chinese led lights

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Did anyone buy one with the built in controller? I was wondering how well it worked.

I ordered one to test out. The controller is nice to have, IF it works reliably. If it doesn't or fails at some point, be prepared to possibly have to open your fixture and send the broken controller board back to them, and reinstall a new one. Otherwise, shipping the entire unit back for repair would cost at least $59 or much more. Manual dimmers would have less of a chance of going bad.

Still, if it works without issue, then its a nice feature for the price. Its the risk you take from buying overseas instead of in the US.
 
bhazard do you think i need 60 or 90 degree optics. tank is 30 inches tall and lights will be about 6-8 above the tank?
also with the controller do you think i still need the dimmer for the moonlights, did you see the sample program simon sent me on the top of this page?
corey

Go with 60. 2 channels on that fixture means 1 dims all the lights, the other dims the moonlights. You wouldn't be able to individually change intensity of blues and whites. Your color combo is fine.
 
I ordered one to test out. The controller is nice to have, IF it works reliably. If it doesn't or fails at some point, be prepared to possibly have to open your fixture and send the broken controller board back to them, and reinstall a new one. Otherwise, shipping the entire unit back for repair would cost at least $59 or much more. Manual dimmers would have less of a chance of going bad.

Still, if it works without issue, then its a nice feature for the price. Its the risk you take from buying overseas instead of in the US.

does it ramp up gradually? How far does it dim down before it goes out? How about when it turns on?
 
How big thread with lots of good info! So just to be clear this seems to good to be true. I can get a LED light thats quality made. Would only need 2 of them i think for a 90 gallon? And all the savings that go with LED. Why not order these?!? Basically 500$ initial startup cost instead of the 1500+ i would have to put in for a radion ai sol etc? I am a college student so this route seems to be the way to go especially if your on a tight budget like me!
 
Now to get the perfect color combo...

I have a 300 gallon FOWLR so I'm not concerned about coral growth. I don't want a "windex" tank. Vox had a really nice look to his tank, I'd like to achieve that somehow.

A couple questions. How much red/green/violet is too much? Is 4 of each in a 55 pc fixture ok?

I'm thinking something like this:
LEDdesign2.jpg


As you can see the red/green is on a seperate dimmer and I can adjust but would I be better off with just 2 of each color instead of 4?

I'm doing both coolwhite and neutralwhite.

bhazard I know you are busy here but you've actually seen these and your thoughts are always appreciated. :beer:

I know what fixture, it's all about the colors now. PROGRESS! :)

What's the company you buy from?Gehl Lamps?
 
Mlott132, what lights did you end up going with and what optics? Was this for a standard 75 gal? I assume you got two units.

This is what I ordered. I got two for my standard 75g.

black aluminum case
60 degree optics
spectrum ratio = blue460nm:white14000k:red630nm:green515nm: orange610nm:violet400nm=34:15:1:2:2:1
moonlights on separate dimmer

http://www.aliexpress.com/product-gs/594866342-Aluminum-case-LCD-controller-with-internal-timer-and-dimmer-LED-aquarium-lights-wholesalers.html
 
How high do you plan to hang them above your tank? I was planning to reuse my canopy, but may just opt to just hang it from a bracket instead and go with 90 degree optics. I'm kinda concerned about saltwater possably getting on the units inside a canopy only 7" off the water.
 
How high do you plan to hang them above your tank? I was planning to reuse my canopy, but may just opt to just hang it from a bracket instead and go with 90 degree optics. I'm kinda concerned about saltwater possably getting on the units inside a canopy only 7" off the water.

Not sure yet was going to figure that out when I get them. I am thinking they will end up being between 8 to 10 inches above water.

Sent from my Thunderbolt via Tapatalk 2
 
Here are pics as promised. Tank is a Finnix M30g all in one. Enjoy!

Full Tank with Light
2012-07-12_18-16-47_631.jpg


Full Tank Shot
2012-07-12_18-21-07_374.jpg


D120w light B:W 30:25
2012-07-12_18-24-07_733.jpg


Blastos nice and happy
2012-07-12_18-25-23_52.jpg
 
How big thread with lots of good info! So just to be clear this seems to good to be true. I can get a LED light thats quality made. Would only need 2 of them i think for a 90 gallon? And all the savings that go with LED. Why not order these?!? Basically 500$ initial startup cost instead of the 1500+ i would have to put in for a radion ai sol etc? I am a college student so this route seems to be the way to go especially if your on a tight budget like me!

Somewhat. The leds themselves aren't the best quality bins that can be found. US made, DIY, and commercial fixtures are made with higher quality leds, drivers, heatsinks (depending on the light).

However, these can be customized any way you want, and the price is great for those on a tight budget. Surprisingly good quality too, not Aquatraders/Odyssea level at all. I've seen excellent polyp extension and some growth over the few months using them.

The risk you take is if anything breaks, you may have to ship a unit back to China for repair if you cannot do it yourself. It would cost a fortune.
 
Thanks for the nice compliments. The tank is a 30g all in one, false back with skimmer, pump and refugium. I've had the tank for 5+ years and rebuilt the tank last year after a crash. The overflow RO/DI ran overnight when the float valve failed... Doh!

The light ratio is almost 1:1 30blue and 25 white. I actually like that combo. I might just keep that ratio but maybe add 2 red, 2 green and 2 violet for the next 2 lights I'll be getting. Again it's for my 120g SPS tank

Here's a video of my 120g
http://youtu.be/MaoMfQmz-0E


The skimmer is a Tunze 9002
 
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I got the d120 right now and it looks great but I am thinking of going with Simon and Twilight led panel after talking to him on the programmable led with moonlights.

Sam does not have a model like that but offered to send me other colored leds to swap out. He is sending me warm whites and the 420nm violets for free. Just not sure how easy or hard it would be to take the leds out and put the other ones in.

Has anyone bought the programmable models yet? Seems I can customize the different whites, blues and violets as needed, plus having a programmable feature of sunrise/sunset and moonlights makes it nice if the price is right.

Simon got back to me with the following:

OK, I understand you requirement.

For the lay out of leds in the lamp, I have some questions.

We have blue 460nm / 430~440nm; violet 400~410nm; these spectrums are best for aquarium, maybe have no 420nm.

Another question, for led quantity of each channel, one channel must be 27pcs leds; one channel must be 25pcs leds and third channel must be 3pcs leds.

so I suggest following lay out:

1> First channel
bright whites 10,000k----14pcs
warm whites 6500k---4pcs
blue 430~440nm---------7pcs

2> Second channel
blue 460nm-----20pcs
blue 430~440nm------4pcs
violet 400nm~410nm-----3pcs

3> Third channel (moonlight)
blue 460nm-----3pcs

What do you think of it?

We use big size 45mil 3watt Epistar leds in the lamp, with Fins heatsink and 3pcs fans to remove all heat.

you don't need optics or lens, just the leds beam angle is 90degree, correct?

Waiting for your kind confirming again, and talk with you more soon, such as the exact price.

Take care and many thanks
 
Got a tracking number from Hendy and one from Aliexpress. I used Hendys yesterday to see where my lights were and in said they were out with courier in Boston. I thought wow that guy must have alot of stop between Boston MA and Jasper Michigan!! Looked at the tracking number Aliexpress gave me and they were held up in Cincinnati for a day being"processed." Now they are on the way from Dayton (still a nice drive). Don't know why they sent out from there instead of Grand Rapids like they normally do. Hopefully they are in today.
 
Again dobbs looks great, I think I screwed up and mine will be too blue :headwalls: This is mine http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/108940417.html but I have optics because my tank is a 40 tall.
I just checked the shipping status and it said its with delivery courier. Does that mean I should get it today? If this is way to blue for me how hard would it be to swap out some blue led's for whites down the road?

Thanks
 
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