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If the video clip of the LIFI lit tank we posted earlier today piqued your interest, here’s another video clip to keep you all hot and bothered. This vid is showing the same fixture which is on the macroalgae tank as set up by the Monterey Bay Aquarium staff. As you can see, the light fixture itself behaves very much like our old metal halides, set up as a pendant and used a single point source of light. The hammertone reflector is kinda dated but considering that there isn’t a single pendant made for Plasma Arc lights that we know of, we’d say the set up was working just fine. The Plasma Arc or LIFI as it s also called can dim down to 20% intensity and with that there is a slight, soft color shift towards the blue spectrum, but it’s still not quite a 12K temperature down at the power minimum. So how did MBA get ahold of one of these super prototype Plasma Arc lamps? well it turns out that Luxim is soliciting a range of industries to try out the new technology through a developer kit which for ~$700 (we’ve heard up to $1000) includes the power supply, the dimming and control circuitry, the power puck which holds and “fires” the bulb and the actual puny Plasma Arc lamp itself. Even if you have the cash don’t think that Luxim will dole out one of their LIFI devkits to just anyone; depending on availability you may have to prove that your work with their kit will lead to bigger and better things beyond just your own overly lit tank. Although the LIFI lamp may be the latest and greatest lighting source known, don’t expect for LEDs to just fade away into obscurity. The LIFI is only available in a 250w configuration and the LEDs will still dominate our smaller tanks and blue lighting applications. We’ll be on this new tech like white on rice so stay tuned and follow the link for more pics of this very exciting Plasma Arc setup.
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WOW! Thanks Jake! I wish I had the patent on this. So what is the energy expenditure on these bulbs? Has anyone looked at PAR values?
This would have been a great technology about 10 years ago when sulphur induction hit a wall… but I doubt it will go far. At best, that technology gets about 150 lumens/watt, and thats with those massive 1200 watt versions. Smaller ones get less and less efficient. By the time this technology matures to market, Im sure LED’s will overtake them and make them quite pointless. Induction is a great step up from electrode based lighting from the longevity standpoint, but the efficiency is capped by the magnetron and sulphur gas… no way around that… and thats where a diode, or solid state emitter overtakes it. Not to mention… the major downfall of plasma back in the 90’s was the delivery system… even though much of that has been eliminated and made better (cooling fans and mounting the bulb on a spinning shaft was needed to prevent cracking the bulb), you still have a bulb that puts out light in all directions… for our applications at least, the unidirectional and controlled output of a LED means a huge efficiency advantage.
If they were interested, I could put it through the whole grid test to find its efficiency (incidental light across a plane)… but it seems they want $1000 to do this.
Jon, only you would find room to dog on the Plasma Arc lighting. You’ll be eating your words about LIFI much sooner than you think my friend.
I’ve been following the Luxim technology from the time it replaced all high pressure mercury light sources in over 60,000 Panasonic Rear Projection TVs in early 2007 until now. I’m familiar with the failed Fusion Lighting attempt at plasma lighting. Jon has done a good job of delineating the issues with the sulphur plasma lamps, all of which are resolved by the Luxim LIFI solution:
- Luxim does not use a spinning bulb
- Luxim’s solid state system does not use a magnetron or sulphur
- Luxim’s source is small (the size of a tic tac), directional, and digitally controllable
- Luxim’s current offering is not a 1200W system, but rather their 180W source replaces traditional 400W metal halide sources
- Luxim’s current offering is not a 150 lumens/watt source, but rather 120 lumens/watt source driving 22,000 lumens. It would take 150 high power white LEDs to deliver the same output. Luxim’s product roadmap does not show LEDs overtaking Luxim on either lumens/watt lumens/cent.
- Luxim’s color temp = 5500K, at a rather impressive CRI of 95
- No cooling fans are required
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[...] Those of you following this might find this interesting: Luxim’s Plasma Arc LIFI lighting demoed at Monterey Bay Aquarium | Reef Builders [...]
[...] 140 lumens per watt and a CRI (color rendering index) of 96 so it means almost perfect sunlight. Luxim’s Plasma Arc LIFI lighting demoed at Monterey Bay Aquarium | Reef Builders Plasma Arc LIFI lighting already in use at the Monterey Bay Aquarium | Reef Builders Aqua [...]
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