eBay LED light users?

[Safir]

I have the ebay 165w dimmable fixture on a 40B - One leaves dark areas on the edges of the tank, two would be way too much - seems to me like a good coverage fr them would be 2'x2'

my quick review - this thing makes a lot of light for the money - having a controller would be nice, but I suspect I can open this one up and replace the brightness controls with a 1-10v controller of some sort as a DIY in the future. The fixture looks exactly like the 90 degree version of the reef breeders value fixture - even down to the hanging hardware that comes with it. The coral in my frag tank all seems happy with the light, so no complaints there. I've had it a week, so I cannot comment on longevity.

 

[tigger2577]

Somebody has a walk through on the DIY forms about moding one of the to work with an apex

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2515591

 

[DavidinGA]

I remember taking apart one of the reef breeder photons and the drivers were only 350mA. So even with the drivers at 100% the actual LEDs are only being pushed to 25-50% their max.

My personal feeling is that reef breeders, ocean revive, etc are only rebranded generic Chinese boxes and they are using marketing to try to convince us that they are built with better components, when in fact they are exactly the same at a huge markup...

 

[JVD BVI]

My personal feeling is that reef breeders, ocean revive, etc are only rebranded generic Chinese boxes and they are using marketing to try to convince us that they are built with better components, when in fact they are exactly the same at a huge markup...

I agree, you can add Reef Radiance to that group, they are literally identical to the Mars Aqua.

 

[CuzzA]

Indeed most of the lights are identical. However, you cannot buy the 48" light from China as that unit is exclusive to resellers and it's been reported that warranty support is a nightmare compared to say RB where they offer a 2 year no questions asked US warranty. Just something to consider.

On my RB 48" Photon the moonlight driver went out and Logan had it at my door 3 days later. Had my light been purchased from China I probably would have had to ship the whole unit back to them for repair at my expense.

 

[DavidinGA]

Indeed most of the lights are identical. However, you cannot buy the 48" light from China as that unit is exclusive to resellers and it's been reported that warranty support is a nightmare compared to say RB where they offer a 2 year no questions asked US warranty. Just something to consider.

On my RB 48" Photon the moonlight driver went out and Logan had it at my door 3 days later. Had my light been purchased from China I probably would have had to ship the whole unit back to them for repair at my expense.

True.

However, on the small boxes they are so dirt cheap on eBay if one dies I'd just consider them disposable and buy another one. At $75, a whole unit is cheaper than a new mh bulb lol


Also, I learned my lesson with paying more for a warranty. I had a pair of reef breeders photon 32's and one of them had the entire blue channel die on me 2 weeks past my 2 year warranty cutoff. I contacted Logan and was told I was completely out of luck. He offered to fix it but it was a bunch of $ out of pocket just for him to look at it and then it was up in the air as to what parts it might need. Sold off the reef breeders to run more disposable/cheaper leds that I don't need to even worry about having a warranty on now.