Led question

matty0206 · Jun 28, 2012

I recently bought a fixture that has 15x1 watt led's spread over the length of the 36" fixture. If I replaced them with 10x3 watt cree led's would it make enough difference to justify the cost? Here is the fixture I am using:

FI-DL-3639 Premium Aquatics - FI-DL-3639 Aquarium Supplies

It also has 4x39w t-5's

Thanks

Steelerfan747 · Jun 28, 2012

Wow I will have to leave this up to the electricians but I don't know if you could run 30 watts of leds on a power source intended for 15

matty0206 · Jun 28, 2012

I would be replacing the everything except the heatsinks. I will use a meanwell driver. I want to replace all 15 led's but the heatsinks are small and I think 2 on each would be max for heat.

Reef Breeders · Jun 28, 2012

Go for it, the ELN 60-48 will work just fine. If you use the new XT-E LEDs, you can drive them at 1200ma and get some crazy power. You might want to get better heat sinks, or a fan to blow on them.

matty0206 · Jun 28, 2012

The fixture has a fan on one end. I will probably go with the led's driven at 700ma to avoid replacing the heatsinks. the size these are fits perfectly in the fixture. Here is a pic to give you an idea:

ReefLEDLights · Jun 29, 2012

The Cree XT-E depending on the type of 1 watt can be 4-5x brighter when driven at 700mA.

As far as cost the total retro with optics and driver should be around 80 Bucks. You will notice the difference.

Bill

matty0206 · Jun 30, 2012

ReefLEDLights said:
The Cree XT-E depending on the type of 1 watt can be 4-5x brighter when driven at 700mA.

As far as cost the total retro with optics and driver should be around 80 Bucks. You will notice the difference.

Bill

Thank you for the response. It sounds like I will try it out.