Gomer

Ignore the barrel distortion of the craptacular camera

(I offset it because of where the plants are in the tank)




Comparison
12x700mA K2 (top) 1x13watt AH Delux (bottom)


2weeks


3.5 weeks


Little shimmer video. While it doesn't shimmer quite as well as a single point source (MH), it does shimmer (multiple point sources). Later I may try using less emmitters at a higher current.
http://webfiles.uci.edu/algomez/K2/P1010001.avi


NOTE: while testing out the lights, I only run them at work to make sure there is no electrical/thermal issues (which there isn't thus far). ..so this tank has no light on the weekends!!!

Blacksunshine

For what reason did you chose these very high priced LEDs over the standard 2 prong bulb styles?
I assume you have higher asperations then just making a moonlight out of them.

Gomer

You probably don't know my history on LED lighting, but:

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...?highlight=LED

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...?highlight=LED

I already had a pair of 17watt 700ma drivers and the emmitters were only ~ $3.50 ea.

dennis

What exactly is a K2 emmitter?

.....what do you mean this can't be good? It should be great!

Gomer

the K2 is the new generation of luxeon LEDs. Think of the III emitter, only better interms of efficiency, upperlimit current handling and their color is now 6700k on average instead of ~5k.

I hooked up 3 star III emitters to get a feel for things and it leaves me with high hopes for the 12xK2 that I'll be using.

dennis

Do you know the lumen output and distribution? What sort of "spread" do they produce, in terms of surface coverage?

Gomer

all the info you could want :P
http://www.lumileds.com/pdfs/DS51.pdf

epicfish

Hmm, interesting. Keep us posted on this project!

Blacksunshine

WOW! Ok yes much better then moonlighting as I was thinking. Thanks for the link to the old thread. clears things right up! Very impressive work and research you've done on the subject.
Best of luck with this endevor. I have seen LED lighting systems like you are making offered by one company once.. Sadly I cannot remember what company it was but the whole array was quite expensive. IIRC more so then an equivilant PC set up. But the scale that these arrays were for large tanks 48" and 60" IIRC. based on the 11 bucks per even at the now price of 3 bucks per led I can see where the cost comes in. Much more feasable and cost effective on the nano and smaller tanks where only a few units are needed.
I will deff be keeping an eye on this topic to see how things progress.

hoppycalif

Tony, any guess as to the equivalence in watts for these vs. PC lights? I assume a lot less wattage would be needed since these have little waste heat.
And, of course, what is the wattage of each LED?