AI Vega Color/Blue Owners Thread!

[jonthany]

My patients is wearing thin..... Might opt for Dr Tims One and Only....

[kajung2k]

Great news! You can pre-order your color pucks now!! They should be shipping in April!!!

[rhinonm]

Originally Posted by kajung2k

Great news! You can pre-order your color pucks now!! They should be shipping in April!!!

Where did you see that? Im on their site now and see nothing new

[examiner]

Originally Posted by rhinonm

Where did you see that? Im on their site now and see nothing new

There is a link to it on their Facebook page.

[jonthany]

Originally Posted by examiner

There is a link to it on their Facebook page.

http://www.aquaillumination.com/colorconfig/

[rhinonm]

Sweet.. must be a soft launch because I couldn't find it through the regular site. The power puck description still says coming soon...

[jonthany]

I have a hard enough time figuring out what mix to set my light at now I have LED options... Oh boy haha Let the indecision begin...

[rhinonm]

Ya I wish they included spectrum in nm as opposed to calling them a color

[rhinonm]

My other question is that the center cool white led is an xm-l which is a 10w if I'm not mistaken. If I swap that out with a nuetral or warm, is it still going to be 10w? Conversely if I add cool white to all available ports what watts will each be (I doubt it could support the xm-l all the way around).

[jg93]

I'm going to upgrade to the colors - but really want to get the violet and UV in there. I'm debating whether to replace the greens entirely, or perhaps sacrifice 2 of the royal blues. Anyone have any thoughts?

[nanotank]

Heck I built my own 8 bulb 410-420 led setup to add to my Vega color for less then 100$. The little 8 bulb setup alone put around 90-100 par at sand bed. This is with the fixture 8-10" above water line. When I just tested with the Vega at 100% and the RB Led setup I have had on this tank a long time I get 300 par at the sand bed. There also is DEF hot spots under these lights and par falls off just a few inches in front or behind the Vega. Explains why 4 corals under the Vega got torched and others r doing good. Cut the power back and went into a 2 month coral acclimation and they seem to be recovering. Def feel the spread sucks for so called 80* optics though and the hotspots. The UV's seem so dim but they r powerful.

[ihigh]

anyone on here has compared the growth/color of their corals from sol blues to vega colors? I just grabbed two vegas and wanted to know what to expect

[Neonwombat]

Instead of starting a new thread titled AI wireless controller issue I figured I'd try this route instead.........

I have read all pages of this thread over the past few weeks and decided to transition from my current lighting system to 3 AI Vega Color modules. There appears to be a lot of satisfied users here and on reviews at Marinedepot and BulkReefSupply etc. I also ordered the new controller. I got home last night after being gone all week and was extremely excited to install the new lights (I spent about 5 hours last week on a DIY hanging system for the lights to fit inside my canopy).

The first thing I did was plug all three lights in and try to sync them up with the new Wireless controller. Much to my frustration, the lights will not pair with the controller. When the lights are plugged in the LED indicator light is red as it should be and when I hold the red button for 6-7 seconds the indicator light flashes red/green as it should. When I go to the controller to setup lights and configure it for Vega it states "host failure." I have tried all 10 channels, I have tried every combination I can think of such as having my wife press and hold the button and when she lets me know the lights are red/green I then try to sync up the controller. I have emailed AI for support, but they were closed already when I got home yesterday

I really hope I am doing something stupid or perhaps the controller is multifunctional?

I also notice that when I press and hold the red button on the vega units the lights wont remain red/green after I remove my finger or even when I hold my finger on the red button. After holding down the red button for about 10 seconds the indicator light changes from red/green to a bluish green shade.

I hope someone can chime in let me know that this same thing happend to them and let me know what solved the issue. I would rather not have to resort to manually controlling the lights by 20% increments as I was excited to have the ability to change the percentages to whatever I would like for each color.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[BusterTB]

Anybody order custom pucks yet? If so what did you add / replace and what puck are you going to swap out? I'd like to add some uv or violet along with adding some nw but not sure I want to mix them in.

[2noob4u]

Hi Neon,
Have you tried downloading a new firmware update for the controller? It's basically a download--then drag-and-drop a file over to the (usb connected) controller folder.
I've never had the same problem but this might help??
Also, make sure the lights are steady red and not the orange amber looking color. Try holding it in for 10+ seconds to make sure, possibly try one light at a time?

My guess would be that a firmware update would have the highest chance for resolution--short of some freak hardware/software defect.

Good luck

[Neonwombat]

Thanks for the response 2noob4u. I tried the default firmware and also updated to 2.08. Neither way worked. I believe the indicator lights are initially red, but after holding the red button for 10+ seconds the red/green flicker changes to a greenish color. Perhaps my problem is unique, but I find it hard to believe anything other than the controller itself is faulty as all three lights do the same thing when placed in "search mode". 1 was bought from Marine Depot and the other two from a private party. This problem may be unique and perhaps AI can solve it quickly on Monday when I hear from them, but its hard being patient when I was so excited to ditch the old lights.

[bezlar]

Originally Posted by Neonwombat

Thanks for the response 2noob4u. I tried the default firmware and also updated to 2.08. Neither way worked. I believe the indicator lights are initially red, but after holding the red button for 10+ seconds the red/green flicker changes to a greenish color. Perhaps my problem is unique, but I find it hard to believe anything other than the controller itself is faulty as all three lights do the same thing when placed in "search mode". 1 was bought from Marine Depot and the other two from a private party. This problem may be unique and perhaps AI can solve it quickly on Monday when I hear from them, but its hard being patient when I was so excited to ditch the old lights.

Make sure you are holding the reset button down long enough. I had same problem and it was because I wasn't holding the button long enough.

[bezlar]

You may also want to unplug each light for a few seconds and then plug back in. Kinda of a reset.

[Watrboy33]

Originally Posted by worm5406

Most likely...

But they are real good huh?

I was about to order two of these for my 92 corner, spent 3 days reading this thread. Great thread and information on true experiences, I appreciate people posting the good and bad. If I spent over $1k and had the controller issues I read about, I would lose it...

[2noob4u]

I still love my Vega's and am about to buy 2 more for another project, but if they were adjustable without the controller they would be perfect. Seems like AI would rather make money by forcing us to purchase remotes and software; (If Director EVER comes out) instead of open sourcing Wi-Fi, and providing free smart phone, and internet browser apps. I'm sure some of the technical guru fans would dive right in and make control of these lights much better. Not that AI does a bad job--just think open source programming would be fun and probably result in more unit sales overall.

[liquidfunk]

Been following along in this thread and just updated to the latest firmware 2.08 and it looks like pretty much every tiny bug has been worked out.

Now Im with Jonthany, let the Powerpuck indecision begin!

So glad for all the bug fixes, now its smooth sailing!

[jg93]

If anyone goes about ordering new pucks - adding in some violet &/or UV, please let me know. Once I'm allowed I'm going to upgrade mine and I'm thinking I'd rather have more low band color for growth the green for... no idea why you'd need or want green light.

[Neonwombat]

Just in case anyone was hung up on the issue I was having with the new controller not pairing with my three vega lights, I thought I would share what solved the problem.

It appears that the motherboard/circuit board inside the original conroller had hardware issues, so AI shipped me a new controller at no cost which I received last night. The lights paired instantly and I couldnt be happier with the level of support after the sale that Justin at AI gave. Obviously it is too early for me to tell how well my corals do under these lights, but my wife and I were definitely impressed with the look of the lights last night after I tweeked the percentages.

[mgrmax]

I just purchased 2 vegas and they are amazing! During the lunar cycle, only one of the units lights up. Has anyone else run into this issue?

Thanks

[Typlus5]

Thinking about ordering two new pucks to eliminate thr green and add UV and maybe swap the red with violet...I'm getting confused on spectrum and second guessing...dang the choices