[Gomer]

I thought I'd move over from lighting to here since it is a DIY project,...but then again, it is a lighting issue
This is a continuation of this thread:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695

This LED project has 2 parts:
1) To look at long term viability of LED lighting
2) Comparative growth from LED lighting vs PC lighting

Part 1 will be 24x1watt Luxeons over a 10g. There will be a combonation of high and low light plants. This study will go on for approx 6+ months assuming good plant growth.

Part 2 will be a side by side comparison of 7x1watt Luxeons vs 1x7watt PC (Azoo palm light). The plants will be grown in the same environment using small "critter" cages with weekly water changes of nutrient enriched water. CO2 via Excel and water circulation via an airstone. The plants to be grown are Hemianthus micranthemoides, Glossostigma elatinoides, and E. acicularis. There will be no trimming of the plants. If the plants grow emersed, then I'll let them keep growing.

Photo documentation of both will be posted here. The plan is ~ every 2 weeks.

This project is made possible through a generous Luxeons star donation from:

www.lumileds.com

 

[Gomer]

Today is a good day Fedex had a delivery!!!

 

[Gomer]

a close up

 

[Gomer]

I wrote up a considerably more lengthy proposal and submitted it. After going through a few channels, it was approved etc. Of course Lumileds's will be following this thread quietly


Right now this is an expensive alternative, but if I my project has very favorable results, then perhaps other light companies (ie JBJ etc) might look at this and you might see some fashion of them on the market . When this happens, bulk orders will drive things down$.

...or so the plan goes.

 

[Gomer]

Looks like my drivers will arrive next week along with the rest of the Luxeons. I already got a monster heatsink. It is overkill, but I got a good deal on it

Got some scrap aluminum and mounted a single star on it and am powering it with batteries. Running at 0.29amps and WOW..it is bright. Can't wait to take it home to compare the single 1watt star to the 7watt PC

 

[Gomer]

Hurried home and got a first comparison photo. ..it is NOT a fair comparison, jsut a comparison

Both photos were taken with the same camera conditions. In real life, the light is BRIGHTER than the photos show. I just didn't want to adjust things more than keeping things static.

The top picture is a 7watt Azoo palm light.
The bottom picture is a SINGLE 1watt luxeon star.
The picture is a section of my baby shrimp grow out tank.

Keep in mind also, that equal light intensity (to the eye) isn't the same as equal PAR. An experiment later will tackle that issue.

 

[Gomer]

That is what I will soon find out. My drivers should be here next week, so I'll know shortly after that. I'll have 7 1watters to directly compare (from both an intensity and a PAR standpoint). Just have to wait

 

[Gomer]

had a little time to play in the machine shop today. wired it temp and ran it with a regulated power supply. ..Sorry..didn't have the camera with me..but it sure was nice and bright! I'll work on the 24 LED section later in the week.

Should have my drivers the beginning of next week, and then I'll be able to post comparison pictures of LED vs PC

 

[Gomer]

view of the heatsink...an overkill, but I got a deal on it. ...hmm...I can switch out to 3watt luxeons on this

 

[Gomer]

I will be using some arctic silver III....CPU thermal heatsink compound

..had some extra.

 

[Gomer]

In this case, they are supposed to be in series. The power will be by a constant current source designed for these LEDs

The 7 will be driven by the 350ma driver and the 24 by two 700ma drivers

http://www.advancetransformer.com/xitanium/advance/images/a_350ma_700ma_cco.pdf

 

[Gomer]

Another comparison...still not a fair one

The top picture is a 7watt Azoo Palm light 7100K
The bottom is 7x 1watt luxeon stars that are ONLY driven at 115ma, NOT their rated value (and value that I will drive at when I get the drivers) of 350 ma.

hope this is starting to shed light on the issue

 

[Gomer]

WOOHOO!!! Drivers and last 10 LEDs came in today

time for an update picture

Some food for thought. Fluorescent lights are not on 100% of the time. They flicker at a high rate. this means that if you had an LED and a flourescent light putting out the same visible amount of light, the LED is really putting out more! How much more is dependent on how long the Fluorescent light is OFF for between pulses. Plants see # of photons at a given wave length, NOT the apparent intensity.


Top picture is the 7100k Azoo palm light.
Bottom picture is 7x 1watt Luxeon stars driven at 350ma.
All camera conditions are the same for both pictures

 

[Gomer]

The follwoing is for LUXEONS..not normal LEDs

+high can get very high light density
+last ~50,000 hours (10-15 years+)
+more effectively remove heat
+can use as "spot lights" with a lense
+can do dimming/dusk/dawn
+all sorts of colors if you want to add a little more of a given color
+appears to have a good photosythetic responce overlap
-expensive
-needs a heatsink
-must DIY some part of it


maybe more +/- ...?


Not sure about wall plug efficiency, but 7watts of luxeons light the tank more than a 7watt PC. Not sure about plant growth, but I am working on that.

 

[Gomer]

I am not familiar with the Nova. not sure if the luxeon would work unless you got something like 20-30° optics.

how about adding a small PC instead?
a 10-12,000K should help there perhaps?

 

[Gomer]

7watt vs 7watt begins. Here is the start...Day 0

Plants in there:

Dwarf Hair Grass
Rotala Indica
Glosso
narrow leaf pearl weed (?)
Pear weed (HM)

 

[Gomer]

A new update

For comparison pics, all camera settings were the same. The lights are really brighter than represented, but that doesn't matter for this post.

 

[Gomer]

I'll fix it tonight.

 

[Gomer]

6 days on the 7v7 comparison

 

[Gomer]

I think it is still early to call since the plants weren't 100% identical between containers. ..i just like to document as much as I can