haven't seen how those are wired or what the specs on the drivers are.