chinese led lights

[jrp1588]

Eh, I felt it and I didn't like how warm it was getting. I wish I could find where they are getting their fan controllers so I could buy one and have a third fully working unit in case I want a bigger tank down the road. I searched for a good hour and found nothing though. What do the DIY LED guys do?

 

[BigCountry74]

most the DIY mount them to alum rails (heatsinks), they dont utilize fans like these black boxes do. they use fans mosty for exhaust out of the canopy etc.

you could daisy chain the fans in the box to a plug in AC/DC adapter. heck you might have an AC/DC adapter laying around the house that could power the fans. I have not taken apart one of the boxes yet so I am not sure how many fans are in there. 2, 3?

your gonna have one extra power cord for the fans, but that's prob the easiest way to do it since we do not know how these boxes were made/wired. **** neither does the middleman either, or he would have just sent you the part you needed...LOL

 

[Malcolm_C]

I decided to go with the eshine. Cree led's I need some opinions on hood layout. i didn't add the 30 degree reflector, but i would like to hear some opinions. the tank is about 500 gallons all sps. my drawing is crude. if you have other suggestions let me know. the tank has two large openings with a center brace in the middle. about 28'' deep most sps will be at the halfway point of the tank. but i will probably add clams later.

 

[jrp1588]

most the DIY mount them to alum rails (heatsinks), they dont utilize fans like these black boxes do. they use fans mosty for exhaust out of the canopy etc.

you could daisy chain the fans in the box to a plug in AC/DC adapter. heck you might have an AC/DC adapter laying around the house that could power the fans. I have not taken apart one of the boxes yet so I am not sure how many fans are in there. 2, 3?

your gonna have one extra power cord for the fans, but that's prob the easiest way to do it since we do not know how these boxes were made/wired. **** neither does the middleman either, or he would have just sent you the part you needed...LOL

The wiring inside was very simple. The ground wires went to a screw on the chassis of the light. The live and neutral wires went to a power supply for the LEDs. They also spliced into the live and neutral lines and run those to what I was calling a fan controller, but I think it's actually an integrated AC/DC adapter. From there it powers all 3 fans. I'm betting I could just cut off the wall socket plug you have pictures and splice it into the wiring harness that they use.

 

[BigCountry74]

Yup you could do that exactly

 

[jrp1588]

Awesome. You know about how big that AC/DC adapter is that you have pictured? Not a tone of space inside the light.

 

[TropTrea]

I decided to go with the eshine. Cree led's I need some opinions on hood layout. i didn't add the 30 degree reflector, but i would like to hear some opinions. the tank is about 500 gallons all sps. my drawing is crude. if you have other suggestions let me know. the tank has two large openings with a center brace in the middle. about 28'' deep most sps will be at the halfway point of the tank. but i will probably add clams later.

I like your bottom lay out better. but put the fixtures close together so they are at least 6" from the front of the tank. Your height will determine if you will need lenses and what degree to get.

 

[TropTrea]

The wiring inside was very simple. The ground wires went to a screw on the chassis of the light. The live and neutral wires went to a power supply for the LEDs. They also spliced into the live and neutral lines and run those to what I was calling a fan controller, but I think it's actually an integrated AC/DC adapter. From there it powers all 3 fans. I'm betting I could just cut off the wall socket plug you have pictures and splice it into the wiring harness that they use.

Inspect the fans. Most companies use off the shelf fans which have a rating label on them. The rating label will tell you if you AC or DC power and what voltage you need.

 

[jrp1588]

Pretty positive they are computer fans, which I'm fairly sure are 12v DC.

 

[tntneon]

I decided to go with the eshine. Cree led's I need some opinions on hood layout. i didn't add the 30 degree reflector, but i would like to hear some opinions. the tank is about 500 gallons all sps. my drawing is crude. if you have other suggestions let me know. the tank has two large openings with a center brace in the middle. about 28'' deep most sps will be at the halfway point of the tank. but i will probably add clams later.

Why not go for 6 units of 60X3 w G4 eshine (total 1080w leds) , there weight is almost the same of a classic 60w pannel.
And they have far more silent fans.
I have the clasic 60w over my nano tank , and it is a good fixture , but the G4's are more silent and and don't have that heavy heatsincks no more (thick 2.5 ").
Just an opinion

greetingzz tntneon

 

[TropTrea]

Pretty positive they are computer fans, which I'm fairly sure are 12v DC.

Pretty sure can be an issue. If they are 120 Volt AC and you put 12 volt DC on them they will not run. If you cannot find a rating label on them check them with a volt meter. There are also 5 Volt DC fans, 24 Volt AC, 24 Volt DC fans etc out there. And without a rating label they all look the same.

 

[jrp1588]

Ok, I'll look into it. I know they had a label on them, I just haven't bothered to take a look yet. If they were AC though, couldn't they just wire the fans directly to the electrical plug? I'm pretty sure the little box that went bad is a AC/DC converter. Then again, I don't know much about electrical.

 

[david pinder]

My tank is 4 ft wide 10 ft long am running eshines, currently running 4, 60wt 5 144wt, 2, 200wt leds and 4 250 mhalides. Really like the eshines most sps seem to love them but I did loose a few when I first put them up and a few still have not colored back up. Others that werent doing as good are looking better than ever, go figure. Started originaly buying the 60 wt but went to the 144s when they came out. the 60 wt I dont think have enough penetration for a deep tank, hoe this helps some,

 

[jrp1588]

Yeah, the fans are 12v dc. The company I purchased through said they are shipping out my new light today.

 

[TropTrea]

My tank is 4 ft wide 10 ft long am running eshines, currently running 4, 60wt 5 144wt, 2, 200wt leds and 4 250 mhalides. Really like the eshines most sps seem to love them but I did loose a few when I first put them up and a few still have not colored back up. Others that werent doing as good are looking better than ever, go figure. Started originaly buying the 60 wt but went to the 144s when they came out. the 60 wt I dont think have enough penetration for a deep tank, hoe this helps some,

I just looked at E-Shines light and there Cree Series.

The 60 Watt has 10 XP-G R5 LEDs That they desceibe as 8,000to 10,000K
Per CREE this is there Cool White 5,000K @ 1 Watt to 8,300K 5 Watts

Personlay I like the Neutral Whites XP-G-Q-5 which are much closer to a balanced White. But an even better LED would be the XP-G-Q2 which is a CRI-90 LED whith a stronger output in the 490 nkm light range than any of the others. Unfortunatly no one is mounting the Q2's on Star mounts at this time.

Overall the Eshines do seem like one of the better comercial fixtures. Unfortunatly I could not find pricing or the 144 Watt unit you mentioned.

 

[radbluesfan]

Check these out.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Dimmabl...566?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a7103e40e

New guy on ebay but company has been around awhile. These are 3w running at 2w. Seems legit but you never know. Heres their website http://www.ledbell.com/ for the price of dimmable thats a scream. There bulbs are made by epileds.
Anyway something to look at.

Has anyone tried these dimmable lights yet or have they been discredited because there are better options?


Seems like a majority like the aquariumleds.com but after reading this 27 page thread, it seems that no one has had any major complaints on ANY of the function or customer service of the Chinese LEDs whether purchased from Ebay or not. I am starting my first tank, a 125 gallon, and it seems practical for me to go LED. With the prices at my LFS's it was not going to happen any time soon but after reading your experiences and seeing your pictures of these lower priced lights I may get some real soon. Thanks for sharing.

P.S. How did anyone get their E-shine prices? Did you send an email requesting prices?

 

[TropTrea]

Has anyone tried these dimmable lights yet or have they been discredited because there are better options?


Seems like a majority like the aquariumleds.com but after reading this 27 page thread, it seems that no one has had any major complaints on ANY of the function or customer service of the Chinese LEDs whether purchased from Ebay or not. I am starting my first tank, a 125 gallon, and it seems practical for me to go LED. With the prices at my LFS's it was not going to happen any time soon but after reading your experiences and seeing your pictures of these lower priced lights I may get some real soon. Thanks for sharing.

P.S. How did anyone get their E-shine prices? Did you send an email requesting prices?

These EPILEDs are on Ebay selling for between $150.00 and $380.00. Personaly I'm not familuar with the actual LED's they are using but since these are suposed to be 3 Watt leds they are runnng at 2 watts I would be very skepticial. I now when I rtan three different brands of LED's suposedly rated the same I noted a big big difference in the light they emitted. I'm also skepticial of the 20,000K rating on white LEDs I kow when the higher the K rating on LED's between 2,700K and 5,000K the less lums you get out out the LED.

While for T-5's I like 6,500K to 10,000K in my bulb mix for the whites I d prefer the 4,000K to 5,000K LED's when mixed with Royal Blues and Blue LEDs. Actualy the best perfect whit is a 5,500K which no one makes in a star mount yet. The next closest is the CRI-90 which has the sme issue not enough demand to put in the start mount yet.

 

[biecacka]

yeah id be interested in these fixtures too!!!
corey

 

[Ucyibd1]

Has anyone tried these dimmable lights yet or have they been discredited because there are better options?


Seems like a majority like the aquariumleds.com but after reading this 27 page thread, it seems that no one has had any major complaints on ANY of the function or customer service of the Chinese LEDs whether purchased from Ebay or not. I am starting my first tank, a 125 gallon, and it seems practical for me to go LED. With the prices at my LFS's it was not going to happen any time soon but after reading your experiences and seeing your pictures of these lower priced lights I may get some real soon. Thanks for sharing.

P.S. How did anyone get their E-shine prices? Did you send an email requesting prices?

I will let you know about the ledbell dimmable lights, I have 2 of them on the way. They will be here Monday, I will post up pics when I get them up.

 

[radbluesfan]

I will let you know about the ledbell dimmable lights, I have 2 of them on the way. They will be here Monday, I will post up pics when I get them up.

Thanks, Ucy, I am interested in these lights. The seller does not have very many ebay feedbacks. I hope they are a good product. Most of the LEDs mentioned on this thread are not dimmable and the ones that are have a higher price than these. I am looking forward to your pictures and opinion. Thanks for replying.