Solaris Led lighting systems
- Thread starter jmccalip
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cindyolson
New member
20K
hahnmeister
In Memoriam
Thats what I was going to ask... I would love to see some comparisons between 13,000K units and 20,000K units. I forgot, what is the physical diff between the two anyways?
loweryster
Active member
From what I have read the 13K has more white LEDs than blue and 20k has more blue than white.
RichConley
New member
Just remember, LEDs dont work like halides, and the Blues actually put out more light than the whites.
loweryster
Active member
True... but what does that have to do with anything???
cindyolson
New member
While troubleshooting the tank this morning, the guy had me play with the settings. By adjusting the 'Day Blues' you can increase the 'White Light' so that it appears more like the MH. Although it is a personal preference I'm leaving both 'White' and 'Blue' at 100%.
20K - Each 12" section contains the following LED's: 9-Actinic Blue Day, 6 Full Spectrum White, 4 Actinic Blue Night, and 6 Full Spectrum White Night LED's.
13K - Each 12" section contains the following LED's: 15 Full Spectrum White, 4 Actinic Blue Night, and 6 Full Spectrum White Night LED's.
hahnmeister
In Memoriam
Thanks Dave!
cindyolson
New member
Since I had to take the thing apart today, I can answer that the boards are not sealed. On my old lighting system I never had a problem with Salt Creep. For that matter, other than my sump, I've never had a Salt Creep problem. The plexy does keep water away from the LED's and the Boards. There would have to be a really big splash problem to get water up to the lights. This would also mean I'd have problems with wet drywall and flooring.
xlayedoutx
Member
IMO I think everything is going to love this light even SPS. Did you notice any difference with anything in the short time that you had it up and running.
cindyolson
New member
Since I have it turned off until the new cable come to protect the power supplies, I can't really say. I'll let you know Saturday after I've had some time.
JustOneMoreTank
New member
Wow! Very blue. I wonder what the corals will think. Do keep us posted. 
OK
My Solaris came in and first let me say it's a beautiful and quiet fixture. My tank looks great and the water is shimmering and they run cool. The programability is amazing and real easy to figure out. The Solar System auto mode seems fine but EVERYTHING is programmable. My corals opend up beautifully but of course ONLY time will tell. If the tank flourishes PAR shmar who cares worth every penny.
Now here is the letter I just sent to Jason at Premium Aquatics
Jason
I couldnt be more bummed out
1) Opened the box and the LCD display is hanging off. I am holding it in place with tape
2) The screws were rolling around inside the fixture. I got them out.
3) The clear lens was dirty has an oil slick type substance that is really tough to get off. I cleaned it off.
4) The fixture itself has quite a few dings and scratches. Thats fine I'll touch up.
5) WOKE UP this morning to a loud screeching sound similar to the sound my skimmer pump was making the day my last tank leaked 42 gallons onto my office floor. It was ONLY the L rear fan rubbing on an interior part inside the fixture. I took the fan out and sat it correctly in the fixture and the sound stopped.
6) Now here's the kicker. 9 LED's are out in the left array. 6 blues. 3 whites,1 green.
Other than that It's quiet and looks great. Believe it or not I hope we can ressolve these issues. I would like to keep the light for at least 30 days to see if there are any other surprises. If nothing crops up I'm good to go.I am ok at remedial technical stuff so I don't mind the tasks of repair rather than the pain of shipping it back. I want in writting that if I open this fixture to screw in the LCD and replace the bulbs you are sending me that this in no way voids the warranty. PFO should credit my AMEX round trip shipping about $70.00 for the heartache,labor and the fact that you nor they have to deal. If I run into ANY issues with the repair the light goes back at your expense no questions asked.
The LED'S being out worries me.It may be electrical.
So we need to
1) Mount the LCD display properly
2) Fix the LED's that are out.
YOUR MOVE!
My Solaris came in and first let me say it's a beautiful and quiet fixture. My tank looks great and the water is shimmering and they run cool. The programability is amazing and real easy to figure out. The Solar System auto mode seems fine but EVERYTHING is programmable. My corals opend up beautifully but of course ONLY time will tell. If the tank flourishes PAR shmar who cares worth every penny.
Now here is the letter I just sent to Jason at Premium Aquatics
Jason
I couldnt be more bummed out
1) Opened the box and the LCD display is hanging off. I am holding it in place with tape
2) The screws were rolling around inside the fixture. I got them out.
3) The clear lens was dirty has an oil slick type substance that is really tough to get off. I cleaned it off.
4) The fixture itself has quite a few dings and scratches. Thats fine I'll touch up.
5) WOKE UP this morning to a loud screeching sound similar to the sound my skimmer pump was making the day my last tank leaked 42 gallons onto my office floor. It was ONLY the L rear fan rubbing on an interior part inside the fixture. I took the fan out and sat it correctly in the fixture and the sound stopped.
6) Now here's the kicker. 9 LED's are out in the left array. 6 blues. 3 whites,1 green.
Other than that It's quiet and looks great. Believe it or not I hope we can ressolve these issues. I would like to keep the light for at least 30 days to see if there are any other surprises. If nothing crops up I'm good to go.I am ok at remedial technical stuff so I don't mind the tasks of repair rather than the pain of shipping it back. I want in writting that if I open this fixture to screw in the LCD and replace the bulbs you are sending me that this in no way voids the warranty. PFO should credit my AMEX round trip shipping about $70.00 for the heartache,labor and the fact that you nor they have to deal. If I run into ANY issues with the repair the light goes back at your expense no questions asked.
The LED'S being out worries me.It may be electrical.
So we need to
1) Mount the LCD display properly
2) Fix the LED's that are out.
YOUR MOVE!
jmchzn, sorry to hear about your problems.
Thankfully, I have a more positive report to make. My Solaris fixture (36" 20K version) arrived from Premium Aquatics the other day (I love PA - Jay is great!).
There were two screws loose inside, but I was able to find where one of them went almost right away. I called PFO and they immediately knew where the other one was from - apparently its maybe an issue with their assembly on some of the earlier units and they are taking care of it for future fixtures. It was crazy, I said "there was a screw loose inside" and the guy instantly said "yeah, sorry about that, its one of the screws that holds the heatsink to the fixture. Once they told me where it went, I just screwed it back in, no problem (but the heatsink was still sturdily mounted even without it, just FYI).
The fixture came without the feet to mount it on the tank or the eye hooks to suspend it. That was kind of a drag, but on the same phone call to PFO, they said they would send them out ASAP (I don't have them yet, but I only talked to PFO last night, so hopefully they will get here soon).
Everything else about the fixture is great. I am going to use it on a new tank that I am setting up (which does not have water in it yet, but I am getting close - my Oceans Motions order should arrive Monday and that's the last piece I'm waiting for to finish the plumbing). I've used PC, VHO and MH on tanks I have had in the past. The fixture does not seem as bright as say, a 10K MH bulb, but I think a good part of that is because of the 20K color temperature. It is way brighter than the PCs I have used by a long shot, and it seems lots brighter than actinic VHOs.
The unit runs pretty darn cool - mine sits at 90 degrees internal temperature and the ambient in the room is 76. So this thing is definitely not putting out a lot of heat, which is awesome. The plexiglass that shields the LEDs is not even warm in the least. The heat internally is mostly from the heatsinks - as far as I can tell there is no heat whatsoever directed toward the tank.
The fans in the fixture are pretty quiet. You can hear them if you are standing to the side of the fixture (which is where the fans are located), but not from in front of it if you are about 2 1/2 feet away. The fans in the ballasts/power supplies, however, are not so quiet (but I'm a quiet freak, so you can take that with a grain of salt). I talked to PFO about that, too, and they are a standard size like you would use for a computer case, so I'm going to swap them out for something really quiet, which should make me happy.
Sorry I don't have water in the tank yet so I can't get actual pictures of the light over a tank, but if anyone has any questions that I can help with, please let me know!
Brad
Thankfully, I have a more positive report to make. My Solaris fixture (36" 20K version) arrived from Premium Aquatics the other day (I love PA - Jay is great!).
There were two screws loose inside, but I was able to find where one of them went almost right away. I called PFO and they immediately knew where the other one was from - apparently its maybe an issue with their assembly on some of the earlier units and they are taking care of it for future fixtures. It was crazy, I said "there was a screw loose inside" and the guy instantly said "yeah, sorry about that, its one of the screws that holds the heatsink to the fixture. Once they told me where it went, I just screwed it back in, no problem (but the heatsink was still sturdily mounted even without it, just FYI).
The fixture came without the feet to mount it on the tank or the eye hooks to suspend it. That was kind of a drag, but on the same phone call to PFO, they said they would send them out ASAP (I don't have them yet, but I only talked to PFO last night, so hopefully they will get here soon).
Everything else about the fixture is great. I am going to use it on a new tank that I am setting up (which does not have water in it yet, but I am getting close - my Oceans Motions order should arrive Monday and that's the last piece I'm waiting for to finish the plumbing). I've used PC, VHO and MH on tanks I have had in the past. The fixture does not seem as bright as say, a 10K MH bulb, but I think a good part of that is because of the 20K color temperature. It is way brighter than the PCs I have used by a long shot, and it seems lots brighter than actinic VHOs.
The unit runs pretty darn cool - mine sits at 90 degrees internal temperature and the ambient in the room is 76. So this thing is definitely not putting out a lot of heat, which is awesome. The plexiglass that shields the LEDs is not even warm in the least. The heat internally is mostly from the heatsinks - as far as I can tell there is no heat whatsoever directed toward the tank.
The fans in the fixture are pretty quiet. You can hear them if you are standing to the side of the fixture (which is where the fans are located), but not from in front of it if you are about 2 1/2 feet away. The fans in the ballasts/power supplies, however, are not so quiet (but I'm a quiet freak, so you can take that with a grain of salt). I talked to PFO about that, too, and they are a standard size like you would use for a computer case, so I'm going to swap them out for something really quiet, which should make me happy.
Sorry I don't have water in the tank yet so I can't get actual pictures of the light over a tank, but if anyone has any questions that I can help with, please let me know!
Brad
Seems like PFO is rushing out orders and making people sad with broken fixtures, bulbs and loose screws. You would think that in an industry like this, when someone spends a grand on some lights, that they would work properly and be ready to use out of box. I did first hand take a look at them at MACNA in Houston last month and they look great and you can really see the difference when looking at a PAR meter. It was triple that of the MH next to it.
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