ecoxotic Panorama LED

[posiden]

Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///forum/thread/387182/ecoxotic-panorama-led/40#post_3408074
Not necissarily. At least not anymore. New stuff is coming out everyday. If you look at the new XM-L lamps for instance, which put out 100 lumens per what. You won't find a 1 watt led that puts out 100 lumens. They are 20% more efficient than the XP-G's which were an improvement over the XR series. So the technology keeps improving. But when comparing a lot of manufactured fixtures out there at this point then yes.. The ability of 1 watt leds to penetrate very deep in the water is an issue as you touched upon as well. So generally speaking, comparing a 3 watt fixture to halides or T5, I think the leds still come out ahead. More and more so every day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by acrylic51 http:///forum/thread/387182/ecoxotic-panorama-led/40#post_3408148
Agree!!! How could 1w LEDs be more efficient??? You'd have to run more 1w to equal a 3w and the new generation LEDs are quite efficient.
Yes, that's right. The 1 watt LED style fixtures run a ton of LEDs. (As you know) The last time I looked into LEDs you could get more lumens by running 3 1 watt LEDs then running 1 of the 3 watter's, and so on going bigger in wattage. I haven't looked into them lately myself, so I was unaware of the new generation LED. I would hate to build a DIY fixture, with the 1 watt LEDs though. What a PITA that would be.LOL
That's just where I was coming from.
I'm also glade I don't have a bigger tank right now. My 175 watt halide isn't breaking the bank. I pay right at the avg of .12 KWH. The way things are progressing, if I wait a little longer I'll only need a few LEDs to light up my whole tank. LOL. My only experience with LED lighting is, I have a PAR 38 from Ecoxotic and it has crapped out on me in 6 months. A product that's supposed to last 10 years can't make it more then 6 months? IDK? They're gonna fix it for me but, still. I'm without my light right now. Since it was over a 2.5 gallon tank, its kinda hard to just find replacement lighting and keep the coral happy. It makes me wonder about the folks that say, "If you build it this way you can easily replace the star if you need too." I understand that nothing is bullet proof. Things break all the time. It makes me wonder...... Are the PAR bulbs a poor design over the other lighting that folks are building? Are they not as self cooling as they need to be?

 

[2quills]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Posiden http:///forum/thread/387182/ecoxotic-panorama-led/60#post_3408207
Yes, that's right. The 1 watt LED style fixtures run a ton of LEDs. (As you know) The last time I looked into LEDs you could get more lumens by running 3 1 watt LEDs then running 1 of the 3 watter's, and so on going bigger in wattage. I haven't looked into them lately myself, so I was unaware of the new generation LED. I would hate to build a DIY fixture, with the 1 watt LEDs though. What a PITA that would be.LOL
That's just where I was coming from.
I'm also glade I don't have a bigger tank right now. My 175 watt halide isn't breaking the bank. I pay right at the avg of .12 KWH. The way things are progressing, if I wait a little longer I'll only need a few LEDs to light up my whole tank. LOL. My only experience with LED lighting is, I have a PAR 38 from Ecoxotic and it has crapped out on me in 6 months. A product that's supposed to last 10 years can't make it more then 6 months? IDK? They're gonna fix it for me but, still. I'm without my light right now. Since it was over a 2.5 gallon tank, its kinda hard to just find replacement lighting and keep the coral happy. It makes me wonder about the folks that say, "If you build it this way you can easily replace the star if you need too." I understand that nothing is bullet proof. Things break all the time. It makes me wonder...... Are the PAR bulbs a poor design over the other lighting that folks are building? Are they not as self cooling as they need to be?
Yeah i've been hearing alot of bad things about those par bulbs. I'm not sure how they're wired up. I assume they are in series without the use of pled's as shunts so if you lose one then you lose the whole bulb. Or it could be a junk power supply that converts the a/c voltage to d/c. Leds will go bad period I don't care how long they are supposed to last, it's gonna happen.
Honestly when it comes to the 1w vs 3w thing it really just depends on what products were talking about. Cree arguably makes the best most efficient chips in the world period. I don't think anybody will really argue that fact. Now if you look at something like the Bridgelux chips or some cheap knock off brand then they are far less efficient even in the same wattage catagories. So generally speaking I could theoretically build a fixture out of 1w crees and one out of 3w bridgelux and have the same total wattage per fixture and the cree fixture would be more efficient. So there are alot of variables that come into play. The way the leds are being driven plays a big roll on efficiency as well. Most manufacturers aren't advertising those specs.
I was reading on reef builders about these echoxotics panoramas and the representative was asked point blank a few times on what chips they were using and the rep never would answere the question. But then you look at manufacturers like aqua illuminations or pacific sun and they're more than happy to advertise the fact that they are using cree's. So it's sometimes hard to know what to look for if you have specific needs. I think the best most of us can do is try to find as much info being posted about par readings and such from folks who already own fixtures were looking into and go from there.

 

[posiden]

 
Yeah i've been hearing alot of bad things about those par bulbs.  I'm not sure how they're wired up.  I assume they are in series without the use of pled's as shunts so if you lose one then you lose the whole bulb.  Or it could be a junk power supply that converts the a/c voltage to d/c.  Leds will go bad period I don't care how long they are supposed to last, it's gonna happen. 
 
Honestly when it comes to the 1w vs 3w thing it really just depends on what products were talking about.  Cree arguably makes the best most efficient chips in the world period.  I don't think anybody will really argue that fact.  Now if you look at something like the Bridgelux chips or some cheap knock off brand then they are far less efficient even in the same wattage catagories.  So generally speaking I could theoretically build a fixture out of 1w crees and one out of 3w bridgelux and have the same total wattage per fixture and the cree fixture would be more efficient.  So there are alot of variables that come into play.  The way the leds are being driven plays a big roll on efficiency as well.  Most manufacturers aren't advertising those specs.
 
I was reading on reef builders about these echoxotics panoramas and the representative was asked point blank a few times on what chips they were using and the rep never would answere the question.  But then you look at manufacturers like aqua illuminations or pacific sun and they're more than happy to advertise the fact that they are using cree's.  So it's sometimes hard to know what to look for if you have specific needs.  I think the best most of us can do is try to find as much info being posted about par readings and such from folks who already own fixtures were looking into and go from there.
 
Well just for kicks I opened up my par 38. Scary. That's all I have to say. It is a crispy mess in there. The wires going the leds is so badly burned that when I tried to bend it. The insulation just cracked and fell off. Not real sure I even want to send this thing back. Repaired or replaced, this thing got toasty.:flame:

 

[2quills]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Posiden http:///forum/thread/387182/ecoxotic-panorama-led/60#post_3408347
Well just for kicks I opened up my par 38. Scary. That's all I have to say. It is a crispy mess in there. The wires going the leds is so badly burned that when I tried to bend it. The insulation just cracked and fell off. Not real sure I even want to send this thing back. Repaired or replaced, this thing got toasty.

Did all of the emitters go out at the same time or did one go out and then the rest went out later?

 

[1guydude]

because they do get hot and reading ur post today posiden....i went ahead and put some slits in my fixture for my par bulbs! Figure it would provide some air to them! Were urs in an enclosed housing of some kind? Mine where and always have....i use regular lamp fixtures. Right now im using a 3 head tall fixture i got at lowes for like $20! The one where u can point the diff heads wherever! Works good...just had to mod it a little for some ventilation!

 

[posiden]

Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///t/387182/ecoxotic-panorama-led/60#post_3408352
Did all of the emitters go out at the same time or did one go out and then the rest went out later?
The whole light quit at one time. On the inside there is only 1 set of wires running down to the emitters. I should take a pic. Maybe tomorrow. I'm unsure how to get to the emitters though. So I don't think I can get you info on those. Unless I decide to scrap a 100 dollar bulb.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1guyDude http:///t/387182/ecoxotic-panorama-led/60#post_3408362
because they do get hot and reading ur post today posiden....i went ahead and put some slits in my fixture for my par bulbs! Figure it would provide some air to them! Were urs in an enclosed housing of some kind? Mine where and always have....i use regular lamp fixtures. Right now im using a 3 head tall fixture i got at lowes for like $20! The one where u can point the diff heads wherever! Works good...just had to mod it a little for some ventilation!
Mine was in the plain open. I used one of those cheap clamp on work lights and I removed the alum reflector. So the bulb was totally free to vent and have any drafts in the room to go around it.

 

[2quills]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Posiden http:///t/387182/ecoxotic-panorama-led/60#post_3408608
The whole light quit at one time. On the inside there is only 1 set of wires running down to the emitters. I should take a pic. Maybe tomorrow. I'm unsure how to get to the emitters though. So I don't think I can get you info on those. Unless I decide to scrap a 100 dollar bulb.
Mine was in the plain open. I used one of those cheap clamp on work lights and I removed the alum reflector. So the bulb was totally free to vent and have any drafts in the room to go around it.
That would be cool, curious to see what it looks like. I figure if they got them in there then there must be a way to get them out.