Another contender in the LED market...

[RandyFolds]

Thought I would share; I just acquired this Ecoray 112 which was released last week and it is ridiculous. 112 1w LEDs driven at 600 milliamps. The suggested coverage is 24" x 16" and the PAR values are through the roof. They beat out a 400w 10K MH.

Hung 6" over the waterline, it is over 800 PAR at 24" water depth, dead center. It is LED, so the falloff towards the edges is quick, and there is nowhere near the spread of a MH, but my goodness this is a lot of light.

I am not sure how I will utilize it yet, as it is too much light, and I really don't want to hang it four feet above the water line. I might hang onto it and use it for a 40br that I am slowly whipping together.

Here is the spot on the ceiling, 7' away in a sunny room. PAR dead center was still over 400:

 

[cocoaandme]

I saw an ecoray 60 at an lfs and it didn't look that bright compared to other LED fixtures I've seen. Also there was a lot more disco effect with the separate white and blue shimmer lines. Do you notice that with your fixture? I guess the ecoray 112 would be almost twice as bright as the ecoray 60.

 

[RandyFolds]

How bright something looks has nothing to do with it's PAR values. That is why LEDs are so efficient. They aren't producing wasted light. Lumens do not equal useful light, i.e. you can have a million lumens and not be able to grow a dandelion.

The Ecoray 60 puts out over 500 PAR dead center at 24" water depth, but offers smaller coverage. I have tested it myself with two PAR meters. A 250w MH with a standard reflector ends up being around 300 PAR.

As far as the disco shimmer, I have not borne issue with it. I think that 3/3.5w LEDs are much worse.

 

[Swim]

How is the heat aspect? Does it have fans? if so, how many? I notice new designs like ACAN are going fan less.

 

[RandyFolds]

2 fans, and it doesn't run hot at all. How can they be going fanless? I don't care how good a heatsink is, they don't work without air movement.

 

[cocoaandme]

How is the heat aspect? Does it have fans? if so, how many? I notice new designs like ACAN are going fan less.

Acan led lights have fans. You just can't see them as well because the vents are well hidden.

How bright something looks has nothing to do with it's PAR values. That is why LEDs are so efficient. They aren't producing wasted light. Lumens do not equal useful light, i.e. you can have a million lumens and not be able to grow a dandelion.

The Ecoray 60 puts out over 500 PAR dead center at 24" water depth, but offers smaller coverage. I have tested it myself with two PAR meters. A 250w MH with a standard reflector ends up being around 300 PAR.

As far as the disco shimmer, I have not borne issue with it. I think that 3/3.5w LEDs are much worse.

Hmm are you measuring the par values in water or out of water? Because that can drastically change the readings. Also the ecoray 60 may have a par value of 500 dead center but it barely has any spread to it as you said. Spread of light can be very important. If you look at T5 systems even though slr helps focus the light of the T5's there is still a good amount of spread which allows light to be incident on more surface area of most corals which is why using T5's usually produce "better" colors because the sides of the corals will have more light and thus have more fluorescence given normal viewing angles.

Max par doesn't mean too much if it's only in a small area. Unless of course you only plan on putting corals in that small area of high par values. Anyway I like LED's a lot but I feel like the Ecoray's use the lenses to get away with having less powerful LED's which in turn creates worse spread and more shading effect. But perhaps the ecoray 112 are much better than the 60's. I am just curious about them since otherwise they look like great fixtures.

Could you make a video of the ecoray 112 on an actual tank? I would like to see how they look given a real situation.

 

[gumbii]

Acan led lights have fans. You just can't see them as well because the vents are well hidden.




Hmm are you measuring the par values in water or out of water? Because that can drastically change the readings. Also the ecoray 60 may have a par value of 500 dead center but it barely has any spread to it as you said. Spread of light can be very important. If you look at T5 systems even though slr helps focus the light of the T5's there is still a good amount of spread which allows light to be incident on more surface area of most corals which is why using T5's usually produce "better" colors because the sides of the corals will have more light and thus have more fluorescence given normal viewing angles.

Max par doesn't mean too much if it's only in a small area. Unless of course you only plan on putting corals in that small area of high par values. Anyway I like LED's a lot but I feel like the Ecoray's use the lenses to get away with having less powerful LED's which in turn creates worse spread and more shading effect. But perhaps the ecoray 112 are much better than the 60's. I am just curious about them since otherwise they look like great fixtures.

Could you make a video of the ecoray 112 on an actual tank? I would like to see how they look given a real situation.

this...


and something about 1W LED's with optics that makes me feel like they reverse engineered something... they should really try to bust out with reflectors instead of optics... like the reefbrite fixtures... of course it was going to have a spotlight affect with optics...

 

[29reef]

Sounds like version one is not quite aquarium ready. They light is there just not in an easy to use form.

 

[ArmanS]

how much was that?

 

[RandyFolds]

Acan led lights have fans. You just can't see them as well because the vents are well hidden.




Hmm are you measuring the par values in water or out of water? Because that can drastically change the readings. Also the ecoray 60 may have a par value of 500 dead center but it barely has any spread to it as you said. Spread of light can be very important. If you look at T5 systems even though slr helps focus the light of the T5's there is still a good amount of spread which allows light to be incident on more surface area of most corals which is why using T5's usually produce "better" colors because the sides of the corals will have more light and thus have more fluorescence given normal viewing angles.

Max par doesn't mean too much if it's only in a small area. Unless of course you only plan on putting corals in that small area of high par values. Anyway I like LED's a lot but I feel like the Ecoray's use the lenses to get away with having less powerful LED's which in turn creates worse spread and more shading effect. But perhaps the ecoray 112 are much better than the 60's. I am just curious about them since otherwise they look like great fixtures.

Could you make a video of the ecoray 112 on an actual tank? I would like to see how they look given a real situation.

The PAR was measured in water, except for the ceiling. That's why I kept saying 'at 24" water depth'. Either way, you would be surprised how little attenuation there is with depth on LEDs compared to MH or florescent.

The Ecoray 60 gives over 150 PAR over the whole 18"x13" recommended coverage area, and as I said, 500+ dead center.

The 112 is exactly the same as the 60, just more lights.

As far as max PAR goes, it is more of a problem than a benefit. There are very few corals that don't suffer the onset of photoinhibition (overlighting preventing photosynthesis) above 400 PAR. Clams and some anemones on the other hand, friggin' love it. They can sustain PAR above 2000 and be happy as, well, a clam.

As far as the disco thing, it does it, just like all LEDs. I am not sure how I feel about it as I have yet to look at it for very long. I do like the ~480nm blues though, as they really make all the florescent proteins pop.

Why are lenses a bad thing? They put the light where you want it. LEDs light a 180 degree hemisphere. You need optics to make them useful.

 

[RandyFolds]

Sounds like version one is not quite aquarium ready. They light is there just not in an easy to use form.

Huh?

how much was that?

I am not sure what the 112 retails for. I think people are selling the 60 for like, $300. I would imagine the 112 to end up around $500.

and something about 1W LED's with optics that makes me feel like they reverse engineered something... they should really try to bust out with reflectors instead of optics...

You seem confused about the nature of LEDs. Reflectors scatter, optics focus. You have never seen an LED without optics.

 

[ArmanS]

price please

 

[ArmanS]

oh beat me too it, where did you get the 112? will 3 of the 60's work for a 225? 30 deep?

 

[RandyFolds]

Google 'EcorayLED' and get to their website to see some specs. I am not a pitchman or anything, I just came up on one of these and figured I would show it to everyone.

I think the 60 is 13"x18" coverage, and the 112 is 24"x18" if I recall correctly, so I don't think three of either would work for you. LEDs only really shoot straight down, so you basically have to have the whole canopy covered in them.

 

[RandyFolds]

And honestly, I think these will effectually have hotspots where nothing but clams and anemones and some reef-crest stylos and pocciliporids will be able to tolerate the intensity.

 

[ArmanS]

okay thanks for the info, probably will just stick to an ati powermodule

 

[RandyFolds]

The Powermodules are awesome. I would definitely go that route with your tank dimensions.

 

[Lurking]

with the small fan that is has do you notice any heat issues with no heatsink? Do you think the housing itself acts as a heatsink? I am not sure if you can tell but I am curious- If one light goes out is it easily replaced? How is the noise? Do you notice any differences between this and the other similar designs coming from China?Sorry for the questions and thanks for posting this for us.

 

[gumbii]

You seem confused about the nature of LEDs. Reflectors scatter, optics focus. You have never seen an LED without optics.

LED's don't always have 180° degrees lenses on the led itself... i have used 45° LED's before to shoot a beam directly down... why can't they just use those..? instead of another projector style beam...? they use optics on cree bulbs to amplify the beam of light... right..? but they're doing it on 1W bulbs... it's bad enough that they aren't very strong bulbs, but i guess they're doing it to keep cost down on the fixture itself... i went to bell birdfarm today and he quoted me a great price for them... way cheaper than the website...




btw... when are they going to start putting out organic led fixtures...?

 

[psykokid]

btw... when are they going to start putting out organic led fixtures...?

when oleds become commonplace and alot cheaper