DIY: Steve's LED's module

The LED stuff came in last week, here is me testing the lighting for the refugium
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Getting an idea for mounting the power supplies and drivers and how I'm going to wire it all
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Making some progress
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I am mounting the board to the underside of my aquarium.
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katchupoy said:
jaustin. I will be looking forward on your par reading on these leds. Like you, been looking around the web for people who bought these and tested it on their meter. Would be nice if you also have the rb crees so you can have a baseline.
Click to expand...

+1

cj
 
Almost done :D
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could someone send me a link for a good place to buy a par meter? I believe most people use the Apolgee (sp?) but I'm not terribly familiar with them.
 
spacedcowboy said:
kevin,

i don't think anyone would have a problem with steve, if the numbers added up. If he's selling half-as-efficient leds, and he said so, and the price was low because of that, some people would be happy and some people would pass, but pretty much no-one would be on his back.

I've run small businesses. The only way to do business is to do it honestly and be up-front with your wares. The instant there's a hint of 'this-doesn't-add-up' is the time most of your customers will bail on you.

*if* dwzm is correct (and i have no reason to believe he isn't), steve has a lot of explaining to do. The problem is that we won't believe a word that he writes, now. Why should we, when he's misled us before - lies of omission are still lies, at least imho, and a business relationship is not the same as one between friends...

Simon.
Click to expand...

+1
 
I just read through the entire thread, and some people seem to be missing the point. The people that are being critical are doing so simply because this person, or company, or whatever we want to call it is giving mixed information, or none at all. Not a single person is being overly critical about the product. What people are being critical about is the description of the product, which doesn't seem to be accurate. Sure your corals are growing, they look nice, etc. but that is not what is in question here. What is in question is the overall quality of the product as stated by the seller compared to the actual quality of the product.

Saying that your corals grow just fine is only part of the equation. I have corals that I grew just fine in a 10g nano under PC (and yes I had some sps and lps), but what does that mean? Does that mean then that PCs, being relatively cheap, are a good alternative? They did work in my application, after all, right? The answer to that question is "No". IMO, the two big proponents for LEDs are efficiency and minimal heat (which I suppose can be looked at as efficiency as well). Really, what is the point of upgrading to LEDs if you are not getting a sgnificant savings over alternative lighting methods? After all, T5s and LEDs grow SPS beautifully.
 
fjr_wertheimber said:
Mr. Gone, that is one beautiful setup... Don't suppose you've got a step-by-step, do ya?
Click to expand...

I don't sorry :( its in my head, I was going to make a wiring diagram but it would have taken longer than just doing it. Unfortunately I went to hook it up today and only half the arrays lite up so I need to figure out if it is the RJ45's not being crimped properly (doubt it), the punch down block, or the wires going into the drivers. I just had a lot of other stuff to do today so I'll try to get it done sometime this weekend. Thank you for the compliment btw, I put quite a bit of time into it :)
 
seti007 said:
Lucky you, I have a bunch of LEDs on order but they are back ordered till Jan 5th. Steve is helpful but gettng a response from him on a timely fashion is a bit of a challange. Hopefully I will have my LEDs soon. How long did it take you to getr them shipped after you made the payment for these LEDs?

Looks like you are using CAT5 cable for powering the LED strings. I was thinking of doing the same. Can you please take some pics of the lighting fixture with the wiringwhen you have a chance? I would like to see how you hide the wires. Also, how high off the water surface, what color combo and what optics are you using?
Mine's gong to be a Rimless open top so wiring might be an eyesore and hard to hide. Another thing i found was that when I told Steve tah tmy tank is 36"x36"x 22"deep, he suggested that I go with 56 total LEDs. That should grow SPS as well. I thought that number was a bit low considering the number of LEDS ppl are using on their tanks. I decided to go with 96 LEDs on this tank hung about 3' off the tank with 30 degree optics.
Thanks
Click to expand...

Actually CAT6 because it is 23awg vs CAT5 being 24awg, but yeah and it works well and keeps things tidy. I will take and post more pics next time I'm at the office. They are about 8" off the waters surface (I haven't finished mounting them yet). They are in a closed canopy. There are two super blues for each cool white.

It took about a month and a half to get them, I wish it was quicker but I understand that he is busy.
 
lordofthereef said:
I just read through the entire thread, and some people seem to be missing the point. The people that are being critical are doing so simply because this person, or company, or whatever we want to call it is giving mixed information, or none at all. Not a single person is being overly critical about the product. What people are being critical about is the description of the product, which doesn't seem to be accurate. Sure your corals are growing, they look nice, etc. but that is not what is in question here. What is in question is the overall quality of the product as stated by the seller compared to the actual quality of the product.

Saying that your corals grow just fine is only part of the equation. I have corals that I grew just fine in a 10g nano under PC (and yes I had some sps and lps), but what does that mean? Does that mean then that PCs, being relatively cheap, are a good alternative? They did work in my application, after all, right? The answer to that question is "No". IMO, the two big proponents for LEDs are efficiency and minimal heat (which I suppose can be looked at as efficiency as well). Really, what is the point of upgrading to LEDs if you are not getting a sgnificant savings over alternative lighting methods? After all, T5s and LEDs grow SPS beautifully.
Click to expand...

I had metal halides on this system in the past, I went with LEDs for more room in the canopy and less heat transferred to the water because this is a closed peninsula tank. They might not be CREE but I feel people are being overly critical. Eitherway I'm happy with my setup, it works perfectly in my system (really slim setup) and I'm into it for a fraction of the cost of other setups.

Now if one of the people who is critical of his LEDs buys some and tests them and finds out they aren't worth the solder used to connect them then I can always replace them with CREEs, but I'm a pretty happy camper.
 
I read that Steve current price is $2.69 per LED. I just finished a group but and XR-E (not top of the line, but IIRC twice the effiency of Steve's) were $3 for RB and $4 for CW. So I am not sure the price difference is there anymore.
 
I went through ETG. XP-G where $4.75 for CW, but you needed to order 100 (not usually a problem with group buys). We got 24 neutrals for $4.50 and 38 XP-E RB for $4.00. Prices back in November.
 
Excluding the complaints on timely service, I have not seen any evidence that Cree is better than the off brand being sold at a fraction of the cost.

The poor comparison that these LED setups from Steve are like the difference between flat reflectors versus a quality fixture is rubbish. The comparison may be used for optics but not the chip.

I think a more fair comparison would be between bulbs and the different spectrum each bulb puts out. Is Radium better than or just different to XM or Reeflux?

Until someone shows an actual PAR difference, or an energy consumption comparison, then it is all baloney talk.

And to boot, the most expensive brand name stuff isn't always better than no names. Of that fact I am certain. Maybe a $7 bulb is only $5 more than the $2 bulb because of the name and not the quality. I have not seen hard evidence yet to dissuade me.

I am a ways off from doing an LED setup, but my research has begun.
 
All yu have to do is look at how much light you get out of each LEDs for the amount of power provided. Steve's LEDs take 2 to 3 times the power to get the same amount of light
Plus Cree LEDs only cost 1 or 2 $$ more

I am using Steves's drivers for my project
 
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I think the only issue with Steve was the efficiency whcih has never been seen. Based on katchupoy statement that they are Epistart I found this datasheet. on page 2
Epistar 9600 lumen / 150 watts or 64 lumen/watt
the same page has
Bridgelux 7200 lumen / 96 watts or 75 lumen / watt
Luxeon 10800lumen / 145 watts or 74 lumen / watt
Cree10800 lumen / 145 watts or 74 lumen / watt
Now it makes me wonder since where the data comes from since Cree rates the XR-E at 107 lumens/watt and IIRC the XP-G about 130 and the XML at 160 all at 350 ma.
Using the number from the data sheet the CREE is at 16% more efficient than the EpiStart and possibly much more since I did not notice which cree they tested.

If anyone has a better datasheet please post it. Thanks
 
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