Apollo Series LED panels from Cidly

ive heard there ok but not amazing , those modular type leds throw me off man i dont like them seems like alot of light could be wasted / these companies could make and sell an led with out them that performs just as good for cheaper so why they bother? ... thats just my opinion though.

well

1 - I don't see how any light is 'wasted' by modularity, in fact modularity improves performance/maintenance as there is no single point of failure for the power to the panel... i.e. one 'orb' can lose power, the others still work. You can replace parts easier... etc...
2 - even with whatever extra cost might be involved in manufacturing panels with these 'improvements' - custom angled lenses, custom spectrum, excellent heat sink/fan/airflow, modular power, etc.. (however 'necessary' or 'beneficial' they may be argued to be), I am still able to get a 430W power draw panel with 180pc custom spectrum 3W LEDs for $1/watt shipped... I have not seen that anyone else can come close to that... I mean, I am the owner of two Blackstars from Gotham Hydroponics myself, and I am a big fan of my panels! I have documented 3 very successful grows with them here on RIU, but even Blackstars are closer to $2/watt... BEFORE shipping...

Plus they come with 3 year warranty and service, so I'm still pretty interested in these Apollos... but yeah there are not too many documented grows with them, so I guess I may be a guinea pig if I go for one...

my spectrum would look like (15 LEDs in each modular 'orb', 12 orbs total in Apollo 12):

3 Red 660nm
3 Red 650-670nm
2 Red 630-640nm
2 Red 620-630nm
1 Orange 610-615nm
2 Blue 450-470nm
1 Blue 420-430nm
1 White 6000K

1/2 lenses: 90 degree angle
1/2 lenses: 120 degree angle

Apollo_LED.jpgApollo_12.jpg

Cidly does not have the ability to manufacture an Apollo with switchable spectrums yet (they say August 2012 for this technology), so I opted against any IR wavelengths, as I would only want to have this spectrum on during flowering phase. Also the IR LEDs add $2ea to the cost of a panel... ugh. There are no 280-315 UVB LEDs available, so I also opted against their UV options (380nm-400nm, 400nm-410nm) as well. I figured I would continue to use my Reptisun 10.0 UVB reptile lights for UVB supplementation.

Figured I could use an Apollo 12 as the main overhead light in my 2x4 tent, and use a Blackstar240 (I have 2) on each end as side lighting. I also supplement with 2 68W 2700K CFLs.

Any thoughts/advice is appreciated =D

I think there was a thread on here a guy was using it? It's kind of gone with the spam day there's been....

Psytrance, good luck on that; I think what I heard on an other board was that they drive the diodes quite hard, so the panel was emitting some heat. Maybe you could ask if there is any way they could drive them slightly softer? (ask first at what Ma they drive them, if they drive all the color at same power etc). You can always come back on here and discuss it if you like. Other than that, I am curios about them coz I nearly went that route.

Originally Posted by jubiare

I think there was a thread on here a guy was using it? It's kind of gone with the spam day there's been....

Psytrance, good luck on that; I think what I heard on an other board was that they drive the diodes quite hard, so the panel was emitting some heat. Maybe you could ask if there is any way they could drive them slightly softer? (ask first at what Ma they drive them, if they drive all the color at same power etc). You can always come back on here and discuss it if you like. Other than that, I am curios about them coz I nearly went that route.

Thanks jubiare, your comments are very welcome. It is true that they seem to drive the diodes a little harder than others... For example:

Each Apollo 12 has 180 3W LEDs and draws 430W power. So each LED appears to run at 430/180 = 2.389 W (This ~2.4W/LED remains stable throughout their Apollo series)

By comparison, my Blackstar 240s have 80 3W LEDs, and draw 135W power. So each LED appears to run at 135/80 = 1.6875 W (This ~1.7W/LED remains stable throughout their models)

This is about 25% more power... Now, Mr. Sing Lee @ Cidly does state that they have made improvements on the Apollo series panels in heat management with better fans/heatsinks/airflow, and that this is one of the reasons why they are able to drive their diodes at higher power than others...

However, I (like you) have also read on another site about someone's experience with Apollo panel getting quite hot... hrm...

Well one other thing, Mr. Sing Lee has been EXTREMELY communicative AND helpful during my research/decision-making process... We have exchanged over 30 emails, and he has provided me with a LOT of useful information, including screenshots of spectrum graphs generated from their LEDs, which he states are Epistar LEDs. I'll post a couple of these graphs here, for your information, hoping it might be helpful... Maybe you can use it to determine something further about their power and how they drive their LEDs... (although maybe the screenshot is only representative of the conditions when testing the LEDs/generating spectrum... not so much representative of operating conditions in an assembled panel...)

3W_6K.jpg3W_440-460.jpg3W_640-660.jpg3W_660.jpg

I will shoot another email to Sing about the power concerns... Thanks again, appreciate any feedback!

yes do that see what they say I remember cidly is def the first company that came out with that design.. I suspect many others having that design buy off them...

Originally Posted by jubiare

yes do that see what they say I remember cidly is def the first company that came out with that design.. I suspect many others having that design buy off them...

Correct, it looks like Cidly came up with the design and many others buy off them. Cidly has previous models/designs prior to the Apollo series, and others companies have been doing business with that design as well...

$1 a watt with real epistar's???????????? i dunno, tough to believe........good luck

I wonder how many diodes you have to buy to get the $1.00 price from epistar?