DIY LEDs - The write-up

[TheFishMan65]

Well I got the pricing $25.50 for one $23.70 for ten. I really like them for the dual modes of dimming (analog and digital) and the fact that dimming could be 5 or 10 volts. But since you have to add a power supply I am not sure these are better than the HLG.

Hopefully they will drop in price or someone will make something similiar. I will post what I think of the device when it gets in.

 

[jpccusa]

Well I got the pricing $25.50 for one $23.70 for ten. I really like them for the dual modes of dimming (analog and digital) and the fact that dimming could be 5 or 10 volts. But since you have to add a power supply I am not sure these are better than the HLG.

Hopefully they will drop in price or someone will make something similiar. I will post what I think of the device when it gets in.

Cool! Did you request a sample?

 

[TheFishMan65]

Yes

 

[chris023]

Bins

Bins

Looking for some binning knowledge. I will be (eventually) building a 96 LED rig on my 60x24x24 SPS tank. I think I am now settling on 48 XP-E Royal Blue and 48 XP-G Neutral White (no Cool Whites).

I will be wiring these up on 2 HLG-150H-48B (just arrived the other day) in parallel strings (4 RB and 4 NW)

Was looking through the Cree Binning and Labeling documentation and was looking for input on the following choices.

RB - Group 16 : Order Code XPEROY-L1-0000-00B01
NW - Group R3 : Order Code XPGWHT-L1-0000-00FE3

Not sure about the 'Chromaticity Region' with respect to the NWs, so any input is welcome.

Thanks.

 

[TheFishMan65]

chris, were are you ordering from? I think if you specify those bins youwill up your price. So unless you have a specific reason forpicking htose I would just order RB adnWW.

 

[widmer]

The bin 16 royal blue XP-E is the most affordable royal blue at cutter, which is convenient because it is also IMO the very best blue LED that Cree has made to date.

However, cutter has a terrible website, so to ensure that you get the best price on it you need to go through this pathway:

cutter.com.au > products > cree leds > cree leds on printed circuit boards > leds on 20mm mcpcb > leds on 20mm star pcb, then it is the fourth star from the bottom of the page. When you change the quantity in your cart the price updates.

As far as the whites go, IMO it doesn't make sense to spend the extra money to specify a particular bin unless you have actually purchased the different bins and compared them and found that you do in fact prefer one over the others. I believe you would be hard-pressed to actually be able to differentiate between the various neutral whites, let alone to justify specifying one. So go with whatever your retailer happens to be stocking a large quantity of and therefore is charging a low price for.

 

[chris023]

chris, were are you ordering from? I think if you specify those bins youwill up your price. So unless you have a specific reason forpicking htose I would just order RB adnWW.

Well, I was going to go with Cutter but, looks like they don't have Neutral White in the XP-G. They do in the XM-L, but that seems too expensive. So I was going to get a quote from ETG.

I am specifying the RB bin to ensure I get the best Radiant Flux (although I am not even sure that the one I specified is the best). I am specifying the NW bin to ensure I get the highest Kelvin in NW (5k).

But I guess primarily I want to ensure that all of each color (RB & NW) come from the same bin. I will be running 4 parallel string of RB and 4 of NW and want to get the strings as close as possible with regards to forward voltage for balancing. I figured by specifying the bin, there would be a better chance for getting like LEDs.

 

[chris023]

The bin 16 royal blue XP-E is the most affordable royal blue at cutter, which is convenient because it is also IMO the very best blue LED that Cree has made to date.

However, cutter has a terrible website, so to ensure that you get the best price on it you need to go through this pathway:

cutter.com.au > products > cree leds > cree leds on printed circuit boards > leds on 20mm mcpcb > leds on 20mm star pcb, then it is the fourth star from the bottom of the page. When you change the quantity in your cart the price updates.

As far as the whites go, IMO it doesn't make sense to spend the extra money to specify a particular bin unless you have actually purchased the different bins and compared them and found that you do in fact prefer one over the others. I believe you would be hard-pressed to actually be able to differentiate between the various neutral whites, let alone to justify specifying one. So go with whatever your retailer happens to be stocking a large quantity of and therefore is charging a low price for.

Am definitely aware of the complexities of the Cutter web site :hmm4:
Have been to the path you specified and looks like they don't even have Neutral White in XP-G anymore (only CW & WW).

The main points are to get group 16 in RB and a higher Kelvin (5k) on the NWs. But primarily to ensure all RBs & NWs come from the same respective bin for easier balancing on 4 parallel strings I will be running of each (4 RB parallel strings and 4 NW).

Was going to email Anna at ETG and get a quote.

Maybe it would be just easier to ask the all RBs and NWs come from the same bin???

 

[widmer]

I'm sure they would all come from the same bin, unless there is some sort of accidental mixup.

 

[Obi-dad]

For all of those on the neutral white bandwagon - if you were an MH user, and someone tried to sell you a 5000K bulb, would you buy it? The cool whites are 6500k, and most people didn't buy those bulbs for being way too yellow. Just sayin'.

 

[DFason]

Try ETG. They will allow you to pick exact binning as long as they have it. They also have some of the best prices too, you just have to order $75 worth of LED's/optics. When your choosing the NW make sure you know exactly what you want, they have a TON of choices. If you can find warmer CW bins those work out great too!

Hope this helps.

-Dave

 

[TheFishMan65]

DFason, when was the last time you ordered? ETG got bought by Arrow. I contacted Anna and this is what I got in January
"10 Pieces of anything is now $6each. 100 pieces of anything is $5each."
Above that
"XP-E Royal Blue 200= $3.55 500= $3.10"
At 250 Cutter is down to $2.82 (AUD) which is almost the same American they don't go lower even at 1000 it appears.
I think the only good answers is group buys, but having managed one with about 35 people it can get cumbersome.

Also for those that have not seen it this excellent LED Thread was nominated for Thread of the Month (vote).

 

[bamf25]

For all of those on the neutral white bandwagon - if you were an MH user, and someone tried to sell you a 5000K bulb, would you buy it? The cool whites are 6500k, and most people didn't buy those bulbs for being way too yellow. Just sayin'.

But we are mixing are colors and most are using 2 rb to 1 white mixtures, so all that blue is going to pull you back into the 14k ranger overall. The reason the neutral whites are getting popular is because the cool white have nothing in the 650 nm up range for wavelength. While coral do not general need (or arguably even want) red, people feel that things begin to look unnatural without some red. By going to the neutral or more commonly mixing a few in with the cools, they are just getting a bit of that more red into the spectrum. But even the neutral whites only have a small perccentage of their output in the 650 nm plus range.

 

[wfournier]

For all of those on the neutral white bandwagon - if you were an MH user, and someone tried to sell you a 5000K bulb, would you buy it? The cool whites are 6500k, and most people didn't buy those bulbs for being way too yellow. Just sayin'.

No, but your argument doesn't hold water. The same could be said for the 6500K cool whites.

 

[Obi-dad]

No, but your argument doesn't hold water. The same could be said for the 6500K cool whites.

There was no argument, just commenting on the history. I remember back when MH bulbs were first used, there were no 6500k, 10kk, 14kk, 20kk, just 5000k. And when people got 6500k, thinking that was way better than 5000k. Then when the 10k and 20k bulbs came out there were many comments about the 6500k being way too yellow.

When my RB LEDs are off and just the cool whites on, they don't look so 'cool' anymore - just yellow.

 

[wfournier]

There was no argument, just commenting on the history. I remember back when MH bulbs were first used, there were no 6500k, 10kk, 14kk, 20kk, just 5000k. And when people got 6500k, thinking that was way better than 5000k. Then when the 10k and 20k bulbs came out there were many comments about the 6500k being way too yellow.

When my RB LEDs are off and just the cool whites on, they don't look so 'cool' anymore - just yellow.

Right I guess that is my point, cool white and neutral white are going to look like crap without the added blues. However the draw for the neutral white is that the slightly different spectrum helps show off some of the colors better than the cool white.

 

[widmer]

For all of those on the neutral white bandwagon - if you were an MH user, and someone tried to sell you a 5000K bulb, would you buy it? The cool whites are 6500k, and most people didn't buy those bulbs for being way too yellow. Just sayin'.

Don't abuse my favorite catchphrase "on the bandwagon" :lol: - I don't think it qualifies for being on a bandwagon if there is a solid reason for the people to be doing it. Those who have tried both neutral and cool whites have reported better coloring with neutrals and wouldn't go back to just cool whites.

As far as the kelvin rating, as people have stated above, when you pair a neutral or warm white etc LED with a royal blue LED, the composite kelvin is nowhere near the kelvin rating of the white LED alone.

As we can see in this chart pulled from the XP-G data sheet:

Using a neutral or warm white skews the spectrum produced so that more light is coming out in the orange/red as compared to the green, which people seem to end up liking the appearance of more.

 

[TheFishMan65]

I got the sample. It is smaller than I thought 3/4 x 1 1/8 x 1/2 inch high. IMHO it will require a circuit board. I think I could use a radio shack bare board unless I have an volunteers to make one for me.

 

[S2minute]

LEDs

LEDs

Try ETG. They will allow you to pick exact binning as long as they have it. They also have some of the best prices too, you just have to order $75 worth of LED's/optics. When your choosing the NW make sure you know exactly what you want, they have a TON of choices. If you can find warmer CW bins those work out great too!

Hope this helps.

-Dave

...BTW DFASON....you up and went MIA on us before you told us how you fixed the problem with your lights. Don`t think your going to get off the hook that easy!

...AND, speaking of MIA where in hell did WILLIE go?? Anyone??

 

[jpccusa]

I got the sample. It is smaller than I thought 3/4 x 1 1/8 x 1/2 inch high. IMHO it will require a circuit board. I think I could use a radio shack bare board unless I have an volunteers to make one for me.

WOW, that was fast!

Smaller is good. Circuit board requirement, no so much.