Holy LED light Hood Batman. Solaris.

Hobster · #1 07/27/2006, 03:48 PM

Put this one on your Christmas List. For the reefer who wants the latest. Forget those T5 VS MH discussions!

"I gota get me one of these"

http://www.solarisled.com/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx

JGoslee · #2 07/27/2006, 04:00 PM

Are leds better than metal halide and t5? To they put out as much light?

Horace · #3 07/27/2006, 04:08 PM

No they dont put out as much light, even though they would love for you to believe that.

There are other threads about LEDs and this unit and the fact is that even though they do last alot longer, they do lose a significant amount of thier brightness over time as well. They also dont put out anywhere near what a good halide/T5 setup will.

So until this unit is less than $1k, its a waste IMO.

JGoslee · #4 07/27/2006, 04:10 PM

What about heat. Do they put off alot of heat? 1K thats insane!

Catharsis70 · #5 07/27/2006, 04:21 PM

The price is insane!!!
Gorgeous Dog BTW.

Ti · #6 07/27/2006, 05:47 PM

I so want one of those

ChemE · #7 07/27/2006, 06:09 PM

I spent a few weeks reading everything I could about LED's and the conclusion I came to is it just isn't a mature enough technology yet for what we want. I honestly think within the next 5 years they will surpass T5 and MH in efficiency and price but it ain't gonna be next week!

BeanAnimal · #8 07/27/2006, 09:28 PM

I have been saying that for years... The quality does not matter. They will sell, just like those silly hybrid cars that are all hyped up in the media and greenie circles.

LED technology has a LONG way to go before it surpasses modern fluo and discharge lighting.

Here is a hint, when you see industry start switching warehouse lighting over to LEDs, it will then be mature enough to use for your reef. When you see industry switch to hybrid vehichles, then it will be ready for consumers to try. AND I am not talking about some huge greenie public works initiative or socialist government that wastes a few million of the taxpayers money on overpriced green "feel good" initiatives ... I am talking about bread and butter industry adopting the technology.

Bean

ChemE · #9 07/27/2006, 09:33 PM

Okay Bean so I'm unclear on where you stand with regard to hybrids...are you saying I should buy one and give a tree a hug?

Industry is a good barometer though. There are HD's switching over from MH to T5's so that is a good indication that it is more energy efficient.

BeanAnimal · #10 07/27/2006, 09:59 PM

Yup

When industry switches of their own accord (and not due some govt mandate or tax rebate) you can bet the technology is sound and a money saver.

No, you should throw rocks at those who are silly enough to buy them and think it is saving something somewhere (other than the tax rebate that the rest of us have to pay for). Don't hurt anybody but make your point

ChemE · #11 07/27/2006, 10:04 PM

Although, I do appreciate the green lunatic fringe who is pushing for conservation. Without this pressure I'm not convinced the government would care to promote/force progress. We should get off Middle Eastern oil and sooner rather than later. Lets buy oil sand off the canooks for a few decades.

BeanAnimal · #12 07/27/2006, 10:24 PM

Hey don't get me worng, I have no malice towards tree huggers, I just enjoy the thought of throwing rocks at them

I have yet to hear of anybody who has the solaris hood in a thriving setup and is able to maintain it. I have also yet to see any real numbers from an independent source. I am curious and would love to see them come in better than I expect...

BeanAnimal · #13 07/27/2006, 10:25 PM

With regards to heat... yes they give off heat. If it's plugged into the wall and uses power, it gives off heat. A 100W bulb and a 100W fan give off the same amount of heat. That said the bulb gives off more infrared so it may be absorbed easier by some objects compared to the heat given off by the fan.

Bean

ChemE · #14 07/27/2006, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BeanAnimal
With regards to heat... yes they give off heat. If it's plugged into the wall and uses power, it gives off heat. A 100W bulb and a 100W fan give off the same amount of heat.

Attention skeptics of this statement: please read the Advanced Topics forum in its entirety before voicing disagreement.

ChemE · #15 07/27/2006, 10:29 PM

Woo! Closing in on 1000 posts. Do I get anything for 1000 like I did at 500?

BeanAnimal · #16 07/27/2006, 10:37 PM

what do you get at 500?

ChemE · #17 07/27/2006, 10:40 PM

One of those IO hydrometers that Travis says are so great! No, you can change Premium Member to Watt Miser Extraordinaire. Lke at 100 you can upgrade your avatar from pokemon to a mad scientist.

BeanAnimal · #18 07/27/2006, 10:47 PM

Hrmm I don't have avatars turned on and don't have signatures turned on, nor do I see the profile blurbs attached to each post... they are anoying and take up space

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/21579screen.JPG

ChemE · #19 07/27/2006, 10:56 PM

That might be the lowest res most compressed picture I've ever seen in my life!

Notice the fact that the annoying banner at the top of my page is automatically blocked and deleted by Adblock in Firefox. I love Adblock; it kills 80% of eBay leaving only the bare essentials. It annihilates AnandTech too!

Hobster · #20 07/28/2006, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BeanAnimal
Hey don't get me worng, I have no malice towards tree huggers, I just enjoy the thought of throwing rocks at them

I have yet to hear of anybody who has the solaris hood in a thriving setup and is able to maintain it. I have also yet to see any real numbers from an independent source. I am curious and would love to see them come in better than I expect...

Perhaps you have not heard of anyone, because they are not scheduled to ship untill August

They are rather expensive at this time but if they last as long as PFO claims they they might be worth it. I do not see where T5s have made much of an impact on the Reef Keeping industry as the orginal ads and hype have indicated. Maybe the same for LED. For now I"ll stay with the MH's.

dhnguyen · #21 07/28/2006, 09:42 AM

Rather expensive is right. Too expensive for an experiment IMO. I'll wait and see how it pans out in a year or two.

D.

pulse13 · #22 07/28/2006, 01:03 PM

This page is total bs.

http://www.solarisled.com/FAQTechnic...1/Default.aspx

I don't believe that MH wastes 60% of the light from the reflector. They claim that a light source that is less than half as efficient as MH saves money because it puts out more light. To get as many lumens as a 250w halide you'd need more than double the wattage using LEDs, not half. Anyway, Lumileds, who makes the LEDs for PFO, does not currently have a product in production that produces 50 lumens/watt. In fact I already asked PFO in the forums what bin of LEDs they use, and they can't answer because they're only getting random bins that lumileds supplies, which are variable but probably average around 40 lumens/watt, and certainly not 50. They can't say they fixture puts out a certain lumen or lux rating until they tell us which bin or range of bins of LEDs that the fixtures use, because each fixture uses a random assortment of LEDs each of which varies widely in efficiency, voltage (and therefore power consumed when driven by current limiting circuit like used in their fixtures), and color tint (known as the Luxeon lottery, cause you never know what your going to get) .

Yes the lux at the bottom of the tank may be higher because of the focusing, but you lose the ultra high light areas at the top of the tank for your SPS that you get with MH. Who says having uneven lighting is bad, strong light at the top for light loving animals and less at the bottom is good in my opinion. IMO PFO should concentrate on advertising the real advantages you get over MH, the computer controller and life. They shouldn't be pushing their LED fixtures as better technology than MH untill they actually get better in a few years. The only reason you'll save money on electricity with them is because you get much less light overall.

joshuaroot · #23 07/29/2006, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ChemE
Okay Bean so I'm unclear on where you stand with regard to hybrids...are you saying I should buy one and give a tree a hug?

Industry is a good barometer though. There are HD's switching over from MH to T5's so that is a good indication that it is more energy efficient.

So true, where i work they have a mix of vho and regular flor. light fixtures but theny are moving to the t5 light fixtures with 6 bulbs in each one. more light less power! and the fixtures they are gettin are only like $80 a piece!

pwest · #24 07/29/2006, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BeanAnimal
With regards to heat... yes they give off heat. If it's plugged into the wall and uses power, it gives off heat. A 100W bulb and a 100W fan give off the same amount of heat. That said the bulb gives off more infrared so it may be absorbed easier by some objects compared to the heat given off by the fan.

Bean

Not quite. The efficiency of an electrical device as the ratio of useful power (work) done by the device to the total power input to the device. Thus, if two fans use the same amount of power, but one moves more air (higher CFM) than the other, then it is more efficient. For the most part, the reason one fan would be more efficient than another would be that it wastes less power in heat or noise. There is no reason to think that a 100w light bulb and a 100w fan would give off the same amount of heat--electric motors are typically 80% efficient meaning that 80% of the energy that they use goes into the shaft movement, while the other 20% is given off mostly in heat. Light bulbs are the other way around.

BeanAnimal · #25 07/29/2006, 09:29 PM

pwest, I think you need to rethink your answer. Your definition of efficiency only applies to the fact that the fan moves more air than the light bulb (if you are talking about fans). In terms of heating efficiency the lightbulb would be more efficienct. In terms of motion efficiency, the fan wins. In terms of light output, the bulb wins. A lightbulb is not an efficient motor, and a motor is not an efficient lightbulb. Though, the motor does create motion AND electromagnetic radiation.

This is basic physics at it's best.

Lock any two devices that consumes the same amount of POWER into a sealed box. Both will heat the box at the same rate, regardless of their "efficiency".

An incandescent bulb may heat the water in the tank faster than a fluorescent bulb because it radiates more heat in the infrared spectrum. Make no mistake, if both bulbs consume the same amount of power, they radiate the same amount of heat.

The motion of the fan is a form of energy. Energy is heat. The fan blades move air, and that air is energy.

Honestly... I don't want to get bogged down on this. I think if you do some research and think back to your physics eduacation you will arrive at the correct answer.

Lets also not get REAL POWER and REACTIVE POWER and the power factor messed up in this. For our purposes here those are simply a means of expressing they way we use generated power and are billed for it. We are talking the sum total of the power consumed (in watts in this case).