Apollo Reef LED SolarBlast Dimable Review

[Remmers]

I have two of these units and IMO they are not built very well.

Its true that the components are better than the Chinese boxes but both of my units stopped working and after inspection, the cooling fans burned out (wires were melted at the fan itself). The way these units are wired, it is a huge PITA to replace the fans.

Also, there is no thermal protection to shut down the drivers when the fans fail.

I DO NOT recommend these units.

So good for parts for a diy person?

 

[vbsaltydog]

I would not bother with them. The drivers are meanwells BUT they appear to be permanently fixed to the housing so unless you plan to use the original drivers, in the original housing then you will have problems.

Plus the chips are bridgelux and I doubt they were binned very carefully so they are nothing special.

The PCB is made well enough but it may wont work if you change any of the LEDs to Cree or Luxeon because the LEDs are laid out in parallel strings so the wiring is very specific to the LEDs that are on the PCB.

The entire fixture was made to very tight design tolerances and assembled in a way that is unserviceable.

I would pass on these if I were you.

If you are determined to continue, I will sell you mine for the cost of the included drivers so $75.00 per fixture.

 

[rvareef]

I have most of mine last 5+ years, still have 2 on my 350, just whites and blues getting better growth under the apollo than photon next to it.

 

[Remmers]

I would not bother with them. The drivers are meanwells BUT they appear to be permanently fixed to the housing so unless you plan to use the original drivers, in the original housing then you will have problems.

Plus the chips are bridgelux and I doubt they were binned very carefully so they are nothing special.

The PCB is made well enough but it may wont work if you change any of the LEDs to Cree or Luxeon because the LEDs are laid out in parallel strings so the wiring is very specific to the LEDs that are on the PCB.

The entire fixture was made to very tight design tolerances and assembled in a way that is unserviceable.

I would pass on these if I were you.

If you are determined to continue, I will sell you mine for the cost of the included drivers so $75.00 per fixture.

I got some in a trade from a guy I know and he got them from a guy who was running them over his tank but using a apex.

They seem to be decent I was going to use them over a frag tank

 

[vbsaltydog]

I used mine via an Apex too.

They ARE decent but like I said, not serviceable by design, and both of mine suffered fan failure. I may rebuild them at some point but not any time soon. Good luck with your frag tank.