ecoray vs diy cree led's

[gpx1200]

i was talking to a lfs oner today about led lighting, he is realy pushing the ecoray systems while i was trying to convince him of the benifits of the diy setups for some of his customers who want custom canopys made. he has never heard of cree led's and belives the ecorays are of the highest quality available, i don't know enuf about either product to tell him he's wrong but frome what i've seen in his tanks with the ecorays and on mine with the crees i think the crees are a far better option( dimable,mixable colors,remote controleable) and i want to convince him to let me build his costomers the custom led canopy they realy want instead convincing them to hang an ugly and what i belive to be infeariour fixture over thier tanks but this is just my opinion and i need to get some facts straight and make shure i'm not just spouting bad info. so here are a few questions for peapole with more knowledge than me.
what brand of led's does the ecoray fixture use?
how many watts per led?
color temp of the whites? blues?
do you think the cree led's are supirour to the ecorays?
what degree optics are used? are the optics changeable?
i have to say that i don't have anything against the ecoray fixtures and realy don't know much about them, i'm realy just trying to convince a friend that their are other more flexable options and the ecorays my not be the ultimate light that he seems to think they are and i'm trying to gather some facts to either suport my opinion or prove me wrong. so i want to hear bolth opinions of the crees and ecorays either positive or negative.
thanks
chris

 

[gpx1200]

so nowone has any opinions on the ecoray??

 

[tkeracer619]

You probably won't get many replies because all of those questions being asked should be part of the research of someone who is going to take the time to build electronics that go over salt water for other people.

Not trying to be rude and I hope you don't take it as such but anyone building custom LED fixtures should know this info or at least know where to look for it. At a minimum you would need a business license and insurance for your venture. If you don't you could get in serious trouble should one of them start a fire or electrocute someone.

Cree is regarded as one of the best led manufacturers. I doubt the ecoray uses them but it is possible. Most high end fixtures use Cree but not all of them do. Anyways saying Cree is the best isn't a lie but if the ecoray unit used them it would probably be plastered all over the box since they are 5x the price of knock off leds.

 

[tkeracer619]

Yet another lagtastic double post :headwally:

 

[gpx1200]

i have allready done my research on the crees before i put them over my own tank but the ecoray site has very little info on what type or the specs of the led's they use. besides that specs on a sheet of paper from the manufacturer mean nothing to me compaired to the end result that other users are geting. what i'm doing here is trying to get opinions of the ecoray setups frome peapole who have used them, or as some might call it RESEARCH!! being an internet forum about aqurium lighting equipment i'd think THIS would be a good place to look for that info. i have built and rigged about 20 custom wood canopys in the past for others useing mh,pc,t5,vho's and any other lights you can think of and no one has been burned,electrocuted or killed in any way becouse of my work.
thanks for your input

 

[tkeracer619]

Good to hear. Like I said was not trying to be a jerk.

The fact that they do not list their components is a pretty sure fire way of knowing they don't use cree. The price also suggests this.

None of the traditional lighting retrofit is anywhere close to the same amount of electronic work (as you already know). You will have much more exposed electrical components that can cause problems, shorts, salt creep issues then before. My insurance recommendation is based on your safety and has nothing to do with the quality of the work or what has or has not happened in the past. Just strictly business. FWIW your work with crees and good ballasts is probably less of a fire hazard then some mass produced cheap Chinese fixture but it does come with its own set of variables.

 

[gpx1200]

i can apriciate your concerns about the inshurence and i agree i should protect myself. but the customers in question allready have a service contract with the lfs owner wich includes a liability waver wich has to be sighned before he will do any work on a tank, my work would be contracted under him and i would be coverd by this waver and in my state thats all i need, i know this becouse i used to do tank services for him and i wanted to know my liability if a disaster happend with a tank i had worked on.
i'm prety shure their not cree, one thing i did find is their only one watt led's and produce 100lmn@???amps per watt and a cree cw xpg r5 produces 348lmn@1amp per 3 watts so their not crees and apear to be slightly less eficent but without more details it's hard to say and i need to get some better info before i proceed and confront him with the facts. i'm realy not looking to start a big buisness venture here realy just trying to convince the lfs owner/friend that he could be providing his customers with a better product than he has now

 

[tkeracer619]

Right on. That is good about the coverage.

I'm not going to be much help on that particular fixture but at least you got some free bumps Maybe now those in the know will post since we broke the ice.