Maxspect LED owners!!!

hmmm - not to regress to far; however, odyssea fixtures used to come with under powered ballasts so you weren't getting 250w - rather, 168w. do you think the smaller cord vs. the larger diameter cord would restrict the potential wattage? could that be why the SemiLEDs are not a full 3w?
 
KMP said:
hmmm - not to regress to far; however, odyssea fixtures used to come with under powered ballasts so you weren't getting 250w - rather, 168w. do you think the smaller cord vs. the larger diameter cord would restrict the potential wattage? could that be why the SemiLEDs are not a full 3w?
Click to expand...

hm good question but I honestly do not know. Ask GARAGE, he is the electrical wiz :cool:
 
Do you guys find that with raw mounted LEDs (no focal optics), you are getting film algae on your glass rather quickly due to the 120 degree light spread?

I agree that the Maxspect are very appealing for the price and build quality. I am a 2 generation Solaris owner and also a G1 Pacific Sun Python user.
With the narrow focal optics (40 degrees, too narrow IMO) on the Solaris, cleaning the film algae on the glass is approx once every 5-6 days and with the Python that has no optics (120 degree spread), cleaning the glass is every other day.
 
pecan2phat said:
Do you guys find that with raw mounted LEDs (no focal optics), you are getting film algae on your glass rather quickly due to the 120 degree light spread?

I agree that the Maxspect are very appealing for the price and build quality. I am a 2 generation Solaris owner and also a G1 Pacific Sun Python user.
With the narrow focal optics (40 degrees, too narrow IMO) on the Solaris, cleaning the film algae on the glass is approx once every 5-6 days and with the Python that has no optics (120 degree spread), cleaning the glass is every other day.
Click to expand...


Wow i will say that everyone brings up really good questions. And the answer to yours is OMG yes, I have to clean the glass EVERYDAY with 4 units running on my tank for a 12 hr period. But its not extremely bad, just a light film that takes a second to get off.
 
With my current set-up (MH) I'm not getting any algea on the glass. The difference (as I had those issues before (with both T5 and MH) is my tank now doesn't have a center overflow - rock pillars - and a powerhead in the back rear corner. So the current is running in a circular motion around the tank without obstructions. With that in mind my new tank will have an angled corner overflow - I'm hoping to have the same results.
 
gambitcobra said:
hm good question but I honestly do not know. Ask GARAGE, he is the electrical wiz :cool:
Click to expand...

My cords are not tiny, so not sure the awg wire they used for your cords. However since this is only a 160w fixture, I can pretty much guarantee going to a different cable would have no effect output wise. Only if the connector was not making good contact would you see a reduction in output

pecan2phat said:
Do you guys find that with raw mounted LEDs (no focal optics), you are getting film algae on your glass rather quickly due to the 120 degree light spread?

I agree that the Maxspect are very appealing for the price and build quality. I am a 2 generation Solaris owner and also a G1 Pacific Sun Python user.
With the narrow focal optics (40 degrees, too narrow IMO) on the Solaris, cleaning the film algae on the glass is approx once every 5-6 days and with the Python that has no optics (120 degree spread), cleaning the glass is every other day.
Click to expand...

I have actually had a drastic reduction in algea, however I run a ULN system so I only clean once every week to week and a half. Has been two weeks now and the glass is still very clear.






Just an update. My 3w blue replacement leds came in! Replaced the 4 purple leds per fixture so added 8 total blues to the tank. With all leds on, it just took the ugly edge off the 30W + 3W white leds. Now it is totally bearable.

However with just the 3w white + 3w blue, it is almost to blue now *LOL* Cannot win :) Overall I am happy now with the looks so will keep it this way.
 
After reading about the manufacturer's willingness to listen to end user's feedback and correcting some of the earlier issues, I wonder if they would offer the same fixture but change out the 30w LEDs to a 20k producing diode. It should be easy enough so that they can satisfy the people who like the 20k look but also the PAR values.
 
G2 is not dimmable. You can control on/off via timers or manual on each individual set of leds such as blue, 3w whites & 30W whites. Also cree are optional, standard they come with semi 3w leds.
 
gambitcobra said:
Wow i will say that everyone brings up really good questions. And the answer to yours is OMG yes, I have to clean the glass EVERYDAY with 4 units running on my tank for a 12 hr period. But its not extremely bad, just a light film that takes a second to get off.
Click to expand...

And of course this wide spread can be benificial to the wide tanks like mine that is 31in by 60in. I am trying to get away with two. I am flying home from Asia today with two in my pocket and hope the wider beams will be perfect.

I will let you all know my specifics with G2-160w on my footprint shortly!
 
Garage1217 said:
G2 is not dimmable. You can control on/off via timers or manual on each individual set of leds such as blue, 3w whites & 30W whites. Also cree are optional, standard they come with semi 3w leds.
Click to expand...

Garage, can you use external timers with dimmers? Is there such an animal? Off the shelf somewhere?
 
If I follow what you re asking, no. You could not use say an incandescent dimmer to control these led modules. You would most likely damage the power supply. Now to the other point, you can put a standard dimmer on a timer.
 
One thing I noticed while adding blue leds, is that maxspect did not use the proper amount of thermal paste under each led. Lots = not good. Not enough = not good. There was so little, you could barely see it. Clearly not enough to be effective. The coating should be thin & over the entire bottom of the star.
 
Guess I should have posted this with my last post as I have had two pm's asking about thermal paste :)

General thermal paste will work fine, however if you want the good stuff, I recommend arctic silver 5. Outstanding stuff for cpu's, and equally outstanding on leds. Remember a very small dab goes a very long ways.
 
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