Caution for Powerbrite LED users

[Reefrookey]

Tonight i had the scare of a lifetime!
My daughter yelled "Dad your lights just fell into your tank" My heart sank as i ran out to see what she was talking about. Fearing the absolute worst. when i got to the tank i found the brand new set of powerBrite LED lights that had only been mounted on the tank for about a week sitting on the bottom of my 60 gal cube SPS tank!! There was no smoke and no breakers were blown. Luckily when i mounted them in my hood i secured the power cord to the side of my hood. When they fell into the tank the power cord had been pulled from the end of the lights so nothing shorted out and nothing was dead(they are plugged into GFCI as well) NOW the question was why had they fallen into the tank in the first place???? I had securely mounted the plastic bracket supplied to very sturdy metal bracket but found that the plastic mount had warped from the heat from a 250watt MH mounted about 6 inches away. both lights (halides and LED's) are in the stream from both hood fans but this did not prevent the heat from warping the plastic enough for the lights to pop free.

Current will get more of my money though!! i took the lights apart quickly and washed them under fresh water (whats a little more water going to hurt now i thought) after rinsing i dried them thoroughly using a hair dryer to get all the trapped water out of the switch etc. now for the moment of truth,,,, i plugged them on and presto!! them came on like nothing happened!! the board that the lights are mounted too is sealed and very well built. In no way do I blame current for the mounts warping,,, i should have caught the potential problem! If you have not seen a tank using the 460Nm actinic LED's you really ought to check these out. they'll make your corals stand out whether you have your halides on or not. These little lights are awesome! But just mount them using a little caution keeping the heat from other light sources in mind.

happy reefing

Adam

[ricde]

I did the same thing with mine while cleaning the tank. It didn't sink to the bottom though(I was right there). I just shook it off real good and wiped off excess water, waited a day just to be safe and they fired right back up.

Recently I've been having a problem with the power cord connection to the led's. They are very loose and sometimes don't fire up right away. They'll start blinking on and off like a disco. Have to jiggle the connections to get them to quit.

Does anyone know of a way I can tighten the connections? I've got 3 linked together, its usually the master light connection that comes loose. I've tried switching them around but still does the same.

[Reefrookey]

I noticed the same thing tonight with mine. If i bumped the power cord slightly the lights flickered. I sent an email to current tonight to give them heads up about the heat issue w/ the mount brackets (may be worth putting a warning sticker on the instructions) i will send another leting them know of another small problem they might have. I hate to see these lights get a bad rap for very minor stuff. They are still relitively new as far as i know.

Thanks for adding your comments!

Adam

[atf72]

I've zip-tied all 6 of mine after noticing the plastic brackets starting to loosen.

[Bill Cobb]

Mine had a few trips into the tank while doing clean up, until I found a better way to mount them. They're low voltage thank god, so no danger to the tank inhabitants.

When this occurs flush out the sockets with isoproplyl alcohol and soak up as much of the liquid as you can w/ paper towels knotted up to fit.

To fix the intermittent connection, insert a small jewelers screwdriver or small tool into the sockets negative power side connector and bend it outwards to get a tighter contact. Also you can slightly bend the positive power center connector slightly off center for a better connection. I'm really impressed how well these units are sealed otherwise.

[aninjaatemyshoe]

One of the nice things about LEDs is that they are DC. Although I wouldn't recommend dropping them in water, the outcome wouldn't be quite as disastrous as dropping something that runs off AC.

[Snausy]

I have an acrylic tank with acrylic covers to the holes so I won't be worrying about them falling into the tank but thanks for the heads-up. I'm thinking that my enclosed T5s won't be a heat problem like MH but I'll be keeping an eye on them.

If I can get away with it I'm going to go with LED strips only on my FOWLR. I have 8 strips coming(4 all blue, 4 half blue/half white). If I need two more all white to brighten it up I'll do it. It'd be nice to have LED only on the tank and put the T5s away completely.

[ricde]

To fix the intermittent connection, insert a small jewelers screwdriver or small tool into the sockets negative power side connector and bend it outwards to get a tighter contact. Also you can slightly bend the positive power center connector slightly off center for a better connection.

Thanks for the suggestion Bill. I'll try that. My fish are starting to request too many Bee Gee's songs for my taste.

[ricde]

Originally posted by Snausy
I have an acrylic tank with acrylic covers to the holes so I won't be worrying about them falling into the tank but thanks for the heads-up. I'm thinking that my enclosed T5s won't be a heat problem like MH but I'll be keeping an eye on them.

If I can get away with it I'm going to go with LED strips only on my FOWLR. I have 8 strips coming(4 all blue, 4 half blue/half white). If I need two more all white to brighten it up I'll do it. It'd be nice to have LED only on the tank and put the T5s away completely.

It'll be interesting to see how these do as your main source of lighting. If you already have 8 strips I would suggest just ordering 1 more. They go by three's, 1 master for every 2 linked.

Let us know how they look. I'm not sure how they'd do as main lighting, the beams are very focused. Some have suggested tilting the fixtures at a slight angle to broaden out the light beams.

I hope this works out well for you but as it stands, $150 for a string X 3 strings, I don't think they're a good cost cutting alternative for existing aquarium lighting. Lower energy usage may even out the higher initial cost though. Please keep us updated on how it turns out for you.

[Snausy]

I will...I wasn't aware that you could daisy-chain three together. Thought it was just two.

I've ordered 4 mains and 4 links...I suppose that means I could get 4 more links...LOL. My fiance will kill me if I do. Initial cost may be high but it will be much cooler, much quieter(no fan) and way less expensive to run over a years time(thinking longterm). Not to mention the LED lasting a long time vs a T5 bulb.

About the focused beams...I was going to build a canopy to mount them in the top 8 inches off the water...if I have three rows of lights front to back(blue front-all white and 50/50 alternating for the rear two rows) that would light up the whole tank nicely.

[ricde]

Yeah, you can do a max of three. The only difference between the main and the links is the power cord that comes with the main. The links come with a small link cable but other than that they are interchangeable.

I don't think they'd put out enough light for coral but I'm wondering what they'll look like on your fowlr. I suspect you may have a little too much blue. We'll have to see when they come in.

[Snausy]

If it's too much blue I may just use one T5 daytime bulb to even it out. 55watts is no big deal and I wouldn't have to run the fan.

EDIT: I just took out three of my five T5 bulbs to see what just two bulbs look like by themselves. One "blueplus" and one "aquablue" looks great actually...needs just a little bit more "bling" and the tank will look awesome.

Figuring the LEDs will be that bling. If the LEDs don't cut it by themselves when they get here, I'll just add the LED's to the one or two T5 bulbs. Still a HUGE wattage savings and it'll be plenty bright enough for my FOWLR. It's almost bright enough with just the two T5's.

My delivery date is monday...I'll post some pics of the differences then.