Sunbrite led fixture worth saving?

[mjohnson86]

I currently am running an old LED setup made by Sunbrite. They have long since gone out of business and a couple of my LED tubes seem to be having issues.

The tubes were crazy expensive already and the fixture is 6 years old now.

Time to dump it and go new or try to revive it and save some cash?

Any input here would be great!

Thanks,

Mike.

 

[mcgyvr]

Are you confident in your electrical repair abilities? solder?,etc..?

Do you have corals?
Define "having issues"?

Its really up to you.. If they have been working fine and you want to repair then go for it.. If not.. let it go..

 

[mjohnson86]

A couple of the LED tubes are only half working. I have 5 tubes total. The tubes are all 6+ years old. I think I could repair the LED's but is it worth it to something that is this old? Hasn't the technology changed enough to warrant new lights?

Stay with LED's or something else?

I don't have a ton of corals now as I am dealing with a pest problem but want to basically redo my tank and want to make sure my lighting will be sufficient.

 

[mcgyvr]

In general the LEDs used in those have not changed from what I can tell from pictures I just saw.. should be easy to source new diodes..

I've never used those so I can't comment on how good they are,etc.. though..

Personally I would trash and move on..

 

[oreo57]

sunbright looks like they use Bridgelux diodes..
Relative piece of cake to replace..

a couple of bucks and some soldering ability will fix them..

The LEDs of Sunbrite's second generation tubes are all hand-sodered. Notice the generous amount of solder gripping this diode to it's PCB.

they did it, you can too..

as to worth it??.. Those diodes are old tech and not near as efficient as new ones. Not sure they have "kept up". That said, they are still commonly used..

Now the "bad" news.. power supplies are built into the tubes and contain a few electrolytic capacitors which, historically, are prone to failure..esp. w/ heat and time..

Seems easy to open the tubes and at least see if any caps are bubbled or leaking..

Every part of the new gen2 LED tubes from SunBrite are serviceable. We can imagine a lot of DIY efforts getting thrown at this newly ruggedized format for LED lighting.

The power supply driver for the Gen2 LED tubes fits inside of the heatsink of the tube.

suspect the UV diodes are weak..

There are some "catches" .. like the custom 60 degree optics..(I'm assuming a gen II, if one upgrade)

LEDs and a crummy power supply, calling the new handmade LED tube a second generation effort is a serious understatement. Sunbrite’s LED tubes are now made from components with five or six custom molds. The significant heatsink distributes over 10 grams of mass per watt of LED. These new tubes are using Cree-based, Edison and BridgeLux LEDs and the diodes are purchased without primary optics so SunBrite can apply their own, custom-designed primary optic with a native directivity of 60 degrees. Finally, all the diodes are hand-soldered to their PCB in SunBrite’s own factory where all the gen2 tubes are assembled in house. Perhaps the only downgrade from the original SunBrite LED tube is the lack of fine differences between color temperatures of the 5mm LEDs and the high powered one watters that are found in the Gen2.

quotes from Reef Builder
personally I'd probably put them on the side, get new "black boxes" or whatever your pocketbook can afford and dink around w/ them on the side relegating them to some other use and possibly upgrading spectrum ect..
But that is me...

 

[mjohnson86]

Thanks for the info I will check into it!