Chihiros WRGB2 Pro has a separate 'white' LED channel but...

[Wookii]

One last one.. Sort of "state of the art" COB, not counting violet pump emitter styles.

https://www.bridgelux.com/sites/default/files/resource_media/DS405%20Bridgelux%20V4HD%20Thrive%20Array%20Rev%20B%2020210831.pdf

It's only competition is daylight.. 😉
View attachment 195686

Can you produce matching graphs for the Toshiba Sunlike LED's that I'm going to test (assuming they're included in the software)? It would be useful to see:

1. Graph for 2700K version
2. Graph for 3500K version
3. Graph for 5000K version
4. Graph for all three versions combined (assume equal output)

The output of those Bridgelux does look good - are they available in an off the shelf product anywhere? (Google has drawn a blank for me)

 

[Hufsa]

Ive been following this thread, I dont always understand all the terms used but I know that I will want to get a better spectrum light for my tank some time in the future, either a premade light or learning how to DIY it. My personal goal would be to have something close to sunlight without big gaps in the spectrum, to have accurate color rendition. Plants will grow pretty much no matter what, so its just for my own personal satisfaction. Ive been looking around a little bit on the internet, keeping in mind that I have only the vaguest grasp on what the terms mean. The knowledge level in this thread is way beyond my current, so forgive me if this is a stupid question or already known about.
I came across these two products, and was wondering if one could make a custom aquarium fixture/pendant with these strips and the aluminium profile and accessories a little further down on the page.
I assume they would definitely not be able to go under a hood (needs waterproof rating for that), but could these otherwise be used as an aquarium light?
I added a set to the cart to see what kind of price range one would be looking at.
One of these Lumibars with the Nichia Optisolis 5000K 56cm plus the accessories (dont know if I selected the correct driver) works out to around €70.
Grateful if someone could explain it to me in relatively simple terms or just let me know if its not relevant

 

[Wookii]

Ive been following this thread, I dont always understand all the terms used but I know that I will want to get a better spectrum light for my tank some time in the future, either a premade light or learning how to DIY it. My personal goal would be to have something close to sunlight without big gaps in the spectrum, to have accurate color rendition. Plants will grow pretty much no matter what, so its just for my own personal satisfaction. Ive been looking around a little bit on the internet, keeping in mind that I have only the vaguest grasp on what the terms mean. The knowledge level in this thread is way beyond my current, so forgive me if this is a stupid question or already known about.
I came across these two products, and was wondering if one could make a custom aquarium fixture/pendant with these strips and the aluminium profile and accessories a little further down on the page.
I assume they would definitely not be able to go under a hood (needs waterproof rating for that), but could these otherwise be used as an aquarium light?
I added a set to the cart to see what kind of price range one would be looking at.
One of these Lumibars with the Nichia Optisolis 5000K 56cm plus the accessories (dont know if I selected the correct driver) works out to around €70.
Grateful if someone could explain it to me in relatively simple terms or just let me know if its not relevant

Yes, that's where I got mine from (UK Version of the same site is call Lumistrips). I got the Sunlike bar with the three different colour temp Sunlike LED's to test them out:

LinearZ 112 Toshiba-SSC TW LED Strip Zhaga Sunlike CRI97 white 2700K+3500+5000K 990lm 24V 112 LEDs 28cm module (3500lm/m 40W/m)

3 channel Tunable White SunLike LED module: 2700K, 3500K and 5000K 24VDC operation for easy installation Very bright, up to 3500 lm per meter

www.ledrise.eu

Then you just need a PSU and a controller (the controller bumps the price up a fair bit, but gives more scope for testing - you may not need that if you went for just one type of LED - just some sort of dimmer), along with the other bits you've mentioned. Connections on the board are push fit, so it makes for a nice plug-n-play kit to play around with.

That's why I asked @oreo57 if he could produce the spectrum graphs for each LED CT so I could get an idea of the output of each, and all combined, for when I get around to playing with it.

 

[Hufsa]

Yes, that's where I got mine from

Ah I totally missed that you already had these! So you'll test them out for me, thanks @Wookii 😍😘
Ill just swoop in later to grab the results while having done none of the work 😊 You da bess

 

[Wookii]

Ah I totally missed that you already had these! So you'll test them out for me, thanks @Wookii 😍😘
Ill just swoop in later to grab the results while having done none of the work 😊 You da bess

Lol you know my looooonnnnngggg timescales - if you wait for that, they may have developed hydrogen fusion in a bulb by then so we can have proper mini-suns over our tanks!

 

[VinzPhua]

Started looking into high CRI LEDs a few weeks ago and foundthis awesome thread. Some of the info is over my head though.

I was considering the AI Primes and Hydras but found out about the fan noise which is a big concern for me. The rest seem to have gappy or peaky spectrums.

Has anyone considered WaveForm Lightings Centric Daylight Linear LED fixtures? They have 95 CRI and 80+ R9 rating. Water and moisture will be an issue but they will be ways to solve that. CENTRIC DAYLIGHT™ 95 CRI T5 LED Linear Light Fixture

They have growlights too.

 

[oreo57]

Can you produce matching graphs for the Toshiba Sunlike LED's that I'm going to test (assuming they're included in the software)? It would be useful to see:

1. Graph for 2700K version
2. Graph for 3500K version
3. Graph for 5000K version
4. Graph for all three versions combined (assume equal output)

The output of those Bridgelux does look good - are they available in an off the shelf product anywhere? (Google has drawn a blank for me)

First..

Seoul led attempts sun spectrum emulation

SunLike is a series of leds from Seoul Semiconductor, intended to producing light that closely matches the spectrum of natural sunlight (but check

www.electronicsweekly.com

I'll get back to the above.

As to the Bridgelux Digikey has the cobs at $13 US for " 20 watts".

https://uk.farnell.com/bridgelux/bxre-65s2001-c-73/cob-led-cool-white-128lm-w-6500k/dp/3498865
Farnell UK seems to carry them.

 

[Wookii]

First..

Seoul led attempts sun spectrum emulation

SunLike is a series of leds from Seoul Semiconductor, intended to producing light that closely matches the spectrum of natural sunlight (but check

www.electronicsweekly.com

I'll get back to the above.

Thanks

As to the Bridgelux Digikey has the cobs at $13 US for " 20 watts".

https://uk.farnell.com/bridgelux/bxre-65s2001-c-73/cob-led-cool-white-128lm-w-6500k/dp/3498865
Farnell UK seems to carry them.

Yeah, I've seen the COB's for sale, but assembly of a bare COB might be a bit above my skill level. I was looking more for a ready made light fixture sporting them, or at least a plug and play kit with then already on a board with heatsink etc?

 

[oreo57]

Thanks



Yeah, I've seen the COB's for sale, but assembly of a bare COB might be a bit above my skill level. I was loking more for a ready made light fixture sporting them, or at least a plug and play kit with then already on a board with heatsink etc?

Actually making led lights is simple. Making them look er "good" is not..
Take a 48V DC switching power supply, a Meanwell ldd-hw, a cob, "heatsink plaster" to glue said cob to a piece of aluminum of your choice, and wire and solder. 🙂

Anyways as to Sunlike graphs I do have the 5000K one..
Any of the rest will need to be added to my collection.
BTW these are all manually plotted and fed into RAYCAL
They are not always "lumen consistent" as that depends on drive current ect.
Point is ignore power data for now.

* MIXING LIST
----------------------------------------
myData sunlikeseoul5000.txt x1
----------------------------------------

* SIMULATION DATA
----------------------------------------
Luminous flux: 1,000 lm
Radiant flux: 3,768 mW
PPF: 17.7 umol/s
TCP: 4950 K
CRI: 97
λp: 618 nm
Color: #FFD4AF
----------------------------------------

I normally don't bother w/ generating graphs for lower K temps since I consider that band more accent color or sunrise/sunset shades.
With high cri leds in high color temps you are normally not going to improve "daylight" rendering much if at all.
And CRI is calculated using 2 different standards soo gets messy blending below say 5000k.

OH Bridgelux thrive comes in easy to use strips. Usually can't find any k temp higher than 5000k

https://www.bridgelux.com/sites/default/files/resource_media/DS133%20Bridgelux%20EB%20Series%20Thrive%20Data%20Sheet%20081320%20Rev%20A.pdf

Same technique.. ps..driver...strip.. thermal silicone to attach to aluminum.

Dimming is a bit more complicated (read added expense) though BUT can be as cheap as a manual dimmer for a few $'s.

 

[oreo57]

An expensive (though at a normal 2:1 (CW/WW) ratio not as expensive) partner to the Bridgelux.
Adds a bit of violet to the mix.
Sadly I've never seen the combo in person. I've intrigued some but not sure, since this is strictly COB form, if anyone ever used it.
On paper (pun intended) it's brilliant (again intended).. 😉
Stimulates fluorescence in paper and cloth.


Old times..
3:1 mix..

LED Build, 465 Watts (Bridgelux EB Strip LEDs, prev...

They are running at 900-1000mA That is great, got mine running at the same mA and % PAR meters are above budget for me since it would be a one time use.. But its good to know that my PAR is more or less the same when it comes to the Vero's :D Thank you very much for sharing the info

www.plantedtank.net

 

[oreo57]

Remember S Sunlike below say 4500k is really seoul "candlelike"
Anyways fun mockup of Crisp white/Bridgelux at various lumen ratios.

 

[oreo57]

Using 3000/5000k

* MIXING LIST----------------------------------------
myData sunlike3000k.txt x1----------------------------------------
* SIMULATION DATA----------------------------------------
Luminous flux: 999 lm
Radiant flux: 3,709 mW
PPF: 18.4 umol/s
TCP: 2970 K
CRI: 98
λp: 632 nm
Color: #FF9350

* MIXING LIST----------------------------------------
myData sunlikeseoul5000.txt x1----------------------------------------
* SIMULATION DATA----------------------------------------
Luminous flux: 1,000 lm
Radiant flux: 3,768 mW
PPF: 17.7 umol/s
TCP: 4950 K
CRI: 97
λp: 618 nm
Color: #FFD4AF

Using the d65 standard any combination from 1:1 to 6:1 (CW/WW) has a cri of 72-82

 

[FISHnLAB]

Well, my new grow light showed up. It's pretty nice for the price. The CCT is a little cooler on this one as expected. The rendition is about the same, maybe a bit better. Definitely a bit less yellowy/creamy overall and a nice tint imo. The dimmer is perfect too and no visible PWM to boot. This one is a keeper I think and will be my new propagation lighting in my basement once my new 90 gets here...

 

[SirBuce]

Let me bump this thread as I think this is (very very likely) the best info thread on lighting of the hobby on the entire internet aha.

(Coming from a manufacturing/regulation background)
I am just so baffled that seeing so many premium range LED lights are out there now, there is not really any real review on these products on a more technical level. Like the one from GreenAqua is rather uninformative (their video on choosing lights from Chihiros, it is more like an ad for Chihiros lol), and most (all?) 'reviews' you see on youtube/blogger/site is more like some users' 'feels' based on personal experience or at best some visual comparison of A vs B.

Like, what exactly justified the price of these premium products (i know probably quality of the materials blah blah), but I mean most importantly, how do consumers compare and be informed on the quality/price/spec difference on your product to pick the one that suits their tanks/setup?

The product page often just drops LED count and a magical lumen number, if lucky they dropped some spectrum graph (that nobody could test/validate that easily anyway). I would really want to know how powerful of product A vs product B (let's say both have same LED and lumen numbers) for example like their PAR info from X distance from the lights - it is just impossible to do that as a common consumer without proper equipment. It is fully a branding war/'trust me bro' for the aquarist lighting market out there - like it is impossible to know how/why exactly ADA light is super expensive with such limited info on their product page ha...

Anyhow, as a common hobbyist (i.e. consumer) I have been using Photone app to give me a brief idea on the lights I bought (mostly on PAR info), and by chance I have Chihiros WRGB2 standard 45 vs slim 45 - I think my purchases are kind of justified aha at least I know where my money goes to...I will post the 'test' results later. Again, I see a demand on someone doing actual technical reviews on these commercial products lol - are we really in a niche hobby anymore when I see those lights selling at 500-1000+euro...

 

[Wookii]

Let me bump this thread as I think this is (very very likely) the best info thread on lighting of the hobby in the entire internet aha.

(Coming from a manufacturing/regulation background)
I am just so baffled that seeing so many premium range LED lights are out there now, there is not really any real review on these products on a more technical level. Like the one from GreenAqua is rather uninformative (their video on choosing lights from Chihiros, it is more like an ad for Chihiros lol), and most (all?) 'reviews' you see on youtube/blogger/site is more like some users' 'feels' based on personal experience or at best some visual comparison of A vs B.

Like, what exactly justified the price of these premium products (i know probably quality of the materials blah blah), but I mean most importantly, how do consumers compare and be informed on the quality/price/spec difference on your product to pick the one that suits their tanks/setup?

The product page often just drops LED count and a magical lumen number, if lucky they dropped some spectrum graph (that nobody could test/validate that easily anyway). I would really want to know how powerful of product A vs product B (let's say both have same LED and lumen numbers) for example like their PAR info from X distance from the lights - it is just impossible to do that as a common consumer without proper equipment. It is fully a branding war/'trust me bro' for the aquarist lighting market out there - like it is impossible to know how/why exactly ADA light is super expensive with such limited info on their product page ha...

Anyhow, as a common hobbyist (i.e. consumer) I have been using Photone app to give me a brief idea on the lights I bought (mostly on PAR info), and by chance I have Chihiros WRGB2 standard 45 vs slim 45 - I think my purchases are kind of justified aha at least I know where my money goes to...I will post the 'test' results later. Again, I see a demand on someone doing actual technical reviews on these commercial products lol - are we really in a niche hobby anymore when I see those lights selling at 500-1000+euro...

The problem is that the reality is, in terms of aquarium application, a light is a light is a light. It will make little difference to the aquarium inhabitants if you have a £20 flood light, or a £1,000 high end all singing all dancing light (light output being equal). So there is little point in technical comparisons (though an industry standard way of measuring output would be nice I agree).

The only real differentiation comes down to user preferences, in terms of colour output/rendition, controls and form factor - and that can only really be determined by the user seeing as many lights as possible to formulate those preferences.

 

[SirBuce]

The problem is that the reality is, in terms of aquarium application, a light is a light is a light. It will make little difference to the aquarium inhabitants if you have a £20 flood light, or a £1,000 high end all singing all dancing light (light output being equal). So there is little point in technical comparisons (though an industry standard way of measuring output would be nice I agree).

The only real differentiation comes down to user preferences, in terms of colour output/rendition, controls and form factor - and that can only really be determined by the user seeing as many lights as possible to formulate those preferences.

Ya it would be nice if there is an industry standard way of outlining the output etc and informing the consumers.

My point was exactly the question how/in what way the plants in our tanks would benefit from the "£20 flood light, or a £1,000 high end light". For LEDs, depends on the specifications/manufacturing process/QC, the quality of the LEDs can be varied - I presumed that I pay a premium price for the quality of the LEDs when buying these lights (and also the aesthetics/design ha, they look nice) - and some simple tests on these commercial lights will suffice like at the minimum I would like to know how well X light performs at Y distance at the 4 corners + center point (and I did just that...).

 

[oreo57]

Ya it would be nice if there is an industry standard way of outlining the output etc and informing the consumers.

My point was exactly the question how/in what way the plants in our tanks would benefit from the "£20 flood light, or a £1,000 high end light". For LEDs, depends on the specifications/manufacturing process/QC, the quality of the LEDs can be varied - I presumed that I pay a premium price for the quality of the LEDs when buying these lights (and also the aesthetics/design ha, they look nice) - and some simple tests on these commercial lights will suffice like at the minimum I would like to know how well X light performs at Y distance at the 4 corners + center point (and I did just that...).

Many of the higher end lights have "something" ...

 

[erwin123]

I have the WRGB2 standard, WRGB2 Pro, and WeekAqua P series. I've posted elsewhere that I like the WRGB2 Pro for the way it renders yellow vs Week Aqua where trying to increase the 'saturation' of yellow coloured leaves by increasing the red channel leads to a reddish tint. Its purely subjective of course.

I also have a cheaper Aquazonic Spectra LED (using 1.5 w LED bulbs, so to me thats a step up from vanilla 5050 0.5w bulbs) to compare against. (AquaZonic® Spectra Planted LED - Yi Hu Fish Farm Trading - Online Aquarium One-Stop-Shop Supplies)

The WRGB2 Pro is a very nice light, and what is interesting is that you can probably boost the lumens if you remove the translucent diffuser and replaces it with clear perspex. A comparison of the WRGB2 Pro vs the Week Aqua shows that the Week Aqua diffuser is more 'transparent' than the WRGB2.

Equally important, I feel its pretty reliable. Plug and play and zero maintenance since there is no fan. For Week Aqua - I might have to worry if one day the fans break down - and whether the light will overheat if that happens.

 

[SirBuce]

Many of the higher end lights have "something" ...
View attachment 211723

Yes I have seen the diagram too. What baffled me is that am I supposed the diagram is applicable for all the lights from that range? I mean, I'm not doubting the performance of these lights ha - let's say sure X brand products are valid, but I'd say most people don't know what PAR exactly at different positions in their tanks no?

(I only care recently as I'm trying to resolve if a stronger light helps my carpet ha...)

On a side note, as I am having UVA/UVB bulb in my vivarium, and to my surprise most hobbyists solely rely on the reference diagram of the bulb (they also outline distances for certain UVI values), many hobbyists probably just plop the bulb at the designated bulb holder that's it, without realising if the UVI they are getting is appropriate or not. I had to get a £200 solar meter for my setup (very tricky if I can't be sure of the UVI on the basking platform).