Maxspect LED owners!!!
- Thread starter gambitcobra
- Start date
some update of the Maxspect 160W on my 28" mixed tank
Hey Ericung,
What brackets are you using for your tank?
NyReefNoob
skimmer freak
badmotor i had the g2 170w on my 3x2x22" tank and loved it but without the reflectors and lense's i really only got good coverage on about 18" width, 2 of them would definately be good but would def atleast get the focal lense's in 90 degree's, i do have a powermodule 8 bulb on tank now so if you arent happy lmk and might work something out with you
kgk
Purveyor of Cool
I actually have one of these & don't use it, but only because I took that tank down. The problem I see with that mount is that it's inflexible, meaning you can only mount it at X distance from the edge ... if it's not where you want it, it's no use. And it wasn't where I wanted it, so I ended up hanging the fixture.
Personally I wouldn't use it on a small tank, but that's just me. Hang it if you can (which is what I did).
Help!
Help!
Please help! My blue lights were out when I got home from work today. The controller still shows the blue turning on and off manually with the buttons or power cycle, but no blue LED's. How do I diagnose whether the problem is with the controller, the driver, or one or more LED's? I'm fairly handy with a multimeter and opening up the unit, but what should I check?
I'm going out of town on business next week, so I'm worried about the corals going without blue light too long if I don't fix it this week...
Warren
Help!
Please help! My blue lights were out when I got home from work today. The controller still shows the blue turning on and off manually with the buttons or power cycle, but no blue LED's. How do I diagnose whether the problem is with the controller, the driver, or one or more LED's? I'm fairly handy with a multimeter and opening up the unit, but what should I check?
I'm going out of town on business next week, so I'm worried about the corals going without blue light too long if I don't fix it this week...
Warren
Well, the only thing I could possibly fix would be a bad LED, so I tried testing each LED on the blue string with a cheap $2 LED driver and found one LED that appeared to be dead. Resoldered the leads onto with a spare Cree RB XP-E I had, attached it, and the blue bank fully came back to life.
I had changed up a few when I installed my optics; took the opportunity to re-balance the colors towards the blue a bit more by swapping out one more white for a violet LED. So now compared to stock, I have:
-one SemiLED RB -> Cree XP-E RB
-one SemiLED violet -> SemiLED red
-two SemiLED white -> Cree XP-E Cyan (480nm)
It still used to look a bit yellow when I raw all three banks, but now I feel there's no yellow tinge at all. I usually run two banks most of the day, between the 30W whites and the 3W whites I can choose how much blue tint I want.
I had changed up a few when I installed my optics; took the opportunity to re-balance the colors towards the blue a bit more by swapping out one more white for a violet LED. So now compared to stock, I have:
-one SemiLED RB -> Cree XP-E RB
-one SemiLED violet -> SemiLED red
-two SemiLED white -> Cree XP-E Cyan (480nm)
It still used to look a bit yellow when I raw all three banks, but now I feel there's no yellow tinge at all. I usually run two banks most of the day, between the 30W whites and the 3W whites I can choose how much blue tint I want.
canesfan44
New member
You can test the LED's with AA batteries and some wire. It's pretty easy.
canesfan44
New member
Oops. I didn't read your other post, before I mentioned using AA batteries to find the burnt out LED.
Thanks for the help regardless, it's a good idea for next time, never thought of doing it that way. Can I just wire up two AA to get 3V, and connect that to + and -?
What I had today was a 12V DC transformer spliced into a MR16 socket, then some cheap MR16 LED drivers that drive 1-3 stars. It worked fine, but I'm going to be using this for a DIY fuge light, so later I may need something else.
canesfan44
New member
Exactly. I just used some tape to hold the wires to the poles (+ & -) and some more tape to hold the two batteries together.
kidninja
New member
just to put my input on this thread. started up a 65 gal tank standard size, 32 x 18 x 24
have a maxspect g2 170w semi-leds and im loving it! here's the pics!
I love the placement of the LEDs because its not directly on the center brace so i get full coverage and no dark spots
ALRIGHT so there is one QC issue, when only the blue lights are on, there is 1 WHITE LED still on, is it easy to rewire it to make it correct? im probably just ganna leave it no biggie
im also interested in what lighting schedule you guys have yours programmed to. let me know! thanks!
have a maxspect g2 170w semi-leds and im loving it! here's the pics!
I love the placement of the LEDs because its not directly on the center brace so i get full coverage and no dark spots
ALRIGHT so there is one QC issue, when only the blue lights are on, there is 1 WHITE LED still on, is it easy to rewire it to make it correct? im probably just ganna leave it no biggie
im also interested in what lighting schedule you guys have yours programmed to. let me know! thanks!
SimonSKL
New member
When I got my 230W I also have a white LED on when only the blue lights were supposed to be on. I was thinking it was a QC issue. Since the same thing happens to your 170W, I now wonder if the white is part of the blue set up. I eventually removed the white and replaced it with a blue as I want more blue in my tank especially when all lights are on. You can see how I replaced the white with blue in my earlier post. I just ordered some white semileds from FinsReef.com. You unplug the old one and plug the new one in. No rewiring, no soldering. Pretty easy to do.
Because mine is 230W with four 30W LEDs, my photo periods may be quite different from yours to avoid bleaching my sps.
Blues - 10a to 11.30p
white - 11a to 11p
2x30W - 1p to 5p
2x30W - 3p to 7p
You can see all four 30W LEDS are on only for 2 hours. Because of the odd shape of my 92g corner tank, I also supplement my 230W with a 36" DIY LED strip consists 12x3W white and 12x3W blue which comes on from 11a to 11p.
My corals seems to respond well to these pattern of lighting.
canesfan44
New member
just order a blue LED from Fin's Reef. They are very easy to switch.
kidninja
New member
so i messaged finsreef and got this response:
What you are experiencing in not a QC issue, but the way the fixture is designed. In order to get an even look when all light are on, one of the white led's have to be run on the blue circuit in order to operate the driver in the correct specs. All units are the same with the one White LED on the Blue Circuit.
If you wish to change out the LED's then I do sell the individual Royal Blue LED's for $4.99 each.
so i guess that makes sense so i will probably just leave it alone, not really a huge problem
What you are experiencing in not a QC issue, but the way the fixture is designed. In order to get an even look when all light are on, one of the white led's have to be run on the blue circuit in order to operate the driver in the correct specs. All units are the same with the one White LED on the Blue Circuit.
If you wish to change out the LED's then I do sell the individual Royal Blue LED's for $4.99 each.
so i guess that makes sense so i will probably just leave it alone, not really a huge problem
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