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| Satisfied with LED floodlights in planted tank? |
| Yes |
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55% |
[ 5 ] |
| No |
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11% |
[ 1 ] |
| Partially |
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33% |
[ 3 ] |
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| Total Votes : 9 |
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royalbijoy
IAH New Member
Joined: Nov 04, 2011
Posts: 91
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 Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 7:08 pm Post subject: New LED floodlight project |
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Thought to start a new thread just in case someone wants to know about LED floodlights.
My tank specs are 4(length)x2(height)x1.5(depth). I have 2x50W LED floodlights in my tank.
If you are wondering how it looks like, here is a pic of the light.
LED 50W- Click here
Pros:
1. I like the way the unit is setup. Lights,reflector all in same pack. No separate chokes and stuff.
2. Low power consumption per unit.
3. Good color.(pure white)
4. Cheaper than T5 HO if you go for the normal floodlights.
5. Shimmering - for those who like it. . See point 6 in Cons.
Cons:
1. LED floodlights available in India are not the best LEDS in terms of lumens/watt. So if you saw in an american thread that LED's are perfect and that 10W= 50W halogen, its only for those expensive LED's which they have access to. Might be you can find those in India but are 5 digit in cost.(At least upper 4 digit is what shop keeper told me).
2. Not damn bright as people say. I tried the 30W LED floodlight. They were pretty low in light intensity. This 50w which I have got is at least close to a 3/2 PL.
3. The LEDs do not last long. 1 ~2 years is something which you can expect. The driver circuit burns down if your power is fluctuating. Use a stabilizer if you got one. Expensive ones last long.
4. I replaced my 144W PL (4x36W), with this 2 x50W LED floodlight. The intensity is definitely lower than what I had, but have to consider the fact that I am still using 44 W less than PLs. An additional 50W might be equivalent to the PL lights but then I do not save on my power bill.
5. A bit bulky fittings. I had to literally tear off the roof of my aquarium to accommodate these and also did some carpentry to get those bulky fixtures hanging above the tank. Believe me, its not a good sight to see bulky LED fittings hanging above the tank. You will need to conceal it with a taller roof like I did.
6. Shimmering - Though looks good initially, I felt having a soft light spread across the tank is better than seeing a flickering tank. I have some ripples on the surface created by the external filter output and so get pretty good shimmering effect. It was more pain for the eyes than I thought it would be.
My opinion:
Forget the 10-30W LEDS if your tank is > 3ft. They are good but only for smaller tanks. Might be if your tank is shallow, you can go for 10W LEDS. My 50W LED just reaches the bottom with sufficient intensity. I think a year or two might be required for the good LED's to appear in the market. All comparisons in the net are for those expensive ones like CREE. Not for the cheap ones now available in India.
I have an array of 1x16W LEDs which I think are better than a single 50W LED. I guess a 50x1W LED if available would be a better choice than 1 50W LED floodlight. They spread wider and the shop keeper said the life would be better.
[color=green][/color]
I can post a pic of my tank if someone wants. Reply me and I can put it up.[size=18][/size] |
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arvindshetty
Regular Poster on IAH
Joined: Mar 20, 2007
Posts: 724
Location: Mumbai
Status: Offline
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| Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 7:32 pm Post subject: Re: New LED floodlight project |
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I like your concept of summarizing your experience but I am confused 4 days back sorry 3 days back you were asking about LED's and today you writing a review.Please give review after you use it for some time.Also there are so many companines and differnet types of LED's in market so it depends upon what you went for.
I have used MH's in past and would say LED's are not that bulky .3 Days down the lane you cant say how long the LED you bought lasts unless you ahve proofs .I lit my recently bought 30W LED's and they are bright enough to lit my tank.Also out of your 4 posts in 3 posts you are mentioning the same points but with different fonts
Could you please post pic of your tank with the lights |
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Nidhi
Committed Member of IAH
Joined: Nov 23, 2011
Posts: 1868
Location: Bangalore, Prakashnagar.
Status: Offline
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| Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 9:52 pm Post subject: Re: New LED floodlight project |
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Hi Royalbijoy,
I totally agree with each and every point you have on LED lighting.
I too wanted to have LED's in my tank, so I did some research and did many calculation of permutation and combination on wattage, lumens and cost of all the LED's plus the driver required if going for a DIY array and also went through various flood light catalogs of Chinese as well as manufacturers from India.
I did not come across one single positive reason to change to LED lighting.
Points for me to stay away from LED.. whether DIYing or flood lights in India.
1, you are not saving much on power.. This is supposed the main criteria for jumping over.
2, The cost.. cheaper ones don't save power, power savers like cree are way - way too pricey.
3, Reliability.. the shop keeper says "the life of the LED is 5-6 years, but no guarantee on the driver of flood light. it may last for 2 years, but you can easily replace it". |
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royalbijoy
IAH New Member
Joined: Nov 04, 2011
Posts: 91
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| Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 9:55 pm Post subject: Re: New LED floodlight project |
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Well, the three other replies were same but I had some requests to start a new thread as many were looking to buy those LED lights and felt mine wasn't easily noticed. So thought of starting a dedicated thread for the topic. I would like to get the other three deleted if possible, so that we have only one version of it.....
Anyways, as I have clearly mentioned, the review is only for those LED floodlights now widely available across shops and not for the expensive ones. I did see one of the costly ones at the shop which might just do the trick.....
About posting a thread within 3 days of asking reviews about LEDS, lots of things changed in three days. I would say a day is enough to get to know the efficiency of the lights. You just need to see the pearling, spread and intensity of lights reaching the bottom to know how good these lights are.
I would like to mention again that this topic is only for those LED floodlights as mentioned in the pic and not for the expensive ones, which are really meant to replace T5s..... Hard to believe you got good penetration with 30W. How deep is your tank? Mine's 24inces and so I can really find the difference..... |
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cyclopse99
Frequent Visitor to IAH
Joined: Apr 28, 2012
Posts: 227
Location: Bengaluru
Status: Offline
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| Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 10:10 pm Post subject: Re: New LED floodlight project |
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Just FYI.. my tank is 2.5x1.5x1 ft. I tried a 30x2Watt china made LED flood lamps top and they were pretty lame when compared with my T8 (80W)  The light was not even reaching the bottom of the aquarium properly. Not sure if it was because of the brand or what ever.. It was 4K price here in Bangalore. So i dropped my plan for LED and returned back to T8 and planning to go for T5 or PL upgrade. |
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royalbijoy
IAH New Member
Joined: Nov 04, 2011
Posts: 91
Status: Offline
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| Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 10:16 pm Post subject: Re: New LED floodlight project |
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Hope someone had posted their LED experience before I bit the bullet and brought one. My only suggestion would be not to hurry up and buy one. Its definitely not awesome as people claim. If you want that awesome experience get a good LED. But then the big question is : Did you really save big bucks in moving to LEDs????? I don't think so......
Unfortunately my camera is with my friend and so cannot take a pic. Tried using the mobile phone but the pics weren't so good.
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josyjames
Committed Member of IAH
Joined: Apr 21, 2010
Posts: 2500
Location: Bangalore-Ramamurthy Nagar
Status: Offline
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| Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 11:45 pm Post subject: Re: New LED floodlight project |
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I personally dont suggest led flood lights to any one. I have been using the 3watts LED for all the led setups that I have done till now.
Here is my tank running on the 27Watts LED (3watts each led)
Nano Betta Tank |
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jabba
Committed Member of IAH
Joined: Oct 09, 2011
Posts: 1854
Location: hebbal,banglore
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| Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 1:03 am Post subject: Re: New LED floodlight project |
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so here is the question again.
when u need 27watts of light for around 20 liters of water....... where is the saving? |
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josyjames
Committed Member of IAH
Joined: Apr 21, 2010
Posts: 2500
Location: Bangalore-Ramamurthy Nagar
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| Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 1:25 am Post subject: Re: New LED floodlight project |
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I didnt say anything about saving power. I dont know why everyone are keen only on saving power.
> Imagine you are using a CFL/PLL of 20watts and above for a cube tank and the heat generated by the cfl/pll tubes. There you need to have cooling fans to lower the temperature of the tank.
> Generally people change the CFL/PLL every year to get a better spectrum/lighting from the tubes.
> How many months would a CFL/PLL last?
For all the above LED is the best
> Less heat generated by the light.
> No replacement required every year. Good LED life span is between 40000-50000hrs. Considering you are lighting 8hrs/day, your led life span is 13 year (considering 40000hrs as the life span)
> Gives more lumens/watt (Good branded led's. Not the cheap chinese led's) |
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josyjames
Committed Member of IAH
Joined: Apr 21, 2010
Posts: 2500
Location: Bangalore-Ramamurthy Nagar
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| Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 1:27 am Post subject: Re: New LED floodlight project |
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| Dont say that I want to move to LED to just save power. There are lots of other facts that you need to think on when moving to led's. |
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