28g Nano Cube LED Pro Lighting Problem

[dja1980]

I've got the JBJ 28g Nano Cube LED Professional (89w), and while doing my weekly water change last week, I noticed that 3 of the 5 LED columns are no longer illuminated. I sent JBJ an e-mail 4 days ago, and haven't heard anything back yet.

Anyway, does anybody have experience with troubleshooting the JBJ stock LED lighting? I'm happy to purchase whatever parts I need to get this up and running again, but I'm not sure where to start.

Thanks in advance... Dave

 

[SkullV]

Looks like the main driver board shorted out or got loose. Each individual string of lights is also a series so you can try bridging the two posts on each chip and see if one went bad. Very common problem with the lights. Did any water get in the hood from the top during the water change?

I had a few go out. You can replace individual chips with any color you want for $1.50 Each from reefbreeders. Fixing the driver distribution board is a little more involved.

 

[dja1980]

Thanks SkullV... sounds like you have some experience with these... I'll open up the hood when I get home, and maybe you can help me troubleshoot further? I know I can see 5 wire clips plugged into a board... is this the main driver board you are referring to?

LEDs are very new to me, so I have no idea what's involved... does it go 120V > ballast > main driver board > LEDs?

 

[SkullV]

Yeah. The five clips go into a distribution board so they can use the one big driver for all 5 strips. You should have power coming out of each plug when checked on DCv on a multimeter. If you do then start bridging LEDs and see which one is bad. You can then either replace it or just permanently bridge it. In the end I just bridged one and had all the rest of the chips working.

 

[dja1980]

Ah... makes sense... so it's like Christmas lights... one LED goes out and the entire strip goes out.

My evening got away from me last night, but I'm hoping to get to play around with this tonight. I'm really hoping it's just a few bad LEDs and not the distribution board. What do you use to bridge the LEDs for testing purposes? I'm sure I have some 14AWG copper wire laying around, would that work? And, do the replacement LEDs just get soldered in?

 

[BrokenReefer]

I'm interested in this question as well, I just replaced 3 of the 4 "night" lights in the tank, I've also had the main driver/ballast go bad on me twice... one was warrantable, the other - not so much.


Skull - did you end up replacing any of the LEDs with other spectrum colors?

 

[SkullV]

I didn't on mine but I have on others. It's a very easy process. If anyone is interested in a trip to the city I'd be happy to modify/repair your hood for you.

 

[dja1980]

Well, it looks like I'm going to have an opportunity to practicing my soldering skills (which I'm not very good at).

I started troubleshooting by testing each of the 5 plugs on the board with my multimeter... and I was getting 24v at each. So, I was relieved that it wasn't a bad board.

I then used a piece of 14AWG solid copper wire to start bridging the individual LEDs... it helped that I could see a path on the strips for how the current was supposed to travel from beginning to end.

Using the bridging method, I was able to determine which individual LEDs went bad, and I could get the other LEDs in the strip to light up. 3 bad LEDs = 3 dead strips... glad I don't have to replace the entire strips!

Thanks again SkullV... I'll report back once I get the new LEDs soldered in!

 

[imsalty]

Following. If all possible could you post pics like a step by step/ how to guide. I want to swap out some whites. Thank you

 

[SkullV]

Well, it looks like I'm going to have an opportunity to practicing my soldering skills (which I'm not very good at).

I started troubleshooting by testing each of the 5 plugs on the board with my multimeter... and I was getting 24v at each. So, I was relieved that it wasn't a bad board.

I then used a piece of 14AWG solid copper wire to start bridging the individual LEDs... it helped that I could see a path on the strips for how the current was supposed to travel from beginning to end.

Using the bridging method, I was able to determine which individual LEDs went bad, and I could get the other LEDs in the strip to light up. 3 bad LEDs = 3 dead strips... glad I don't have to replace the entire strips!

Thanks again SkullV... I'll report back once I get the new LEDs soldered in!

Nice work! Reefbreeders sells individual chips in whatever color you want for $1.50 if you want to add some more blue or other full spectrum colors while you're in there. Let me know if you need any help!

 

[SeattleReef]

Well I know this is an old thread but looks like I will be going through this too... two strips went out today. Too bad no pics or process was posted, maybe I'll have to do this over on the 28g NanoCube thread.

What colors have others with this setup change too or did you use the same 14k LED's?

 

[dja1980]

It's really just a matter of figuring out which individual LEDs are bad, as described earlier. I used a piece of wire to complete the circuit, and blacked out the bad ones with a marker. Then, just desolder the bad ones, pop them off, and solder on the new ones.