# The first perfect sunlight mimicking 95CRI Vivarium LED



## jturner (Nov 26, 2014)

For a while I have wanted to design an LED planted aquarium/ vivarium LED light. I feel as if even the "highest end" fixtures available right now are still short of their potential in terms of creating a full continuous spectrum for plant growth and achieving high CRI to display the true vibrant colors of plants and inhabitants. The problem with typical white LEDs used in aquarium/vivarium lighting is that they use a blue LED with a yellow phosphor. This leaves major gaps in the spectrum most notably in the violet, cyan, and deep red regions. 

Typical cool white LED spectrum



Some fixtures will attempt to fill in those gaps with a range of single color LEDs. Attempting to mix these various individual spectrums into a single light source comes with additional issues such as the unsightly disco ball effect and lower efficiencies of some single color LEDs. Even if these individual spectrums are all mixed well it is difficult to find the perfect combination in order to achieve high CRI. Why is CRI important? If you want to understand more in depth about how CRI works you can always research for yourself. (I have also used the TM-30-15 method for color assessment but that is beyond the scope of this post.) Essentially high CRI means that colors will appear more natural and often more vibrant to the eye. The lights I designed achieve a CRI(Ra) value of 95 which is near a perfect score of 100. 
In order to achieve such amazing light quality I used a mix of red and green phosphor instead of yellow phosphor to create a much better full spectrum white. I also added in a few violet chips. This resulted in a perfect continuous full spectrum across violets, cyans, and deep reds. 

Here is the spectrum graph for the combined spectrum of the COB chip that I designed.



In addition to a perfect full spectrum I wanted to make this light controllable through a range of color temperatures. In order to achieve this I made a COB chip with two separate channels that can be dimmed individually. The warm white channel is 3000K and the cool white channel is a bit over 7000K. When combined this achieves a nice neutral daylight spectrum around 5000K. 

The dual Channel 100w COB chip 




I had these COB chips put into a pendant style fixture. They can be controlled and programmed by smartphone with the use of an app.

 

I have mounted two of the sample fixtures over my 75 gallon viv. The first thing that I noticed with the high CRI is the colors on my two phyllobates terribilis "orange" dart frogs look so much nicer. With the full range of red wavelengths in the light spectrum their colors appear a much more vibrant orange when they used to appear as a paler yellow under my old LEDs. The reds in the plants also look so much more vibrant. There is also a much wider range of green tones visible in the plant foliage. I am also really enjoying the range of color temperatures and the ease of adjustment with the app. The warm channel really resembles that beautiful golden light seen just before sunset and just after sunrise. The cool channel is also really nice as it includes a good amount of cyan and greens in addition to the blue and violet making the greens in the tank really pop even at such a high Kelvin temp. I am also loving the fact that there is absolutely no sign of disco ball effect from attempting to mix various single wavelengths. They are incredibly bright and I have no doubt that they will grow plants well. 

Both Channels 100%



Cool channel 100% warm channel 0%



Warm channel 100% Cool Channel 0%



Here is some more spectrum data showing spectrum shifts as each channel is dimmed to different intensities. 



And here is some PAR data. The data was taken at 15,30,45, and 60cm away from the light source. For each distance, one measurement was taken directly under the light, and then 4 more measurements were taken at various distances away from the center to show how the light is distributed.



Overall I am extremely pleased with the outcome of these lights. They are definitely a step above anything commercially available right now. Currently I am exploring the concept of turning these into a product available to hobbyists. If anyone is interested in giving these a try let me know. The price would be around $300 but since they are still being developed I am open to generous discounts for anyone who wants to try out some samples. Also let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.


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## Smith463 (Jun 27, 2017)

these look fantastic and much better than the light i desined with the chinese, hats off, i may have to talk to you about getting some soon!


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## wimvanvelzen (Nov 1, 2008)

Any chance of getting these to Europe? They look tempting.


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## jturner (Nov 26, 2014)

wimvanvelzen said:


> Any chance of getting these to Europe? They look tempting.


I will look into it. Send me a PM if you are seriously interested.


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## jturner (Nov 26, 2014)

I also received a question regarding the app. I did not design the app myself. It is made for use with a range of LED aquarium and grow lights. You can search SmartLED_TQ in the app store if you want to take a look. It's available for IOS and Android.


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## Diesel (Jul 31, 2017)

I did send a PM as well,


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## jturner (Nov 26, 2014)

Just replied


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## nyskiffie (Mar 6, 2016)

PM sent, super interested.


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## KiraVivariums (Aug 19, 2017)

That's really cool, I can't afford that or I would totally buy one! Looks great, I love the design.


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## sharuq1 (Mar 29, 2013)

Following


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## jturner (Nov 26, 2014)

I have gotten a good amount of requests to try out the lights and just wanted to give a quick update. I haven't shipped out any samples yet because I want to take some more time to improve the fixture rather than rushing it. There were some improvements that needed to be made such as reducing fan noise, daisy chaining multiple lights to be controlled from one wifi box, as well as getting the app working on Android. Most of these improvements have been made and I am waiting on some new sample fixtures to test.


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## sharuq1 (Mar 29, 2013)

Following because I would like to try it if I can afford it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Diesel (Jul 31, 2017)

Still on your list for one maybe two.


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## jturner (Nov 26, 2014)

I just received some test reports and spectrum data from the new samples. I entered the raw spectrum data points into Osram's Color calculator software to analyze the spectrum in more depth than before. I was able to achieve a CRI of 96. The chip also has an efficiency of 112lm/W putting out over 11000 lumens at full power. 

Here is the spectrum graph of the combined spectrum both 3000K and 7000K at 100%. I used 410-420nm violet chips this time to avoid UV damage to the LED.


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## Diesel (Jul 31, 2017)

That looks good my friend.
Any candles or par #?
Not that it is important as I already know these lights will do awesome on a 36" high.


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## Diesel (Jul 31, 2017)

Btw, let me know when these go in production for beta.
I'm a beta tester for Ecotech and Coralvue.
Coralvue which has geisemann and maxspect lights on the market.


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## nyskiffie (Mar 6, 2016)

lumens/12.5 = candlepower for anyone looking for that number.


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## jturner (Nov 26, 2014)

Diesel said:


> That looks good my friend.
> Any candles or par #?
> Not that it is important as I already know these lights will do awesome on a 36" high.


There is a table with PAR data from the first set of samples in my first post in the thread. I will definitely let you know when I am ready to ship out some samples for people to test.


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## Scarecrow (Aug 28, 2017)

Amazing! The lighting is beautiful and so is the vivarium! I swear I have seen this setup before on youtube? Nice work with the lights, I'd love to own some of those one day.


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## SirGunther (Jun 4, 2014)

I would be interested in beta testing these as well. I am going to be putting together a big display viv, and these would be perfect for it.


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## LGro (Nov 24, 2017)

Josh, is there an update on these (for Europe)? Looking into high CRI LEDs at the moment and this sounds super promising. How much does one weight?


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