Cree Arrays

[shse666]

Has anyone purchased and played with one of these?
http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en/programmers-development-systems/eval-and-demo-boards-and-kits/2622039?k=cxa20

By my math you get the equiv of 21 Cree warm white LEDs in a single package for $50.00 including power supply and driver.
I may order two just to see what happens. I think I would prefer the cool white color temp though.
I may call them on Monday see if they allow substitutions or if I can just order maybe the higher power one that is closer to 30 LEDs.
Kessil must be rolling in their graves.

 

[bimmerzs]

You get those warm white and you'll be the one rolling. [smilie=rofl.gif]

Cheers,

 

[niteowl03]

Stick with cool white or neutral white, the spectrum on the warms is quite low as its about a 3500K bulb.

 

[bimmerzs]

@bimmerzs wrote:

WoW...the rest of my comment didn't post for some reason. Pretty much mentioned the same about the spectrum of those as well as letting yuou know I just removed some warm whites from my setup. It takes very few of those(even set at 50%) to totally yellow out your tank, grow a lot of algae and make coral's look like crap. YMMV

Cheers,

 

[shse666]

Well, keep in mind that in certain cases I quite enjoy growing a lot of algae.
I'm going to order a few parts if I can keep it around that target price of $50.00 for the demo kit.

Here are the spectral plots:

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Digikey has the 5K LED arrays in stock at single quantities.

 

[Eckolancer]

Following this to see the results

 

[mediccby]

I am going to follow this too

 

[shse666]

I have to mention this thing too: http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Lighting-Science-Group/NT-53F0-0428/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMvu1XDDYxb9Fchj%2fmDJaykO%2fhkCD0qrhjw%3d

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$80.00 for your very own controllable 24 bit depth RGB color puck. 62 degrees dispersion by default. Some type of heat sink required: http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/HS-5100-0346/521-1016-ND/722077 for example.

You need 3 drivers, one Mean Well ELN-60-12p/d and 2 ELN-60-15p/d plus dimming controllers or I guess you can stack power supplies and pucks in parallel for more lux plus a connector: http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=NT-50WH-0427virtualkey59930000virtualkey599-NT-50WH-0427

 

[reeferwanabe]

Following this too. Interested in results compared to RapidLED.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[shse666]

I talked to Digikey and the kit is subsidized price wise so they do not allow you to swap out any parts or components.
I ordered CXA-KIT $49.99 and XA2011-0000-000P00J050H-ND $23.43 plus tax $6.06 and shipping $4.98 Total: $84.46

I also priced what I though was the equiv from Raid LED:
Philips Rebel ES Cool White LED 10 each $35.00 <u>Same Lux output as the Cree at max amperage within 5%</u>
Mean Well LPC-60-1050 constant current driver $26.00
Berquist Thermal Pad (set of 10) $5.00
Drilled/tapped 1.4" x 18" Aluminum Heatsink $18.00 <u>Note this only supports 9 LEDs so its not really apples to apples comparison!</u>
3-Prong Power Cord $3.00
Bulk Wire (Black) $0.25
Bulk Wire (Red) $0.25
Total: $94.50 with the same shipping method.

So, I assume I'm ahead by $10.00 with considerably less time to construct the kit (no soldering) and a much reduced physical foot print along with the option to run warm white or cool white or attempt to sell the warm white module on Ebay and cut my costs even further.

Video for assembly is here: http://www.digikey.com/videos/en/vp/1668000938001?WT.pn_sku=CXA-KIT-ND&WT.z_ptm_source=Part_Detail

I'm going to hold off on the Lamina multi color puck for now.

--H

 

[shse666]

Digi-Key has processed and shipped salesorder #344blahblahblah. Email was sent by 8:47 AM today.

 

[shse666]

The box arrived today.
Here is the kit.

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This is the cool white module.

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Assembly took less than 30 minutes without having seen anything before.

Too bright to look at directly.

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I should have cleaned the tank up well before hand. Oh well.
This is the Neo 90 with 250 watt 6500 K MH bulb

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This is the Cree array. Note that the actinics are running in both photos. Clearly one array is no match for a 250 watt.

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Here is a shot with the heat sink in view. Only slightly warmer that air ambient. Very low thermal output.

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Pros:
Cheap cheap cheap
In stock, quick turn around, priority shipping available
Cool to the touch. Easy to handle.
No soldering required. All you need is a Phillips screwdriver and possibly a wire stripper.

Cons:
Not the latest most powerful Cree array available. Seems to be one generation older.
The steel screws easily stripped the thread out of the aluminum heat sink.
The Molex connector appears to have a one time use only clip for the power leads and requires solid core wire.
DC power cords are way too short to be of use for almost any application.
Not even remotely water resistant. You wouldn't want to splash this or let it take a dip in the tank.
Kit ships with a warm white array.
No simple way to mount the unit

I think the default kit would make for a pretty good refugium light that easily out performs any of the old style JBJ Maco glo units. http://www.marinedepot.com/JBJ_Macro_Glo_Adjustable_Refugium_Light_Refugium_Sump_Lighting-JBJ_Lighting-JB9311-FIRFRL-vi.html

What I would really like to see is Steve's LEDs, Rapid LEDs, or someone along those lines offer the latest most powerful Cree array as part of their kits.
I will test this vs a 150 watt 6500K MH bulb here in a bit and see if a single unit can compete.

 

[shse666]

Side by side

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