LED lighting - Solaris - Page 4

afbengochea · 10-23-2006, 04:43 PM

wouldnt the humidity and heat be a problem for the circuitry?

redwinger · 10-23-2006, 06:03 PM

From what I read they will work in a canopy you just need to provide the proper ventalation to the unit to keep the leds cool.

leveldrummer · 10-23-2006, 07:24 PM

i think if it wasnt for the super fancy computer these things would be alot more affordable, just simple on and off. but it is really really cool what they can do.

redwinger · 10-23-2006, 08:24 PM

Well my DIY version that I was looking at consisted of the same led's the same lenses the driver transformers wire etc. was about $400. This does not include case, fans,computer timers etc. The real cost holdups is the price of the led's and the lenses. I could DIY it for half but it is not really justifiable IMO to do so.

gregb · 10-23-2006, 08:33 PM

At those prices they can stick them where the sun doesnt shine.

angry gary · 10-23-2006, 09:08 PM

years ago i was into to some serious cave exploration. you had basically two options. carbide lighting or basic electric whether with 6 watt bulbs and batteries or rechargeable battery packs.
along came LED lights and lithium batteries. basically a headlamp that never needed changing and battery life of over 250 hours. very expensive in relation to our known technology at the time. but once you put out the initial cost it was never second guessed! you can basically say that alot of cavers put their life in the hands of these LED's. if i trust MY life to LED's then i can easily trust my reef tank to the same technology!
the drawbacks at the time there was no way to focus LED lighting into a beam or a simple forward direction. it was a glow of a light as opposed to spotlight effect. secondly LED's only recently have been created to put out a true white light. the best before was always a blueish tint light.
now with the directional lens and the true white light it appears anything will be possible. just like my caving light which has greatly reduced in price this will do the same.

ANGRY GARY

reefermike1 · 10-23-2006, 09:20 PM

yea that price is outrageous, cool idea, but could probly diy one if your good with electronics for ALOT cheaper. ill wait a few years, gives me another reason to put off buying mh lol. imo 400 would be a good price

combiemaster · 10-23-2006, 09:40 PM

yeah i remeber some posted something about this a couple of months they were talking about pre orders and all how they were sold out. OMG the price is high. Its ok if you got a nano its a couple of hunded but to expensive for the 50G+ gallon tanks

PelagicMagic · 10-23-2006, 10:11 PM

here is my DIY solaris plan

I am going to attach lots of these to make a night led light

Not as complex as redwinger's plan and probably not as good

redwinger · 10-24-2006, 12:14 AM

Oh I highly doubt that I will do it. I just was researching the cost of DIY and if it was only a couple hundred I would try it but $400 to experiment is a little out of reach. I would rather just buy what I know works than experiment with $400.

not_sponsored · 10-24-2006, 12:32 AM

Yeah I was looking into a DIY LED hood as well, I actually bought a few 3 watt LEDS, those things are really really bright, almost blinding to look directly in them. But yeah, I didn't realize how expensive the lenses were so I scrapped the idea. Still 1 LED could serve as a pretty cool moonlight.

redwinger · 10-24-2006, 01:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by not_sponsored

Yeah I was looking into a DIY LED hood as well, I actually bought a few 3 watt LEDS, those things are really really bright, almost blinding to look directly in them. But yeah, I didn't realize how expensive the lenses were so I scrapped the idea. Still 1 LED could serve as a pretty cool moonlight.

I would not go with more than a 1w for a moonlight as I think the 3w would be way to bright. I know that the normal 1w led's are bright as all hell for moonlights. A 3w led on a dimmer would be about the only way to use it as a moonlight IMO.

not_sponsored · 10-24-2006, 03:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by redwinger

I would not go with more than a 1w for a moonlight as I think the 3w would be way to bright. I know that the normal 1w led's are bright as all hell for moonlights. A 3w led on a dimmer would be about the only way to use it as a moonlight IMO.

Unless you had it set up on a motor and a dimmer on your celing, goes across the ceiling every night, dims down once a month, wouldn't that be sweet.