LED lighting
- Thread starter Doodles
- Start date
Hi all,
You can make up your own LED fittings fairly easily. The MR16 (or as long as you can guarantee they won't get wet GU10) fittings hold a 3 - 7W LED bulb and they are plenty bright. You need the "fluted" (acts as a heat sink) bulb and the luxeon LED's.
The 7W are about £20 incredubly bright and available in daylight 6500K. You can also get horticultural LED light boards for hydroponics, they grow plants fine but the LEDs are a mix or red and blue so that aren't really suitable for aquariums.
cheers Darrel
You can make up your own LED fittings fairly easily. The MR16 (or as long as you can guarantee they won't get wet GU10) fittings hold a 3 - 7W LED bulb and they are plenty bright. You need the "fluted" (acts as a heat sink) bulb and the luxeon LED's.
The 7W are about £20 incredubly bright and available in daylight 6500K. You can also get horticultural LED light boards for hydroponics, they grow plants fine but the LEDs are a mix or red and blue so that aren't really suitable for aquariums.
cheers Darrel
not tried on tanks as yet, but have switched some of the kitchen halogens to LED, discovered they do 'white' which is almost blue, and warm white which is really nice.
will see if they last as long as they claim. they certainly use less electric cos they dont give out the heat ray that halogen does.
will see if they last as long as they claim. they certainly use less electric cos they dont give out the heat ray that halogen does.
I work in a Hotel as the fix it man
I am using G10 LED,s. I have replace 11watt lamps with 1 watt LED,s and have the same Lux level if not brighter.The main issue with LED,s is they are more of a down light but this is what fish keepers would want. the other plus is they run very cool and don't have any heat build up or use control gear that creates heat.
Now they have cranked the light problems and as they become more common they will drop in price.
Also with all the planed legislation to bring down the mercury levels in the "Low Energy" lamps around the conner, LED,s will have less environmental impact.
There is talk within our group to have changing lamps come under the Part P regulations.
I am looking at LED,s for my next refit of the fish house.
I am using G10 LED,s. I have replace 11watt lamps with 1 watt LED,s and have the same Lux level if not brighter.The main issue with LED,s is they are more of a down light but this is what fish keepers would want. the other plus is they run very cool and don't have any heat build up or use control gear that creates heat.
Now they have cranked the light problems and as they become more common they will drop in price.
Also with all the planed legislation to bring down the mercury levels in the "Low Energy" lamps around the conner, LED,s will have less environmental impact.
There is talk within our group to have changing lamps come under the Part P regulations.
I am looking at LED,s for my next refit of the fish house.
I was looking today at lights for my new tank and the initial cost is steep but they guarantee them for 2 years.
I am sure someone will do cheaper ones for tanks soon as there is no need for the high prices now they can make LEDs at lower costs
PFK have just done a review of several LED lights but the detail is aimed at Marines and PAR ratings, not sure if its relevant for freshwater though. But does give an overview of the current market and prices.
The great thing about LED lights is that actually you can exactly tune the colour temperature. Usually they have to rely on a concotion of gasses to get it approximately right. Im quite a keen LED buff so I have my LEDs tuned and timed using a DMX controller but thats really for fun then it is a cost effective alternative.
Hmm... Wouldn't happen to be the Ibis In Temple Meads?
I Keep meaning to half inch the LED fittings from the lifts
I've used LEDs in the past - but only because I could get free samples quite easily (As I ordered them for customers direct from the manufacturers).
The main problem with them at the moment is that they are expensive... The LED technology has got a lot cheaper, BUT the band wagon is only just getting rolling and all the "new developments" are keeping the price high. In fact its just manufacturers being slow but still wanting the hight price tags on new stuff.
LED life
Hi all,
Apparently the length of life is dependent upon the temperature the LEDs run at, and this also effects the time scale for "lamp lumen depreciation".
The very long life of the lamps is achieved at low temperatures, and the high wattage LEDs actually run quite hot, which is why you need the Cree or Luxeon type where the fluted metal body acts as a heat sink and dissipates the heat.
The person who told me this also told that the GU10 shape is about theoretically the poorest shape for heat loss, and that if they were "linear fluorescent tube shaped" they would be a lot better, but the manufacturers are pushing them as a direct replacement for Halogen Mr16 and Gu10 fittings as this is where they offer the greatest saving in electricity use.
cheers Darrel
Hi all,
Apparently the length of life is dependent upon the temperature the LEDs run at, and this also effects the time scale for "lamp lumen depreciation".
The very long life of the lamps is achieved at low temperatures, and the high wattage LEDs actually run quite hot, which is why you need the Cree or Luxeon type where the fluted metal body acts as a heat sink and dissipates the heat.
The person who told me this also told that the GU10 shape is about theoretically the poorest shape for heat loss, and that if they were "linear fluorescent tube shaped" they would be a lot better, but the manufacturers are pushing them as a direct replacement for Halogen Mr16 and Gu10 fittings as this is where they offer the greatest saving in electricity use.
cheers Darrel
Yeah Id vote on too, although they can appear to be expensive, in terms of energy savings properties can be well worth it. Also usual CFLs have been hot topic of debate about efficiency...and longevity...and brightness. I got mine from http://www.wholesaleonelectronics.com/led-lights/
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