General DIY LED thread

[Lingwendil]

Hmm. I do have a pair of sunplus cool whites on hand, maybe the two whites, K16, and a violet? You think it would look too purple, like some of the white-blue combos can end up? Maybe two whites, K16, and a 3-up of regular blue, violet, and lime or cyan (if I can get it) would do. I can try the sunplus white/K16 first, and I have a couple single limes, and maybe a single cyan in my stash. I have green too (and can't for the life of me think why, as I don't remember ever ordering it!) that I could even try, but doubt it would be needed or even look good. I'm a big fan of the deep blue, 20K "underdriven Radium" look, so I won't need much white I suppose.

I really like the sunplus cool whites, I use them as the base on my freshwater nano, and have been so happy with them for nearly a year that I haven't had any desire to change a thing on that fixture. I run 3x SunPlus 6500k cool white, 1x 4000k neutral white, 1x 460nm blue, 1x "hyper" violet, 1x 730nm "far" red. With some driver selection to give the color I want when on full blast, I am very, very happy with the look. very natural, not too cool or warm, or artificial looking. If I had to guess, I'd say it's right around a 8000k type of look, reminiscent of some of the older 8000k ADA halides.

I really like cyan in blue-heavy rigs, it's a shame Steve's is discontinuing them, since they are the only ones around doing custom 3-ups.

 

[Kampo]

Hmm. I do have a pair of sunplus cool whites on hand, maybe the two whites, K16, and a violet? You think it would look too purple, like some of the white-blue combos can end up? Maybe two whites, K16, and a 3-up of regular blue, violet, and lime or cyan (if I can get it) would do. I can try the sunplus white/K16 first, and I have a couple single limes, and maybe a single cyan in my stash. I have green too (and can't for the life of me think why, as I don't remember ever ordering it!) that I could even try, but doubt it would be needed or even look good. I'm a big fan of the deep blue, 20K "underdriven Radium" look, so I won't need much white I suppose.

I really like the sunplus cool whites, I use them as the base on my freshwater nano, and have been so happy with them for nearly a year that I haven't had any desire to change a thing on that fixture. I run 3x SunPlus 6500k cool white, 1x 4000k neutral white, 1x 460nm blue, 1x "hyper" violet, 1x 730nm "far" red. With some driver selection to give the color I want when on full blast, I am very, very happy with the look. very natural, not too cool or warm, or artificial looking. If I had to guess, I'd say it's right around a 8000k type of look, reminiscent of some of the older 8000k ADA halides.

I really like cyan in blue-heavy rigs, it's a shame Steve's is discontinuing them, since they are the only ones around doing custom 3-ups.

My thinking is we use mint/lime to make things less purple. If you look at this chart with Lime and the sunplus white there is a peak that matchest the lime peak, i'm guessing they have lime + there normal High CRI white phospure in the white

thats my thinking that you don't need the lime if you use the sunplus. I really like a 4:1 ratio in white/blue. I run Very Very little blue on my rig and honestly if I take all the 470 away it looks fine to me (these are cheap 70cri whites on my chinese puc lights), I think the sunplus white has enough of it. I could be wrong, but if you got the chips to play with maybe try it?

 

[Lingwendil]

Hmmm. Running the two whites at 1A, and the blue at 600mA may be the ticket, or maybe even 700mA white, 300mA blue to start off with, and then go from there. I already have them so it's worth a try, and I'll see how it looks from there. My only reef is a 20 long, currently running two BlueAcro halfmega "C" arrays at 700mA per channel, I lost most of the corals in a crash a couple months ago, so I suppose now's a good a time as any to fool with lighting experiments on it :) It may get upgraded to a 40 breeder soon, and I'll either use these pendants, or finally finish the bruiser build I never finished from last year. Depends on what I like better.

Also, found this deal, not bad-

https://www.arrow.com/en/products/l2c5-fs001208e1500/lumileds

Cheapest I've seen them so far! May be a good base for a larger build, pair each with a K16 or Citizen CLU048 from RapidLED, cheap frag setup beginnings.

 

[Kampo]

yeah those have been dropping a bit. there great cobs, have 2 in pendents as the only led over 2 planted cubes I have. honestly best Freshwater LED COB on the market.

 

[Kampo]

the freshfish cob may be even better than the sunplus white much flatter in the 470nm area than a sunplus

maybe a k16 at 700(29.4 watts) + Freshfish COB at 300 (9.6watt) + a Violet Chip would make a nice simple 3 chip array that is pretty decent.

 

[Lingwendil]

Hmmm. Flatter but lower peak, would be worth a shot.

Did you ever end up trying out the crispwhite with the fresh fish? I've been looking at the smaller crispwhite off and on the last couple years, and never got around to trying them. I'm curious how they would do with some blue, cyan, and royal blue added, or even in conjunction with the fresh fish. The 1202 is down to ~$7.75 and is pretty affordable-

https://www.digikey.com/short/p339bd

My only fear there is the amount of red may mix for a purple hue for sure without lots of cyan/green/cool blue supplementation.

 

[Kampo]

Hmmm. Flatter but lower peak, would be worth a shot.

Did you ever end up trying out the crispwhite with the fresh fish? I've been looking at the smaller crispwhite off and on the last couple years, and never got around to trying them. I'm curious how they would do with some blue, cyan, and royal blue added, or even in conjunction with the fresh fish. The 1202 is down to ~$7.75 and is pretty affordable-

https://www.digikey.com/short/p339bd

My only fear there is the amount of red may mix for a purple hue for sure without lots of cyan/green/cool blue supplementation.

no only used the freshfish alone. built my freshwater light with itention of mixing, but did a test single cob and was like this looks fantastic and didn't both touching it. I should just take a K16 and a Freshfish and throw it on a heatsink and put it over my reef to see what it looks like one of these days.

I do remember that cob from our convos on reefcentral I beleave last time we were brainstorming ideas. I like that Violet peak on that cob...looks like it has enough of the 500-550nm spectrum to be "green" enough to combat some purple. wounder what it would look like with k16 + crisp white.

 

[Lingwendil]

I may just have to buy a couple. Worst case throw it over some macro later on :)

I just got a $1000 bonus from work (long story) so aside from upping to a 40 breeder/stand, I was planning on buying some otherwise unjustifiable parts to play with, along with making a big PCB order (both the LDD boards, and some DIY tube amplifier stuff from my other hobby :) ) so it seems now's the time to buy them.

 

[Kampo]

wish they made a smaller fresh fish. Even at 14 bucks it seems pricey if only going to run at 300.

 

[Steven Garland]

I was looking at the same UV's on eBay and the led **** butt-hats on the other forum I'm apart of @Lingwendil knows what forum I am talking about lol and everyone put me on blast for wanting to buy "cheaper,shotty binned,non-trustworthy" diodes off the Bay..

Although I would love to get a handful of Lux M Royals,Cree 3-4up whites,and a handful of Epi 4up violets and play with but who knows. I feel like just because some people have the money to throw at high dollar "legit" diodes they stick their noses up to those who perfer to go cheaper and its pretty annoying.

 

[Kampo]

I was looking at the same UV's on eBay and the led **** ***-hats on the other forum I'm apart of @Lingwendil knows what forum I am talking about lol and everyone put me on blast for wanting to buy "cheaper,shotty binned,non-trustworthy" diodes off the Bay..

Although I would love to get a handful of Lux M Royals,Cree 3-4up whites,and a handful of Epi 4up violets and play with but who knows. I feel like just because some people have the money to throw at high dollar "legit" diodes they stick their noses up to those who perfer to go cheaper and its pretty annoying.

I'm the same way, but I think there are 2 spots where it saves money to go higher quality and thats Whties and mint/lime and its not that much extra. 2 bucks a diode from steves. Lux Ms and Lux k16s are the BEST way to go for Royal Blue right now IMO. UV/Violet there is no good way to go. no one sells a highquality violet star for a good price.

 

[dantimdad]

Where are you getting the freshfish COBs?

 

[Kampo]

Where are you getting the freshfish COBs?

Arrow https://www.arrow.com/en/products/l2c5-fs001208e1500/lumileds

i've got the "big" ones over my cubes, mainly because at the time it was 2 bucks difference in price, I only run them at 700ma though.

really love arrow, almost feel bad when I order from them with the free overnight shipping. my orders are never big

 

[Steven Garland]

I agree,and have never really bought ant diodes from anyone but Rapid,Steve's,LGB so when I thought about going to eBay people went nuts.

The only halfway decent violet I have seen is Lux Z's from LuxeonStar.com

 

[dantimdad]

Thanks for the link!

 

[Kampo]

The only halfway decent violet I have seen is Lux Z's from LuxeonStar.com

didn't know they sold them...but ouchy!!! 20 bucks a led except for 405nm which is a "cheap" 10 bucks. there the best uv led though...but ouch.

 

[Steven Garland]

I know,I wanted to load out a 4up but whew it was about $60-$80 for what I wanted lol. And I already checked,they don't sell loose diodes either,FACK !!!

 

[dantimdad]

You know I am not a big fan of white LEDs @Kampo but I just ordered one to play with. It may well end up on the fixture I am working on.

:)

It's for a hex tank. 1 luxeon array, two mints and this white. Just to see what it'll do. I can run it off two channels at 700ma each and light this hex up like a ball field.

 

[Lingwendil]

Eh, it's not necessarily that they are garbage when you buy on Ebay, it's that it's sort of whatever they decide to send you.

I got burned early in the violet game by spending a lot of money on the early diodes that tended to burn out their lens very quickly, and the efficiency was poor. Nowadays the good violets from the "usual" places (Steve's, rapid, group buy, etc) are all very similar in cost, efficiency, and overall quality/longevity. Buying cheap ones will net you lower efficiency but they do often state what the relevant info is.

Informed choices on your part do matter, and need to be factored into your overall goal. Not everyone needs the highest PAR possible in the smallest fixture.

Me? I tend toward less violet overall, and then the cost savings aren't a large consideration. If only buying a few I buy from the usual places.

I really don't like the "winged" mounting style of the cheaper epistars, so I stick to cree or lumileds primarily, with semileds being a close runner up, with them being a pretty cost effective violet option.

With most electronics in general, buying from a reputable supplier is worth it. In the DIYaudio world counterfeiting is rampant on many parts, so Mouser or DigiKey are my suppliers of choice.

 

[Kampo]

I know,I wanted to load out a 4up but whew it was about $60-$80 for what I wanted lol. And I already checked,they don't sell loose diodes either,FACK !!!

tempted to contact one of the ebay led vendors to see if they will do one of the 4ups with 2x420s and 2x395s.

Eh, it's not necessarily that they are garbage when you buy on Ebay, it's that it's sort of whatever they decide to send you.

I got burned early in the violet game by spending a lot of money on the early diodes that tended to burn out their lens very quickly, and the efficiency was poor. Nowadays the good violets from the "usual" places (Steve's, rapid, group buy, etc) are all very similar in cost, efficiency, and overall quality/longevity. Buying cheap ones will net you lower efficiency but they do often state what the relevant info is.

Informed choices on your part do matter, and need to be factored into your overall goal. Not everyone needs the highest PAR possible in the smallest fixture.

Me? I tend toward less violet overall, and then the cost savings aren't a large consideration. If only buying a few I buy from the usual places.

I really don't like the "winged" mounting style of the cheaper epistars, so I stick to cree or lumileds primarily, with semileds being a close runner up, with them being a pretty cost effective violet option.

With most electronics in general, buying from a reputable supplier is worth it. In the DIYaudio world counterfeiting is rampant on many parts, so Mouser or DigiKey are my suppliers of choice.

where do you go for your diy audio tinkering, i've dabbled a bit with simple diy speakers, but wanting to get a bit more into it.