chinese led lights

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ok.. so i went back and forth on this... on a 96 inch long 31 inch deep and 31 inch wide.. i thought i would drop the little extra $ and go with the A6 over the D120. i thought i would do them perpendicular to cover the wider 31 inches.. thought i would do 4 or 5 a6 nova.. or do you guys think that is overkill. going with the 90 degree optics.

thoughts..?
 
Chicago said:
ok.. so i went back and forth on this... on a 96 inch long 31 inch deep and 31 inch wide.. i thought i would drop the little extra $ and go with the A6 over the D120. i thought i would do them perpendicular to cover the wider 31 inches.. thought i would do 4 or 5 a6 nova.. or do you guys think that is overkill. going with the 90 degree optics.

thoughts..?
Click to expand...

Ask how the Novas are linkable, so that you can use one power cable for blues, one for whites for all of them. That alone would be nice for you.

Seems like overkill. What about 3 A6s or A8s lengthwise?
 
I bought 2 of them :) Thanks Ihigh for posting that link.

When I seen the ratio I jumped on it. I was going to wait for apex controllable units, but one of my t5's crapped out so I cant wait.
 
Stopsignhank said:
Travis, Thanks!

I looked at the pics and then saw Kbell did the exact thing that I want to do. Our tank dimensions are the same, his tank is just a little taller than mine. I think I am going to place an order for these today or tomorrow.

Kbell, how high above your tank do you have your lights?
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1 would work fine on a 20 long. I have mine running at 100% on a standard 29g, 9" above the water.

If i added violet i would do 30blue/21white 4violet and have all the blue on one dimmer and the white and violet on the other. But thats just me.
 
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That link above is the best ratio I've seen them make up on there own...

I deff would say the violets belong on the blue switch being there meant from bringing out more colors in your coral so id put them on the blues so when your blues are on your getting the most colors out of your coral. Id consider only using 2 violets on the next d120I get... A little goes along way
 
I know this question might be way to broad, but what's the best led color ratio for a sps tank? I have a 30g and the 120w dimmable led unit I have is only rb/cw. I was going to add some supplement but I want the right # of them and the right types.
 
Travis1787 said:
That link above is the best ratio I've seen them make up on there own...

I deff would say the violets belong on the blue switch being there meant from bringing out more colors in your coral so id put them on the blues so when your blues are on your getting the most colors out of your coral. Id consider only using 2 violets on the next d120I get... A little goes along way
Click to expand...

make up on their own? :( cmon travis can't I have some credit? haha! Thats the same one I told them to do with that config for me and they ended up making a post and leaving it!
 
Zedar said:
I bought 2 of them :) Thanks Ihigh for posting that link.

When I seen the ratio I jumped on it. I was going to wait for apex controllable units, but one of my t5's crapped out so I cant wait.
Click to expand...

no problem my man, we're all in the same hobby so to help someone out after travis helped me out with such great info is how it works!
 
bhazard451 said:
Just found out reefbreeders can't make their units Apex dimmable. Resistance to 0-10v dimming is not reliable. They couldn't get it to work for mine. That sucks.

Unless these Chinese companies start to offer 0-10v dimmable drivers for Apex dimming, the only way to modify these to do it is to get 2 custom made 55-90v drivers, max current 650mah (they run normally at 500-580mah), and re-wire the fans. Meanwells won't work unless you did some serious rewiring, which is impossible on the d120. 4 meanwell's could work on the Nova with re-wiring.

My attempt made a dimmable Nova, but 0% intensity is still way too bright with the drivers I used. One good thing is that the lights are brighter than stock now, and still not too hot.
Click to expand...

I also found out today from Logan at reef breeders that his units were not capable of dimming via apex. I was ready to purchase 2 units when he told me that. Bummer! Well I took that money and purchased 1 mp40 which cheered me up slightly.

How bright would you say your 0% intensity is? Do you think it would be worth it and or possible of replacing those same drivers in my d120?
 
reeferheadlouie said:
I also found out today from Logan at reef breeders that his units were not capable of dimming via apex. I was ready to purchase 2 units when he told me that. Bummer! Well I took that money and purchased 1 mp40 which cheered me up slightly.

How bright would you say your 0% intensity is? Do you think it would be worth it and or possible of replacing those same drivers in my d120?
Click to expand...

About 20-30% of light, which is quite a lot on these. You can notice that it is dimmer than full power, but not enough to justify using the same drivers. They are also too thick for the d120.
 
Interesting.. Was it expensive? Wouldn't it be like 60$, 2 30$ drivers or something..

I didnt think it would be that hard, you only need to change the two drivers, right?
 
needmorecowbell said:
Interesting.. Was it expensive? Wouldn't it be like 60$, 2 30$ drivers or something..

I didnt think it would be that hard, you only need to change the two drivers, right?
Click to expand...

Finding the drivers is the hard part. 2 Meanwells wont work, 4 Meanwells might be able to work, but i'm not sure they'll fit inside the case. You need 2 0-10v dimmable drivers that push close to 90v each. You also need to re-wire the fans.

It was also very messy and not holding well with wire nuts, so I soldered all the wires, which took a lot of time.

I'm eventually going to gut the led boards and drivers, and put 4 meanwells in with 36 Cree XT-E leds, and 12 of violet/red/green/blue on the heatsinks running from 3 to 5 watts each. Beautiful overkill at its finest with Apex dimming... would match the razor at half the price.It is either that or buy a Maxspect Razor.

Nothing out there has what I want, and DIY seems to be the only way to get it at a good price right now. (Apex dimming, XT-E Crees)
 
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