LED Lights Not Working

[gath2]

I greatly appreciate the help. I would not have attempted to do this on my own without some guidance.

[hipertec]

Sorry for bringing up an old thread. I have an advanced JBJ LED hood with 2 strips of LED that is out, from the original 5 strips.

I would think that the LED is the issue and not the whole strip. IT IS CRAZY that JBJ wants so much to replace the strips and this seems to be a common problem.

Can you advise if you got the LED strips to work with by removing and re-soldering the LED?
1. How did you find out which LED is defective?
2. Where did you purchase the replacement LED and part number?
3. was it easy to unsolder and resolder? Any pointers or what is needed?

[gath2]

It's been awhile since I did these repairs, but I'll do my best to help out. JBJ way over charges for those LED light strips. Someone should really make a replacement strip and sell it for half the cost and could still make a nice profit.

My first issue was the power supply itself, which was about $55. I purchased online from Mouse Electronics for anyone interested: MFG Part No:NPF-120-24. Mean Well LED Power Supplies. Again, like half the price of what JBJ wants for a new PSU.

1. How did you find out which LED is defective?
Since I had this all apart and as someone mentioned the LED's looked pretty burned out anyway, I decided I was going to replace all the lights in the strip. For that matter I purchased enough LED's to do the entire hood, which gave me the ability to vary the colors. I believe they are currently all 10-15K on the 5 strips from JBJ. I replaced everything but the moon lights. I forget what was different about those, but I tried replacing one and could not remove the heatsink or something and ended up tearing it up. I eventually did get it fixed, but left the other one alone.


2. Where did you purchase the replacement LED and part number?
Someone suggested Bridgelux, so I just did a search for 3W Bridgelux on ebay and found LED"s that looked like the ones on the boards. I ended up getting them from the seller justforbetter. a 10 pack was less than $4. I went with Cool White, Royal Blue and tossed a few UV and Natural White in there for good measure.
I don't know anything about LED quality or this seller, but I had no issues with the seller and the LED's are still working without any problems.


3. Was it easy to unsolder and resolder? Any pointers or what is needed?
This was my first time doing anything like this, but it was relatively easy. The LED's do only work one way, If one of the LED's is backwards the strip won't work. I had to fix a few that I put on backwards, but it went pretty well and I couldn't be happier with the end result.

[hipertec]

Thank you for your input. Since my LED strip is out, it looks like all I need to do is replace the actual LED on the strip with the LEDs from ebay?
1. Is this the ones you purchased - http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-50pcs-3w-B...2YASVNbyBBNRPA
If not, can you send me the ebay ID number or a link?
2. How did you get the LED to stick on the board?
3. I just want to fix the two strips that are out. Should I get the 10K-15K LED color or the COOL WHITE? I believe the stock LED are 10K?
4. Did you just heat up the old LED ends and replace with the new LED ones onto the stock board?

After soldering the new LED on the stock JBJ board and plugging it in, did everything work?

Thanks for your help as I would like to get this fixed asap for the corals in my tank.

[gath2]

1. Yes those are the ones.
2. Get some CPU Thermal paste. The stuff that is currently under the LED's will probably be hard and can't bu used again. The hardest part of soldering these is making sure they were pressed down completely to the heat sink, so the thermal paste will help.
3. If you look at the prices, the more you purchase the cheaper they are. I'd purchase 10 Cool Blue and 10 Cool White. I'd them do a mix of 3 blue and 2 white, but the color choice is completely up to your personal taste. I just like have a wider spectrum for corals. I'm sure there is some way to test which LED is bad by creating some leads to bypass each one individually. However, after looking at the new LED's compared to the old ones and seeing how much brighter they were I wanted to replace them all. Once you do one it's pretty easy to do the rest on that strip, so I didn't worry about which one was bad.
4. Yes, just heat up the solder on each end and pull up on that end to remove it. Do the same to the other end and it should pop right off. The dried thermal paste will keep it stuck a little, but if you are replacing it you don't have to worry about breaking it. You will notice that one of the LED leads is larger than the other. The new ones should be the same way. You can test the voltage going from one end to the other as well. If it's not the same as a working strip, one of the LED's is probably backwards not allowing the flow of electricity.

Be aware that those LED's from that seller are coming from China. I don't remember the delivery time, but it's not fast. I borrowed a hand on MH light to put on my tank while doing the repairs. If you need them ASAP, I'd look for a different local seller, but it's going to cost more.

[hipertec]

Thanks for all the info! I have it off but can't get the old led off the strip. It's like glued on. How did you get the old led off after soldering off the ends?

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[coondogg97]

Originally Posted by gath2

Just to give everyone that was kind enough to offer advice an update, my new power supply arrived. I ended up getting one made for my light for about $85. Figured it was worth the extra $30 to be sure it worked. Lights stay on all the time, so no more off and on! My new LED lights also arrived, so now I just need to get to soldering them on to the two burned out. So happy to get my light back and lose the hot MH light that is on it now.

Sorry to resurrect a zombie thread, but I am in the same position as you are right now. I just inherited a JBJ 28g Nano and there are 3 LED strips that are out. I found them online for $75 each, but I can't justify spending $225 when I can get a 165 watt Viparspectra for almost half the price. That being said, like you, I prefer to stick with the original hood to keep the nice clean look.

So my question is, what LEDs did you end up going with, the 3w Bridgelux? Did you just wire them in series? And were you able to position them in the hood and still use the reflector that went over them?

Thanks in advance