Critique my LED layout please.

dantimdad · Nov 7, 2018

Take a pic of the leds if you can with them on. I would like to see the arrangement.

Is that a store bought fixture currently? Or did you make the led setup?

Thingsibuild · Nov 7, 2018

dantimdad said:
Yep that would explain it. You could just modify what you have.

That's what I'm going to do I'm going to pull all the LEDs out and replace them with new ones and just start fresh. Do you know of any good places to order LEDs from or should I just order them from eBay?

Thingsibuild · Nov 7, 2018

Thingsibuild · Nov 7, 2018

Thingsibuild · Nov 7, 2018

Its was a piece from day one I should have sent it back. I've had it apart 20 plus time over the years. The company doesn't stand buy there products. But it's a good looking shell for diy.

dantimdad · Nov 7, 2018

I like the shell for sure.

Sorry it's been a piece.

Buy leds from Steve's LEDs I get 90% of mine from him.

His violets are awesome and relatively inexpensive.

It appears, without being in person it's hard, that those indeed would not be royal blues but I have a hard time with colors in photos.

dantimdad · Nov 7, 2018

LED Specifications:

275 Watts of power!
420nm Actinic LED’s (9)
Blue LED’s (45)
Pink LED’s (6)
12,000K LED’s (24).

Yeah, the only ones I would have kept from the beginning may have been the 420nm and a couple 12k LOL. Since they don't specifically tell you the blue spectrum it will probably be in the 460 to 470nm range.

Thingsibuild · Nov 7, 2018

The 420 died within a year and a half. I just replaced them with ones from my old Chinese black boxes.
I like your cube build. Your frugal like me.

Katrina71 · Nov 8, 2018

You beat me to it. I was going to suggest Steve's too.

Scrubber_steve · Nov 8, 2018

dantimdad said:
LED Specifications:

275 Watts of power!

420nm Actinic LED’s (9)

Blue LED’s (45)

Pink LED’s (6)

12,000K LED’s (24).

Yeah, the only ones I would have kept from the beginning may have been the 420nm and a couple 12k LOL. Since they don't specifically tell you the blue spectrum it will probably be in the 460 to 470nm range.

How do actinic tubes compare to LEDs at the same wavelength in performance? Jason Fox uses the actinic tubes but reef bright blue LEDs.
???

dantimdad · Nov 8, 2018

I honestly believe that, used in conjunction with 410-430nm centered on 420nm, 445-455nm blues are just as good as actinic.

That being said, There is still something about the look of actinic. I mean the real A03 actinics.

Scrubber_steve · Nov 8, 2018

Sorry, what are real A03 actinics?

And is the 410-430nm centered on 420nm just covering tube spectrum spread?

Cheers

dantimdad · Nov 8, 2018

Actually it's more targeted than the tube spread.

A03 bulbs were (are?) actinic tubes made by Philips used in the medical industry.

I think, not sure here, Mike Paletta or Martin Moe may have been the first one to suggest using them. They were hard to get at first but then it caught on and they became more main stream.

Growth and color under 6500K halides with bunches of actinics was amazing. If it weren't for the expense of bulb changes and power, I would use them in a heartbeat.

I have a book at the house where they were mentioned early on. I will check the author.

Thingsibuild · Nov 8, 2018

Less 415?
The 2 next to the outside led is second channel.

Thingsibuild · Nov 8, 2018

dantimdad said:
I meant the black acrylic covers over the leds.

Kinda cool they just painted the glass with some durable paint. Looks new after 6+ years.

dantimdad · Nov 8, 2018

No. The violet is fine. Less 460nm still. It really overpowers everything.

OK, I was hoping that was all the covers were. I can replicate that.

Steven Garland · Dec 17, 2018

I know this is a older thread,but I would drop a lot of those colors ans maybe use 2 true cool blues for every 8 or so royals. Outside of the violet,royal blue,regular blue spectrum I wouldnt us anything else,but thats me.