My DSUNY LED review (1 year) & 2015 failure

Russ265

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I rarely do the "learning-lesson" thing, but i figured I'd share a failure with you...

So back in may, i purchased 4x 32" panels for my 7ft long 265 gallon reef tank.

I just spent 3500 on the marineland tank and stand. 1500 on my chiller. Another $1000 on rock and sand. $600 for this dolphin pump, $500 for the fuge, add plumbing, all new test kits, and everything else... and i dropped a chunk on getting my tank up and rolling.

The only piece i really didnt want to drop a ton of cash on are lights. especially when i see US companies rebranding chinese LEDs and upcharging 50-100%. (i wont mention them)

I didnt want crap either. So after searching for reviews, looking on youtube, and everything else. I thought the most bang for my buck were some DSUNY turing series lights with a programmable controller.

For a mere $900 shipped, i received my babies and chucked them in my canopy. They use the 3w bridgelux lights and are spaced a little further than what I'd like with 45 diodes per 32" panel. I set them up lengthwise 2x2.

the programmable controller panel was cool and seemed to work out just fine. lightning was cheesey. clouds just dimmed the lights 20%.

k...but they ramp blues, whites, and actinics during however i wanted. I didnt need a controller like my 220 MH/T5 setup with an all or nothing approach.

For the first 30 days everything seemed fine. no issues.

60 day mark i noticed that when a programmed point was hit, sometimes all the lights would go 100% until the next programmed marker. I would come home to some toasty corals. This happened 3x the 2nd month in.

on the 3rd month 2 channels from panel 4 died. only the blues and actinics worked.

i contacted DSUNY and they offered to replace the panel for 1/2 off. at $120.

Thinking this might be a fluke panel, i coughed it up and replaced the panel.

30 days later panel 2 went 100% on and doesnt respond to the controller. all or nothing.

again... contacted DSUNY. offered a newer panel at $125. at this point this is becoming a joke. also i was fighting a dino outbreak so i just let the panel go 8 hours on. then off on a timer.

fast forward another 60 days. Panel 4 that was replaced completely died. no all on, no nothing. just dead.

30 days later. panel 1 starts flickering white channels. (yup... on it's way out)

lets keep going til now....



panel 1 now has 2 burned out channels
panel 2 is still 100% all or nothing
panel 3 works as intended
panel 4 is toast

which lends me to advise you of this.

these are worse than a chinese black box. and a heftier premium for them.

some other interesting notes about these lights....
Each panel has a 90w driver.... not even a 120 like the old style black boxes.
The heats sinks are not enough without a fan. (They have none)
Overall I give these lights a 4/5 stars for terribleness.
 
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twilliard

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Oh man what a nightmare!
When I was studying led fixtures it was hard!
I have a grudge over mass produced chips in fixtures that can not possibly handle the heat and load.
I know where you are coming from as control of led fixtures is key.
 
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Russ265

Russ265

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Oh man what a nightmare!
When I was studying led fixtures it was hard!
I have a grudge over mass produced chips in fixtures that can not possibly handle the heat and load.
I know where you are coming from as control of led fixtures is key.

My issue were the rave reviews that were obviously bunk. I ignored some of the amazon ones as possibly "a bad batch". But hey... If all the lights are dying out before the 1 year mark... you can be assured you have junk :)
 

twilliard

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True, I am a firm believer in "you get what you pay for"
This is why I do not by reman parts for my drag car lol
 

jsker

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I was thinking about getting those LED but my gut said not too. I am glad that I listened to my gut this time. Thank you for sharing your experience, so other will not make the same mistake I am having a good experience with my current orbit marine lights. if my lights die and when I upgrade I will probably go with the Orbit Marine Pro
 
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Russ265

Russ265

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I was thinking about getting those LED but my gut said not too. I am glad that I listened to my gut this time. Thank you for sharing your experience, so other will not make the same mistake I am having a good experience with my current orbit marine lights. if my lights die and when I upgrade I will probably go with the Orbit Marine Pro

dear sir. that is why i am offering this piece up. If this many panels are failing before a year... we got a crappy product. and i hate taking a dump on any distributor or company.

this is one of the few... you can see some real trash getting promoted.

hope it saves others the time and issues i had with them.
 
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Russ265

Russ265

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True, I am a firm believer in "you get what you pay for"
This is why I do not by reman parts for my drag car lol
oh man. dont get me started about drag racing.

needless to say. i have racing on my record and always took my old car to the strip back in the day.

after getting busted for street racing, i now drive my lowly 2014 buick lacrosse and lallygag to work. ahhhh the things you do when you know you have a racing problem.

some wife coercing helped me understand my racing problem :)
 

JenB

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We bought those lights last year - they started burning - yes burning inside the case.. It took all kinds of fighting with them to get our money back :(
 
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Russ265

Russ265

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We bought those lights last year - they started burning - yes burning inside the case.. It took all kinds of fighting with them to get our money back :(

i wish i could get my money back.

ill chalk it up to a dumb experiment. or even a risky one. but man... im so disappointed after so many great fascade reviews.

im glad im not the only one chiming in on these lights.
 

JenB

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They made us take apart the fixture - take pictures - and still tried to say we did something wrong. The thing was smoking not more than an hour after we had them on
 
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Russ265

Russ265

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They made us take apart the fixture - take pictures - and still tried to say we did something wrong. The thing was smoking not more than an hour after we had them on
sounds about what i experienced with their customer support. i tried working with them for a spell. but you know how it is. after a time, you cut the losses and move on.
 

jsker

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sounds about what i experienced with their customer support. i tried working with them for a spell. but you know how it is. after a time, you cut the losses and move on.
What did you purchase them with. Most credit cards will work with bad products purchased. Should give it a try.
 
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Russ265

Russ265

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What did you purchase them with. Most credit cards will work with bad products purchased. Should give it a try.

paypal. i could put in a complaint but i think i got what i paid for. it was a risk and a throw of the dice.
this is one of the times the " you get what you pay for"ers can point at me lol.

if it was 90 days and all the lights burned out, well... i would have a go at them.

this is just poorly engineered chinese junk with some decent features. eh well

just a warning for others. i wanted to be 100% sure before i made a post about this brand of led.
 

scardall

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Truly sorry about your experience with a Chinese lighting product. IMO if your going budget shopping IMO from what I hear Reef Radiance has a 165W WifI Fixture around $289 I think. IMO if you stay with American Cree or German Leds these issues will not likely happen.
I have 2 years on my fixtures and "O" issues. No Fans required either. Aqua Ray's .(has 5 year warranty):cool::cool::cool::cool:
Wishing you the Best of luck on your next lighting endeavor. :):):):cool: http://americanaquariumproducts.com/
 

gus6464

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You know what I hate about drag racing...
Being covered in snow

I went with Orphek for a reason ;)

Orphek doesn't seem to have the greatest US customer service either. On another forum a guy went through quite an ordeal on a brand new unit.
 

RobertE

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Had my four 165w dsuny fixtures for 6 months and I have been extremely happy with them. Zero problems.
 

Oliver@DSunY

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I am Oliver, product manager at DSunY.

Please it is me who technically supported 3 years ago, I am very sorry for this.

Please the light warranty service is include 3 stages.
Stage 1, 1th month: return and full refund
* Not-like or human damage: buyer pay shipping cost
* defect of non-human damage: we choice shipping way and refund the shipping cost after receive it.
Stage 2, 1th year:
* human damage and repair: buyer pay shipping cost back & forth.repairment is free
* human damage and no repair: order replacement on the price of only our cost.
* non-human damage and repair: buyer ship it to us. repairment and ship back is free
* non-human damage and no repair: buyer must prove the problem. replacement is free and buyer pay shipping cost. .
Stage 3, 3 years:
*repair: buyer pay shipping cost back & forth.repairment is free
*replacement: buyer must prove the problem. there is 15% discount for replacment

For you case, I saw the water mark on the board. so I give you the "human damage,give up repair" warranty service.

BTW, I would like talk about the provement more. As you say, the advantage of our light is modular.
there is no tiny offend but there is really someone cheat for a new light panel. It is unfair for the honest buyer if we give up

"provement",Maybe this may give buyer many troubel, We have to stronly insist on it. We promise we will try our best to guide buyer show the problem and try our best to make things easy and fast solve it.
 

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