LED light hood using household LED lights

[george1098]

Hi all
check these out:
http://www.besthongkong.com/index.php?cPath=9_37_38

I was thinking about using the 62 LED bulbs which use 5 watts each to light my 30x30 cube tank. I figure I could squeeze 36 or so of these (mixed betweek blue and white) under a canopy. the whole canopy would draw 180 watts and I would never have to change a bulb again.

what do we think?

[RichConley]

Theyre standard 5mm LED's. They've got about 1/5th the efficiency of a PC lamp.

If you're going to do it, go out and buy a whole bunch of Seoul Semiconductor P4s. Theyre about 3w each, and are 100lumens /watt, as opposed to the 10 lumens per watt or so that those LEDs run.

[george1098]

cool thanks!

[george1098]

You wouldn't happen to have a link to where the lights are sold would you?

[hllywd]

Never is a long time...

I hate to be a downer... but I've read about several of these projects and for various reasons the LED life can be pretty dismal... Best to do some research first about those who have tried.

Tim

[Bebo77]

i went to a meeting where the reps for the Solaris lighting units were... from the way he talked about it.. its a pretty hard DIY... you need to know what color led's to get to get the correct spectrum in the tank

[aninjaatemyshoe]

"i went to a meeting where the reps for the Solaris lighting units were... from the way he talked about it.. its a pretty hard DIY... you need to know what color led's to get to get the correct spectrum in the tank"

Well, in this case it is quite easy to know exactly which ones to get. Go to www.aquaillumination.com They are using the new Seoul Semis and list exactly which ones they are using (including part numbers).

As far as the life goes, you have to have them actively cooled by a fan and a heat sink. They heat up like crazy, so you need to have an efficient/effective cooling method. Also, many people make the mistake of regulating the voltage/current through the LEDs using resistors instead of current drivers. This is way inefficient and will lead to even more heat issues. I would not attempt the circuit design unless you were good at that sort of thing. The electronics and cooling really are the major hurdles in such a project, but with a good design for both I don't think it would be that difficult to actually construct.

[aninjaatemyshoe]

Oh, and btw. It is pretty much established that you will not save any money and will probably spend much more money on DIYing an LED setup as opposed to just buying a good decently priced metal halide setup or even a T5 setup. For instance, just take a look at the Aquaillumination fixtures. Each 12" segment uses 24 Seoul Semis. At ~$12 each you will be looking at $576 just to purchase the bulbs for a 24" aquarium (not to mention the price of the other components).

[workn4frags]

aninjaatemyshoe,
Ya, I check into doing a DIY with the Seouls, by the time you get the heat sinks, lens,optics and drivers it cost close to what the are charging not to mention the other electronics. I think one for a nano tank might be doable.

I checked out the luxeon bulbs I think PFO is using and the run close to $20 per unit with optics,heat sink an lens.

george1098
don't waste your time with the standard LED's (5mm) I did one and it just doesn't have enough intensity.