The PAR 38 lamp is rapidly becoming a gateway product for many newcomers to LED aquarium lighting. We’ve been fortunate to have a few of these lamps to try out for several weeks now and after this period we’ve seen solid color and growth of our corals. This past Monday Nano-Customsannouncedthat the PAR 38 lamp would be on saleto Reef Builders readersfor the rest of the year for $99; that’s less than $5 per watt of eco-friendly, energy efficient anddramatic spotlighting. The whole price-per-watt comparison got us thinking about what really made this lamp and in a discussion with a fellow LED spotlighting enthusiast last night, we began a dismantling of the PAR 38 lamp that only ended once we had taken apart and scrutinized every one of the components of this exciting LED light.
The two things that struck us the most is how easily the driver base disconnects from the LED and heatsink assembly and the easily removable optics. The EvilC 66 PAR 38 lamp is about as close as you can get to an interchangeable LEDfixtureand it is even possible that in the future this kind of lamp will be easily upgraded with the latest and the greatest LEDs and optics. The current crop of PAR 38 spotlights from Nano Customs is equipped with 40 degree directivity lens optics but these were the most easily removed component which could be easily swapped for lenses with a wider spread. Follow the break for a complete look under the hood of this LED lighting engine but proceed at your own risk: the electronic nudity may not be suitable for sensitive viewers.
