Next Generation LED Lighting

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What’s New

Cree Press Release (December 16th, 2010) - New High-Efficiency Cree XLamp® LED Can Reduce Initial Fixture Cost for Lighting Manufacturers

Product Documentation for the XLamp XP-E High Efficiency White chips can be found here.

Cree LEDs for Reef Tank Lighting

Cree produces two LED chips that are used in LED lighting for Reef Tanks. These are the XP-G and XP-E. If someone really understands the difference between these chips, please enlighten me.

It’s a little deceptive in comparing these two chips. The XP-G does have more power and is often used in high powered LED lighting for reefs, but it is only available in White. Blue and Royal Blue LEDs are only available on the XP-E chip. As with everything, "there's no free lunch". The increased power for the XP-G comes at the cost of energy consumption.

Maximum power really shouldn’t be the only measure of performance as efficiency also needs to be considered. What I'm interested in is whether the new XP-E HEW chips will replace the XP-G chips currently being used by LED light manufactures? In theory, this would result in a higher PAR lamp for the same power consumption (or the same PAR for less power).

The Market Last Year

I also found this article on Reef Builders. It summarizes the Reader’s Choice awards for 2009. First and second place in the “Main Lighting” category was awarded to LED manufacturers. In summary:

“We were surprised to see the Pacific Sun BT EX modular LED light get a really strong vote but after carefully checking the IP voting records, the votes for the Pacific Sun BT EX came from all over the world and there were no irregularities whatsoever. The most popular main aquarium light in the U.S. was the AquaIlluminations LED light, another LED system that is also modular. The 2009 RBRC award goes to Pacific Sun for their BT EX modular LED light but the real winner is LED lighting for reef aquarium use. We expect the 2010 award for this category will also go to an LED light.” - http://reefbuilders.com/2010/01/18/2...wards-roundup/

It should be noted that the Vertex Illumina was not available in 2009. It will be interesting to see how it fairs in the 2010 Readers Choice Awards.

The Market Today
Pacific Sun – Poland

Modular Systems and Fixtures

AI (Aqua Illumination) - USA

Modular Systems Only

Vertex Aquaristik – Germany

Fixtures Only
Original Fixtures use Phillips LEDs - Review
Updated Fixtures are available with Cree - Review

ReefTech LED – Not sure?

Brand new – Launched in mid December – Not available through distribution yet, but looks like a very nice modular LED system.

Orphek – China

Eco-Lamps KR92 – Belgium

Very popular in Europe

DIY – While not for everyone, there are those who have had very good success with DIY LED Lighting.

Differentiators

There are many factors that differentiate one LED solution from another.
• Efficiency - This is perhaps the hardest aspect to compare between manufactures, but it is relevant and not all solutions are created equal.
• Spread - Will the solution cover the tank?
• Optics - Are optics required? Will they add value? Will they create a spot light effect?
• Cost / Quality / Value / Future Proofing / Etc.

The ratio of white to blue also varies by manufacturer.

• The AI Sol Module uses 16 XPGWHT-L1 and 8 XPEBLU-L1.
• Pacific Sun uses - White leds Cree XP-G 3W - 140lm/W, Blue leds Cree XP-E 3W Royal Blue 500mW@350mA , XP-E Blue 475nm 3W – I’m not sure of the exact ratio.
• Vertex Illumina comes in 3 versions. For example, the 200-P uses Phillips LED, the 200-C uses Cree XPE LEDs and the 200-P uses XPG for White and XPE for Blue and Royal Blue. The ratio is the same for all versions with 16 LEDs per module of which 8 are white, 4 are royal blue and 4 are blue. Each module is rated at ~38 watts of power.

My Thoughts

It’s pretty easy to find discussion threads where experience with LED lighting has not been good. Many of the early adopters really had a tough time getting their corals to grow under LEDs, but one has to check the date of these posts to give the comments some perspective. At this point, it’s equally easy to find success stories.

The truth is, there really isn’t a lot of historical data on LED lighting for Reef Tanks where PAR values are sufficient to support Coral growth. For example, where these PAR values are equal to, or exceed that of MH lighting. Lights of this nature are somewhat new and time is needed to observe its effectiveness.
The debate today is no longer about PAR, but seems to center on whether light produced by LEDs is good enough for corals or whether it is “missing” something. For example, there are those that feel that UV may be required. There are LEDs that produce UV radiation, but they are not commonly used in today’s LED modules and sufficient time hasn’t elapsed to really draw accurate conclusions.

It’s also not clear how long LED lights really last. Common marketing claims suggest that they will maintain 70% of their initial efficiency for 10 years. Reports from PFO Solaris owners suggest that 10 years is something of a myth.

I’m ready to jump on this band wagon. I am however waiting for the next generation of lighting to hit the market. I expect this to happen in the next couple of months. My personal favorite is Pacific Sun and as soon as I see something from them that looks like a next generation solution, I am going buy it.

Rumors

I really like the Vertex Illumina; however, the concern I have is with the spread. My tank is 3 feet from front to back and I’m just not comfortable with a strip light in this application.

I’ve heard rumors of a dual strip Vertex lamp? – This could be a killer solution for large tanks, but one could only speculate at the cost.

I’ve also heard a rumor that prices are expected to drop this year as more competition enters the market and LED lighting reaches critical mass.