LED Spot Light Alternatives

There are a lot of LED lighting options available on the market now, but one problem has always been around, how to get light all the way to the bottom of a tall vivarium?

Spot lights obviously work well, but they can present some issues.  They often have a fairly focused beam angle so the light does not spread out much. The tall profile can also present some challenges or make for a messy looking top that just begs to be hidden, creating more work or costs for you.

One option is to use large flat LED diodes.

The problem is, they create a lot of heat and have to be cooled with a heatsink and a fan of some sort. The good news is that this is not very hard now, and it can be done in a very low profile lighting unit, as you see here.

These are about 3/4 of an inch tall. 

This light design combines a large diode panel in the front (two 20w 6500k chips with fans) and a LED strip light panel in the back.  The combination spreads the light out over the entire tank.  Using a broad spectrum of white color temps also helps to create a more natural overall light presentation, not just the harsh light we see with 6500k light sources.

The front panel is 22" wide 5" deep.  The rear panel is 22" wide and 15" deep.  Having two separate panels like this allows for some placement flexibility.

The fans are being powered and controlled separately, so they can be adjusted to run at a speed which reduces the noise to a very quiet and tolerable hum.  The diodes in this design are 20 watts, but 10, 30, 40 and 50 watt diodes are available, very affordable, and work well.

I'll be designing many more configurations to solve all sorts of tricky lighting issues. Just contact me via email (kurtjensen@spectraldesigns.com) if you'd like to work out a custom design to meet your needs.