Bato367
Active Member
I wanted to post my experience and thoughts on this light in hopes of helping others looking into upgrading etc.
Bottom line: Experience not the best. Light is fantastic.
Ordered the light in February and if I remember correctly it took about 4 weeks for delivery. Not a big deal however as I asked Nanobox to hold off on it while I was deciding if I should ditch the stock hood or not (ditching the hood would have required me to purchase a different light). I decided to keep the stock hood as I have kids, a dog, and lots of dust in the summers. I was just getting all of my equipment and setting things up slowly so the delivery timeframe wasn't an issue for me. I didn't mind. They did refund the $15 some odd dollars on their own account because it took so long though. Wasn't completely necessary but appreciated nonetheless.
Received the light and started my install. No instructions come with the light, however there are some videos that show an install on a JBJ on the Nanobox website. The heatsink and driver board requires some plastic spacers and screws that do not come in the kit. Plan on a hardware store run and $10-20 in miscellaneous small parts.
I installed the Bluefish app on a my phone and had some hiccups with the initial 'blinkup' process but it eventually took and was working. So I installed the hood on the tank and my initial reaction was that it was just 'ok'. There was no real "wow" factor initially. It looked very white and no matter what settings I set them on, the colors just never quite looked right.
So a month or so went by of use before I started really tinkering with it. This is when I noticed the White/Mint and the Royal Blue channels were reversed!
So I emailed Nanobox and they responded in a reasonable time, day or so. They apologized as they built 30+ units that week and suggested that I rename the channels within the app on my phone. They assured me the lights would be fine running on different drivers. So, I renamed the channels but the app wouldn't let me recolor the corresponding channel with a custom color. An app glitch. A workaround I found was to copy the RBG color code, go back into the renaming screen and paste that color code, then the app would successfully recolor the channel.
Ok so all is well and I run that like this for another month or so and realize this:
Sure we renamed the channels but the white/mint and royal blue LED's are powered by different drivers! The White/Mint were wired to a 1,000 mA driver and the Royal Blues were wired to a 350 mA driver. Thus, if I set the Whites to say 25%, they are getting 250 mA of power and the Royal Blues set to 50%, were getting a measly 175 mA of power! In general, you would want your blues to whites at a 2:1 ratio. Big difference.
This is why my light never looked quite right! Also, whenever I used the factory SPS, LPS, or Mixed Reef Light settings, it would flip my channels back and I would have to manually go in a change them.
So about two weeks ago, I emailed Nanobox and said 'how do I make this right'? They mailed me some electrical connectors to swap the wires with. I asked what wires needed swapped or provide me with a wiring diagram or something; I have not heard back.
So today I got tired of waiting on a diagram and used their photos off of their website to rewire my $365 light. Instead of using the connectors I used a solder gun to just swap the wires on the board. Wasn't a huge deal, but still took a few hours from start to finish.
Also while doing this work today, I also realized the White/Mint channel is just the whites. The mint LEDS are on a channel labeled "moonlight". Confusing details. I renamed those within the app so those should be ok.
Mistakes happen. I really just wished they could have just sent a replacement unit to swap out and I would've sent that one back.
Oh well, it's done and light is working great. It looks much better now and maybe I will even see some improvements in my critters...Come to think of it, maybe this why my BTA isn't doing great...
----I swapped the brown/white with the blue/white wires. See below.
One other thing, with the retro kit, the light fan (and hood fans) runs 24/7, regardless if the lights are on or not. This was done so users don't leave the fan off and overheat a light unit. The fan power isn't adjustable either, 100% all times. If I want my hood fans to run separately, I would need another power supply and a timer. So, I just let them all run 24/7. You would think with all of that programmable functionality, that you could turn the power off to the fan circuit. Not the retro unit.
I still recommend the light, maybe. I think it's built with quality components but I hope the app continues to improve overtime and the details with the product can be fine tuned. What I am most irked about is that I was told "it was OK". No it isn't. Having different lights run at different amperages isnt OK. That's a big discrepancy. Sure the lights turn on and off, but it's not right. I feel swept under a rug and like I wasn't smart enough to unravel the mistake. And then to not even get so much as a wiring diagram, left to fix it myself. Frustrating.
I just hope your experience goes better than mine. If you don't have a hood, your options are wide open. Anyways, hope this experience/review helps in your lighting/LED decisions.
Bottom line: Experience not the best. Light is fantastic.
Ordered the light in February and if I remember correctly it took about 4 weeks for delivery. Not a big deal however as I asked Nanobox to hold off on it while I was deciding if I should ditch the stock hood or not (ditching the hood would have required me to purchase a different light). I decided to keep the stock hood as I have kids, a dog, and lots of dust in the summers. I was just getting all of my equipment and setting things up slowly so the delivery timeframe wasn't an issue for me. I didn't mind. They did refund the $15 some odd dollars on their own account because it took so long though. Wasn't completely necessary but appreciated nonetheless.
Received the light and started my install. No instructions come with the light, however there are some videos that show an install on a JBJ on the Nanobox website. The heatsink and driver board requires some plastic spacers and screws that do not come in the kit. Plan on a hardware store run and $10-20 in miscellaneous small parts.
I installed the Bluefish app on a my phone and had some hiccups with the initial 'blinkup' process but it eventually took and was working. So I installed the hood on the tank and my initial reaction was that it was just 'ok'. There was no real "wow" factor initially. It looked very white and no matter what settings I set them on, the colors just never quite looked right.
So a month or so went by of use before I started really tinkering with it. This is when I noticed the White/Mint and the Royal Blue channels were reversed!
So I emailed Nanobox and they responded in a reasonable time, day or so. They apologized as they built 30+ units that week and suggested that I rename the channels within the app on my phone. They assured me the lights would be fine running on different drivers. So, I renamed the channels but the app wouldn't let me recolor the corresponding channel with a custom color. An app glitch. A workaround I found was to copy the RBG color code, go back into the renaming screen and paste that color code, then the app would successfully recolor the channel.
Ok so all is well and I run that like this for another month or so and realize this:
Sure we renamed the channels but the white/mint and royal blue LED's are powered by different drivers! The White/Mint were wired to a 1,000 mA driver and the Royal Blues were wired to a 350 mA driver. Thus, if I set the Whites to say 25%, they are getting 250 mA of power and the Royal Blues set to 50%, were getting a measly 175 mA of power! In general, you would want your blues to whites at a 2:1 ratio. Big difference.
This is why my light never looked quite right! Also, whenever I used the factory SPS, LPS, or Mixed Reef Light settings, it would flip my channels back and I would have to manually go in a change them.
So about two weeks ago, I emailed Nanobox and said 'how do I make this right'? They mailed me some electrical connectors to swap the wires with. I asked what wires needed swapped or provide me with a wiring diagram or something; I have not heard back.
So today I got tired of waiting on a diagram and used their photos off of their website to rewire my $365 light. Instead of using the connectors I used a solder gun to just swap the wires on the board. Wasn't a huge deal, but still took a few hours from start to finish.
Also while doing this work today, I also realized the White/Mint channel is just the whites. The mint LEDS are on a channel labeled "moonlight". Confusing details. I renamed those within the app so those should be ok.
Mistakes happen. I really just wished they could have just sent a replacement unit to swap out and I would've sent that one back.
Oh well, it's done and light is working great. It looks much better now and maybe I will even see some improvements in my critters...Come to think of it, maybe this why my BTA isn't doing great...
----I swapped the brown/white with the blue/white wires. See below.
One other thing, with the retro kit, the light fan (and hood fans) runs 24/7, regardless if the lights are on or not. This was done so users don't leave the fan off and overheat a light unit. The fan power isn't adjustable either, 100% all times. If I want my hood fans to run separately, I would need another power supply and a timer. So, I just let them all run 24/7. You would think with all of that programmable functionality, that you could turn the power off to the fan circuit. Not the retro unit.
I still recommend the light, maybe. I think it's built with quality components but I hope the app continues to improve overtime and the details with the product can be fine tuned. What I am most irked about is that I was told "it was OK". No it isn't. Having different lights run at different amperages isnt OK. That's a big discrepancy. Sure the lights turn on and off, but it's not right. I feel swept under a rug and like I wasn't smart enough to unravel the mistake. And then to not even get so much as a wiring diagram, left to fix it myself. Frustrating.
I just hope your experience goes better than mine. If you don't have a hood, your options are wide open. Anyways, hope this experience/review helps in your lighting/LED decisions.
