found this site while doing research for my tank ...looks promissing.
www.solarisled.com
any thoughts?
:invisible
www.solarisled.com
any thoughts?
:invisible
LED lighting
- Thread starter boozeman
- Start date
reefjitsu
Active Member
Not thousands, there are a bunch of them, but not thousands. These are not the same LEDs you grew up with. The new generation LEDs are far superior to the old ones. Also, they are very bright for their size, produce a more customizable spectrum and use far less energy than their counterparts. The price is the only letdown right now, but you can expect that it will come down.
I feel that LEDs will be the wave of the future for this hobby. I think they will help to close the gap between our supposed reef and eco-friendliness and our needs for energy. Our practices in regards to energy are extremely wasteful but using LEDs may help to eliminate this.
Kensn
Well-Known Member
Looks very interesting. No bulb replacement.... They mention the penetration of the light through the water... That is the one spec I would be interested in seeing. Probably real spendy, but would pay for itself through no bulb replacement, and lower electric bills.
Interesting.....
Interesting.....
BoomerD
Well-Known Member
I've been reading about using LED's to replace aquarium lights for a couple of years. Apparently, someone in Europe (Germany?) has been experimenting with it pretty heavily. One trial hood I saw had what appeared to be hundreds of blue & white LED's in it. The lighting appeared to be outstanding, but there were quite a few "kinks" to be worked out before it could be mass marketed. It's a great idea if it can be done right. Lower electrical consumption, little to no heat generated, custom "color-tuning" of the color temps to suit your particular need/want. We'll see how this pans out.
Boomer
Reef Sanctuary's Mr. Wizard
Interesting this post just came upm as I just posted on it the other day elsewhere. Here is what I said;
Phil Thackray, a electrical engineer and expert on this subject is a friend of mine. He has done all the calculations on a reef LED system. Phil let Chrarlie and Julian use some of it in their new book TRA III ( lots of new light stuff in this book). I have the whole unpublished article. It is excessively deep and technical. In short for those that have not seen it. Reefkeeping mag wanted it rewriten as it was to techncial. So it may end up in Advanced Reefkeeping, if it gets published at all. Phil seems to be MIA the last few months.
Phil calculated the cost to replace 2-250 W MH 14K DE and 2 110W VHO actinics on his 75 gal tank with white LES's. He used a Li-Cor 192SA PAR sensor and measured his current lighting system. He measured 450umol/m2/s halfway down the tank on the birghtest spot. His calcualtion gave he could get 456 umol/m2/s at the surface. The cost for the power supply, circut boards, reflectors, associated parts and labor to asemble this LED array would be $5,000.00
There will/may be a heat issue. High wattage LED's, like 5 watt ones, produce allot of heat. A hobby of mine is collecting flashlights and a small flashlight with just 1 5 watt LED gets very hot. Many of these or those with more than 1 5 watt need heat-sinks built ( the design of the flashlight body) into the flashlight. Lower wattage LED's don't have much of an issue you just need lots of them
Phils test sytem;
An array of 600 diodes/reflectors consuming 720 Watts of electrical power. The LED's are 1.2 W and each LED can put out 21 lumens/watt.
I have the unpublished paper sent to me for review
Phil Thackray, a electrical engineer and expert on this subject is a friend of mine. He has done all the calculations on a reef LED system. Phil let Chrarlie and Julian use some of it in their new book TRA III ( lots of new light stuff in this book). I have the whole unpublished article. It is excessively deep and technical. In short for those that have not seen it. Reefkeeping mag wanted it rewriten as it was to techncial. So it may end up in Advanced Reefkeeping, if it gets published at all. Phil seems to be MIA the last few months.
Phil calculated the cost to replace 2-250 W MH 14K DE and 2 110W VHO actinics on his 75 gal tank with white LES's. He used a Li-Cor 192SA PAR sensor and measured his current lighting system. He measured 450umol/m2/s halfway down the tank on the birghtest spot. His calcualtion gave he could get 456 umol/m2/s at the surface. The cost for the power supply, circut boards, reflectors, associated parts and labor to asemble this LED array would be $5,000.00
There will/may be a heat issue. High wattage LED's, like 5 watt ones, produce allot of heat. A hobby of mine is collecting flashlights and a small flashlight with just 1 5 watt LED gets very hot. Many of these or those with more than 1 5 watt need heat-sinks built ( the design of the flashlight body) into the flashlight. Lower wattage LED's don't have much of an issue you just need lots of them
Phils test sytem;
An array of 600 diodes/reflectors consuming 720 Watts of electrical power. The LED's are 1.2 W and each LED can put out 21 lumens/watt.
I have the unpublished paper sent to me for review
reefjitsu
Active Member
Includes Solaris LED Hood, 8’ Detachable Cord to Remote 120V Power Supply, and Moon Lights. The system will be set for approximately 20K color. Without the Control Module the color will not be adjustable. The control module needs to be installed at the factory at time of order. (Note: PFO reserves the right to make changes without prior notification.)
Warranty:
The system is warranted for two years to the original purchaser. However, the white LED’s are expected to last 50,000 hours and the blue LED’s are expected to last 100,000 hours.
Installation Precautions:
The LED’s will have premature failure if they get too hot for an extended period of time. Ensure that there is good air circulation around hood. It is best to mount the LED’s over the tank via the stands or PFO Pendant Hanger Kit(Not Included). Be extremely careful about air circulation mounting inside canopies. If installing in canopies be aware the cables come out the end and add length for cable bending beyond stated length.
SOLARIS
Pricing Effective Through May 4, 2006
13” $449.00 24” $799.00 36” $1,229.00 48” $1,499.00 60” $1,799.00 72” $1,999.00
The expected ship date is scheduled for early July 2006. However, PFO Lighting reserves the right to change the date due to unforeseen circumstances.
This product is already patented and will be out soon.
I added it up and it is pretty competitive with all current lighting schemes if you figure on changing bulbs every 6-8 months like you are supposed to. It will actually be cheaper in the long run if you figure in electrical costs.
lcstorc
Well-Known Member
Hmmm. Getting ready to upgrade my lighting. Should I take the chance or go with the tried and true MH?
If the savings on bulb replacement, energy costs, and heat are what they say they are it makes it a pretty attractive option. A bit more money up front, but the savings may well make it up in the long run. I am just such a newbie I'm a bit scared to spend the money and find out they won't be as advertised or there will be unexpected problems with using such a new product.
Something to think about.
If the savings on bulb replacement, energy costs, and heat are what they say they are it makes it a pretty attractive option. A bit more money up front, but the savings may well make it up in the long run. I am just such a newbie I'm a bit scared to spend the money and find out they won't be as advertised or there will be unexpected problems with using such a new product.
Something to think about.
The web site WWW.SolarisLED.com is currently a work in progress and was not suppose to be found by the public yet. I am sorry but we are going to shut off access to the web site for another couple of weeks.
Some general news about the Solaris:
-Corals are growing well under the lights.
-It is using a lot less electricity.
-I think we are still on schedule to bring it out in July. It may be late July though.
-We are still trying to finalize pricing. Therefore, none of our retailers have any information on the light. The light should be priced such that it will pay for the entire cost of the fixture in two to three years in energy savings and lamp replacement costs.
-Every large tank the light is on has had to add a heater in the sump.
-There has not been one quality issue with the performance of the Solaris on any of our test site tanks.
Look for us to bring you a lot more information in Early July
I am sorry but we are not prepared to talk more about the Solaris until it becomes available in July.
I am a little biased, but if you are thinking of getting a new light fixture I would wait for the Solaris. (However, we still have a lot of Metal Halide and Fluorescent lighting available for those who want to wait and see how the Solaris performs.
Patrick Ormiston
PFO Lighting Inc.
Some general news about the Solaris:
-Corals are growing well under the lights.
-It is using a lot less electricity.
-I think we are still on schedule to bring it out in July. It may be late July though.
-We are still trying to finalize pricing. Therefore, none of our retailers have any information on the light. The light should be priced such that it will pay for the entire cost of the fixture in two to three years in energy savings and lamp replacement costs.
-Every large tank the light is on has had to add a heater in the sump.
-There has not been one quality issue with the performance of the Solaris on any of our test site tanks.
Look for us to bring you a lot more information in Early July
I am sorry but we are not prepared to talk more about the Solaris until it becomes available in July.
I am a little biased, but if you are thinking of getting a new light fixture I would wait for the Solaris. (However, we still have a lot of Metal Halide and Fluorescent lighting available for those who want to wait and see how the Solaris performs.
Patrick Ormiston
PFO Lighting Inc.