PFO LED lighting

Midknight · #1 06-21-2006, 10:03 PM

Cool, grab a couple for me while your at it.

Midknight · #2 06-21-2006, 10:05 PM

And they have smaller ones also...

14" 20K Solaris LED Illumination System. Supplied with Control Modular and Mounting Feet Solaris-G-14-20K $849
24" 20KSolaris LED Illumination System. Supplied with Control Modular and Mounting Feet. Solaris-G-24-20K $1308
36" 20K Solaris LED Illumination System. Supplied with Control Modular and Mounting Feet. Solaris-G-36-20K $1878

G1GY · #3 06-21-2006, 10:52 PM

I'll wait untill they've been out for a good while before jumping in and getting one. I'd wonder if the LED's are replacable (Since the smallest unit will have at least 50 of them.), or is the whole unit just disposable and not servicable?

On the other hand.............. If someone wants to give me one, I won't say no!

Midknight · #4 06-22-2006, 01:50 AM

I read the stats, the LEDs are in pack of 5 per. if 1 led burns out you have to replace that bunch.

reeferaddict · #5 06-22-2006, 10:51 AM

At a 50,000 hour life cycle who gives a $%%#@$ if they're replaceable or not? That's 11 1/2 years at 12 hours a day... at say $100 a bulb, (ya right!), replaced yearly would be $2200 ALONE over the life of the fixture... factor in 40% energy & heat savings... couple THAT with reduced chiller & AC costs... I'm tellin' ya... if these grow corals and make my water shimmer I'm in!

AND you can actually shift the colour temp as well... built in timers & storm simulators... imagine where this hobby would be if nobody ever thought outside the box...

Midknight · #6 06-22-2006, 01:23 PM

I totally agree with you Reeferaddict, but as G1GY says, will wait for at least 6 months and let other people reveiw it first.

Besides they will always drop in price after the first year when the "New & Improved" model comes out.

StirCrazy · #7 06-22-2006, 04:15 PM

I would like to see PAR output levels at different distances, ie. at 1 foot, at 2. foot and at say 3 foot (just for thepeople with the realy deep tanks) as well as with the type of bulb, age of bulb, and type and age of ballast.

when they say "The current design produces PAR light output levels equal to a 250W MH 20K. " well what brand 20K, what brand ballast, .. I can put togeather a 20K set up that will give you less PAR than a 10000K PC set up, so it is a very easy bit of advertising to manipulate.

as far as the energy savings.. I thik that realy sucks when you think about it.. only 40% better than a 250 MH set up.. so lets see that would save me about 36 bucks a year. I am looking at a 36" modle for my tank at about 1900 bucks US so Island price will probably be about 3K after shipping, tax, exchange, ect.. so I have a complet set up for 500.00 with bulb changes every 18 months, thats about 600 bucks over 10 years in bulb changes. now power is about 15 bucks a month for my lights if that but I will be generous so that will come to 1800.00 for a grand total of 2900.00 for 10 years.

lets look at the LED, to start we are about 3K to buy.. we will say there are no faulty bulbs and they all last 10 years (good luck.. I will say you are probably going to have to replace 10% befor that and they will be expensive but we can't guess on that right now) power is 40% less than MH so if I got 1800 for power on my MH that means I should be about 1080.00 for power for 10 years on the LEDs. so with out bulb changes we are at 4080.00 hmm a grand more..

Steve

reeferaddict · #8 06-22-2006, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midknight

I totally agree with you Reeferaddict, but as G1GY says, will wait for at least 6 months and let other people reveiw it first.

Besides they will always drop in price after the first year when the "New & Improved" model comes out.

I couldn't agree more - even PFO says within a year these fixtures will actually cost LESS than a MH setup... I'm just excited about someone taking the plunge with this new technology that has been on the horizon for 3 years now... I will want to see results before I even think about ordering one... if you look at PFO's gallery, the display tank looks like nothing special.

Steve - LED's have no filaments to burn out, and run considerably cooler than HID, so it's not just the 40%, but also the other energy costs. During the warm months here I have both AC and the chiller, I get to watch my hydro meter spin around like it's getting ready for take off. As for the PAR values, they're all charted on PFO's site, and their tests show comparably with what they claim... I guess we'll have to wait for them to ship and people to use them for 6 months to a year before we can have any unbiased opinions based on real world testing. A 400W equivalent is in the works to be released later this year. As for the 10% replacement over the life of the fixture I guess only time will tell - but I DO remember the hype a couple of years back about "dead pixel" issues with LCD monitors and longevity issues with those which have since fallen by the wayside. I can't imagine a company putting a foot forward without having done its due diligence, and what could be a bigger nightmare for a company than to have problems as you have described? Having dealt with PFO directly before, I am confident that the stated life of the product is actually much less than the actual expected life. Most LED's are stated to have a 100,000 hour life expectancy. The one thing that IS of concern is their estimate that the fixtures will only retain 70% of it's PAR over the life of the product - whether this is caused by dead LED's or what have you... 30% light loss is something easily rectified by our standard fixtures of today...