Beamswork LED mod

[njasmin]

For anyone seeking some before/after pics of modding a Beamswork 9x1w led mod, i sure hope this is helpful as i had a hard time finding information and decided to go for it anyways. With that being said, I AM IN NO WAY COMPARING THIS FIXTURE TO AN AI SOL, MAXSPECT RAZOR, NANO BOX ETC. That is not why I am posting this. I was going to go full DIY but my girlfriend refused to have hanging fixtures, absolutely had to be gooseneck or some kind of sleek looking clamp.

This is for a nuvo 16, i bought these fixtures as they appeared to be more easily modified compared to the skyye lights in the same price range.

Also the way these lights are stock is too white for my liking which brings me to this...

Cost breakdown:
2 Beamswork 9x1w clamp fixtures $28 each
10 royal blue 1w LED $9
5 1w UV LED $4
10 warm white LED $9
10 Blue LED $9

Total: $87 (I really wish i would have done full DIY as i could have built a way better fixture)

It would have been less, but it seems LEDs for the most part are sold in quantities of 10 :/

The original color scheme for the fixture was a 2/1 ratio of white/blue, way too white for my liking but some prefer that look. I personally like a more blue looking tank.

Before performing any work i sketched out some LED arrangements in photoshop to vizualize the spread of light and how it might look. The proposed mods were:

1.
<img src="http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e281/natejasmin/beamsworkproposedmod2_zps2f368a08.jpg?t=1392318121" alt="some_text">

2.
<img src="http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e281/natejasmin/beamsworkproposedmod_zpsed812ea7.jpg?t=1392318192" alt="some_text">

3.
<img src="http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e281/natejasmin/beamsworkmod_zps9f943e0b.jpg?t=1392318218" alt="some_text">

4.
<img src="http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e281/natejasmin/beamsworkfinal_zpsd99ec05d.jpg?t=1392318240" alt="some_text">

I ended up choosing the last one as it seemed like the most beneficial design given the limited parameters I had to work with...the LEDs are spaced pretty far apart so one bulb goes a long way.

Breakdown of LEDs used:

8 Royal Blue
4 Cool White
2 Warm White
2 Regular Blue
2 Violet

as opposed the original:

12 Cool White
6 Blue


Time for the fun to begin, the breakdown of the fixture!

Disassembling the fixture was almost too easy, I used a butter knife to pry off the lenses then only 2 screws need to be removed on the side opposite of the switch, after that the lens cover just slides off

The innards...
<img src="http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e281/natejasmin/IMG_20140210_184021_zps29625627.jpg" alt="some_text">

Close up on LED...as you can see, they made it very easy as the +/- leads are clearly labeled on the PCB
<img src="http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e281/natejasmin/IMG_20140210_184037_zps2cadc280.jpg" alt="some_text">

Prying off the LED was the hardest part, and I will let you know right now there is no saving the original ones as the base is soldered in place. The only way i could accomplish this was to push the soldering iron on the side of the LED til it slid off. You have to put some forward pressure on it, LED comes out in one piece but probably not usable anymore lol
<img src="http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e281/natejasmin/IMG_20140210_185400_zps7ceaa9b7.jpg" alt="some_text">

I removed an installed one LED at a time plugging it in to make sure everything worked and to ensure the phases were not reversed, I also tested the LED with a DMM before installing them and to verify the cathode vs anode.

Entire mod only took about 45 minutes from start to finish, after it is all put back together I had to play around with the lenses to get the spread of light i desired as this is not a dimmable fixture. With that being said i ended up removed the lenses from the whites and the violets.

I am still considering upgrading to a full DIY if i can piece together a suitable mount, but for the meantime I am satisfied with the way this turned out....It's all about personal preference in the end.

Before:
<img src="http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e281/natejasmin/b5a55e00-4764-4039-845c-c4946410f7ac_zps6e8e1f43.jpg?t=1392318561" alt="some_text">

After:
<img src="http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e281/natejasmin/ec16687d-4331-4083-b832-2d2f82e81fbe_zps731a5cb1.jpg?t=1392318514" alt="some_text">

Please excuse my photo qualities as my camera is a piece of junk! In person i assure you the color is much improved from what it was.

Hope this helps someone

 

[regalangelfish]

taging along...

 

[T.louderback]

Wow awesome mod!

 

[Pnm]

Hi Njasmin. Nice work. I would like to ask some questions. Thinking on buuing this fixture to mod it to. Asking for a pocture of the inside top side would do, but a this stage it would be to much to ask... So here they go. Do you think I can aproach the leds together by cutting the unsed space? Does it get hot? Does it uses any kimd of heat sink? On the back its wires or some sort of electronic board?

 

[njasmin]

Thanks a lot Pnm...To address your questions, It is definitely a circuit board, has all sorts of resisters and such on it. I never removed the board to look on the back side. To address the concern of the heat sink, there really is not one, the fixture itself acts as a heat sink the way the metal pieces link together and also the circuit board appears to be some sort of aluminum allow with circuitry integrated into it so im assuming it disperses heat. It does not get hot tho, the wattage probably does not allow them to reach too high of temperatures. I can touch the top of the fixture where teh board is mounted directly to and is cooler than a lightbulb if that gives you any indication. As far as adding more LEDs, There is plenty of space to do this but i believe it would be more effort than what it is worth, you would probably have to get separate drivers and run your extra LEDs in series from that driver, if you were going to do this u might as well rip all of the LEDs off and power new, higher quality LEDs off the drivers you would have to purchase separately. I know somehow they are linked together, when i was modding this i accidentally put one LED on the wrong way and the entire row failed to light up. IDK when you are planning on getting this, but my fixtures will be on the market soon along with some extra LEDs i have laying around. I ordered a nano box duo as i wanted a sunrise/sunset controller integrated, It will probably be a couple weeks before I get my new lights tho. I hope this addressed all of your concerns, if anything i can take some more pictures at a later time once i receive my replacement fixture

 

[Sleepiness]

Great job on the mod! You have inspired me to mod my beamswork as well. Are you still using the modded fixtures? If so, have you noticed a change in the health of your tank?

 

[njasmin]

Great job on the mod! You have inspired me to mod my beamswork as well. Are you still using the modded fixtures? If so, have you noticed a change in the health of your tank?

I'm actually not. I went ahead and got a Nano Box Duo with my tax return lol I only upgraded because its one of those things...you dont really need it but you really want it! I just wanted to integrate a controller into my lights, cannot do that without at least having the LEDs dimmable.

To address your question. The coral were definitely growing! There is no doubt about that, I feel it is more beneficial to the growth as it has more variety of a color spectrum, but depending on how deep your tank is, the fixtures will easily grow SPS

 

[Sleepiness]

I have the 132w, 36" version. It has 44 3w leds. Im planning on using it over a 20Long. Just suspending it a little higher up. I was just going to add UV and more blue.

 

[Larz_1]

What LEDs did you use and where did you get them?

 

[Sleepiness]

They look like the leds you can buy in 10pc on ebay without the star.

 

[njasmin]

I ordered mine on ebay. Doesn't much matter about the brand, when i ordered them i just used a simple guideline...

If ordering 1W LEDs....350mA
If ordering 3W LEDs....700mA

Any color you wish, I must say tho, the 3W LEDs are much easier to come by in a variety of colors

 

[Sleepiness]

I imagine the insides of these units would be pretty similar... right?

 

[njasmin]

I imagine the insides of these units would be pretty similar... right?

Yea, i would assume so, I believe I saw one of the ones taken apart and it looked the same only but obviously way bigger and more LEDs. If anything pop off one of the lens' and take a peek inside. If the LEDs solder direct to the board they should ideally be very easy to replace. I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but if you put an LED on reverse, the entire chain will not work but the good thing is the board is clearly labeled.

 

[Forgiven1973]

Would this work on a 8g nano with a clown and a gbta or rbta? How many fixtures would b needed ?

 

[njasmin]

Would this work on a 8g nano with a clown and a gbta or rbta? How many fixtures would b needed ?

Probably, I had 2 on a nuvo 16 so one fixture would suffice. The only issue is, if you plan to mod the fixture, it could be challenging to squeeze more of a full color spectrum add there are only 9 leds. I personally would stick to just changing out some of the whites with royal blues. As far add the nem, I had a mini maxi underneath them and it did fine along with some great acropora growth.

 

[Forgiven1973]

The royal blues: is this the ones id use?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/111061015299?lpid=82

 

[njasmin]

Sounds good, you have to order them without the star for this fixture tho, unless you plan to remove them from the star