Comments on: Cree XP-G Now Commercially Available, Will Illuminate Reefs in Near Future

By: Cheap LED marine aquarium lighting

Cheap LED marine aquarium lighting — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 10:49:09 +0000

[...] from 14-20k lights because it makes the corals look better. DIY 45W LED Aquarium Light – YouTube Cree XP-G Now Commercially Available, Will Illuminate Reefs in Near Future Nano-Reef.com Forums > Light module with XP-G and XP-E [...]

By: Jon 'hahnmeister'

Jon 'hahnmeister' — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:25:02 +0000

Follow the link to my ‘quick guide’ on where to get the parts for these things…
http://www.wireefsociety.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=2798&start=10

By: Jon 'hahnmeister'

Jon 'hahnmeister' — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:22:04 +0000

Its getting increasingly easy to assemble your own LED unit… the metal-composite PCB’s can house 7 of these LED’s each… so with 4 of them (each a 1.5″ diameter disk/star) you can match the output of a 250 halide. IF you can wire your own halide ballast or pendant setup… making a housing out of something to contain these LED’s & a driver should be easy… heck, just gut an old PFO mini-pendant and you have a good place to start. Waterblocks arent that hard either… how many have made their own computers with water cooling? The kicker is that Cree made the spectrum of these things so nice for our hobby that it makes the Orbitech almost useless… any cool-white version of these LED’s is pretty much a stand-alone light. Dont take my word for it… talk to the guys at cutter if you need some help making your own light out of XP-G’s. Perhaps its not a complete fixture (I didnt say that… I said unit, as in, PCB ready to go), but more like a ‘retro’.

By: Nicholas Sadaka

Nicholas Sadaka — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:18:05 +0000

Yeah, I would be one of those people. I am way excited about LED’s, but as someone who stinks at DIY, I’m anxiously waiting affordable commercial units that are also well received by hobbyists…hopefully it won’t be too much longer!

By: eric michael

eric michael — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:37:55 +0000

@Jon, I think most would not consider a PCB slapped on a waterblock as a commercial lighting unit / fixture

By: Jon 'hahnmeister'

Jon 'hahnmeister' — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:22:04 +0000

Commercial units already are available. Just put together a unit that only needs a 3″x3″ area, under 96 watts, and matches a 250 watt Ushio 10kK/14kK in output. They were available when MACNA was on. The PCB’s with 7 LED’s pre-mounted are just under $50 each (only need 4 for a nit though), and a driver/PS unit cost me $100. I mounted them on a waterblock/cold plate, and let er rip. About the same size as one of those large handheld flashlights, waterproof, and water cooled… bright as all *****. With the 40 degree lenses, these things really torch the tank well.

By: hansmatt

hansmatt — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:46:28 +0000

I think we’ll still have a bit of wait until commercial units are available. You might be better off getting the t5′s for the next few years.

By: Jon 'hahnmeister'

Jon 'hahnmeister' — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:15:57 +0000

Yes, now for about the same cost of an equal output halide system, you can go LED… and use less than half the wattage. The other cool thing about the XP-G’s not mentioned here is that they have a nice blue spike in their output, making them almost a stand-alone LED system… meaning fixtures not intended for the reef/aquarium market could be used w/ less need for blue LED’s (or just use some T5′s)… this pretty much gets around the Orbitech patent.

By: Curvball

Curvball — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:21:16 +0000

Great news! …somehow I think moving to T5 now from my current halide setup might be a little behind the times… ha ha.

If we can get the same results and colour options as per the latest generation of T5′s but in LED form, I’m in for the ride.