DIY led build (steves led)

[rupatel]

What do think about my led build plan that I am about to start. The tank is 120g 48x24x24 It will have 42 Luxeon ES 3 Watt LEDs - Royal Blue and 42 - Luxeon ES 3 Watt LEDs – Cool white. There will be 2 power supplies with 4 driver and each driver can handle 3 arrays of 7 leds each. And a typhon for controller.
I have everything here at home, just want to get your opinions if I should go ahead and proceed with the build?

Here is the kit I ordered and yes I know everyone has their opinions on Steveleds.
http://shop.stevesleds.com/SPS-Grade-LED-Retrofit-Kit-Package-64-84-tanks-SPS-Retrofit-Kit-64-84.htm

[reefnut2012]

What are some of the opinions on Stevesled's

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I don't think it's "opinion" so much as "fact." They're not as efficient as some other LEDs available. Depending on your criteria and your goals, that may or may not be a problem.

[Mandragen]

I was thinking about going with steve's on my BioCube 14, what would you recommend instead?

[Seakrait]

Which leds are more efficient than the luxeon? The royal blues are the best on the market. If the comparison is total brightness the white crees put out more. But they are not more efficient in terms of lumens per watt at the 1.5a they have to be driven at to get that brightness. At 700mA and at over 120 degrees the luxeons are as or more efficient than the crees. Either work well depends on the application. If you need good penetration and the fixture is high above the water the cree 5w at 1.3-1.5a is the way to go. Luxeons are good leds. Also pay attention to the binning. Efficiency, actual color, and brightness vary heavily bin to bin.

[muttley000]

Following

[oreo57]

I love "blanket statements"..so "meaningful" ;)

anyways this is a look at 1W Cree vs Luxeon...

http://cireon.com/pdf/Case_Study,_Cree_vs_Luxeon,_with_Cree_LM-79s.pdf

http://www.qualiteitems.com/ebay/creeb.jpg

Evaluation Process:
We asked Cree to recommend their highest performing LEDs in
the common single-wafer format; Cree recommended their
XPE-HEW and XPG products. For the Philips product, we utilized
LEDs from an existing production lot without notifying Philips we’d
be conducting this comparison.

[Poseidon]

Thread Necro... OP was March 2012. ;)

Still good info regarding Cree V Phillips. Personally I am very happy with my Luxeon M Royal Blues.

[saf1]

I have one of Steve's retro over my 29 gallon bio cube. It is solid outside the cheap power supply he uses. But it is good. My other 29 gallon uses rapids retro. It too is solid. So I use both LEDs mentioned here even Cree over my daughters planted tank.

I am building lights over a 40 breeder now and going to use the Phillips again. I think I like them a bit more but nothing other than a personal preference since neither Led brand has failed. Only difference is Steve's drivers dim to 0 and I like that. Rapid with mean wells don't and start at 15...mean well power supply are so much better quality though

[Mandragen]

Yeah, sorry to get everyone riled up. I knew this was an old thread, just didn't know if it still held weight. I should have clarified myself a bit better.

So the consensus is that Steve's is ok now, except the power supply being a bit low in quality?

[saf1]

Yeah, sorry to get everyone riled up. I knew this was an old thread, just didn't know if it still held weight. I should have clarified myself a bit better.

So the consensus is that Steve's is ok now, except the power supply being a bit low in quality?

Based on what I have in use it is of my personal opinion that both Cree and Phillips/Luxeon are good. There is some differences but both of the brands or manufactures are solid. There may be a popularity of brand identity between the two but you really can't go wrong with either has far has emitting light goes.

"MY" comment about the power supply Steve's includes in his retro kits is that it is cheap. He knows it and I've emailed him about it. It is offered because of the price to lower the overall cost. I understand the reason. What is cheap about it is heat dissipation and the fan inside the unit it uses to cool. If you looked at the Mean Well power supply that is somewhat similar you would see the difference in quality. My comment comes from burning one out after a fan failure and blowing some internal circuitry and my second unit having replaced the internal fan twice.

Both have outstanding support via email, are responsive, and friendly. I continue to business with both honestly. I just prefer the Luxeon at this time :)

[Mandragen]

As far as that power supply giving you issues, did you have to replace that out of your own pocket?

[saf1]

As far as that power supply giving you issues, did you have to replace that out of your own pocket?

Yes. I forget the price but at the time it was about 29 bucks. I think they are around 16 now. When I received the replacement I swapped out the cheap fan they use with a spare I had off a video card and it has been working ever since.

I exchanged emails with them, explained that I thought everything was rock solid with the exception of the power supply. He actually agreed and said he is using the Mean Well knock offs to save a few bucks and keep the kits reasonable. When you look at two of the more popular retro kits for Oceanic Bio Cubes there is the one from Rapid LED and another from Steve's. Color spectrum aside there are two differences while holding a similar cost (which I bought mine a few years back anyway).

Cree vs. Philips/Luxeon LED's
Color spread (Rapid is 50/50 royal blue/white vs. Steve's more royal blue)
Power supply.

The first two are subjective. I have both kits and both can and do grow anything. Neither kit has had LED failures. Steve's comes a bit more pre-built or wired I'd say compared to the original Rapid kit. Now I think he has more solderless.

The last item regarding power supplies is the noteworthy. Rapid uses Mean Wells and they are built like a brick and run cool. You can get dimmable via controller or use a potentiometer which is what I did. Steve's uses a knock off 25v power supply which copied Mean Wells. It gets sort of hot but uses a thermal controlled fan to keep it cool. Has long has the fan works then you are good. If the fan coils melt, which mine did and locked up, the power supply was still running, over headed, and pop'd a few resisters I think or possible a capacitor. Couldn't just replace the times so ordered a new one and replaced the weak link.

[Mandragen]

Nice info, thanks so much for the heads up. I've seen it mentioned before, but not so well.

[Amoore311]

I have the 29 Gallon Biocube Retrofit from StevesLeds. No complaints.

[Mandragen]

No problems with fans or power supply? Did you do any replacement of those parts? How long has it been running?

[ifarmer]

the price on LED has dropped a lot in the last 2 years so therefore DIY today isn't worth the time and money.

3 yearsa go, DIY made a lot of sense but not any more.

You better off buying the premade fixtures. A lot full spectrum that are very affordable are out there and they definitely will give you some resale value. You will pay a lot more if you are going to DIY and it won't look as clean, nice and you will be paying closer to those Radion's price for the DIY projects, so why??
These days, for LED on DIY, I would only do if I have spare parts sitting around otherwise I would rather buy those fulls spectrum fixtures out there for the tank

[Mandragen]

I agree with you, but the idea was to not have to remove the stock hood and integrate this LED in the system.

[Amoore311]

No problems with fans or power supply? Did you do any replacement of those parts? How long has it been running?

I've been running the tank for 3 months personally. The previous owner had it up for about 6 months himself.

No issue with the power supply or fans. No issue with anything really.... It's worked great.

[Mandragen]

Thanks, that's good to hear!

[saf1]

the price on LED has dropped a lot in the last 2 years so therefore DIY today isn't worth the time and money.

3 yearsa go, DIY made a lot of sense but not any more.

You better off buying the premade fixtures. A lot full spectrum that are very affordable are out there and they definitely will give you some resale value. You will pay a lot more if you are going to DIY and it won't look as clean, nice and you will be paying closer to those Radion's price for the DIY projects, so why??
These days, for LED on DIY, I would only do if I have spare parts sitting around otherwise I would rather buy those fulls spectrum fixtures out there for the tank

I'd actually disagree but it is just an opinion. Off the shelf products still limit a couple key components such has intensity and spectrum. Those items drive up the cost in shrink wrap packages. DIY has more control since high quality LED's such has Philips or Cree now offer red, green, and violet. Add in a controller for PWM control and you can get the color combination that you like.

Not to mention there are some pretty cool multi-chips now you have a lot of options. 240 bucks for a retro DIY kit isn't bad nor is 400 for some larger tanks. Just depends in the end I guess but I'd still go, and am going, the DIY route due to cost and control.

Just my opinion :)