"Area 51 LED" Information and discussion

[captainmorgan]

I wanted to start a thread for Area 51 LED owners and for people looking for information thinking of buying one of their panels. It will also be a place for discussion on the use of their current lights along with a place to give input on what everyone would like to see in the design of new lights from Area 51 such as the parts they use,features,coverage and power levels.

http://a51led.com/store/index.php

 

[bicit]

I'd like to see them utilize cobs. It would be interesting to see what they can come up with

 

[FranJan]

Cap, why don't you tell the folks what Jeff at A51 was thinking about and see what people say. I'm looking forward to an A51 CoB based panel but only if it has some 630/660 included. And a 730nm addon would be the shit. Vero or Cree would be fine with me but A51 is so connected to Cree it's weird to think they would us B-lux.

Maybe A51 can sell a shit Chinese version for all the haters so they can pretend to grow with real LEDs .

 

[PSUAGRO.]

What froggy said.......you already know my thoughts on the new fixture

 

[Sevren]

COB's and different form factors, such as a single row of COBS vs a cluster of COBS.

 

[captainmorgan]

Ok,I've been talking with Jeff and his original idea was upgrading to XP-L's and adding dimmers. They would have a all white model and a red and white version. He also was thinking of two sizes that could be used together if necessary to cover the size of most spaces and could be physically connected together to form a larger panel or run separately. One was to have 14 LEDs and be roughly 6"x18" and the other was 20 LEDs and roughly 6"x25". The problem that has come up is not having a reliable supply of the top quality and efficient LEDs that he wants to use right now.

 

[captainmorgan]

I've also been talking to him about COBs for a while now since I've been loving my DIY CXA's. He started researching them and decided he wanted to do a COB panel also using Veros but was thinking more late summer or fall for that panel but since he's having supply issues with the XP-L panels he may have to do the COB panel first.

 

[Yodaweed]

Ok,I've been talking with Jeff and his original idea was upgrading to XP-L's and adding dimmers. They would have a all white model and a red and white version. He also was thinking of two sizes that could be used together if necessary to cover the size of most spaces and could be physically connected together to form a larger panel or run separately. One was to have 14 LEDs and be roughly 6"x18" and the other was 20 LEDs and roughly 6"x25". The problem that has come up is not having a reliable supply of the top quality and efficient LEDs that he wants to use right now.

That sucks , I hope he can get those issues resolved we all want to see these awesome new panels they are creating.

 

[captainmorgan]

That sucks , I hope he can get those issues resolved we all want to see these awesome new panels they are creating.

There really seems to be a availability problem with the higher end LEDs. He looked at CXA's for the COB panel but as everyone who is DIY'ing with high bin CXA's knows,they're hard to come by. I do like the fact that he wants to use high quality and efficient LEDs and would rather delay than just put out a new panel with less.

 

[captainmorgan]

With the Vero panel there would be two sizes,a single Vero 29 pulling 95 watts at the wall and a larger panel with two Vero 29's pulling 190 watts at the wall. These would also be connectible to form larger panels to fit a given space or run separately.

 

[captainmorgan]

These designs seem to be a bit fluid because of supply problems and I think Jeff would like some input so if anyone has any ideas for these panels just post them up.

 

[PSUAGRO.]

Xml2 are available ....and have a better jt too, it's still a very good high powered single diode. I would take them spread out vs a cob in a non diy application.

Tell Jeff to come in here and explain to me the 660nm drop from the fixture!?

 

[allinat420]

It might be better to go with a bunch of supper efficient 3-5 watt chips...better than cob imo

 

[captainmorgan]

Xml2 are available ....and have a better jt too, it's still a very good single diode. I would take them spread out over a cob in a non diy application.

Tell Jeff to come in here and explain to me the 660nm drop from the fixture!?

I think he was going to do the all white XP-L first and was waiting on a good enough red to go with it but it was probably a 630 nm,not sure if he planned on any 660 nm.

There is suppose to be a XP-E2 P4 red coming out and talk of maybe a 5 watt Cree deep red that's capable of over 50% efficiency.

Believe it or not XP-L2's are not that far off. Onyx told me a couple months ago that they were getting XP-L prototypes in any day for testing to replace the XM-L's and told me they would let me know about them,wonder if they ran into the same availability problem because I haven't heard from them.

 

[captainmorgan]

I like the idea of accessory lights that could daisy chain into the Area 51 lights. One could be a 730 nm with a battery in it that would come on for 5 minutes when power was cut to the main lights and another could be some 660 nm lights,maybe just a strip of them you could attach to the side of the main light.

 

[Sevren]

A modular setup with a arduino/beaglebone/rpi brain box with ports that control the daisy chained light panels in terms of schedule, intensity, and other feature sets. Probably overkill.

 

[PSUAGRO.]

It was definitely Osram 660nm when his intentions where to go with the xpl's .........when we first started to talk about the new fixture.

Vero cob panels will be plentiful this year due, impart, to its availability and cost/performance. Cree is what made a51 what it is, foolish to stray completely IMO.

Flower trigger(timed 730nm) is gonna cost $$ on the bom........doubt he'll bite.

 

[captainmorgan]

A modular setup with a arduino/beaglebone/rpi brain box with ports that control the daisy chained light panels in terms of schedule, intensity, and other feature sets. Probably overkill.

You've been following SDS's threads,haven't you.

 

[captainmorgan]

Flower trigger(timed 730nm) is gonna cost $$ on the bom........doubt he'll bite.

If he offered it as a accessory light and didn't have to build it into all his panels it sounds good,same with the 660 nm.

 

[PSUAGRO.]

If he offered it as a accessory light and didn't have to build it into all his panels it sounds good,same with the 660 nm.

Following the indagro business plan then huh?..........not a bad idea