Quote:
Originally Posted by emerald crab
How the light is gonna blend is a matter of optics used. You might want to bring them closer and install a few more LEDs.
I did play with some small heatsinks, similar with yours. They need 12V to stay cool and at 12V they are a kind of noisy. If you want to see those contraptions I can take some pics.
|
A build thread on your light would probably generate a fair bit of interest. More info on your optics & where you got the lens would be useful. How is the lens attached? Do you have more of these lights or just the one & what area are you lighting up with it, tank size etc.?
I'd like to try the rail in the current configuration without optics and see how the colours blend. Looking at the photos of SeaHorse Fanatic's build, the light seems to blend quite well. Unfortunately, other than the number/type of LEDs & PAR readings, details of his build are scant & I have no idea how his LEDs are spaced or if he's using optics. The optics I have for these at the moment are thick glass & quite heavy. Not sure how I would mount them so I'll play with height of the rail above water to see how that works first. I recall reading that any optic, glass or acrylic is going to filter out a certain amount of light. So it's a bit of a trade off between the need to focus & the desire to get maximum lumens out of each LED without filtering.
Not sure what heatsinks you played with, but the ones I have are designed specifically for these LEDs. Running the fans at a lower speed with lower voltage may well shorten the life of the LEDs. If I find the heatsinks get too hot, I may have to cut the fan leads & run them separately at full 12 volts. I only ran each fan briefly to make sure they all work & didn't find them that noisy, barely audible actually. Currently I have fans cooling the ends of my overdriven T5 tubes & I can definetely hear them. I've lived with that sound for years now, so the LED fans will not make a difference in that regard.
Thanks for the continued input regarding your experience with the 10 watt LEDs. And yes, more photos would be cool.