Amazing new AI led

Tanks, Filtration, & Lighting Discussion
Scott Allen
Discus Member
Posts: 282
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 9:27 am
My SetUp: Custom profile field not completed.

Amazing new AI led

Post by Scott Allen » Fri May 04, 2012 8:35 pm

http://reefbuilders.com/2012/05/04/full ... ega-color/


Holy moly!! Basically they built my spectrum supplements into it and made everything independently controllable. This baby is BAD!

Redfish
Discus Member
Posts: 983
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:49 am
My SetUp: AGA 150g 48x30x25, Reef Octopus Skimmer, Bio Pellet, Phosphate, Carbon reactor. Mostly a SPS coral tank with a few zoas a Green Polyp Toadstool, a Chalice or two and a couple of Scollys thrown in there. Top Off System and dosing pump system for Calcium and Alk.
Location: D'Iberville Mississippi

Re: Amazing new AI led

Post by Redfish » Sat May 05, 2012 4:55 am

Competition is good for Reefers, I think the price on the Radion's is fixing to go down. Wonder what the price on the AI's is going to be?

Scott Allen
Discus Member
Posts: 282
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 9:27 am
My SetUp: Custom profile field not completed.

Re: Amazing new AI led

Post by Scott Allen » Sat May 05, 2012 7:57 am

Redfish wrote:Competition is good for Reefers, I think the price on the Radion's is fixing to go down. Wonder what the price on the AI's is going to be?
Not sure, but that kicks the crap out of a Radion.


The radion makes no sense to me... There aren't $200 worth of leds in that fixture. It's a beautiful package.. but not worth the money IMO

Archie
Discus Member
Posts: 159
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 3:29 pm
My SetUp: Custom profile field not completed.
Location: biloxi, ms

Re: Amazing new AI led

Post by Archie » Sat May 05, 2012 6:30 pm

Scott Allen wrote:
Redfish wrote:Competition is good for Reefers, I think the price on the Radion's is fixing to go down. Wonder what the price on the AI's is going to be?
Not sure, but that kicks the crap out of a Radion.


The radion makes no sense to me... There aren't $200 worth of leds in that fixture. It's a beautiful package.. but not worth the money IMO
can you please elaborate more on this.......

Scott Allen
Discus Member
Posts: 282
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 9:27 am
My SetUp: Custom profile field not completed.

Re: Amazing new AI led

Post by Scott Allen » Sat May 05, 2012 7:44 pm

Archie wrote:
Scott Allen wrote:
Redfish wrote:Competition is good for Reefers, I think the price on the Radion's is fixing to go down. Wonder what the price on the AI's is going to be?
Not sure, but that kicks the crap out of a Radion.


The radion makes no sense to me... There aren't $200 worth of leds in that fixture. It's a beautiful package.. but not worth the money IMO
can you please elaborate more on this.......
Using two popular diy led sites
http://www.ledgroupbuy.com
http://www.rapidled.com

Radion

• 8x Cree XP-G Cool White LEDs run at 5W each (You can get XML which are more efficient and much more powerful for $7.25) - 4.25 each so $34.00
• 8x Cree XP-E Blue LEDs run at 3W each - $3.60 each so $28.80
• 10x Cree XP-E Royal Blue LEDs run at 3W each - $3.40 each so $34
• 4x Cree XP-E Green LEDs run at 3W each - $5.50 each so $22
• 4x Osram Oslon SSL Hyper Red LEDs run at 3W each $5.50 each so $22

So a total of $140.8 in leds

Then, you will need the rest obviously.

34 Optics
$34

4 Meanwell drivers that are appropriate to run the red, green, blue and royal - $34 each
1 To run the XPG (Or xmls, if you want to one up Ecotech) $115

And a heatsink to hold it all
Drilled and tapped 6"x9" - $45

And with a little work, you can build your own Ecotech Radion for $384.80 Manually dimmed, with a controller it's easily made to auto dim.

I would add some Violet to the mix as well if it were me and replace the xpg with xml.

acbaro
Angel Member
Posts: 54
Joined: Mon Apr 09, 2012 4:02 pm
My SetUp: Custom profile field not completed.

Re: Amazing new AI led

Post by acbaro » Sat May 05, 2012 9:09 pm

I would definitely like to do something like that. I'd to know more about the auto dimming because I like the computer aspect of the radeons and would like to have something like that with the personal ones I could build. Any info on that or the auto dimmers?

Scott Allen
Discus Member
Posts: 282
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 9:27 am
My SetUp: Custom profile field not completed.

Re: Amazing new AI led

Post by Scott Allen » Sat May 05, 2012 10:17 pm

acbaro wrote:I would definitely like to do something like that. I'd to know more about the auto dimming because I like the computer aspect of the radeons and would like to have something like that with the personal ones I could build. Any info on that or the auto dimmers?

With a regular Apex you get 2 0-10v ports that can be used to program 2 channels each on the base unit. You can either buy or make 2 channel dimming cables. I'm sure other reef controllers have similar variable dimming ports. From there it's just writing the code. It won't be as pretty of an interface as the radion's slider bars and presets. But you can accomplish the same results.

acbaro
Angel Member
Posts: 54
Joined: Mon Apr 09, 2012 4:02 pm
My SetUp: Custom profile field not completed.

Re: Amazing new AI led

Post by acbaro » Sat May 05, 2012 10:46 pm

Do you know a good place I can follow a step by step DIY for building the leds and placement of the drivers? As for the parts tell me if this seems right cause the price I have is a tad bit different then what you have Scott. By the way this is all off of Rapid LED's site:


8 - Cree xm-l cool white t6 led: $9.00 ea
8 - cree xp-e blue 3w led: $3.60 ea
10 - Cree xt-e royal blue led: $3.40 ea
4 - Cree xp-e green 3w led: $5.50 ea
4 - Cree xp-e red led: $4.00 ea

8 - 80* Cree xm-l lenses/optics: $1.50 ea
26 - 80* cree xp-e/xp-g lenses/optics: $1.25 ea

4 - mean well eln-60-48p dimmable driver: $34.00 ea
1 - mean well hlg-185-42b dimmable driver: $115.00 ea

1 - drilled/tapped 6"x20" black anodized aluminum heat sick: $45.00 ea

And I couldn't get the exact reds due to it being out of stock and I don't know if those were the right drivers. As for the total it is : $558.21 not including shipping.

I would really like to build some nice leds but it definitely would be a first for me.

Shadow1
Discus Member
Posts: 257
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:59 pm
My SetUp: 300DD Reef, 30 Nuvo Breeding Clowns, 30 QT/Grow out.
Location: Hattiesburg, MS

Re: Amazing new AI led

Post by Shadow1 » Sun May 06, 2012 6:56 am

I do not understand the logic here. depending on who has the correct value we are going to spend $550.00 and have no warranty or support and build our own light? Am I correct in this assumption? Or at best $350.00 plus all of the above did I mention your own labor. Not sure about you but I value my time from work at about double what I am paid so wasting :lol: $5 dollars for every hour I spend building and testing a light and in my case a lot of time cause I am no good with a soldering iron. Either way for very little more than we are talking about here you can get several different options in commercially available LED complete systems. Although a little blue for my tastes the AI lights are a heck of a value for the money. I bought the Radions as I like the color better and will still be running a Pharos with them for supplemental as the size on the new DD tank makes this necessary. I may wind up adding a couple of the new AI lights once they come out if pricing and color is good.

Scott Allen
Discus Member
Posts: 282
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 9:27 am
My SetUp: Custom profile field not completed.

Re: Amazing new AI led

Post by Scott Allen » Sun May 06, 2012 7:47 am

acbaro wrote:Do you know a good place I can follow a step by step DIY for building the leds and placement of the drivers? As for the parts tell me if this seems right cause the price I have is a tad bit different then what you have Scott. By the way this is all off of Rapid LED's site:


8 - Cree xm-l cool white t6 led: $9.00 ea
8 - cree xp-e blue 3w led: $3.60 ea
10 - Cree xt-e royal blue led: $3.40 ea
4 - Cree xp-e green 3w led: $5.50 ea
4 - Cree xp-e red led: $4.00 ea

8 - 80* Cree xm-l lenses/optics: $1.50 ea
26 - 80* cree xp-e/xp-g lenses/optics: $1.25 ea

4 - mean well eln-60-48p dimmable driver: $34.00 ea
1 - mean well hlg-185-42b dimmable driver: $115.00 ea

1 - drilled/tapped 6"x20" black anodized aluminum heat sick: $45.00 ea

And I couldn't get the exact reds due to it being out of stock and I don't know if those were the right drivers. As for the total it is : $558.21 not including shipping.

I would really like to build some nice leds but it definitely would be a first for me.
Yes, I do in fact! And look at ledgroupbuy for the leds and optics. They have much better prices for the same bin leds. Get drivers from Rapid though. (I like meanwells better than inventronics) and you really don't have to get 4 drivers. You can get a few extra reds and green and dim them together then swap the number of leds for the color you like. Then just get 3 drivers. 1 for red green, 1 for blues and the powerful one for xmls. That'll save you some cash and you won't really care in the end. (but for ultimate in control you need separate drivers)

http://marine-engineers.org/2012/03/14/ ... in-series/

Then look at:

http://reefledlights.com/wiring-diagrams/

Then look at the top left tab that says "how to diy led" has a ton of good info. It's a tedious job. But very doable.
Last edited by Scott Allen on Sun May 06, 2012 7:59 am, edited 2 times in total.

Scott Allen
Discus Member
Posts: 282
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 9:27 am
My SetUp: Custom profile field not completed.

Re: Amazing new AI led

Post by Scott Allen » Sun May 06, 2012 7:52 am

Shadow1 wrote:I do not understand the logic here. depending on who has the correct value we are going to spend $550.00 and have no warranty or support and build our own light? Am I correct in this assumption? Or at best $350.00 plus all of the above did I mention your own labor. Not sure about you but I value my time from work at about double what I am paid so wasting :lol: $5 dollars for every hour I spend building and testing a light and in my case a lot of time cause I am no good with a soldering iron. Either way for very little more than we are talking about here you can get several different options in commercially available LED complete systems. Although a little blue for my tastes the AI lights are a heck of a value for the money. I bought the Radions as I like the color better and will still be running a Pharos with them for supplemental as the size on the new DD tank makes this necessary. I may wind up adding a couple of the new AI lights once they come out if pricing and color is good.
I have purchased from and am happy with LEDgroupbuy.com.

You can build it in about 8 hours. So... 8 hours for 300 bucks... And you do have warranties on each part of your project. You can also build a much more dynamic light in the end. I just priced exactly what they have. For very little extra money you can run many many more leds with those drivers and only add the cost of additional LEDs. For basically 600 you can build the equivalent of 2 ecotechs. And you can have a light with a more dynamic color and more power. Using xmls you'll get better coloration as well. And if one part of the light breaks it's hell of a lot easier to replace. You can also keep up with technology easier as your light is all modular. So an exciting new color led comes to market you can upgrade your light for $100 (new driver and the new leds)

I'm not saying that ecotech isn't a great product. Just that it's way too pricey imo. AI sols, can't be built for what they can be bought. Also what do you do after the 1 year warranty ends on the drivers on the ecotech. None of that stuff is replaceable. 1 year isn't very long on a light they advertise is good for 10 years.

Scott Allen
Discus Member
Posts: 282
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 9:27 am
My SetUp: Custom profile field not completed.

Re: Amazing new AI led

Post by Scott Allen » Sun May 06, 2012 8:10 am

Scott Allen wrote:
acbaro wrote:Do you know a good place I can follow a step by step DIY for building the leds and placement of the drivers? As for the parts tell me if this seems right cause the price I have is a tad bit different then what you have Scott. By the way this is all off of Rapid LED's site:
XMLs are more expensive than the XPG that are in radion. So that's the difference in price. (and I can't find where I got my optics, but they were only a $1 when I bought them, not that it's making much of a difference in cost) They are also much more powerful and energy efficient with better color rendering. So it's worth it. Also ledgroupbuy is cheaper on a few things. If you are really interested in building a fixture though, lets chat I will help you lay out a plan that uses the parts more efficently. I was just pricing the exact light. You will want to max the drivers to get a better value. And I wouldn't build a fixture without Violet in it, it's just making too many waves in the led world right now.


OH, and if you aren't a diy'r. I know a guy who builds amazing fixtures dirt cheap too. And warranties all of it for 2 years.

acbaro
Angel Member
Posts: 54
Joined: Mon Apr 09, 2012 4:02 pm
My SetUp: Custom profile field not completed.

Re: Amazing new AI led

Post by acbaro » Sun May 06, 2012 11:30 am

Yea Scott your assistance would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to get started on ordering these parts aroundthe next month or two so if you wouldnt mind helping me out with a plan that would be good, so all I'd have to next month is purchase and build. Ill definitely be spending the next few weeks reading up on led DIY's and would like the help in learning and setting up a fixture for my setup. I have a 29 gallon soon to be reef tank once its a bit more mature and I'm an electrician in the navy so the whole electrical aspect of it would be easy for me, but I've never worked with led's. If you wouldn't mind piecing me up a parts list and were I can get them from I wouldn't mind that either. I just don't feel I need to py $750.00 for one led if I can piece together 2 for less than ecotech's radeon. Thanks in advanced Scott! :thumbup:

Scott Allen
Discus Member
Posts: 282
Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 9:27 am
My SetUp: Custom profile field not completed.

Re: Amazing new AI led

Post by Scott Allen » Sun May 06, 2012 12:05 pm

acbaro wrote:Yea Scott your assistance would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to get started on ordering these parts aroundthe next month or two so if you wouldnt mind helping me out with a plan that would be good, so all I'd have to next month is purchase and build. Ill definitely be spending the next few weeks reading up on led DIY's and would like the help in learning and setting up a fixture for my setup. I have a 29 gallon soon to be reef tank once its a bit more mature and I'm an electrician in the navy so the whole electrical aspect of it would be easy for me, but I've never worked with led's. If you wouldn't mind piecing me up a parts list and were I can get them from I wouldn't mind that either. I just don't feel I need to py $750.00 for one led if I can piece together 2 for less than ecotech's radeon. Thanks in advanced Scott! :thumbup:

Oh, perfect. You'll be able to fill in the blanks I don't know really well then. I know what you need and want in terms of spectrum, number of leds, parts and where to get them. But I lack in electrical knowledge. This will come easy to you, especially if you are skilled with a soldering iron. What are the dimensions of the tank?

acbaro
Angel Member
Posts: 54
Joined: Mon Apr 09, 2012 4:02 pm
My SetUp: Custom profile field not completed.

Re: Amazing new AI led

Post by acbaro » Sun May 06, 2012 12:33 pm

Well this may be easier than I thought :lol:. The exact measured dimensions with a measuring tape came out: 30"w x 18.5"h x 12.5"d. I'd like to be able to grow any coral I choose since right now I don't have a favorite type because I like them all especially the anenome's.

Post Reply