Blue lights out on 216W LED - ballast or LED problem?

[East_St_Reefs]

Hi everyone,
I've got a pair of used Blue Reef 216's over my 90g ST, and one has been acting funny for a couple of months. Each unit has 6 LED discs arranged in a row of 3, with 12 HP LEDs per disc. The two outer discs on each end are a mix of blue and white, the two center discs are blue only. Initially, the blue LEDs in the outer discs stopped working, then as of yesterday, the two center discs were out, leaving only that urine yellow white light over the tank on one side. Yuck.

I pulled the box apart, thinking I'd find a blown fuse or something related to the blues only, alas, aside from needing a good dusting, nothing appears amiss.

There are 2 power supplies leading to 3 ballasts and 4 fans, both of which work fine. The wires leading from the power source to ballast number 1, to the white LEDs and all 4 fans still light fine and start the fans, but the blue LEDs in those end discs will not light. The power source leading to ballasts 2 and 3 has power, and starts all 4 fans, but not one blue LED, on either the center ballast or on ballast 3 works regardless of whether I try plugging the wire into a white or a blue connector or into ballast 1. But on ballast 3, the white lights do work.

So, based on my extremely limited knowledge of electronics, it looks like ballasts 2 and/or 3 may have a problem, OR the LEDs may have reached the end of their useful life. There is also what looks like a diffuser in there connecting ballast 2 and 3. I opened it up and the components look fine, fuse intact, everything where it should be, no scorches, etc.

Supposedly these LEDs have a 50,000 hour useful life, and it looks like they were put in service or built around 2/15/12 (at least that's what's on the LED disc). I bought them used in 2014, so even if they were on 24 hours a day before I bought them, both should still be working fine, so I suspect its the power source.

For the Ballasts, the specs are as follows:
NL Power Supply
Model NL80W-150
Input 100-240VAC 50/60Hz
Output 32-45V DC
Constant Current 1.42A
Max. Output70W PF>0.9

For the diffuser or whatever it is, the specs are as follows:
NL Power Supply
Model NL12W-121A
Input 100-240VAC 50-60Hz
Output 12V DC
Current 0.8A
Max Output 10W

Any thoughts from those experienced with this sort of issue or familiar with LED setups and ballast life would be appreciated, and if someone can suggest a remedy or alternative solution to fixing the problem, I'm all ears.
Thanks!

 

[oreo57]

your terminology is incorrect..
The "ballasts" are constant current drivers which is what feeds all the LED's.
Generally at most each will run 12 LED's in series. W/ the 1.42A constant current rating it is possible they run 2 series rows in parallel.. which would cause problems if one string dies.. sending all the current into the remaining and probably overheating them.. Cascade failure so to speak.
Cheap Chinese ones are prone to failure..
The power supplies look to be only for feeding power to the fans..


The rest of the wiring desc. is confusing..

 

[oreo57]

I assume the design is like this:
http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/full-spectrum-led-aquarium-light-diy_60165896752.html

 

[niteshft]

I have six of those lights and they've been very problematic. If 1 of the led's goes out the whole disk goes out because of the way they are strung and like mentioned earlier, the other disk on the same transformer gets overloaded. Also, I've had the transformer that runs the fan fail and the unit overheated to the point that the plastic lens' melted or discolored and gassed off, leaving a residual coating on the outside of the unit that doesn't wash off. If this happened over a tank I would worry about the survival of what you have in it.