Aquastyleonline.com LED questions.

[Highwind]

Im about to blow money on the 90 LED setup that will be set up with a

75g DP (40g Breeder right now) and a 33g long DP

the 40b is a fish and reef which will be upgraded to a 75g display tank.

the 33g long is a fish only but ive been thinking of putting coral in it was well

okay for the LEDs

are UV and RED LEDs needed? do they supplement something?

I was thinking of getting 52blue 30 white (6500k) 4 UV and 4 Red on 60degree lenses


lemme know what you think.

 

[milkman55]

I think 52 blue to 30 white is going to be way too blue, but its up to everyone's individual preferences. May discussions with Aquastyle led me to more of a 50:50 ratio.

 

[MADtanks]

Well he is goin with the 6500k so maybe not too blue .... now if we went with 52RB to 30CW(10k) then it would reallll blue! lol.

Otherwise He might just be in the slightly bluer than our 50:50 mix , after looking at the tank for a bit It seems too white to me but again Personal pref. like you said.

 

[Neurovet]

Since we're talking color temp, what do you think of mine?
40Blue-drivers 1 and 2
20 4500K-driver 3
10 6500K/ 10 10,000K-driver 4


On you advice spoke to Ray and he agreed..60deg optics on the outside/ 80 deg on the inside.

Thanks for your help guys..you rock!

 

[Highwind]

I think 52 blue to 30 white is going to be way too blue, but its up to everyone's individual preferences. May discussions with Aquastyle led me to more of a 50:50 ratio.

im getting the 90LEDs for 2 Tanks not just 1

 

[hobbzz]

On you advice spoke to Ray and he agreed..60deg optics on the outside/ 80 deg on the inside.

Thanks for your help guys..you rock!

He didn't make a suggestion on the color temp? That's one of the questions I asked him.

 

[Highwind]

pulled the trigger on 90 LED kit 45 6500 white and 45 rb

 

[00Warpig00]

In all my reading on the LED subject it seems as if the Meanwell Drivers only dim to a certain degree and then turn off. How do these Maxwellen drivers included with the aquastyle kits work in this regard? I would really like the ability to "fade to black" so to speak and not have a noticeable "switching off" of the LED strings. Do these drivers continuously dim to no output or do they have a noticeable turn off point?

Also has anyone attempted to wire the driver LED outputs to a common ground configuration? ie: the grounds on the driver outputs tied together. I am considering the 90 LED kit which runs 5 drivers but my fixture I am going to retro fit everything into only has 9 wires from the box that the drivers will be mounted in to the actual light fixture, so I cannot run 10 wires.

Nick

 

[Lanimret]

In all my reading on the LED subject it seems as if the Meanwell Drivers only dim to a certain degree and then turn off. How do these Maxwellen drivers included with the aquastyle kits work in this regard? I would really like the ability to "fade to black" so to speak and not have a noticeable "switching off" of the LED strings. Do these drivers continuously dim to no output or do they have a noticeable turn off point?

Nick

They dim pretty well, but they definitely do it 'stages'. They do turn off just before I hit the bottom of the pot, but I can't compare that to a Meanwell since I don't have any.

As an aside, I am very happy with the lights. They look fantastic, my wife loves the new lighting on the tank.

 

[00Warpig00]

They dim pretty well, but they definitely do it 'stages'. They do turn off just before I hit the bottom of the pot, but I can't compare that to a Meanwell since I don't have any.

As an aside, I am very happy with the lights. They look fantastic, my wife loves the new lighting on the tank.

When they turn off is it something that freaks out your fish? Currently my T5 fixture is either on or off and when it turns off my fish all flip out and make a mad dash for cover. It's quite Jarring to them. I'd like to remove this issue while I'm spending money on LED sets.

Nick

 

[hobbzz]

How long does it generally take for you guys to hear back from Ray? I emailed him on Monday amd still haven't heard anything...I used the from on their website. I definitely won't do business with someone I can't get a hold of.

 

[nemosworld]

When they turn off is it something that freaks out your fish? Currently my T5 fixture is either on or off and when it turns off my fish all flip out and make a mad dash for cover. It's quite Jarring to them. I'd like to remove this issue while I'm spending money on LED sets.

Nick

couple of things, the drivers are dimmable only manually, so do dimming from a controller like you would want. dimming on these is used to set color and brightness, that's it. then it's on or off via timer. unless you get a diff driver that can be controlled via pwm. if you did get and use their driver, get better pots, the one that comes with the kits sucks.

 

[nemosworld]

How long does it generally take for you guys to hear back from Ray? I emailed him on Monday amd still haven't heard anything...I used the from on their website. I definitely won't do business with someone I can't get a hold of.

you might hear back from him sometime today or tomorrow. normally response time has been 24-48hrs. I immagine they are getting tons of emails.
for what it's worth, you can order bridgelux leds from led group buy, just no 10k whites.

 

[Neurovet]

Agreed...he is reliable...but is swamped and takes 24-248 hrs.

He thought the color temp scheme was OK, though I think he likes the 1:1 Blue:10K. I thought I'd try this setup to get the best of all worlds with warmer white on one driver/ cooler white on another and dim accordingly. With LED group buy selling bridgelux domestically, it shouldn't cost more than $15 to switch if I don't like it.

Another question not yet addressed...anyone notice any output difference when 12 vs. 16 vs. 20 LEDs are hooked to one driver? I figured I 'd max out with 20 but am guessing I'll see a decrease in total power.

 

[MADtanks]

You should not notice a output difference since the driver will always supply that 650ma to each LED. Whent he Driver is not warm though i have noticed that at full blast with all 20LED's the LED's pull more than the 70W max and will flicker until it warms up enough, I was getting this problem mostly in my basement, now that the tank is filled and has the LEDs on in the nice temp room(72*) no longer see the crazy flickering i use to.

I am actually going to order some 6500k, and swap out some of the CW. This is the main reason why I took my sweet time drilling each heatsink with a total of 240 holes. Modular is absolutely necessary with LED! you never know if one can short out, or if the salt spray will eventually ruin one of your emitters. When i had my Cree setup i tried to remove some of the whites to get more RB's in but since i used the Artic silver 2 part epoxy it was impossible to remove(after 6+ months of use) since the more the LED's heatcycle the more the Epoxy cures! I used a small flathead, as well as a paint scraper with a nice firm tap of a hammer! and it would not budge!

So for all of you guys gettin your LED's in i advise you to drill , no need to tap, just buy some machine screws from HD or Lowes #4 - 3/8" long or even the 1/2" will work.

 

[spc1spc1]

How long does it generally take for you guys to hear back from Ray? I emailed him on Monday amd still haven't heard anything...I used the from on their website. I definitely won't do business with someone I can't get a hold of.

I have always heard back from him in a day or two. I just ordered another 90 kit. the first one I got turned out great, so I figured I'll add some more

 

[Neurovet]

MAD...Can you give us a tip or links to drilling the heatsink? I'm not the most mechanically inclined Drill press is a necessity I imagine.
F

 

[MADtanks]

No need for a drill press but if you have one(I bought one but know it will be useful aroudn the house) then it will certainly make things easier. For a while i almost bought a Drill Guide(http://www.amazon.com/General-36-37-Precision-Drill/sim/B00004T82L/2/ref=pd_sxp_grid_mlt_1_0) they are fairly inexpensive and will aide in getting those straight holes.

If at all possible create a print out of the LED's(true to size) on an 8.5X11 sheet or however big your heatsink will be tape it down to the heatsink and go to town with the drill press/Drill Guide(press).

You then just take your Sheet metal screws(http://www.amazon.com/ROC-6124-110-Phillips-Sheet-Metal-Screw/dp/B002CIDQM2/ref=sr_1_35?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1322074774&sr=1-35(i said machine screws earlier my bad) and screw your LED's in .... I bought the ones with that angled head(forget what its calld) so that it would be away from the contacts on the pad(minimize shorts) dab on your thermal paste(bought tubes from radio shack) and put your leds on the heatsink....

Unless you have one of the more expensive soldering irons i would suggest you tin all your stars before screwing them onto the heatsink. Try to get yourself a flat tip for the iron as well will help spread the heat more evenly.

GL!

Edit: first link up top was to the wrong Jig, I changed the link to the correct jig.... you can see others on there as well.

 

[milkman55]

I used the adhesive / thermal compound that comes in the kit. No need to drill anything.
It worked great and all the LED as stuck firmly on the U channel. I figure if I want to change any out, I can just pop them off with a sharp knife and reset a new LED.

Absolutely pre-tin all your LED's before attaching as the heat sink sucks the heat from the soldering iron as well. Once they are pre-tinned, you just touch the wire and the soldering iron to the terminal and it melts in quickly.

I always hear back from Ray in 2-3 days, but he always responds. On the last exchange, I was questioning using some of the 6500k white LED's instead of the 10000k on my next build and he said using the 6500k would even be more white than the 10000k? This seems backwards to me, but I am certainly no expert on mixing LED spectrums.

Anyone thats actually used some 6500k know what the difference in color is compared to 10000k?

 

[00Warpig00]

anyone try the DIM4 with the Maxwellen drivers from aquastyle? I really need to get this build going but want to make sure I achieve my main goals. Replace $250 in bad T5 bulbs with LED's so my fish can see, and I can see them. Provide a sunrise/sunset fade on fade off effect to eliminate Jarring/stressing my fish when the sun falls out of the sky instantly to pitch black every night. I am seriously considering a Reef Keeper Elite for a future purchase... Like to incorporate that in the future if it makes sense. Considering a DIM4 just because it seems like a PREFECT solution, but I have heard nothing about experience with LED drivers while using one. I'm kinda lost but needed to get this going a week ago... lol Money is burning a hole...

Nick