EcoTech Marine Radion Power Supply Issues

[Ghostbuster]

How many people are having problems with their Radion Generation 4/5/6 Power Supply units? You may experience your light flicking on and off mostly. I have 3 out of 12 that have the same problem. I narrowed the problem down to a faulty power supply. Then, when I looked at replacing them, the price for a new one was too expensive from EcoTech Marine. Also, these power supply units were not subject to any extreme conditions; or, have fallen into the water. So, I feel like maybe EcoTech should replace them or something very amicable.

 

[DanyL]

Get high quality, water proof power supplies from Meanwell.
You can even chain multiple fixtures to the same PSU in parallel as long as the lengths of the cables are the same.

I wouldn't bother paying Ecotech premium to get lower quality PSUs once again if I were you.

 

[Ghostbuster]

The attached photo is the specifications for one unit as best as I can tell. So, what power supply unit would you recommend for, say, three or four Gen 4 light fixtures?

 

[Ghostbuster]

Here’s a picture of EcoTech’s replacement power supply for Radion Gen 4, 5 and 6 XR30:

 

[DanyL]

Get either 4 of these, or 2 those.

 

[_AV]

I receive many G4/G5 radions for repair and most of them do have issues with the light itself, not the PSU.
However, I recently received some G4 lights for parts and one of them did have a faulty PSU. All of those lights were clearly running at 100% for a long time as was evident by extremely melted lenses and many damaged LEDs.
Normally, I don't repair PSUs, but this time, since now I owned the unit, I decided to take it apart and see what's wrong. After all, the replacement is ~$180.

Unlike the infamous EB832 PSU, the problem was very typical to most switching power supplies. The main mosfet shorted and caused damage to the filtering capacitor and a couple of other smaller components. I was able to repair it very quickly.
Just one case is by no means the characterization of a typical problem with these specific PSUs, but the problem was still quite typical in general.

If you run them at near maximum capacity for an extended time, you increase your chances of burning them out.

 

[Ghostbuster]

All of my Gen 4 light fixtures are in great working order and they’re nearly four years old now. I really had one fourth of my power supply units go bad on me at less than three years; and, maybe that’s typically what others are experiencing as well. It would be interesting to know if other people are experiencing the same power supply issues.

 

[DanyL]

All of my Gen 4 light fixtures are in great working order and they’re nearly four years old now. I really had one fourth of my power supply units go bad on me at less than three years; and, maybe that’s typically what others are experiencing as well. It would be interesting to know if other people are experiencing the same power supply issues.

I know of 2 other reefers with Gen 4 and 1 with Gen 5 that had faulty PSUs, not from water damage.
The Gen 5 was actually replaced under warranty, the Gen 4 IIRC after 2 or 3 years of use and they went one after the other - all not running at 100% (which is a silly variable to consider because a PSU should be rated a bit higher than the max consumption on sustained load).

 

[_AV]

all not running at 100% (which is a silly variable to consider because a PSU should be rated a bit higher than the max consumption on sustained load).

Not silly at all, unfortunately. These PSUs are indeed rated higher than the maximum load, but in a switching PSU the closer you get to that rating, the higher the fault rate. There is no such thing as a cut off, where the life of a PSU becomes somehow magically infinite. It gradually improves the further you are from the maximum rating.

I'm not defending ecotech by any means. And myself am curious about the failure rate. Just relaying my experience here.

 

[FactoryKTMmotocross46]

The insane price they charge seems to be for the correct low voltage adapter. Depending on how much money you want to save you can get a generic power supply. All of my G5 blues use this mean well power supply. I just got one from Amazon and spliced the 24v side to the ecotec plug.

 

[_AV]

Ugh. I would not put a $20 PSU on an $800 light...
I had a misfortune diagnosing issues with those PSU sent in with the light itself. Extremely poor quality inside and very unstable output.

Meanwell costs so much for a reason. Ecotech had meanwell produce a PSU to their custom specs (longer cord and specific connector), but you can buy a meanwell with the same output specs from a reputable supplier. It will be a bit cheaper, but certainly not $20.

 

[DanyL]

Not silly at all, unfortunately. These PSUs are indeed rated higher than the maximum load, but in a switching PSU the closer you get to that rating, the higher the fault rate. There is no such thing as a cut off, where the life of a PSU becomes somehow magically infinite. It gradually improves the further you are from the maximum rating.

I'm not defending ecotech by any means. And myself am curious about the failure rate. Just relaying my experience here.

Sorry if it appeared to be directed at you, this wasn't my intention but rather a personal frustration from companies that charge premium, blow the money on advertisement but then cheap out on parts.

As for the target error rate at maximum load - the meaningful variable in play here is the maximum sustained load, which depending on the class would result in a vastly different error rate.
Usually for higher quality PSUs, in addition to other safety circuitry, the error rate would also be lowered by overshooting the maximum load, so a PSU with a potential of say 200W maximum load will be labeled as 150W.

 

[_AV]

Sorry if it appeared to be directed at you, this wasn't my intention but rather a personal frustration from companies that charge premium, blow the money on advertisement but then cheap out on parts.

As for the target error rate at maximum load - the meaningful variable in play here is the maximum sustained load, which depending on the class would result in a vastly different error rate.
Usually for higher quality PSUs, in addition to other safety circuitry, the error rate would also be lowered by overshooting the maximum load, so a PSU with a potential of say 200W maximum load will be labeled as 150W.

No argument there. I'd expect meanwell to have a lower failure rate under those conditions.

For the huge output current that these PSUs produce, they are packaged in a very tight case with multiple layers of passive heatsink cooling and no ventilation. On top of that, we usually install them inside of completely closed cabinets with higher than ambient temperature/humidity and little air circulation. And those also become variables.

 

[DanyL]

For the huge output current that these PSUs produce, they are packaged in a very tight case with multiple layers of passive heatsink cooling and no ventilation. On top of that, we usually install them inside of completely closed cabinets with higher than ambient temperature/humidity and little air circulation. And those also become variables.

Agreed. These are big and meaningful factors taken into consideration with higher class PSUs similar to what I linked above. These PSUs come in a beefy, metal package that acts as a heatsink to better dissipate the heat produced during operation, unlike those made from plastic.

For my 5 ReeFi Uno PSUs (which are all high grade, metal packaged PSUs) I built a mounting rail with a large fan attached to pull the hot air through them and outside the cabinet.
Granted, the do get hot and I never measured the temperatures, but it's a good measure nonetheless.

 

[Tamberav]

$181? Man, my words for that are not PG...

 

[_AV]

Here's the derating graph for the meanwell PSU from the datasheet:

Essentially, once the ambient temperature hits 40C, the load must be reduced drastically.
40C is warm, but not completely unattainable inside the cabinet.

 

[oreo54]

The attached photo is the specifications for one unit as best as I can tell. So, what power supply unit would you recommend for, say, three or four Gen 4 light fixtures?

Typical lifespan >62000 hrs..

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/mean-well-usa-inc/HLG-320H-36B/7704041?utm_adgroup=LED%20Drivers&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping_Product_Power%20Supplies%20-%20External%2FInternal%20%28Off-Board%29_NEW&utm_term=&utm_content=LED%20Drivers&gclid=CjwKCAiAuOieBhAIEiwAgjCvck6KXxUc_0DWeUQZA8RXbjTb-cqsH13VmKLYeupIgnlrFzLmdkfYxhoCObUQAvD_BwE

36V 8.9A
$107
IP 67/ 65
7 year warranty.

I have no love or respect for most supplied power supplies inc. ballasts in the current manuf. enviroment.
..................................
The Meanwell GST90 24V above has a 3 yr warranty and $37 at Mouser.
Oddly no 36V ..
At $16 premium over the Chinese "stuff" ..well your call.

40C = 104 F...

 

[_AV]

Oddly no 36V ..

Plenty. GST220 for example

 

[oreo54]

Plenty. GST220 for example

Thanks, just meant in the specific desktop model.

 

[_AV]

Thanks, just meant in the specific desktop model.

Right. 90w @36v would not be a whole lot of output I guess for a meaningful application which would require 36v input.