How noisy is the G5 Radion XR30 Blue version ?

[poidog]

I don't get where all these complaints about noisy fans are coming from unless very early batches had bad fans. Mine were made in April 2020 and the fans are very quiet. They run at 90% intensity and at the peak they kick on high power about every 30 min for 5 minutes or so and you can barely hear it unless you're really listening... sounds just like the a/c is blowing. Here are some dB readings I did a while back:

Here are the decibel readings with 1 x XR30 G5 Blue running (a/c and house fans/filters turned off), max fan speed set to 100%:

• Ambient noise in quietest room in house (bedroom on other side of house): 29.5
• Ambient noise in living/kitchen room 20 ft from tank: 36.5
• 10 ft away from tank: 39.5
• 5 ft away from tank: 41.3
• 1 ft away from tank: 45
• literally right next to the fan exhaust: 49.7

 

[Timo‘s Riff]

I have two XR30 blues and I can't hear them at all very pleased how quite they are.

On which intensity level do you run them? Can’t believe that you can not hear the fans when the light is pushed near max.

 

[Timo‘s Riff]

I don't get where all these complaints about noisy fans are coming from unless very early batches had bad fans. Mine were made in April 2020 and the fans are very quiet. They run at 90% intensity and at the peak they kick on high power about every 30 min for 5 minutes or so and you can barely hear it unless you're really listening... sounds just like the a/c is blowing. Here are some dB readings I did a while back:

Here are the decibel readings with 1 x XR30 G5 Blue running (a/c and house fans/filters turned off), max fan speed set to 100%:

• Ambient noise in quietest room in house (bedroom on other side of house): 29.5
• Ambient noise in living/kitchen room 20 ft from tank: 36.5
• 10 ft away from tank: 39.5
• 5 ft away from tank: 41.3
• 1 ft away from tank: 45
• literally right next to the fan exhaust: 49.7

Sorry mate. Did not recognize your already stated intensity value.

but nevertheless. My previos GHL Mitras LX7 where dead silent. Yes, they have in my point of view thermal management problem (they turn down performance above 60Degree Celcius and you get poor PAR output then) but the fans are not perceptible

 

[Timo‘s Riff]

Does not help. My wife already banned the Radions. So I had to switch back to my GHL Mitras 7x

 

[Rando]

the fans of our four blue lamps are still very loud and every evening when the lights go out and the fans are silent, joy comes here! unbearable the roar of these cheap things !!

 

[Timo‘s Riff]

I´ve switched back to the GHL Mitras LX7. What a silence... Modified for hours the Power Balance Settings outside the tank on a test installation with a seneye to measure the PAR. Get an output now near the G5s. Money saved (Fans at 100% incl. the additional cooling fans I´ve installed - and its far more quiet as the Radions)

 

[SoAg Reefer]

Maybe there was a bad batch. Im seeing and reading lots of complaints from people in Europe on noise, performance, color and quality. Not sure if it's related or not not seeing nearly those complaints in the US. My experience is that the light is not blue like people would think but is well made, performs great and is very silent. I run mine at 70%

 

[poidog]

Maybe there was a bad batch. Im seeing and reading lots of complaints from people in Europe on noise, performance, color and quality. Not sure if it's related or not not seeing nearly those complaints in the US. My experience is that the light is not blue like people would think but is well made, performs great and is very silent. I run mine at 70%

I was going to say the same thing... most of the fan noise complaints are coming from Europe. I'm thinking bad batch of fans that was on the export pallet? When my fan kicks on max speed, you can hear it, but its not bad and it shuts off in a few minutes not to turn back on again until maybe an hour or so.

 

[Timo‘s Riff]

Maybe there was a bad batch. Im seeing and reading lots of complaints from people in Europe on noise, performance, color and quality. Not sure if it's related or not not seeing nearly those complaints in the US. My experience is that the light is not blue like people would think but is well made, performs great and is very silent. I run mine at 70%

Maybe? But if this is the point, Ecotech should really, really act fast and start a replacement program.

 

[SoAg Reefer]

Ecotech is many things, but customer service oriented is not one of them. They’ve handled things very poorly this year with all blame Pointed towards Covid-19 yet many other companies operate just fine. I would hold ur breath on any solutions

 

[Hydrored]

I run 5 XR30's and my wife complains about the fans all the time, the tank is in the living room. All of them ramp really fast and drop pretty quickly. I think they need to be at more of a steady silent state. No reason why they should all ramp crazy high then drop

 

[TerraFerma]

For me - at 50% it's acceptably quiet. At 100% you hear the fan pretty good. They don't have very large heat sinks so the fan has to work pretty hard when your running them high.

 

[Rando]

ecotech is not interested in it! otherwise one would take a stand here! I once had a similar problem with an ATI hybrid lamp. The fans there were so unbearably loud. A quick phone call and I was immediately sent new fans! that's how it usually works!

 

[TerraFerma]

To be fair the Radion is meant to have the option of being mounted on the tank. That's only possible because the fixture weighs 2.2lbs. Aluminum heat sinks are actually quite heavy (see the Philips Coral Care at 15lbs, GHL Mitras at 5lbs...none of these can be tank mounted).

As such the fan on the Radion is always going to have to work harder at higher output. That said they could replace one big fan cranking at 100% with 4 smaller fans maxing at 50% and that would help a lot.

 

[RC Reefer 5184]

I am running 4 gen 5 blues over my 320 gallon. Running ab+ at about 40% and can’t hear them at all. Very happy with them so far and the light spread is really good.

 

[Timo‘s Riff]

I am running 4 gen 5 blues over my 320 gallon. Running ab+ at about 40% and can’t hear them at all. Very happy with them so far and the light spread is really good.

Yeah but 40% is really nothing for a heavy SPS stocked tank...

 

[Naturalreef]

To be fair the Radion is meant to have the option of being mounted on the tank. That's only possible because the fixture weighs 2.2lbs. Aluminum heat sinks are actually quite heavy (see the Philips Coral Care at 15lbs, GHL Mitras at 5lbs...none of these can be tank mounted).

As such the fan on the Radion is always going to have to work harder at higher output. That said they could replace one big fan cranking at 100% with 4 smaller fans maxing at 50% and that would help a lot.

My old G4 pro’s were silent compared to the G5. Its when they decided to print their own fan design that the noise started and has become the most noisy component of my aquarium.

 

[baker5322]

Currently I am running four Kessil 360X and the fan noise level on all four units are not that loud.

How noisy is the G5 Radion XR30 blue version?

If I get 3 G5 Radion XR30 blue units, how noisy will all 3 units be?

If you have Kessil 360X in the past and is currently using the G5 Radion, how is the fan noise comparing these two lights?

I just bought one and kind of hate it for the noise. I regret buying. They would be okay if used in a garage or somewhere not around where you sit.

 

[BigMax]

I don't get where all these complaints about noisy fans are coming from unless very early batches had bad fans. Mine were made in April 2020 and the fans are very quiet. They run at 90% intensity and at the peak they kick on high power about every 30 min for 5 minutes or so and you can barely hear it unless you're really listening... sounds just like the a/c is blowing. Here are some dB readings I did a while back:

Here are the decibel readings with 1 x XR30 G5 Blue running (a/c and house fans/filters turned off), max fan speed set to 100%:

• Ambient noise in quietest room in house (bedroom on other side of house): 29.5
• Ambient noise in living/kitchen room 20 ft from tank: 36.5
• 10 ft away from tank: 39.5
• 5 ft away from tank: 41.3
• 1 ft away from tank: 45
• literally right next to the fan exhaust: 49.7

Every 3 dB is a doubling in sound pressure level. (A 20 dB sound is 10 times louder than a 10 dB sound. The level of noise in a quiet bedroom, 30 dB, is 100 times louder than 10 dB. And 40 dB is 1,000 times louder than 10 dB). However, as you say it is still relatively low, and if it's perceived as white noise, such as AC, it will not be irritating.

 

[Ross Petersen]

Have a new XR15 Pro and the fan noise, when running anywhere from 50-100%, is VERY noticeable. A loud whisper. The fans are on approximately 20% of the day as well...