This review is specifically about build quality and not about performance. All I will say about performance is that everything in my tank including soft, LPS and SPS have shown growth under these LEDs.
I have two 55 x 3w (165w) bridgelux dimmable LED units that I bought on eBay. They seem to be the standard chinese full spectrum units that look a lot like evergrow/rb/etc.
While I was at the hospital for my daughter's birth I asked my brother to go feed my fish and my cat. He called me when he got there, a little distraught. The cat had jumped up and ripped the shelf over the 110g reef tank out of the wall. The two LED units were hanging from the shelf. Both LED units ended up in the tank, one about 50% in and the other all the way.
I came home the next day to examine the damage. (My guess is most deaths were from heat from the LED units, metal leeching into the water, and then ammonia spikes from the initial deaths).
Fish - upset but all alive (clowns, chromis, blenny, goby, tang)
SPS - all dead (digitata, birdsnest, acropora, undata) all were small colonies or frags, sad but not the end of the world
LPS - almost all dead (chalice, 15 head hammer, 20 head hammer) a few candycanes survived
Soft - half dead (at least 100 polyps of orange cloves all dead, xenia dead [one bit of good news], gsp dead) various mushrooms all survived, zoas half dead, half recovering.
Now on to the purpose of this post, the LED units. I proceeded to take the units apart, I was happily surprised by the build quality. The ballasts/power supplies were nicely fastened in plastic component boxes, the wires were clean and tidy with zip ties, the led circuit board had a nice rubber seal and fit snugly.
I had been meaning to remove my lenses for wider light distribution any way so I took the unit completely apart and popped the lenses off. Each was held on by two dabs of silicone. There was water under all of the lenses.
I cleaned and dried out the components.
I then took apart the ballasts. I cleaned the circuit boards with bar keeper's friend, then rodi water, then alcohol. I was able to return two power supplies to working condition.
I informed the seller on eBay that I had lost the ballasts to a power outage and they promptly sent me four new ballasts, A+ to them.
With the two working ballasts and two of the new ballasts I returned the LED units to working order. In all, I lost a single LED on one unit. Every other LED was fine. One of the dimmer switches is a little iffy now, waiting on a new one from the manufacturing plant in China.
Overall I thought I was going to have to spend another $250-300 for two new units, instead I was able to return the units to working order for free.
Again, I was VERY pleased with the build quality, the fact that the units didn't electrocute everything in my tank, and the responsiveness of the seller. A very positive experience that I wanted to share.
I have two 55 x 3w (165w) bridgelux dimmable LED units that I bought on eBay. They seem to be the standard chinese full spectrum units that look a lot like evergrow/rb/etc.
While I was at the hospital for my daughter's birth I asked my brother to go feed my fish and my cat. He called me when he got there, a little distraught. The cat had jumped up and ripped the shelf over the 110g reef tank out of the wall. The two LED units were hanging from the shelf. Both LED units ended up in the tank, one about 50% in and the other all the way.
I came home the next day to examine the damage. (My guess is most deaths were from heat from the LED units, metal leeching into the water, and then ammonia spikes from the initial deaths).
Fish - upset but all alive (clowns, chromis, blenny, goby, tang)
SPS - all dead (digitata, birdsnest, acropora, undata) all were small colonies or frags, sad but not the end of the world
LPS - almost all dead (chalice, 15 head hammer, 20 head hammer) a few candycanes survived
Soft - half dead (at least 100 polyps of orange cloves all dead, xenia dead [one bit of good news], gsp dead) various mushrooms all survived, zoas half dead, half recovering.
Now on to the purpose of this post, the LED units. I proceeded to take the units apart, I was happily surprised by the build quality. The ballasts/power supplies were nicely fastened in plastic component boxes, the wires were clean and tidy with zip ties, the led circuit board had a nice rubber seal and fit snugly.
I had been meaning to remove my lenses for wider light distribution any way so I took the unit completely apart and popped the lenses off. Each was held on by two dabs of silicone. There was water under all of the lenses.
I cleaned and dried out the components.
I then took apart the ballasts. I cleaned the circuit boards with bar keeper's friend, then rodi water, then alcohol. I was able to return two power supplies to working condition.
I informed the seller on eBay that I had lost the ballasts to a power outage and they promptly sent me four new ballasts, A+ to them.
With the two working ballasts and two of the new ballasts I returned the LED units to working order. In all, I lost a single LED on one unit. Every other LED was fine. One of the dimmer switches is a little iffy now, waiting on a new one from the manufacturing plant in China.
Overall I thought I was going to have to spend another $250-300 for two new units, instead I was able to return the units to working order for free.
Again, I was VERY pleased with the build quality, the fact that the units didn't electrocute everything in my tank, and the responsiveness of the seller. A very positive experience that I wanted to share.
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