My Reefbrite LED's - update... 1 unit failed

[lockrookie]

tagging for future retrofit.. i like it

[Slick Fork]

One thing the pic's don't show very well is how nicely these sit in the tek fixture. Looking at it from the side they are almost flush, sticking out less then a 1/4" from the bottom.

I will try and get some shots of the tank tonight

[Slick Fork]

So it's been a while but in my defense I was moving...

Anyways, here's the long overdue shots over the tank



This Next one is with all the lights on, Daylight and 50/50 LED Plus the T5's


Next is T5's plus the 50/50. It's very blue, I am thinking about replacing the actinic bulb with a fiji purple. But we will see.


Finally, the 50/50 all by itself. I can't seem to get the white balance right on this one. It is purpley like that in real life but not quite THAT purple.


Overall I am very pleased with the lights so far. Keep in mind when looking at the shots that the LED's are a full foot shorter then the tank (6" on either side) so I think they do quite a good job of lighting everything up. The few Corals I do have under there seem to be faring quite well with the exception of the zoanthids and I have recently moved them as they may have been getting too much light.

[Slick Fork]

In case anyone wanted to see the "shimmer" that the LED's produced, this little video shows it better than the photo's

This was with the T5's and the 50/50 LED on.

[Slick Fork]

So, after slightly over a year of running the all-white unit has crapped out. One bank of LED's only running at about half the brightness. Retailer tells me they can't/won't do anything for me since I'm out of the warranty period, even though it's only by a matter of weeks.

To say I'm disgusted is an understatement, I get that things fail, but to have something this expensive fail so soon after the warranty is up and then have them say "tough luck" stinks. For that reason alone I would NOT recommend these to anybody.

Now I am not sure what I'm going to do, I don't have the cash to replace it or the knowledge to try to fix it.

I need this like I need a hole in my head

[mike31154]

That's unfortunate, but seeing as they were costly it would likely be an idea to try & find out what the problem is. Each stick features two banks of 3 watt LEDs, correct? Are they dimmable. In all likelihood it's a driver/power supply problem. Could also be one LED gone open circuit & taking out the remainder, depending on how they're hooked up to the driver. I'm guessing each bank of six LEDs has one driver. Since it's out of warranty, no harm in opening these puppys up to have a look see. Could be relatively simple, even cheap fix. It would be a shame to let these things start gathering dust.

[Milad]

If you were near by I could troubleshoot and maybe fix it for you. Coming to van anytime soon?