Sunbrite F Series LED light fixture

I purchased two of their 48 inch fixtures and received them the day before yesterday (exotic). I have corresponded with Jon (Johnny) from Sunbrite and he has been very supportive and responsive on the emails. Now, I was communicating with him not to complain or report a problem. I think that needs to be said.

I had AI Sol-Blues (6 modules) before and sold them because I was moving and didn't know if I was going to setup another tank anytime soon. Well, now that I am settled in the Boston area (previously in the Chicago area), I have been missing my tank and its inhabitants. I ordered a custom tank (150 gallon peninsula 48"x30"x25"). I wanted to be as energy efficient as possible and therefore I wanted LED's again and I also went with the new DC pumps from RLSS (another great story). Now back to the LED's....

The AI Sol's have 3 channels, cool white, blue and royal blue, all Cree LED's. When I saw the specs on the Sunbrite F-Series, I was very interested. The AI Sol's do not have enough of the spectrum for all corals. Most of my corals did just fine and my carpet anemones did very good under these lights, but my red planet hated them. It turned completely dark burgundy (looked black and no longer had any green). I put this piece in my friends tank with T5's and it colored back up beautifully in 2 weeks.

I have high hopes for the Sunbrite lights. I do not have the tank setup yet, but I unpacked my lights and got them going just to check them out.......WOW! The interface is well done on the iDevices and very easy to use. Manual controls on the ballast box are a must as a backup. Would hate to have a problem with the WiFi or iPhone and not be able to control the light. Good thinking on the part of Sunbrite. The number of different color channels in these lights is great, providing everything from UV to the Red end of the spectrum. I will be taking photos and video of my build and will post as it goes. Tank comes on the 21st and I have a week vacation to do it all. The lights are right now the icing on the cake.
 
As i've mentioned before i've purchased one of the Sunbrite f series 72 inch fixtures.
Just got the email yesterday that here in Canada we can expect delivery of
the units the first week of May.
My excitement can hardly be contained and i will definitely be doing a review of this light.
I've heard nothing but good things and i can't wait.

Would love to C more ppl post videos on youtube....not just videos to music, but rather talking about the light etc.....
 
Royz build with Sunbrite Series 7

Royz build with Sunbrite Series 7

Well, I have begun the build and have made significant progress since starting two days ago.

IMG_0501.jpg


While I like all the colors that the light generates, I do have a couple of complaints.

I was a little concerned about the fact that the LED's in this fixture didn't come with some kind of lens/optic. I thought about this and based upon my experience with the AI Sol's, which made some hot-spots with the lenses, I thought that not having lenses would provide more of a dispersed light .......well, it sure does. The light splash with these fixtures is huge. The light that gets out of the tank and onto the ground and onto the surrounding walls is significant. A large reflector that surrounds the light, but would keep more of the overall light inside the aquarium would be something that I would buy in a heartbeat. This would make the light less attractive, but that isn't why I bought them anyway. I may try to fabricate some reflectors for this purpose, but I don't like when I see reflectors that are not professionally made (stamped and formed so that they both look good and are precisely optimized. Not sure that all of this is for naught. The light splash may change once I have water in the aquarium. I will be filling in the next day or so and will post the outcome at that time.

One other thing, and this one really bothers me, when power goes out on the lights, they do not begin the programmed timers ....they just come on full blast, every channel. This is not right. This is how a tank full of corals gets fried. If I am away on a business trip and the power goes out in my neighborhood and then comes back on, the lights come on full blast and stay that way. I have only done a couple of short tests to come to this conclusion, but I was wondering if anyone else has observed this. Again, this is a huge concern and needs to be fixed. I can connect again with my iPhone and reapply the timers, but as I said, the issue is when someone is gone from home for more than a few hours. These lights generate a lot of PAR and corals can very easily get torched if this scenario happens...and it will.

I have also asked the manufacturer if they would consider making the lights so that they simply connect to my local area network, just like any PC or just like my thermostat (NEST) does. This would allow remote, internet access to the lights and then I could control them when I am on the other side of the earth. My Apex would send me the message that I had a power outage and I could then make sure that the lights were operating as they should.

One last thing. I have two of these fixtures over my tank. They do not communicate in anyway with each other. When I am setting up timers, I have to do them separately and cannot copy timers from one to the other. This makes for a really laborious and time consuming setup to match one fixtures timers and settings to the other. A web-based interface to the fixtures and an update to the iPhone app that allows one to copy a complete set of timers from one to the other would be most beneficial. Maybe even a configuration page that allows one to designate one of the fixtures as the master and all others that the master can detect, as slaves. This would be a very good improvement with the lights.

The fans in the control boxes are also pretty loud. Not such a big deal for me as they will be mounted inside the wall, but we'll see if I can hear them after they are embedded. Probably should be proportional speed control so that they are not running full blast unless certain temperatures in the box are detected.

Other than all the above, the lights are nice lights. I love the spectrum that they have and the possibilities of spectrum combinations. The fit and finish is very good. Now just need to tell us if the firmware can be upgraded in the field (through the iPhone app?) and make the units more accessible and connected to one another.
 
Last edited:
ieatchinese said:
Well, I have begun the build and have made significant progress since starting two days ago.

IMG_0501.jpg


While I like all the colors that the light generates, I do have a couple of complaints.

I was a little concerned about the fact that the LED's in this fixture didn't come with some kind of lens/optic. I thought about this and based upon my experience with the AI Sol's, which made some hot-spots with the lenses, I thought that not having lenses would provide more of a dispersed light .......well, it sure does. The light splash with these fixtures is huge. The light that gets out of the tank and onto the ground and onto the surrounding walls is significant. A large reflector that surrounds the light, but would keep more of the overall light inside the aquarium would be something that I would buy in a heartbeat. This would make the light less attractive, but that isn't why I bought them anyway. I may try to fabricate some reflectors for this purpose, but I don't like when I see reflectors that are not professionally made (stamped and formed so that they both look good and are precisely optimized. Not sure that all of this is for naught. The light splash may change once I have water in the aquarium. I will be filling in the next day or so and will post the outcome at that time.

One other thing, and this one really bothers me, when power goes out on the lights, they do not begin the programmed timers ....they just come on full blast, every channel. This is not right. This is how a tank full of corals gets fried. If I am away on a business trip and the power goes out in my neighborhood and then comes back on, the lights come on full blast and stay that way. I have only done a couple of short tests to come to this conclusion, but I was wondering if anyone else has observed this. Again, this is a huge concern and needs to be fixed. I can connect again with my iPhone and reapply the timers, but as I said, the issue is when someone is gone from home for more than a few hours. These lights generate a lot of PAR and corals can very easily get torched if this scenario happens...and it will.

I have also asked the manufacturer if they would consider making the lights so that they simply connect to my local area network, just like any PC or just like my thermostat (NEST) does. This would allow remote, internet access to the lights and then I could control them when I am on the other side of the earth. My Apex would send me the message that I had a power outage and I could then make sure that the lights were operating as they should.

One last thing. I have two of these fixtures over my tank. They do not communicate in anyway with each other. When I am setting up timers, I have to do them separately and cannot copy timers from one to the other. This makes for a really laborious and time consuming setup to match one fixtures timers and settings to the other. A web-based interface to the fixtures and an update to the iPhone app that allows one to copy a complete set of timers from one to the other would be most beneficial. Maybe even a configuration page that allows one to designate one of the fixtures as the master and all others that the master can detect, as slaves. This would be a very good improvement with the lights.

The fans in the control boxes are also pretty loud. Not such a big deal for me as they will be mounted inside the wall, but we'll see if I can hear them after they are embedded. Probably should be proportional speed control so that they are not running full blast unless certain temperatures in the box are detected.

Other than all the above, the lights are nice lights. I love the spectrum that they have and the possibilities of spectrum combinations. The fit and finish is very good. Now just need to tell us if the firmware can be upgraded in the field (through the iPhone app?) and make the units more accessible and connected to one another.
Click to expand...

Great review!!
You bring to light a few grreat points that hopefully will be addressed my the manufacturer.
We should have ours here in Canada within a week or so....CAN'T WAIT!!
 
What physiologically is happening to the corals when it goes from dark to bright quickly? I've never heard of that being a problem before?
 
ieatchinese said:
Well, I have begun the build and have made significant progress since starting two days ago.

IMG_0501.jpg


While I like all the colors that the light generates, I do have a couple of complaints.

I was a little concerned about the fact that the LED's in this fixture didn't come with some kind of lens/optic. I thought about this and based upon my experience with the AI Sol's, which made some hot-spots with the lenses, I thought that not having lenses would provide more of a dispersed light .......well, it sure does. The light splash with these fixtures is huge. The light that gets out of the tank and onto the ground and onto the surrounding walls is significant. A large reflector that surrounds the light, but would keep more of the overall light inside the aquarium would be something that I would buy in a heartbeat. This would make the light less attractive, but that isn't why I bought them anyway. I may try to fabricate some reflectors for this purpose, but I don't like when I see reflectors that are not professionally made (stamped and formed so that they both look good and are precisely optimized. Not sure that all of this is for naught. The light splash may change once I have water in the aquarium. I will be filling in the next day or so and will post the outcome at that time.

One other thing, and this one really bothers me, when power goes out on the lights, they do not begin the programmed timers ....they just come on full blast, every channel. This is not right. This is how a tank full of corals gets fried. If I am away on a business trip and the power goes out in my neighborhood and then comes back on, the lights come on full blast and stay that way. I have only done a couple of short tests to come to this conclusion, but I was wondering if anyone else has observed this. Again, this is a huge concern and needs to be fixed. I can connect again with my iPhone and reapply the timers, but as I said, the issue is when someone is gone from home for more than a few hours. These lights generate a lot of PAR and corals can very easily get torched if this scenario happens...and it will.

I have also asked the manufacturer if they would consider making the lights so that they simply connect to my local area network, just like any PC or just like my thermostat (NEST) does. This would allow remote, internet access to the lights and then I could control them when I am on the other side of the earth. My Apex would send me the message that I had a power outage and I could then make sure that the lights were operating as they should.

One last thing. I have two of these fixtures over my tank. They do not communicate in anyway with each other. When I am setting up timers, I have to do them separately and cannot copy timers from one to the other. This makes for a really laborious and time consuming setup to match one fixtures timers and settings to the other. A web-based interface to the fixtures and an update to the iPhone app that allows one to copy a complete set of timers from one to the other would be most beneficial. Maybe even a configuration page that allows one to designate one of the fixtures as the master and all others that the master can detect, as slaves. This would be a very good improvement with the lights.

The fans in the control boxes are also pretty loud. Not such a big deal for me as they will be mounted inside the wall, but we'll see if I can hear them after they are embedded. Probably should be proportional speed control so that they are not running full blast unless certain temperatures in the box are detected.

Other than all the above, the lights are nice lights. I love the spectrum that they have and the possibilities of spectrum combinations. The fit and finish is very good. Now just need to tell us if the firmware can be upgraded in the field (through the iPhone app?) and make the units more accessible and connected to one another.
Click to expand...

Hi Roy, your tank is coming along beautifully :thumbsup:
I decided to chime in and hopefully can help you clear up a few issues.
As far as the light coming on full blast(100%) When power goes out and come back on if your light is not on a timer then the lights will come on as 100%, if you are already on a timer then the light will be back on the timer that was set before the power outage.

Currently our systems are on wifi(peer-peer) I know that you have both lights on one tank. We wanted our systems to be control independently, of course we will continue to work and improve the controlability of our lights. However, lets say if we have a customer with a 65G LPS/Soft and a 120G SPS both tank running on F-Series, if one timer set for both then the 65G will run the same amount of light as the 120G which is too much for LPS/Soft. We will look into web-base interface
 
yeah I couldn't replicate the problem about the lights coming on full blast after power goes out... i unplugged it then plugged it back in and the brightness was just right where it was supposed to be...
 
Jon, Thank you for your attention to this and the information. Regarding the lights acting independently, I agree. What I am saying is that there should be an option to group control the lights or not. This would provide the capability that you originally intended and also provide what others with multiple fixtures over the same tank would need.

I have the lights operating on the timer and again, I unplugged and re-plugged them into the wall socket. The lights jump out of the timer and go full blast.

RonMidTownStomp: The issue is that LED lights generate a lot of PAR and the previous lights I had (AI Sol-blues) could not be run at 100% output without burning corals. Most of the folks that have LED's don't run them at 100% output as they usually will kill the corals (the light is too strong). This may be because it is LED and the LED's have a narrower spectrum than the more conventional lighting options. There is a 5 star thread on the AI Sol's that talks about this extensively and provides real-world results of folks burning up corals. I too had a few burns before I lowered the output to a maximum of 60%.
 
Oh, I understand now. I thought the concern was dark -> 60% immediately, not dark -> 100%. I also understand that you don't want to drive the LEDs themselves that hard. It sounds like you may have a controller issue, though.
 
Ok, I turned off one of the lights and set the other one to run on the timers. I verified that it was running on the timers and then unplugged the light, waited a few moments and re-plugged it in. It resumed the program just like it should. Don't know if there is some kind of interference going on between the two lights or not, but I have left one of the fixtures off for now. Will keep trying combinations to recreate the issue. For now, it looks like I may have to just go with one light.

Thanks goes to Jon (SunBriteLED) for his patience with this. I will update if I can replicate the issue.
 
new sunbrites

new sunbrites

got my 60" sunbrite last week. Awesome once I was able to access the timers (thanks support). My question is on the dimming cycle. Does the time that the lamps ramp up the the setting should the % be 50 or 100? I am trying to use a 2 hour ramp up time the the midday 6 hours at max.

thanks Larry
 
I did a little test to verify the operation of the % dimming.

It appears that if you have a 6 hour timer and you set it to 50% dimming, it will reach the light output that you have specified for that timer at 3 hours into the timer (50% or half way in the 6 hour period. Let me know if you find the same results.

Roy
 
Yes I thought that was happening since I was using a 2 hour timer with 100% dimming. May be to short a timer and I should use a longer timer with less percent for the dimming. Thanks a lot. Love the adjustability of this light and the shimmer from my old T5.

Larry
 
What you described should take two hours to get to the illumination levels that you have set for that timer (100% of the time to ramp from timer settings before the timer to the end of the 2 hour period). Hope that SunBrite posts to confirm this.
 
it's interesting to hear all this info, we just got the word that as of this Friday ALL units will be shipped to the Canadian customers.
So some of these test that you guys are talking about will help me out in the quick setup phase.

Keep the comments and info coming, i should have my 72" unit by wednesday of next week!
 
ieatchinese said:
Ok, I turned off one of the lights and set the other one to run on the timers. I verified that it was running on the timers and then unplugged the light, waited a few moments and re-plugged it in. It resumed the program just like it should. Don't know if there is some kind of interference going on between the two lights or not, but I have left one of the fixtures off for now. Will keep trying combinations to recreate the issue. For now, it looks like I may have to just go with one light.

Thanks goes to Jon (SunBriteLED) for his patience with this. I will update if I can replicate the issue.
Click to expand...

How does the spread look with just a single fixture? I have a unit being delivered to me next week and am a bit concerned about covered in my 24" wide SPS tank.

Thanks
 
badAZZlars: 24 inches should be just fine with one fixture. My tank is 30 inches (front to back) and one fixture leaves corners dark. Not very noticeable and for most, the slightly darker sides will not be noticed.

If you determine that you need another light, let me know....I am selling one of mine as one is good enough (even for my 48 x 30 x 25). I am going to offer for a good deal.
 
Waiting on a web-enabled controller for these. Otherwise looks great :)

For the 15-20% of US households that have an iPhone, you guys just got a nice lighting option :) For the rest of us, we'll have to wait...
 
Perhaps for those without an iPhone, an iPod touch or an older iPhone that's no longer on network would work? In other words, does it work over wifi only?
 
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