My new toy from Aqua Illuminations

[FateX8]

wow, i knew plasma was going to enter into the reefing community sooner or later but i thought it was going to be MUCH later like 5 years later
it really seems like the perfect lighting solution to most large once they can get it cost effective
the light output seems to already be there just the pricing seems higher then what it should be at the moment

 

[GSELLERS]

So where can get our own to test out. lol

i think you are missing some words chris

 

[rarelyseriousb]

man I would like to see that in person.These are going to make Led obsolete. I dont know how I missed this thread. These are supposed to be the same spectrum of the sun. I have been following plasma lighting for a year or so now. cool cool cool.

 

[kev2me]

Wow this is exciting, I can't wait to see how it turns out over your tank.

 

[Paintguru]

man I would like to see that in person.These are going to make Led obsolete. I dont know how I missed this thread. These are supposed to be the same spectrum of the sun. I have been following plasma lighting for a year or so now. cool cool cool.

I would like to know why you think this will make the LED obsolete?

 

[rarelyseriousb]

way more efficent. It may not eliminate blue led for night lites but for a full spectrum light you cant beat it. now we have to see were the price falls.

 

[fsu1dolfan]

Very interesting stuff....cant wait to see it over a tank!!

 

[Hook]

I want one of these already, even before testing!

 

[wishntoboutside]

very very interesting. great job chris. tagging along on this one for a while

 

[CherryCorals]

Just one more week!!

 

[Paintguru]

way more efficent. It may not eliminate blue led for night lites but for a full spectrum light you cant beat it. now we have to see were the price falls.

How is it more efficient? Todd said it sucks up 250W of power. How many watts are the LED light fixtures using? I can't imagine it is anywhere close to that. I see that they claim that they get more lumens per watt than higher output LEDs; so there must be a disconnect somewhere in either my knowledge of LED lighting units or in the way the plasma unit is using the 250W that it is drawing.

 

[therman]

Are those efficiency ratings based on the total light output, or the amount that is directed into the tank? It appears to be a pill-shaped capsule that is mostly surrounded by the apparatus that induces the energy into it, so the only usable light comes out of one end. Similar to the LED vs. halide debate, much of the light output would be lost due to reflector efficiency and restrike, whereas LEDs can direct >90% of their output into the tank with good optics. Plus with a single point source you are limited in the area which you can cover with one unit...even with great reflectors you will have dark spots and problems with center braces just like you do with halides.

Looks like it has a lot of potential, but I would be interested in hearing more details and seeing actual measurements/results in a reeftank application. Keep us posted!

 

[cparka23]

Probably max total output per watt as quoted from the manufacturer's tech papers. I'm not familiar with this form of lighting, but it's usually the case that tech specs quote a single number @ a particular current. For instance, the 100+ lm/amp LEDs are only that efficient at ~350mA. As current increases, that efficiency drops. Few things in life give near constant efficiency with variable input.

No disrespect intended, but that may be the wrong reflector to use for that emitter IMHO. The geometry of the lumenarcs is roughly based around the light emitting from the focus of a paraboloid. Normally, an MH bulb would sit horizontally near the focus of the reflector and emit light both upwards into the reflector and downwards from the bulb. Here, you appear to have mounted a bulb to fire downwards only (I think), which obviates the need for something designed to reflect light from a geometric focus. Simply put, the lumenarc is for a bulb that rests a few inches lower and emits light in all directions. Judging by the pics of the bulb and inductor, it doesn't seem to fit the bill. Good stuff, nonetheless.

 

[Acro76]

Probably max total output per watt as quoted from the manufacturer's tech papers. I'm not familiar with this form of lighting, but it's usually the case that tech specs quote a single number @ a particular current. For instance, the 100+ lm/amp LEDs are only that efficient at ~350mA. As current increases, that efficiency drops. Few things in life give near constant efficiency with variable input.

No disrespect intended, but that may be the wrong reflector to use for that emitter IMHO. The geometry of the lumenarcs is roughly based around the light emitting from the focus of a paraboloid. Normally, an MH bulb would sit horizontally near the focus of the reflector and emit light both upwards into the reflector and downwards from the bulb. Here, you appear to have mounted a bulb to fire downwards only (I think), which obviates the need for something designed to reflect light from a geometric focus. Simply put, the lumenarc is for a bulb that rests a few inches lower and emits light in all directions. Judging by the pics of the bulb and inductor, it doesn't seem to fit the bill. Good stuff, nonetheless.

You are totally right sir! I'm sure when these come to market they will have a totally different reflector... we just happened to have a luminarc laying around. So it is for experimental purposes only.

 

[Acro76]

How is it more efficient? Todd said it sucks up 250W of power. How many watts are the LED light fixtures using? I can't imagine it is anywhere close to that. I see that they claim that they get more lumens per watt than higher output LEDs; so there must be a disconnect somewhere in either my knowledge of LED lighting units or in the way the plasma unit is using the 250W that it is drawing.

It's all it the output of lumens per watt...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_efficacy#cite_note-23

 

[Paintguru]

It's all it the output of lumens per watt...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_efficacy#cite_note-23

Understood, but I guess my question is, is this putting out as many lumens (using 250W) as say a standard 1000W MH? I mean, aren't people now starting to downgrade the amount of light intensity that they use for their tanks (maybe not SPS)? PAR is great and all, but with energy prices going up like mad, I think we need to start looking beyond the "more PAR is better" debate. What would be great is if this technology could put out as much PAR as say a 250W MH lamp but only use 20W of power. THEN I would be interested in buying one of these. If this is just a way to get more PAR using 175-400W of power, then I'm not as excited as I could be . I do like that it appears to simulate the spectral power distribution of sunlight better (but of course this means that it is going to be around 5500K temperature unless it is turned down to get more blue). Just my opinions.

 

[pjr]

Chris, I am with you. sounds like it COULD be cooler, and it COULD use slightly less energy, and it DOES take up less space.

However, LEDs can provide about a 90% reduction in energy usage, and about 50% heat reduction.

surely interested in plasma, but not sure why people are bashing LED.

 

[Hypertek99]

Wow that thing looks bright.

 

[cparka23]

Chris, I am with you. sounds like it COULD be cooler, and it COULD use slightly less energy, and it DOES take up less space.

However, LEDs can provide about a 90% reduction in energy usage, and about 50% heat reduction.

surely interested in plasma, but not sure why people are bashing LED.

I didn't see anyone 'bashing' LEDs. If you were referring to my lumens/watt comment, I can clarify that a bit. For increased amperage, you get less efficiency.. but it's not a huge loss that would render moot the benefits of energy savings. A 90 lm/watt LED may drop down to 75 lm/watt when you boost the current from 350mA to 700mA. These are just numbers I'm pulling out of the air, so don't use this as a hard reference. (If anyone is interested in some dry reading, the super-technical term is "efficiency droop.")

Even at that efficiency, LEDs are well worth looking into. Plenty of research goes into LED lighting these days, and efficiency is improving every year. But enough of the tangent by me...

I, too, would like to see how this experiment plays out. If it's unbelievably bright in the future, I'd like to see it push a manufacturer to design a reflector so that one plasma bulb can replace two MH bulbs with reflectors. That's yet another way we can reduce consumption, but probably a tad farfetched for now.

 

[CherryCorals]

I am picking up the end panels to the big tank on Thursday and hope to con the guys into assembling it this weekend.

So the light will be over the tank next week.