Plenty of people use them for large tank (even 125g and larger) but they get expensive (driver are expensive, high wattage DC supply is expensive too)
Anyone messed with the High Intensity 3W LED's?
- Thread starter Arkangel77
- Start date
So I guess thoes 15 Watt Drivers would work well for 3 - 3W bullbs and might be iffy on 4. SO it would seem you would need a power supplie and a Driver for every 3 to 4 Bulbs assuming you were going to use the 3W Bulbs and the 15W power supplies. Well I think I am starting to get it. LOL Thank you all for your help in bumbing this down for me - LOL.
Arkangel77
Arkangel77
There are drivers on the market which allow you to wire up more than 3-4 LEDs. I am currently waiting on a Meanwell-60-48P driver which according to the data sheet: http://www.meanwell.com/search/ELN-60/ELN-60-spec.pdf has an output of 48V from 0-1.3A. This will allow you to string up to 12-13 LEDs in series together. Should be getting it and my LEDs sometime this week.
Yes but as i said, This is NOT current drivers, these are switching power supply.
unless you use the exact number to LED as they "recommended" you will not get the result you want. That's why they have resistor in their schematic, to limit current through LEDs so that you don't blow them. Nothing bad with resistor beside they're inefficient. (that's why i think current drivers are better)
That said, I have only 5 x 3x LED runnings in series from a 15V 0.7A Switching power supply straight without drivers.
I should have said "if anybody is using them on large tanks, how are the doing? and how much do they cost to run?
The initial cost is high but the long term costs are low, probably lower than fluorescents. The Philips LEDs are supposed to last for 50,000 hours with minimal drop in light output if cooled properly. Leave your lights on for 12 hrs a day and that will roughly come to over 10 yrs before you have to switch them out. You'll likely need to use less wattage than fluorescents to achieve the same light level, so some small savings there on the electricity bill.
Probably not a big issue in freshwater tanks, LEDs don't generate downward heat so it doesn't heat up the tank, a big issue for metal halide users and those in hot climates.
I know one person lighting his tank with a large array over his 150g reef tank and its doing well for the past 6 months.
Probably not a big issue in freshwater tanks, LEDs don't generate downward heat so it doesn't heat up the tank, a big issue for metal halide users and those in hot climates.
I know one person lighting his tank with a large array over his 150g reef tank and its doing well for the past 6 months.
I got LED Tubes right now. I like them lots but miss the shimmer. There is also the COOL factor of these Hight Output LED's. I love to tinker so I guess this is a large scale project that will take some time to put together. Right now I have 1300 regular LED's over my tank (180 Gallon) LOL. It looks GOOD!
Arkangel77
Arkangel77
I don't know the exact cost (I haven't done anything major) but say for a 75g you'll need
30 LEDs = $100 (this maybe over kill. And you may to space LEDs about 6" from each other)
8 drivers = $100,
2 x 19V 63W supply = $50
fans = $20,
heat sink = $10
thermal glue = $20
So you'll be running about $300 plus extra (but maybe cheaper if you can find surplus or whole sale store).
Once up and running they use about 1/3 the electricity as "equivalently-bright" fluorescent light.
BTW, LEDs do make alot of shimmering effect. And you can mix different colors for a nicer looks
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I was under the impresion from some of the other threads I had read that they did?
ALSO - Just FYI = I got about $160 os so worth of LED's in my current set up. I may put 2 more tubes in there which would push the price up another $40 or so But It seems like OVERKILL - so We will see?
Arkangel77
