Chinese LED Lights

[mkengr45]

Originally Posted by acanlover

Anything from China is going to be crap, unless it's Cree.

Normally I'd agree with this statement....but in this case your completely wrong.

[joedc]

Only thing I will say about them is they are not consistent. I had 2 of them running and using a par meter I found at 100% on blue the one light ran 100 more par

[rillaboratories]

Are the crees chip consistent throughout different batches or are there slight difference between them.

[joedc]

I think it's the drivers and dimming. My radions are dead even

[mknightryder]

Hey guys over the weekend the blue channel on one of my D120's went out. I purchased (2) D120's straight from Evergrow on 12-28-12. I went with the custom layout option and used Monkiboy's layout from way back when. I haven't had a single problem from these two units until now....

The driver isn't bad because I can run the white channel with it. All three fans work as well. So I took two AA batteries and made a power source with a neg / pos wire coming off of it. By touching the neg/ pos on each diode I can tell that I have 4 diodes burnt out. I am assuming at this point that the 4 burned out diodes is causing the entire string not to light up properly?
I purchased a similar 165w led fixture with only 2 fans from a local reefer months back as a spare/frag tank light and it has always had 5 diodes burnt out on it, bet yet it still functions properly... except for the 5 leds being burnt out and very very loud fans!...
I have replacement diodes, but only a 30w soldering iron. (it doesn't get hot enough). Could the very old Evergow D120's not have the circuitry of the these newer leds? Say if a couple diodes burn out then the entire channel shuts down? Just wondering before I go by a bunch of DIY soldering stuff and try to solder in replacement diodes on the Evergrow D120...
If not I may just get two REEf Radiance 165e's w/ the Apex ready option to replace...
Thanks!

[HCJohn]

I ordered a couple of chinese full spectrum leds last nite. Thanks to this thread I believe they are going to be wonderful. Will report back.

[joedc]

Chinese less work well. There's lots of tanks running them I like the ones that have uv on 5je blue channel

[HCJohn]

I just have to find a good way to hang them. I cant make up my mind if Im going to build a canopy or just something else to hang them from. Decisions...decisions...

[Gtownguy487]

HCJohn can u give us a link to where u ordered them from.

[HCJohn]

I purchased these. He had them setup so you could make an offer and I did. I lowballed a bit, but their counter offer was 89.99 each so I ordered two of them. Hope that helps.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/165W-55x3W-F...item2a34d6b786

[Gtownguy487]

He took $79.99 for 2 fixtures or for each?

Also are they cree leds?

[Hentz]

I love the Reefbreeder fixtures. They're amazing!

[HCJohn]

Originally Posted by Gtownguy487

He took $79.99 for 2 fixtures or for each?

Also are they cree leds?

Oops, I was supposed to put 89.99 each...sorry about that. It was a total of 180.00 I will edit original post so that its less confusing.

[Gtownguy487]

Are they Cree?

[HCJohn]

Id be lying if I said I knew Gtown. I "assumed" that they were the same as what pretty much every other Chinese manufacturer was using.

[HCJohn]

I couldnt find a ton of information on these particular lights, so I took a leap. Hope I dont end up finding how their return policies are.

[HCJohn]

By the way these were listed as MarsAqua lights when I purchased them. Im not sure if that helps (probably not) but there ya go.

[mknightryder]

Originally Posted by mknightryder

Hey guys over the weekend the blue channel on one of my D120's went out. I purchased (2) D120's straight from Evergrow on 12-28-12. I went with the custom layout option and used Monkiboy's layout from way back when. I haven't had a single problem from these two units until now....

The driver isn't bad because I can run the white channel with it. All three fans work as well. So I took two AA batteries and made a power source with a neg / pos wire coming off of it. By touching the neg/ pos on each diode I can tell that I have 4 diodes burnt out. I am assuming at this point that the 4 burned out diodes is causing the entire string not to light up properly?
I purchased a similar 165w led fixture with only 2 fans from a local reefer months back as a spare/frag tank light and it has always had 5 diodes burnt out on it, bet yet it still functions properly... except for the 5 leds being burnt out and very very loud fans!...
I have replacement diodes, but only a 30w soldering iron. (it doesn't get hot enough). Could the very old Evergow D120's not have the circuitry of the these newer leds? Say if a couple diodes burn out then the entire channel shuts down? Just wondering before I go by a bunch of DIY soldering stuff and try to solder in replacement diodes on the Evergrow D120...
If not I may just get two REEf Radiance 165e's w/ the Apex ready option to replace...
Thanks!

My left D120's blue channel crapped out over the weekend... Last weekend the right's did... Both were purchased on 12-28-12...I am fixing to have to find some more.... May just do the Reef breeders photon 48 for the 2 warranty... Reef radiance only gives one yr then u can purchase an additional yr.... Or i might try some of these under $100 ea fixtures, but I believe all of those are using the epistar chips/diodes. I know most people including myself are/have been running 3 watt bridgelux diodes. Not sure what the difference is between epistar and bridgelux as compared like bridgelux and cree....

[mluz]

mknightryder

Why not just replace the individual diodes. Reefbreeders seems to have them on their website.

Or is that not possible?

[nameissoftlover]

So has anyone used the Chinese cob, think aquamana has it at 165w

[mknightryder]

Originally Posted by mluz

mknightryder

Why not just replace the individual diodes. Reefbreeders seems to have them on their website.

Or is that not possible?

I attempted to replace the burnt out ones, but my soldering iron wasn't hot enough.... Was fixing to purchase another soldering iron and a deal I couldn't pass up fell in my lap. lol. My tank now has a Pacific Sun Metis Hyperion R2 150X2 over it. Awesome awesome awesome lamp!!! Value fixture repair job got put on the back burner.... I plan on replacing the burnt out diodes as soon as things slow down a bit though. They are awesome lights and have served my tank well for the past cpl yrs.

Everything in my tank started off from small frags under the D120's. My BTA was in bad shape when I got it & the lights were able to help nurse it back to health. Clam has been on SB for two yrs as well. Tank looks awesome under the Pacific Sun fixture, but I still give praise to the D120's for getting everything along this far.

[Chicago]

almost a year later I am getting great colors with these units.. however, I may supplement with some t5 to try and keep some color spread where the leds limit light.. in otherwords the leds are directional and some of the sps tend to die underneath as the sps grows.

thought s

[OllieNZ]

Hi all,
I'm looking at lighting my nano with a cheap led the tank is 24x15x13 (lxdxh) but due to the tank being built into a display unit the light will have to pretty much have to sit on the tank. Do you think any of the following will give me sufficient coverage (not intensity)?
1) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-120W-L...item462254170a
2) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/16-OceanRe...item1c48618201
3) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165W-Dimma...item2ed16eb0c9
This one I'm not so sure on intensity or lack of fan
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dimmable-M...item41895d8bb0

[mknightryder]

Originally Posted by Chicago

almost a year later I am getting great colors with these units.. however, I may supplement with some t5 to try and keep some color spread where the leds limit light.. in otherwords the leds are directional and some of the sps tend to die underneath as the sps grows.

thought s

You are absolutely correct! My two D120's had 90 degree optics hung 13" AWL. They put off plenty of light, but not like a T5 fixture does. The undersides of my big Bird of Paradise, Pink Birdsnest, Screamin' BN (pictured above), and a few others slowly began to fade away from the lack of light underneath. My caves were really really dark and there were lots of shadows from the rockwork on the sandbed.
This new to me Pacific Sun lamp doesn't have optics and it lights my tank up like a T5 fixture would. A lot of light inside of the once darkened caves & at the bases of big colonies.

I say give it a try and see! Check out the Pacific Sun Pandora fixture. It is a hybrid of both leds & t5's. Best of both worlds! GL

[nameissoftlover]

So the test begins... Give the corals a week to adjust.. Then I will take pictures weekly for several months.. Left side is the aquamana 165w cob led fixture. Right side is the black box 165 watt full spectrum.. Let the test begin... During the next few months I will not be adjusting power or time cycles..