AI Nano LED radically redesigned and release announced for the end of July

By Jake Adams on Jul 13, 2011

Just when we were beginning to think the AI Nano Sol might not be seen again until MACNA, Aqua Illumination goes and officially announces the launch of the much touted little LED light. Aqua Illumination states that it took ten months to refine this product and that it was going to be so different from Aqua Illumination’s flagship LED the AI Sol, that the nano LED light will now simply be known as the AI Nano.

Just a month first spotted that something had changed in the appearance of the AI Nano on its dedicated webpage. The AI Nano has been radically redesigned and not only in its appearance. Indeed the touch-sensitive AI Nano no longer looks or is controlled the same way as its big brother. The controllability and super interesting visual feedback built into the AI Nano Sol is so simple and streamlined that it disappears in the form of the nano LED fixture. But we already knew that.

What we didn’t know about the AI Nano is that it is now roughly one quarter the size of the original AI Nano LED and it has brand new LED clusters and a semi-common lens. The redesigned AI Sol uses two clusters of five LEDs, two each of the Cree XP-E blue and royal blue LED and a single white XM-L LED in the middle. The marriage of Cree XP and XM LED is something to get excited about, especially from a pioneer of LED and Cree XP LED for use over reef aquariums. The five LEDs are guided by a five-in-one LED lens with an unspecified beam angle.

Aqua Illumination says they’ve been running a single AI Nano over a 50 gallon reef tank for six months, in which case the AI Nano is quite a bit more than a nano LED light, more like a small metal halide replacement. The AI Sol now uses just 35 watts of the highest quality LED components and we hope it will land for the same original pricing of about $350. Aqua Illumination just announced that the AI Nano will be ready for distribution by the end of the July and we greatly look forward to seeing the new LED beast in person.

ai nano led

http://twitter.com/seahostler John W Ostler

i must say, i have been holding out on a new lighting decision for my 20 gallon nano for several months in anticipation of the new light from AI. Interesting to hear about the new light config. My fingers are crossed that the new model doesn’t go too blue. I hate the latest trend in LED tanks that look like they’re being lit up by black lights. Yikes.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Matthew-Tibbits/8640355 Matthew Tibbits

Seriously, 2 cool white to 4 blue and 4 royal blue? That thing is going to be windexy. I’d much rather have 4 cool white to 2 blue and 4 royal blues and that would be a 20K set up!
Anonymous

The cool white XM LED used in this light can run up to 10 watts while still cranking 100 lumens per watt. If you don’t like the blue-out at full power you can always used the onboard controls to fine tune the color to your liking.

I can’t wait to see this light in person, definitely an original design with exciting LED components.
Anonymous

I wish they would put more effort into fixing the production issues instead of releasing new products, trying to obtain Sol’s is next to impossible.

That being said, until I am holding one in my hands the AI Nano is still vaporware.
Anonymous

One of these days I am going to see a Mfg LED light that comes close to ones I build myself. I want to see 2000 PAR at the surface, and 600 PAR at the sandbed 24″ deep, which is what I get on my DIY LED lights (Cree). Shouldn’t we be trying to mimic the sun, which is 2000 PAR at mid day/surface? Sure, we may not use that much light, but I want my LED lights to be able to do it. Since I use PWM drivers I can 100% mimic true sun output via programming with a very gradual ramp up/down (talking 4+ hour ramp up/down) just like nature so at “noon” I am getting 2000 PAR at the surface but only for about 1/2 hour tops.

It isn’t the prettiest fixture, but it sure puts out a ton of light.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5246/5253259840_9544e02dc4_b.jpg
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5205/5253259872_c96f0cc7ce_b.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bElFSUmg5MY
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_4FVXKOUOOYXEOPKO4Y3PK2JCRI J.T.

Do you have a thread on one of the reef sites detailing your light build? I am about to do a DIY for a 20″ cube and am trying to gather all of the info that I can. You are the first that I have seen use that many different colored LEDs.
Anonymous

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?239281-Finally-going-LED/page5 is where the build actually starts, page 1-4 was just me trying to figure things out before the build. I kind of stopped updating the thread though but as it stands now, after I figured out the dimming control problem on the -D model drivers and got my PAR way up I went back to my original configuration on the LEDs that I posted in the picture above, and since then I have replaced the -D drivers with -P drivers and connected it to my Reef Angel controller with PWM expansion and wrote software to poll the internet for weather. Software isn’t pretty right now, I always go for function first and then when I have time go back to make it pretty, so for now my software is just code/service that runs on my PC and when I want to change the area of the world my light mimics I have to go into the code to change the area. One of these days I will make a GUI interface to do it quick and easy but for now it works fine for me and other reef projects have taken priority. I also do not run any T5HOs anymore like I did when I started that thread.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Matthew-Tibbits/8640355 Matthew Tibbits

Ah. I should have read it more closely. I figured it was XP-G Whites.

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