LED progress pics

[serpentman]

I thought I'd share for those not following my build thread. Here are some progress pics of my LED build.


Here's the main mounting rack:

A sample array of 24 LED's (16 XR-E Royal Blue : 8 XPG Cool White). I'll have a total of 144 when all is said and done.

They work!

Here's the first set just placed over the tank (left side) for testing. Its a lousy pic as I've been lax on my glass cleaning. So far the PAR is comparable if not slightly better than my 250W MH's. Directly underneath the PAR was ~200 on the sand.

 

[ddmiller38]

Nice job

 

[cmbspd]

Here's the first set just placed over the tank (left side) for testing. Its a lousy pic as I've been lax on my glass cleaning. So far the PAR is comparable if not slightly better than my 250W MH's. Directly underneath the PAR was ~200 on the sand.

Looks great and I really like your sliding setup for the arrays.

Is that PAR with or without optics (you are planning 60 degree)? Any problem with the relatively uneven spacing of the whites causing spotlighting?

 

[rogerrgr]

Looking great! I didn't know you had a build thread or I would have been following it! Would like to see it when it's all done!!

 

[imcosmokramer]

looks great...come here to do your next project!

 

[cash03ins]

Looks great and the colors even in the pic look great

 

[Mr Coffee]

looks really great. How big are those heat sinks?

 

[SaltwaterAdict]

Looks really good. Ur tanks amazing! How long did it take u to put together one of those?

 

[cmador]

How's the shimmer compared to metal halides? I tried t5s for a little bit once, but couldn't handle not having the shimmer effect.

 

[coop8392]

looks great

where did you get your leds from?

 

[serpentman]

Thanks guys. Was off today so spent the better part of the day on it. Got the acrylic splash shields in place and am almost done with the fans.

looks really great. How big are those heat sinks?

The heatsinks are 8.5" x 12"

Looks really good. Ur tanks amazing! How long did it take u to put together one of those?

Tough question. I would say it averaged me 2 hours per heatsink between mounting the LEDs, drilling and soldering.

How's the shimmer compared to metal halides? I tried t5s for a little bit once, but couldn't handle not having the shimmer effect.

Believe it or not, the shimmer is probably twice as intense as a Metal Halide.

looks great

where did you get your leds from?

I got them from RapidLED.com

 

[vivek]

Can't wait to see your tank with LEDs. How much approximately the whole setup cost u? I am thinking seriously of going all LEDs too?

 

[SaltyWaters]

Man looks great wish I had time to build one. If I ever need help building one I know who to contact now.

 

[Esquare]

Did you look into the Cree MC-E's.

 

[sohal1025]

What is the average cost on a biuld like that?
Compared to the LED complete plug n play.

 

[nmunro]

WOW great build. Great attention to details.

 

[serpentman]

Can't wait to see your tank with LEDs. How much approximately the whole setup cost u? I am thinking seriously of going all LEDs too?

The rough cost is about $400 per array of 48, which by my tests so far is equal to one 250W MH. This includes misc, the aluminum for the rack and acrylic for the splash shield. Total wattage is ~160W with cooling fans (and of course no bulb replacments).

Man looks great wish I had time to build one. If I ever need help building one I know who to contact now.

LMK if you ever need a hand.

Did you look into the Cree MC-E's.

I did look into them. There were two negatives that immediately came to mind. One, they are ridiculously expensive (3x the cost of an XP-G). Two, although the lumens per watt is very impressive, I think they would lend themselves to serious spotlighting and potential "hot" zones.

 

[Esquare]

I have been researching and planning my LED build for sometime now (because that stage is free) and have just started to look into the MC-E. I think the initial cost is similar if you look at the cost per lumen output. It appears that you would use 1 MC-E to 3 XPG or 4 XR-e, though I could be wrong. The spotlighting is what really concerns me as an issue. I wonder if you could play with the optics to address that issue?

Either way, thanks for the write up.

PS did you look at the solider less brackets for the stars?

 

[Murphs205]

Hey Jeff ,,
Whats with that pattern of the light layout? is it matched up to where your SPS are in your tank and where the white LED is needed most or did you just stagger each row ? Im gonna call you soon and pick your brain about a this stuff a bit..shoot me a pm and let me know when you got a few mins to chat

Murph

 

[serpentman]

I have been researching and planning my LED build for sometime now (because that stage is free) and have just started to look into the MC-E. I think the initial cost is similar if you look at the cost per lumen output. It appears that you would use 1 MC-E to 3 XPG or 4 XR-e, though I could be wrong. The spotlighting is what really concerns me as an issue. I wonder if you could play with the optics to address that issue?

Either way, thanks for the write up.

PS did you look at the solider less brackets for the stars?

It's my understanding that the MC-E is just 4 emitters in one housing. Just based on my experience with this build, PAR won't be an issue. However, I would be more concerned about spread. Optics will help but probably will still have some spotlighting unless mounted really high up.

I haven't seen the solderless brackets. Can you forward the link?

Hey Jeff ,,
Whats with that pattern of the light layout? is it matched up to where your SPS are in your tank and where the white LED is needed most or did you just stagger each row ? Im gonna call you soon and pick your brain about a this stuff a bit..shoot me a pm and let me know when you got a few mins to chat

Murph

I'll shoot you a PM Murph. I wanted the pattern to be spread out to avoid spotlighting. PAR results are promising. Not quite as high as some areas under my exist MH's which can reach 6-700 some spots. However they max around 450 with good penetration.

The pattern on the array is basically:

blue/blue/blue/white/blue/white
white/blue/white/blue/blue/blue
blue/blue/blue/white/blue/white
white/blue/white/blue/blue/blue