DIY LED Lighting Fixture

  • Get the NEW AquariaCentral iOS app --> http://itunes.apple.com/app/id1227181058 // Android version will be out soon!

DoctaQ

all your wheel are belong to us
Dec 12, 2008
1,114
0
0
Boston
well i meant compared to other reef lighting, and adding blues just for looks.
trust me, after youve seen white leds mixed in with blues you will think whites by themselves are yellow.

i used to think, well, 6500k is the whitest light around, how can you get any whiter than the sun, before i used 10 and 12k lighting.

compared to a 10k t5NO, a 6700k cfl and a 5000k cfl, it is not much higher than 6700 really and i think that two blues that will not affect the coverage because i dont want any blue only parts of the tank, will give me closer to 8-10k
 

keno

AC Members
Maybe I am still missing something. The White CREE LED's at 1amp (which is what I have them set to) have a 10K rating, not 6500K.

I would agree that a 6500K cfl bulb has a yellow tint. I compared my LED light to a 10K cfl and my LED light was white while the 10K cfl still had a tint of yellow.
 

DoctaQ

all your wheel are belong to us
Dec 12, 2008
1,114
0
0
Boston
well color is in the eye of the beholder
but you have certianly made me reconsider, i might build and see how it looks and then add on if necessary

the particular one im talking about is the q5 bin, i wonder if the cheaper bins tend to have lower color temp?
 
Last edited:

DoctaQ

all your wheel are belong to us
Dec 12, 2008
1,114
0
0
Boston
wow, sry keno, i completeley forgot

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13691
this one can drive about 7 to 12 leds if you combine two or three of them

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13690
this one can do 4-7 leds

the problem is that there really isnt dimming for these guys, best you can do is to make a switch to turn off one driver at a time for discreet values.

as for price effectiveness, its decently cheaper than getting a power supply and buckpucks
say for instance you are driving 24
24v power supply-15 +shipping
4 buckpucks 80+shipping
95bucks

other power supply
6.50*6 =40 bucks

other other one
4.10*12=48

the smaller one could be useful if you are trying to get a number that is not a multiple of 12



the price for driving gets closer to half price for other power supply as you get into bigger arrays. for freshwater this could be the way to go since there is no light shock and light acclimation like there is for coral
 
Last edited:

keno

AC Members
The one negative I see is that they are only good for a current of 320ma. I am driving my LED's at 1 amp for maximum brightness. I have a dimmer on my LED fixture. If I crank it down, the brightness goes way down. And if I remember correctly, the low end of the CREE LED's I'm using has a low end of 350ma. I think this is going in the right direction, but they need to provide a higher output.
 
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store