[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: [APD] Off Topic: LED lights



Tri-color LEDs (really three diodes on one die) and triple LED arrays to make "white" light have been around for quite some time, indeed years, even since before the superbright LEDs came to market -- not to mention that folks have made their own. They are relatively uncommon because it's cheaper to use single color LEDs for most applications to which LEDs are put (pilots lights, alert lights, etc.). Since the red LEDs are usually about twice as efficient as the red and blue, it's common to mount two reds with each red and blue LED for a single module. LEDs are not too hard to control downward -- they just hate to be overdriven.

Since LEDs are solid state devices encased in epoxy, except for their electrical leads, they don't mind water, except for their electrical leads. Thus, it's the connections and attached circuit that must be shielded or waterproofed for moisture exposure. A common way to do this is with small electrical devices is to encase the whole package in epoxy -- the capacitive discharge electronic points on car engines are done this way often as is the stator coil in Ehiem and most other aquarium pumps. Vendors sometimes encase an entire package in epoxy to hide the details of the circuit they've used.

sh


----- Original Message ----
From: TBarber <terbarb at alltel_net>
To: aquatic plants digest <aquatic-plants at actwin_com>
Sent: Saturday, May 12, 2007 11:12:25 PM
Subject: Re: [APD] Off Topic: LED lights


Color Kinetics already does it.

http://www.colorkinetics.com/ls/intelliwhite/iwblast12p/

Read the pdf file..........says you can adjust both the color temperature
and the intensity.  Also says that this can be used in a wet environment!!!

http://www.colorkinetics.com/support/datasheets/iWBlast12P.pdf

Color Kinetics already holds patents on how to control the led arrays.

Not sure how much this particular array of white lights costs...........but
I can find out.   My sister and brother both work for this company, btw.

TerryB
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gordon McLellan" <gordonthree at gmail_com>
To: "aquatic plants digest" <aquatic-plants at actwin_com>
Sent: Saturday, May 12, 2007 10:45 PM
Subject: Re: [APD] Off Topic: LED lights


> Hi Folks,
>
> I'm mostly a lurker on this list, but now and then a lighting topic
> piques my interests.
>
> I think the time may be near for using LED lighting in the aquarium
> hobby.  A company called Lumileds, which created the "Luxeon" power
> led some years ago recently released a new product called the "Rebel".
>   The rebel is set to leave all previous led technologies in the dust,
> but they're darn difficult to work with, as each led is smaller than a
> grain of rice.  These leds are in the order of 1 to 2 watts, with
> efficacy of over 100 lumens/watt, ranking them right up there with the
> best metal halide has to offer.  Knowing the fact that the rebels
> entire output is directed at roughly 120 degrees opposed to the 360
> degree emission of a metal halide bulb, the end result is twice as
> much light (per watt of heat) compared to MH.
>
> I'm waiting on some collimating optics and then I'll set out at trying
> to figure out how to use these little gems to light up my 29 gallon
> tank.  I have two ideas I want to try:
>
> 1) Form "clusters" of three leds, one each of red, blue and green,
> using a special optics package designed for primary color mixing.
> This should allow me to control the exact color balance of the light,
> so I can adjust it to my personal tastes.  The downside to this
> approach is increased complexity of managing three separate light
> sources.
>
> 2) Same cluster of three as above, but mixing white, red and green, I
> will use the "white" led (which is blue with yellow phosphors) to
> provide the bulk of the illumination and the red and green to adjust
> the color balance.  There major industrial drive right now to produce
> blindingly bright white leds, so finding a way to harness that would
> be an advantage.
>
> The optics I'm waiting on were announced a few weeks ago, and should
> be in distribution by July.  So I've got a bit of time yet to do more
> planning!
>
> Gordon
> _______________________________________________
> Aquatic-Plants mailing list
> Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
> http://www.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo/aquatic-plants

_______________________________________________
Aquatic-Plants mailing list
Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
http://www.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo/aquatic-plants
_______________________________________________
Aquatic-Plants mailing list
Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
http://www.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo/aquatic-plants