LED Actinics.

[alextheromanian]

LEDs...yup.
the current system is a 72 inch long 3x175W MH bulb...and it comes with a built in 30X 2 T8 actinic....since the T8 is only 30 inches and one is on one half of the fixture and the other is on the other HALf...on the OTHER SIDE of the MH too...lets just say colors dont pop as well as they could and daylight is more the name of the game this lighting fixture spits out than anything

heres a rough sketch of how its set up from the factory.

and heres are two possibilities of what could happen with it both having their pros and cons.

this one will take little to no modification. aside from adding two brackets on either side but will take up more room and leave the leds exposed to the saltwater enviroment.

this will require taking out the lighting...gutting out the T8 so theres work there but the pros would be ...LEDS are higer up(PRO?) and they are hidden behind glass and cooled by the lightings own built in cooling system

questions now are....


1)what do you guys think is better do do of the two options

2)How far apart should leds be...(just using royal blue) and how many for a 72 inch long fixture...dont want to overdo it.

3)what would be the correct ballast i should look at. preffer it to be dimmable and id prefer to have just one...if not possible then ill use 2 ( one for each side)


thanks for your help and i hope i wasnt too confusing.

 

[alextheromanian]

oh forgot to mention. direct me to a link if possible regarding the balasts.

 

[teamdulski]

Rapidled.com, I would get 48 cree 3w royal blues with 60* optics, you will need 4 drivers. Space them every 3 inches on the heat sink. 24 front row, 24 on back. Or you could just do 24 right down the center with no optics, but you essentially lose any useable light from the leds without the optics.

 

[alextheromanian]

Rapidled.com, I would get 48 cree 3w royal blues with 60* optics, you will need 4 drivers. Space them every 3 inches on the heat sink. 24 front row, 24 on back. Or you could just do 24 right down the center with no optics, but you essentially lose any useable light from the leds without the optics.

i also posted this and asked in the lighting section of the forum and someone was teling me to just put 12 per side....since the spread angle was about 120 degrees it wouldnt need more than 12 to 18 per side....

this meant two drivers....

i looked around am still unsure if these would suffice
http://www.onlinecomponents.com/MEANWELL_ELN-60-48D.html?p=37809828

and these would be the cheapest leds i found...could i get them cheaper elsewhere?
http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-124/CREE-XP-dsh-E-Royal-Blue/Detail

 

[teamdulski]

http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-152/18-LED-Actinic-Supplement/Detail


Each driver can run 14 LEDS(this kit comes with 2) so you could buy 6 more to get to 24. If your doing straight blue you really don't need dimmable.

 

[truebeliever71]

Hey Alex... I agree with the 12 per side. The lenses depend on how far are the lights from the surface of the water. I'm using 80 degree optics on my tank.

As for the driver I would go with the ELN-60-48D. It's capable of 1.3 amps which if you run 2 legs of 12 LEDs you'll be running them at around 650ma.

Also, I would be concerned with the heat from the MH's effecting the LEDs. You will need to isolate the LEDs from the MH.

Give me a call sometime and I'll help you out with designing and building it.

 

[alextheromanian]

http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-152/18-LED-Actinic-Supplement/Detail


Each driver can run 14 LEDS(this kit comes with 2) so you could buy 6 more to get to 24. If your doing straight blue you really don't need dimmable.

i dont need the wires or the plug or the heatsink though so i was trying to figure out what i should get individually without overspending.

the requirements were to get the most versatile setup meanning the least number of drivers and the correct number of leds without wishing i had gone with less or more.

the ballast in that kit lights up to 14 which may be too little...if needed more i would have to swap it out for a bigger one and then incase one side does not light up enough for both sides of the tank since its a walkaround the same story will repeat on the other side as well and since its being planned for a 72 inch long fixture which is inside a cabinet already loaded to capacity in regards to equipment the simplest way would be a big enough ballast to drive one side and if needed the other side ...and from my guess no more or less than ~18 leds per side.

 

[alextheromanian]

Hey Alex... I agree with the 12 per side. The lenses depend on how far are the lights from the surface of the water. I'm using 80 degree optics on my tank.

As for the driver I would go with the ELN-60-48D. It's capable of 1.3 amps which if you run 2 legs of 12 LEDs you'll be running them at around 650ma.

Also, I would be concerned with the heat from the MH's effecting the LEDs. You will need to isolate the LEDs from the MH.

Give me a call sometime and I'll help you out with designing and building it.

alright will do and thank you!

the owner wants to know for sure what to order.

so i think ill do what you agree with as well and go with

one ELN-60-48D and have it run two legs of 12 of CREE XP-E Royal Blue 3W LED total of 24.

anything else that should be ordered with it that couldnt be found locally?
i think radioshack sells resistors and whatever else and i know he has wire and saughtering stuff.

do you think im missing anything for the order part?

 

[childofgod]

Th71 and I used 750mA fuses not resistors with our elm-60-48p that way if it over powers one side it will just pop the fuse. You can pick them up with the holder at Unicorn in JC if they are open after the flood.

 

[childofgod]

Th71 and I used 750mA fuses not resistors with our elm-60-48p that way if it over powers one side it will just pop the fuse. You can pick them up with the holder at Unicorn in JC if they are open after the flood.

 

[truebeliever71]

I would recommend getting 4 extra LEDs. The driver can actually handle 13 per leg and that would make the best use of the power (increased effeciency) and it will leave you with a couple extra incase one is either DOA or burns out. With the ELN-60-48d (D=dimable and not that much more expensive than non-dimming version) you will need to get a 10v power supply , 10k Pot and jack . For the fuses you can pick those up at Radio Shack long with the inline fuse holders.

Can you post a photo of the light fixture you're using? Also, how far off the water surface is it? That will determine what lenses you should use.

Also for quicker responses feel free to either PM or email me.

Oops almost forgot. You will need to get the adhesive as well.

To add a little more pop to actinics you can swap out 4 of the RBs for the warm whites or if you can find either red or violet that have the same forward voltage of 3.5 (or close too) and more importantly with a milliamp rating of 700 or higher that would work too.

What color temp MHs are you using?

 

[truebeliever71]

FYI... edited post

 

[alextheromanian]

I would recommend getting 4 extra LEDs. The driver can actually handle 13 per leg and that would make the best use of the power (increased effeciency) and it will leave you with a couple extra incase one is either DOA or burns out. With the ELN-60-48d (D=dimable and not that much more expensive than non-dimming version) you will need to get a 10v power supply , 10k Pot and jack . For the fuses you can pick those up at Radio Shack long with the inline fuse holders.

Can you post a photo of the light fixture you're using? Also, how far off the water surface is it? That will determine what lenses you should use.

Also for quicker responses feel free to either PM or email me.

Oops almost forgot. You will need to get the adhesive as well.

To add a little more pop to actinics you can swap out 4 of the RBs for the warm whites or if you can find either red or violet that have the same forward voltage of 3.5 (or close too) and more importantly with a milliamp rating of 700 or higher that would work too.

What color temp MHs are you using?

not 100% on the k rating of the MH but my guess is 10000k since they look pretty warm and sunlight like but i will double-check to make sure.

if they are that warm do you think it would be best to just stick with RB? in my opinion there's plenty of usable daylight in the tank but nowhere near anything actinic. so little in fact that the t8 drowns out any colors making it look like the tank is just under direct daylight.

 

[truebeliever71]

OK... You can just stick with the royal blues. But at $5 each for the reds on rapidled. You can pick them anyway. If you don't end up using I'll buy them from you.

Also, I have a source for the drivers. I can get them for $28 each. You have to have a register business to buy from them which I have.

 

[childofgod]

Sorry to steal your post. gb71 can you check your power supplys mine say eln-60-48p on the power supply its self. Before I turn them on I want to make sure they are right.