Minimalistic multichip DIY LED build

themaddhatter said:
Those look pretty good! What chip are you using? And are you running the channels individually? The biggest weakness to mine is that they're not dimmable, so they come on and go full tilt for 11 hours. I'm going to reduce the photo period to 8 hours gradually though, because the light is so intense. I just added some sps today that I'll post pics of shortly.
Click to expand...
Chip I got on eBay running each channel by itself. I'll dig out the specs and post when I can..
 
hi all!! I'm looking at lighting my new 48x20x20 mainly sps setup, it will be rimless so the water level will only be about 17'' or so. Im thinking a combination of multi chips, 2 of the lumia 5.2 and 3 of the RLL 12 up v3.0. Im a big fan of the fluorescence look of corals but i also like a warmer look to the tank. what are the opinions on this build?
 
Hey all - I've been obsessing for too long and need to make some decisions. I have a nano tank that I want to light very naturally with some 5k-10k ish white light. I hate the look of most white LED's though...just so...not right. I also want a single source light to play on the sparkling / rippling effect.

What I'm looking for is a very high CRI (or similar metric), high temperature white LED.

This is the best i've been able to find so far - claiming 95CRI @ 5,600k
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/CVM-14-56-95-36-AC00-F2-2/1214-1267-ND/5041238

Or http://ce.citizen.co.jp/lighting_led/en/products/COB_series_vivid.html

Is there another option out there closer to 10k that I'm missing?
 
Last edited:
Not that I'm aware of. 5600k and 90CRI is about as good as you can get right now. No market in the commercial sectors. I'ts certainly possible but not enough economic incentive to develop it at this point in time.
 
Well it may not be a "law" but high K and high CRI seem a bit mutually exclusive..
The true "color" of a light source is derived from a complicated relationship of CCT, CRI and spectral distribution. When we look at a light source, the eye "perceives" a single color. In reality, we are seeing literally thousands of colors and hues made up of a combination of different wavelengths of light. These different combinations and the relative intensity of various wavelengths of light are used to determine the CRI of a light source.
Click to expand...
http://www.venturelighting.com/naturalwhite/naturalwhite_faqs.html
 
I agree - CRI is not the right metric.

However, there are 10k halides that produce beautiful vivid colors - even on non fluorescing critters. We've all seen gorgeous glistening halides over a reef - it just looks right and natural (to those of us not firmly in the blue camp).

Contrarily, I've tried some high color temp led's and the spectral profile is always the same - big hump in the blue - dip in cyan - big bump in the yellow/green thanks to yellow phosphors and then trailing off into the deep red. It looks bad and it looks the same as any other yellow phosphor based LED but with more blue and less yellow. What I'm looking for is a more complete spectrum on a single chip. Maybe partially doped with red phosphor with embedded uv+cyan. I know this would make it less efficient, but there must be a way to get better color rendition under high K leds.

If there is a word for the aesthetic quality of light plz let me know, I've been having trouble finding a good solution. Right now I'm aiming for a mixed CREE chip with Warm white / cool white / range of blue / cyan / red
 
R_Mc said:
I agree - CRI is not the right metric.

However, there are 10k halides that produce beautiful vivid colors - even on non fluorescing critters. We've all seen gorgeous glistening halides over a reef - it just looks right and natural (to those of us not firmly in the blue camp).

Contrarily, I've tried some high color temp led's and the spectral profile is always the same - big hump in the blue - dip in cyan - big bump in the yellow/green thanks to yellow phosphors and then trailing off into the deep red. It looks bad and it looks the same as any other yellow phosphor based LED but with more blue and less yellow. What I'm looking for is a more complete spectrum on a single chip. Maybe partially doped with red phosphor with embedded uv+cyan. I know this would make it less efficient, but there must be a way to get better color rendition under high K leds.

If there is a word for the aesthetic quality of light plz let me know, I've been having trouble finding a good solution. Right now I'm aiming for a mixed CREE chip with Warm white / cool white / range of blue / cyan / red
Click to expand...

The Vero "designer" series is said to be doped in the cyan area.. (still lowish K)
And then there is the work using violet base emitter..
http://www.yujiintl.com/high-cri-led-lighting


Still they end up lowish K..

Point is high K will have a blue "wash" affecting CRI so it would be hard to have an accurate rendering of CRI..at high K
 
I'm a big fan of the vero 90+ CRI models. hard to get your hands on the spectral plot but it is a VAST improvement over the average high CRI LED with a nice spike in the red trailing off to past 660 a spike around 550 and a spike around 520 ish (hump maybe is a better term) spectral plot resembles natural sunlight though it still lacks in the cyan and blue area but not as much as most leds (supplemented with cyan, blue, violet they are great chips, and Cheap!)

Remote phosphor designs are likely going to be the first to hit the reef tailored market using violet/cyan/blue in the base LED mix but haven't seen one yet, though the phosphor sheets are readily available for DIY from sources like:

https://secure40.securewebsession.com/2nc99ci87.site.aplus.net/products_RadFlex.php

In theory you could slap one of these sheets over a lumia type chip and have great results, haven't tried it yet though but have a few sample pieces of phosphor in my collection awaiting me to get board enough to go for it.
 
marspeed said:
I like the vero 90 also
I used them in my last set up
Click to expand...

one of my favorite aspects as I mentioned is they are cheap! one vero 10 is about the same price as a xpg cree chip but around 8-9 times the light output without those pesky gradations of color from the cree chip (that is when you don't use optics, i.e. blue'er right under the chip and more yellow to the sides). solderless wire harnesses are also made for them and readily available with 6-18" leads which is rather nice.
 
Little update on my corals. The green Monti frag was about mid height in the tank and started bleaching over night. A few spots on the big red cap turned a lighter color too, so I moved them both to the sand. So far they've been ok. I don't think it was the lights now though. The night before I'd switched to my recently acquired Reef Angel Plus controller, and after the switch I noticed some tingling on my hands when in the water. After I saw the corals damaged the next day, I checked with a multimeter and found approx 38V stray voltage in the sump, which oddly enough was only present when the skimmer was unplugged. It went up to 120v as I unplugged more items. With everything plugged in, it went to below half a volt. Anyway, that's a problem for another thread, but the point being, I believe the stray voltage caused the sudden bleaching, since they were in position for our a week before. I'll keep Y'all posted.
 
themaddhatter said:
Little update on my corals. The green Monti frag was about mid height in the tank and started bleaching over night. A few spots on the big red cap turned a lighter color too, so I moved them both to the sand. So far they've been ok. I don't think it was the lights now though. The night before I'd switched to my recently acquired Reef Angel Plus controller, and after the switch I noticed some tingling on my hands when in the water. After I saw the corals damaged the next day, I checked with a multimeter and found approx 38V stray voltage in the sump, which oddly enough was only present when the skimmer was unplugged. It went up to 120v as I unplugged more items. With everything plugged in, it went to below half a volt. Anyway, that's a problem for another thread, but the point being, I believe the stray voltage caused the sudden bleaching, since they were in position for our a week before. I'll keep Y'all posted.
Click to expand...

~40v isn't abnonormal in a saltwater tank. but if your seeing 120v then that's a problem. likely a heater or powerhead is leaking and needs replaced ASAP!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

adova
300g DIY Acrylic Tank Recommendations
Replies
5
Views
341
griss
griss
Brian60077
Building another new tank
2 3
Replies
49
Views
1K
Brian60077
Brian60077
C
Maxspect jump led issue
Replies
0
Views
80
Cruzersmith
C
E
Neptune DDR diy question for AWC
Replies
3
Views
360
Reefing102
Reefing102
A
How to Install Linear Actuators for Easy Lifting of Your Reef Tank SPS Light
Replies
4
Views
341
oreo57
oreo57
Back
Top