Chinese LED Lights

[livingseas]

So I got my IT-120's today.. Pretty fast shipping. Shipped out Sat. from China.
Got them today.

I got...

7x IT-120 with custom layouts.
1x Nova S6 grow light
A metric tons of extra LEDs.

The Nova A6 gow light is pretty dam sweet. Solid as a tank... well built
Bright as all hell. Looks like a mix of red and blue (stock light) Works great..
only issue is the fans stay on 100% of the time its plugged in whether the
lights are on or off. I plan on putting this light on a timer so that shouldnt
matter to me. Gonna run it 15 on 9 off every day. I'm expecting some crazy
cheato growth in the sump.

The IT-120's are also well built. Heavier/Beefier then I expected. Out of the
box its got a cloudy, moonlight, and sunny settings. I havent gotten a
chance to play with the settings so far but I am impressed. The touch
screen is responsive, remote works well. Seems well made. even has a plastic
cover to protect the LED's from splashes.

My tank isnt setup yet.. (still waiting on the sump), but as soon as it is I'll
post some pictures.

I'm thinking about using some 8020 to build a light rack they can be mounted
to. I have to hang 6 of them over my tank. Probably overkill but thats how I
roll. I think its gonna look dam cool with 3x blue led panels across the front of
my tank and the back.


I bought extras LEDs of pretty much every color they have so I can play
around with the wavelengths the light is producing. After doing doing some
more reading I think I am going to add some 400, 410, 620, and a few other
wavelengths I didnt cover.

Looking at the light I cant tell the difference between 10,000k and 6500k
leds. Maybe when I get it on the tank I'll notice a difference.

Overall I'm really happy with my purchase. Spent a little over $1800 to cover
my main tank, sump lighting, and frag tank. I think thats a pretty good deal.
Should save me a TON of electricity and keep my basement cool.

I'll put up some pictures tonight.. People keep walking by my office @work
keep asking if I am running a tanning salon (bright lights) so I'll have to wait until I
get home to mess with them more.

Mike

I ended up going with this layout.. I'm going to tweak it a bit I think.

 

[skyrne_isk]

I wonder if one will be enough for such a wide tank. Sure it will light it up
But will it have enough par.

Skyne, what do you plan on having in the tank?

90 degree optics for sure. I have a few giganteas and SPS. I will link a pic when I get home of what I have. Most SPS are in the upper half of the tank for sure.

I am thinking about ordering one and seeing how it goes....since shipping both at once only saves around $20.

Not sure if the timers can be turned off, does anyone feel the sunrise/sunset dimming is anything to be excited about? I am not sure it does anything for the coral. Though to be fair, I still plan running my VHO actinics - sorry just not hip enough to give up the glow.

 

[bezlar]

How do you think the it120's would stack up to a ai vega? My lights are hanging over tank no canopy, so it is important to have them look good also. The tanks in my entry way. I have the older style 120's now but the are in canopy so looks don't matter. I wouldn't want to hang them in my entry way. Cords look bad comming out of top.

Thanks

 

[marco_1962]

Bhazard, some pages ago you said that the transition between steps in auto schedule it's not smoothed.
Do you think that in future they may change something in this area and also old customer may benefit for improvement?
(Maybe a firmware change or an easy replace of some components).

Thanks

Marco

 

[livingseas]

How do you think the it120's would stack up to a ai vega? My lights are hanging over tank no canopy, so it is important to have them look good also. The tanks in my entry way. I have the older style 120's now but the are in canopy so looks don't matter. I wouldn't want to hang them in my entry way. Cords look bad comming out of top.

Thanks

I going to get some 90 deg power cords. That should make them look better. I'm not sure why Evergrow doesnt use them.

 

[phragger]

My lights came in yesterday and I got them installed today. The camera is old & does not do it justice. The tank is much brighter than the picture shows.

I decide to experiment with some colors I saw discussed on the DIY group several weeks ago. I ordered it with 90 degree optics and I'll need to remove some. I also need to raise it higher in the canopy. SPS are all open but the fish are freaked.

 

[bhazard451]

As far as hanging the lights... you can get rubbermaid twin track shelving brackets from home depot and either place them on wall studs, or anchor them. The lights are about 10lbs and the anchors can hold about 30.

Looking forward to more impressions/reviews as people get them.

 

[Kelly&Ely]

bhazard451, do you think the built in timer/dimmer is worth it on the lights? I like the simplicity of the single cord etc... But wondering if your better off getting the basic non dimmable with custom ratio d120 then modding it to be controller dimmable and adding some sort of controller to do a sunrise/sunset program.

 

[tennisstudrogie]

As far as hanging the lights... you can get rubbermaid twin track shelving brackets from home depot and either place them on wall studs, or anchor them. The lights are about 10lbs and the anchors can hold about 30.

Looking forward to more impressions/reviews as people get them.

Any examples of this? I can't quite picture it..

 

[bhazard451]

bhazard451, do you think the built in timer/dimmer is worth it on the lights? I like the simplicity of the single cord etc... But wondering if your better off getting the basic non dimmable with custom ratio d120 then modding it to be controller dimmable and adding some sort of controller to do a sunrise/sunset program.

By the time you buy the new drivers, a controller, and wire them, it would cost well over $100 and not be nearly as slick. The lcd screen/controller and remote control is worth it.

 

[bhazard451]

Any examples of this? I can't quite picture it..

I just cut the upright to size with a hacksaw. It allows a d120 to be adjustable in hanging height, which is no longer required with the new light, as they have adjustable hanging kits.

 

[mlott132]

Talked to Lyn from Twilight today and they are developing a couple new fixtures. The first is a modular design LED setup. The second is an updated 55 LED fixture that can be controlled via your mobile phone. I will pass on any further information he send me.

 

[livingseas]

Bhazard, some pages ago you said that the transition between steps in auto schedule it's not smoothed.
Do you think that in future they may change something in this area and also old customer may benefit for improvement?
(Maybe a firmware change or an easy replace of some components).

Thanks

Marco

Send them an email requesting it. It should be a software change. If enough people ask they might change it for future versions.

 

[bhazard451]

Talked to Lyn from Twilight today and they are developing a couple new fixtures. The first is a modular design LED setup. The second is an updated 55 LED fixture that can be controlled via your mobile phone. I will pass on any further information he send me.

Sounds pretty cool. Keep us updated.

 

[livingseas]

So as promised here are some pics.

First the Nova S6 I got.. The red led fixture is designed to grow plants..
Cheato algae, mangroves, etc. I plan on running it in my sump.

For some reason the last picture makes it seem like its a white light.
Its super red with some blue, green, and UV mixed in.

Its really dam bright. You cant even look at it head on. Like looking at the
Sun. I hooked it up to a standard household dimmer and was able to
dim it down to about 25%-30% power before it shutoff. Might be handy for
aclimating corals if you bought an a6

 

[livingseas]

Next up is the IT-120.

I played with the unit some more and got the hang of the scheduled
dimmer.

Basically every 1/2 hour for 24 hours you can adjust each channel
up or down by 1% to 100%. As bhazard mentioned it doesnt slowly ramp up
over the period it jumps from point to point.. still no big deal
IMHO. I realy like them.. build quality is great. All 7 worked out of the
box fine.

 

[Azreefer77]

They look so pretty Can't wait to pull the trigger and now the mobile app from twilight has me on the teeter totter again

 

[phragger]

Kind of to add onto his question, does anyone know the best way to mount these (D120) in a canopy or have pictures of how they did it. I know people have done it and posted before, but I cannot find them. Thanks.

I drilled holes in the canopy and ran the cables through.

 

[bhazard451]

They do look quite sharp. Great pics

 

[livingseas]

I drilled holes in the canopy and ran the cables through.

I plan on opening the lights up, removing the hanging points and replacing them with bolts. Then attached to an 8020 frame so all the lights are only hung by 4 wires. Then I can lift the whole unit up and down easily.