dimmable LED fixture - WHY?

[lilrobb]

Doing a little R&D.

WHY is it that we reefers want the LED fixtures to be dimmable, T5s are generally not dimmable and neither are most MH fixtures.

WHY is there the new hype that LED fixtures are useless unless dimmable?

If you had to put a $ amount - what would dimmable be worth to you over non-dimmable.

Mods, if this is deemed commercial - I am doing research only though, please delete.

 

[acroholic]

I don't see anything commercial about this thread.

Any light source that is dimmable is just a bit more flexible for certain things, like dawn/dusk simulation, or new coral acclimation without having to change the physical position of the lights or use mesh to lessen the intensity.

For LEDs the flexibility of dimming also includes being able to use the blue/white daylight LEDs as moonlights without having to include extra low power ones for that specific purpose in the light itself. Keeps the design a bit simpler and prolly keeps costs down as well.

They are not necessary, but it is a nice feature to have for T5, halide, or LEDs.

 

[lurpee]

Dimming also gives you more control over the color. Granted, if you knew what color you wanted, you could figure out what mixture of different colored lights to use, but with the ability to dim, you can fine tune it to your liking.

Personally, I tend to be drawn to fixtures with dimming capabilities but that is because I like to tinker with things and being able to dim the lights means you can do cool things like sunset/sunrise (as Acroholic mentioned above).

 

[coolsurf]

+1 to all of the above.

I would not go as far to call non controllable "useless" but it's a sweet thing to have. I keep my LED's running at less than 100%. It's nice to know that if I need more or less light, I have the option.

 

[hammcd]

the only reason ive heard people want them dimmable is to simulate sunrise and sunset and have an easy way of adjusting coral to them

Edit: instead of lights being on/off they gradually come on and off in the morning and evening

Edit: there are also controllers out there that simulate thunderstorms/lightning storms etc if they are dimmable..the cluds roll in, a lightning storm happens then the clouds roll out

Edit: ah sorry just saw acro already said those things lol

 

[jbadd99]

Dont forget the ability to acclimate new corals easier. No more "screen method" or moving the coral up and down to acclimate it - just dim the fixture and gradually bring it up.

I personally was willing to pay a couple hundred for a dimmable unit over a non-dimmable unit, although knowing what I know about it all now, that seems to be much overkill. Now I'd say no more than $100 extra.

 

[crew]

In the DIY world, dimmable drivers are almost the same price as the non dimmables IME. With that being said, acclimation and day time simulation as well as morning "fish shock" are great reasons to have dimmable lights.

 

[hammcd]

yeah even though all these dimmable features are cool, if i were to buy LED i probably wouldnt spring for it...how many times can ya watch a fake lightning storm...plus u can control coral acclimation by just using blue lights for awhile first

 

[rbredding]

I agree with the original post..

it wouldn't be something that I would "NEED" in an LED Fixture..

 

[giulianom]

I will say, with going the DIY route with the high powered LED array chips, that finding dimmable drivers has been very difficult.

 

[eric b]

GiulianoM;683988 wrote: I will say, with going the DIY route with the high powered LED array chips, that finding dimmable drivers has been very difficult.

Nah not at all I think rapid led has them and they are not hard to diy them either.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

 

[crew]

rapidled has them

 

[giulianom]

I should rephrase, finding dimmable drivers with the correct voltage and current ranges</em> has been difficult...

But in the end I found some...

 

[giulianom]

Amici;683997 wrote: Please do share where you sourced them! I'm about to start my 75 g array.

Made by Excelsys, puts out 1750mA up to 29v, and is dimmable.

I had to special order them from Digikey, minimum 2 to order.

I just got them in on Thursday, haven't had time to test them out yet.


Eventually ill have 6 of them.

If you would like 1, I might be willing to part one out...

It was about $80 by itself.

 

[john26]

The only reason I would see people wanting to dim their LED lights is to get the right color contrast one would want. Also another reason to want dimmable would possibly be that the LED's are just too strong. But I'm just researching as well about LED's, although I have bought a couple strips recently and should be getting them sometime this week.

 

[coolsurf]

John26;684037 wrote: The only reason I would see people wanting to dim their LED lights is to get the right color contrast one would want. Also another reason to want dimmable would possibly be that the LED's are just too strong. But I'm just researching as well about LED's, although I have bought a couple strips recently and should be getting them sometime this week.

Multiple reasons...as stated above. Plus the fact of lighting capabilities to add or decrease the amount of light corals receive.

Once you have dimmable lighting, you won't want to give it up. Got to have it to understand I guess.

 

[giulianom]

Thanks for the recommendations...

I will be looking at the Meanwell HLG-60H-36B drivers soon, which I think may be a better match than the ones I have now.

The Meanwell's hit the sweet spot for a "50W" LED, which is 1.75A @ 30-36V.

Plus they're dimmable by PWM, 0-10V, and a 100K pot.

 

[ichthyoid]

LilRobb;683792 wrote: Doing a little R&D.

WHY is it that we reefers want the LED fixtures to be dimmable, T5s are generally not dimmable and neither are most MH fixtures.

WHY is there the new hype that LED fixtures are useless unless dimmable?

If you had to put a $ amount - what would dimmable be worth to you over non-dimmable.

Mods, if this is deemed commercial - I am doing research only though, please delete.

Robb-

I general, I agree that LED's don't 'have' to be dimmable, but it's cool to have. Corals don't care, they just want a certain 'quantum' of photons per unit time.

I have both-
1) banks of LED's which are switched sequentially to give a 'stepped' ON/OFF sequence, and

2) a PFO fixture with the best controller I have ever seen. It will do full blown dusk to dawn (and moonlight), as well as simulated intermittent cloud cover (for cryin' out loud!).

To me, both are useful. I personally would not pay a premium of more that about 10% of the unit cost for the dimmable feature (but I'm cheap).