Led Lights Is Almost Out

Nathan4Wvu

Nathan4Wvu

Do you like Phil Collins?
http://www.solarisled.com/

SolarisAdLarge.jpg


This thing looks cool!! Don't know what the price will be?? You could proably get a new car for the price lol but it has dimming capabilities and has 178 par vs 133 par on a 250watt mh bulb!
 
Yeh I saw these about a month ago, no way I can justify these kind of prices. It's like the plasma screen TV of the reef keeping hobby IMO. One day they will be as cheap or cheaper than PC though.
 
I've been looking at these things for the entire week and I finally just sat down and added up the costs for just bulbs alone over what would be the expected lifetime of these lights. I even went to the point of calling the company and spoke with the guy who is the head of development for these lights. They expect the lights to last on average of around 10 years. Even with them only lasting 5 years depending on the rate you change the bulbs it's not really that overpriced.

Here's the numbers that I ran with the cheapest bulb price on E-bay (we all know how good those bulbs can be) and the number of bulbs I would need for a 48" with 4 PC and 2 175 watt MH

13.79 PC bulb
49.99 MH bulb

55.16 PC 4 bulbs per purchase
99.98 MH 2 bulbs per purchase

5 year lifetime
6 month replacement cycle
551.60 pc bulb
999.80 MH bulb

1551.40

8 month replacment cycle
413.70 PC bulb
749.85 MH bulb

1163.55

1 year replacment cycle
275.80 PC bulb
499.90 MH bulb

775.70

10 year lifetime
6 month replacement cycle
1103.20 PC bulb
1999.60 MH bulb

3102.80

8 month replacement cycle
827.40 PC bulb
1499.70 MH bulb

2327.10

1 year replacement cycle
551.60 PC bulb
999.80 MH bulb

1551.40

I know it's crazy to put out that much money up front but if you look at this from this angle your putting out a lot more money over time. My plasma screen fish tank light will be here around August 18th. I'll try and bring it to the meeting.
 
LED life for that fixture is around 11.5years running 12 hours a day. I work in the sign business and that is the rating for our LEDs as well, but what it doesnt say is if they are not running 100%, like a sun rise sun set feature then you would get even more life out of them. Not to mention they total amount of money you would save on power over time. And LEDS light emission v. heat is much higher, i.e. chiller running less. I hope to hear some reviews on them.

Jordan
 
I will wait on the reviews before saying much more about the system. It sounds to good to be true and I will say this, they are overpriced, LEDS and the powersources for them do not require this kind of investment IMO. I have no doubt that one day LEDS will be the primary light source on our systems, they will but not until prices get more realistic.

Piper: Can these bulbs be changed when they burn out? Most LED systems are hard wired, if they can be changed out thats a bit better.
 
Yes the system is designed in such a way that it's modular and if lights burn out they can be replaced on location. It's designed with 5 light modules that plug in to a bigger board. That was one of the first questions I asked the guy.

"Each 12” section of hood has 25-Luxeon 3 Watt LED’s for a total of 75Watts/Foot. The LEDs are mounted 5 LEDs/circuit board. If one LED fails then the 5 LED board needs to be replaced. This circuit board replacement is designed to be performed in the field if needed."
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7820284#post7820284 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by firefish2020
I will wait on the reviews before saying much more about the system. It sounds to good to be true and I will say this, they are overpriced, LEDS and the powersources for them do not require this kind of investment IMO. I have no doubt that one day LEDS will be the primary light source on our systems, they will but not until prices get more realistic.

Piper: Can these bulbs be changed when they burn out? Most LED systems are hard wired, if they can be changed out thats a bit better.
Click to expand...


Don't get me wrong, the LED's might be the end all beat all in Reef lighting systems but I want to see the stats. I want to see PAR ratings for LED's and the PAR for LED's at say 20 inches in water. When I use LTPiper's figures, I came to 300 watts for a 4 foot tank. I understand wattage does not mean that much in reef lighting, but PAR and Spectrum do. So I also wondered if there would be any spectrum change or Intensity loss using LED's. I know they say the lights will last for over five years but do they lose intensity, have spectrum shifts. We all know most halide bulbs would light up for well over a year to three years. But they shift spectrum and lose intensity. I know LED's are suppose to put out greater amounts of light using less electricity than other froms of lighting but I could put two 250 DE MH's on a four foot tank and have 500 watts (out of two bulbs) instead of 300 watts (out of hundreds of bulbs) at a fraction of the intial cost of the LED's. And I know for sure MH's will grow a reef. That is where the rubber meets the road, and all that I care about. If the LED's work and last as long as they are suppose to I think they will be a great light source. But I remember when Compact fluorescents were going to replace all other types of lighting also. I think you are a brave soul Piper, and hope you the best stepping out into the LED frontier. If someone has the stats for this type of lighting, I sure would like to see what they are.

Another thing I am skeptical about is if one bulb fails you have to replace the whole circuit board. I wonder how much that would cost?

I really like the idea of being able to program the lighting, I think that is one of the of the best points of this light.
 
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'The Solaris Illumination System will produce similar PAR Measurements on the bottom of the tank as a 250 Watt 20K MH Lamp." This is on a 24" light.
 
I saw that when I read their site, I would like to see the stats on it. Besides, most 20K MH bulb do not produce much PAR in the first place. I am not trying to down the light system. I just want them to produce some real studies before they try to sell such an expensive light. I do not want them to let us be the Guinea Pigs. No where did I find on their site any pics of growth MH vs. LEDs. I would like to see how the light stacks up against a XM 10K halide or a Iwasaki 6.5K or even a hamilton 14K. I would also be inclined to buy one of these lights if it really produces what they promise. I guess the truth will come out in the next few months once the Hobbists start using them.

I just know there are a lot of products sold in this hobby that are not worth how much they cost. I hope this is not one of those things.
 
20K MH dont produce that much PAR thats the problem. Yes you can keep a lot of coral under that PAR rating but dont try it on a tank over 18 inches deep IMO or you will have an uphill battle on your hands. I don't see how growth could be matched to even a 150 watt 10K the amount of PAR varries from ballast to to ballast and bulb to bulb, true but a 150 10K bulb should produce far better growth that a 20K bulb of the same wattage. The system is incredible and would produce great growth in softies I think, but SPS would be slow going IMO. I dont see this particular version of the Solaris being able to fill the halide gap just yet, but man is it close!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7825223#post7825223 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by coralreefer
The bulbs were suppose to last 18 months too :rollface:
Click to expand...

More like 6 months, 8 if you push them but your tank will not like you if you do.
 
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