LED Fans Dying Left and Right!

[redfishbluefish]

I just can't seem to get a break with my LED's.

Back in March I posted about the issues I had with the two Apollo fixtures I had, where I replaced all the blue LEDs, because they were burnt. I documented that HERE. At the same time, one of the six fans wasn't working, so I replaces that as well. The issue with the fans is, not knowing any info about the power supply (from China, with no label), I didn't want to exceed the amp rating on the current fans (0.1 amp). Try finding 0.1 amp or less fans!

So today I'm on a stepstool over the canopy cleaning off the dust and I look down on my three LED fixtures (total of 8 fans) and only see two fans running. WHAT!!!!! Two fixtures have no fans running at all; and one fixture has two of the three running. I should point out that the one fixture with no fans running was a Mars Aqua that I purchased, maybe eight months ago. Now before I speak negatively, I do have it turned down pretty far and maybe that impacts fans running. Don't know because I haven't taken that one apart yet.

So I pull off all three fixtures, and first tackle the Apollo with no fans running. I'm thinging, three fans out, it has to be the power supply. What's the chance that all three fans would die? Well, all three fans died! Knowing that I could get 0.09A fans from Best Buy for $7, I jumped in my car with the plan of buying six fans. The store I went to (E. Brunswick) only had two, and I purchase those. Asked where their next nearest store was (Woodbrige), and purchased the three they had there.

So tonight, I've done the one Apollo. Here are the old fans, removed:



And the link on the label or these old fans (www.fan-cooling.com) brings you to a Chinese website, that when translated, this fan is not found to be available anymore.

And here are the three fans installed prior to the solder job:



They were soldered up and now all three fans are working.....in this fixture.

Now to tackle the Mars Aqua. Let's see what's inside that beast. More to come.

 

[Lostinthedark]

I didn't know if you meant Fans
or fans

 

[Lostinthedark]

As you know from my last thread, I'm no longer a fan of LEDs.

 

[redfishbluefish]

OK! So last night I opened up the Mars Aqua. The guts of this one is slightly different than Apollos.....no Bridge Rectifiers because it appears it gets the juice for the fans directly from the LED power source. I also wasn't crazy about a simply smooth aluminum plate for the heat sink. Would have liked to have seen finned.




Now here's the bizarre thing, when I plugged this back in after putting it back together, the fans worked! Now I did turn up the pots, and I'm thinking it was now getting enough volts to start the fans. I don't know....I'm an electronics idiot. I also noticed, for an eight month old fixture, that the fans were way too clean.....not a speck of dust. So I'm guessing these never ran.

Bottom line, I'll keep an eye on this one, but no more plans for this fixture.

Now the race is on. I want to take the two remaining new fans and put them in the other Apollo before my lights are planned to come on....11AM. Since I had replaced one of the fans eight months ago, that will leave me with three new fans in this unit. Be back soon to let you know if I got this done in time.

 

[redfishbluefish]

So my light fixtures are back up over the tank. With the second Apollo, only one fan wasn't working. I had replaced one of the fans eight months ago, and since I had already purchased enough fans, I decided to replace the two remaining original fans. So now with the two Apollos I have all new fans. Here's the second Apollo done:




To point out the parts in this one.....the two larger boxes on either side are the drivers for the LEDs. The smaller white box on the top is the driver for the moonlights. The small black box on the bottom is the power supply for the fans.

And here are the three fixtures all ready to be put back over the tank.




I hope this ends my foray into the innards of my LED lights.

 

[rkalola]

FYI for this job there really isn't a need to soder. Just twist the wires together and use a wire cap. My mars aqua unit also had a fan issue. Replacing the fan was very easy and certain sellers from ebay will even ship you new fans for free. Honestly it's probably better to just buy the fan from best buy for $10. Shipping from china takes about 3 weeks.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Here's what I found out about the fans on the Mars Aqua.....they are tied into the pots that control the lights and if it's not turned up high enough, the fans do not come on. I have to turn the pot up to about 75% for the fans to come on. Not happy about that. Thinking about removing the lenses so that I wouldn't have a problem with the intensity set at 75%.

 

[143MPco]

Paul, are you opposed to controlling them with a PWM controller?

 

[redfishbluefish]

Paul, are you opposed to controlling them with a PWM controller?

Maybe. What's PWM? Is that were something like an Apex or Reef Angel controls the light in small increments....i.e., ramping up and down?

If so, I'm happy with the way I imitate sunrise, morning, midday, afternoon, and twilight.....with my old school ReefKeeper II, and in combination with two, four foot IceCap moonlights, which are pretty bright.

In addition, I have the original Apollos that don't even have pots to adjust....they are either ON or OFF, and nothing in between. It's my understanding that if I did want to have this option, I'd need new drivers.....again, not really interested....everything is working and growing like crazy the way I have it set up.

My only interest now is to have the Mars Aqua fans running, and for me to do that I now have the intensity up higher then I want....so I'm looking at popping off the lenses. I found a post where someone said they just twist off.

 

[143MPco]

What's PWM? Is that were something like an Apex or Reef Angel controls the light in small increments....i.e., ramping up and down?

It's more for fan control... of course you'd have to power it externally with an additional power supply rated for the fans you have, so not sure that appealing to you are not but, it's an option.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Oh, just what I need, one more plug to plug in. This is what my light outlet area looks like right now!

I've already decided that when lights go out tonight I'm pulling the unit off yet again, and am going to remove the optics from the Mars Aqua. The Apollos don't have optics, and run at 100%, and the Mars Aqua was at around 50%, and still hurting corals high in the tank....but now set at about 75% to get the fans to run....so definitely too much. A picture of the three lights, it's obvious who has the lenses.

SO off with the lenses tonight!

But I do appreciate yet another option. If the lack of lenses doesn't work out, I might be getting back to you.

Thanks again.

 

[redfishbluefish]

So I was going to wait for lights out to do my final "fix" to my lights.....removing the lenses from the Mars Aqua fixture. But I didn't wait. I staged all the tools needed and pulled the fixtures off, opened the Mars Aqua, and removed the lenses, put all back together, all within 20 minutes.

So now I can turn up the pots and make sure my fans are running on this fixture without burning the corals. Here is a picture of the fixture with lenses (center fixture)(Note, Blues only are on in both pictures):

And a picture without lenses:



Now I just need to start turning up the pots to match the two Apollos.

I’m happier than a tornado in a trailer park.

 

[Chrisgarrick]

Gee paul we had a happy rebuild led day

 

[Chrisgarrick]

by the way the apollos seem to blow the doors off the mars... post a pic with the pots up if you would

 

[redfishbluefish]

Well Chris, I'll show you a picture of Blues only....because that is where my light cycle is now....with Mars Aqua at 100% (with no lenses). Now it's not a true comparison because the Mars Aqua only has 22 blues while my Apollos have 30...and the Mars background is black, while Apollo is white.....and there is greater separation of the LEDs with the Mars. What I've noticed, comparing to lensed Mars, is the reflection in the back canopy wall is now fairly even. With the lenses, you could definitely see the shadowing with the Mars.




Bottom line, this $78 fixture just continues to impress me. For that price and what I was paying in yearly T5 bulb replacement, they are truly disposable.

The true test would be using a PAR meter.....which I don't have.