RFBF's Five Footer

[redfishbluefish]

I am bothered by the fact that SB Reef Lights hasn't responded to my Customer Service request above....no PCB Board and not a peep from them!!! They supposedly have a good product, but a big part of that also needs to be customer service!! I'm frustrated. So tonight I sent the following, but now using their email address ([email protected]):

I am now starting to become concerned about my order with SB Reef Lights. I sent in a Customer Service query through your website and haven't heard anything back from you. I am now contacting you directly through email. As stated in my first contact, On April 4th I placed an order for two Basic light fixtures and a PCB board. On April 10th I received an email stating the items were shipped, along with a DHL tracking number (9********CN). Every time I checked this number, I got the following message:

"Some of your queries resulted in an error
9********CN (Not found): No result found for your DHL query. Please try again."

On April 13th UPS (Not DHL) delivered two fixtures, but no PCB board.

I continued to check the DHL tracking number, and continue to get the same error message. I have since found out that this is a China DHL tracking number. Is the PCB coming directly from China? If so, why isn't the tracking number working?

I do need to hear back from you. If I don't hear from you by this Wednesday....three weeks after the order, I will be contacting PayPal and my credit card company.

Thank you.

 

[happyhourhero]

I would just call the shop. They will take care of you. 850.898.3707. They are open 7 days a week.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I would just call the shop. They will take care of you. 850.898.3707. They are open 7 days a week.

That's good to know.....so they have no excuse responding to my two requests tomorrow (Sunday). I'm looking forward to it!

 

[redfishbluefish]

Wow! That did it. I just checked my email (Sunday morning at 8AM) and I have a response from SB Reef. They left out two letters from the tracking number....and so it is being shipped directly from China, currently in Chicago with an anticipated delivery on Monday, the 23rd:

Good communication is all it takes!

 

[redfishbluefish]

Three weeks after ordering, PCB board finally arrived. If I didn't have a backup light setup, my corals would have been dead. So anyone interested in ordering from SB Reef, here's my comments:

1. Tell the truth about shipping time. If it's coming from China, tell me it is going to take 3 - 4 weeks.

2. Detail....provide the correct tracking number (and carrier). Also, shipping by two different carries, provide BOTH tracking numbers. I never got the UPS tracking number for the two fixtures...they just arrived.

3. Inventory PCB's here in the USA. The purchase of this item is for a current fixture that has a fried board. These folks ordering this item are most likely looking for a quick turnaround to get the light up and running ASAP. Already having inventory here in the States would be a benefit to the end users.


Now about the PCB board....going into a Mars Aqua fixture: The glass frame area was slightly smaller than the SB fixtures, slightly covering the lenses on the far right and far left LED's. I don't think it's going to be an issue:

 

[Mrx7899]

What do you think of the PCB boards are they worth the upgraded over the stock Mars aqua leds. Thinking of picking up 3 of then to upgrade my lights. Looking for better color when my whites are on they over power the blues when they are on. I'm running viparspectra lights

 

[redfishbluefish]

I've just got them up and running, so I can't say much. However, this is a strange thing I've found....

With the two SB fixtures set at 70% blue, and the Mars (with the SB PCB board), guesstimated at 70% blue, I measured lux. The SB's lux was about 15-16K while the Mars was about 11K. So you think the potentiometer knob isn't calibrated to the SB's pots....that's what I thought. However, when looking at the lights, the Mars was clearly brighter (by the eye), especially noted in the pink/purple LED's (which are also ON when the blues are ON.) The other thing is that the lenses on the PCB board, the sides are translucent, while the SB fixtures are not....virtually no light coming out the sides. So they might have changed lens suppliers. When I took a picture, you can actually see the difference in brightness of the center Mars versus the two outer SB's with the reflection off the back of the canopy. Again, the Mars lux was 11K while the two SB's were 15-16K. I don't know light, but maybe @saltyfilmfolks could comment....are my eyes playing games or is lux of blue-only not accurately measurable. I'm scratching my head on this one.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Finding similar results with all ON, 70% blue / 40% white. Lux are 18.5-19K for the outer fixtures, but only 13.5-14K for the center one....but that one appears "brighter" on the reflection off the back of the canopy. I'm befuddled!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Finding similar results with all ON, 70% blue / 40% white. Lux are 18.5-19K for the outer fixtures, but only 13.5-14K for the center one....but that one appears "brighter" on the reflection off the back of the canopy. I'm befuddled!

A bit befuddled too.

If you can, do a check , at 100% on both channels , Measure the light 12in from the fixture . At peak, it should be in the 40,000 lux range if not slightly higher.

Those are the retro fits? In the mars body?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Ah, and did you meter the old lights ?

 

[Flippers4pups]

I suspect a lens difference between the PCB board and the SB fixtures. Sb's maybe 60-90 degrees and the PCB board at say 120.

@saltyfilmfolks, what do you think?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I suspect a lens difference between the PCB board and the SB fixtures. Sb's maybe 60-90 degrees and the PCB board at say 120.

@saltyfilmfolks, what do you think?

Possible. Yes.
I got 3 brand new last year and metered all at 12in at full. 40k (ish)
So that should be what he’s getting.
If not , there’s an internal prob.

At 1% @ 1:1 ,fwiw, it was about 12k lux.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Possible. Yes.
I got 3 brand new last year and metered all at 12in at full. 40k (ish)
So that should be what he’s getting.
If not , there’s an internal prob.

At 1% @ 1:1 ,fwiw, it was about 12k lux.

I'm not an expert on these lights, but I think there's a potentiometer for these that governs the output. I think I've seen pictures of it somewhere. The Mars may have a lower setting than the SB, Thus the difference in output. That's if the lenses are equal across the boards.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Didn't meter the old lights, but did meter the Fathom temporary fixtures....about 25K lux.

The two outer fixtures are SB Reef Basic fixtures while the center fixture is a Mars Aqua with an SB Reef PCB replacement board. It clearly is not the same board that is in the fixture, in that light comes through the sides of the lenses. This bothers me because I was under the assumption that I would more or less have three SB lights.

I did what @saltyfilmfolks folks suggested, with all fixtures at 100% at both channels. What I found was about 46K on each of the SB fixtures, but only 30K on the Mars with the SB PCB board. I think what is happening is that the lenses are not focusing the light, as much is sent out the sides. I tried getting a picture, but you can't see what I'm talking about in a picture....the sides of the lenses are transparent....light comes through. But with the actual SB fixtures, no light escapes through the sides of the lenses. THEY AREN'T SELLING THE SAME PCB BOARD AS WHAT IS IN THEIR FIXTURES!!!! Maybe the same beads, but not the same lenses.

A picture of all channels at 100 percent...and again, light scatter on the center fixture on the back canopy wall:

I'm ticked at SB.....should have gone with a less expensive black box so I'd have three of the same! I'm shooting them an email to see what they say.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Didn't meter the old lights, but did meter the Fathom temporary fixtures....about 25K lux.

The two outer fixtures are SB Reef Basic fixtures while the center fixture is a Mars Aqua with an SB Reef PCB replacement board. It clearly is not the same board that is in the fixture, in that light comes through the sides of the lenses. This bothers me because I was under the assumption that I would more or less have three SB lights.

I did what @saltyfilmfolks folks suggested, with all fixtures at 100% at both channels. What I found was about 46K on each of the SB fixtures, but only 30K on the Mars with the SB PCB board. I think what is happening is that the lenses are not focusing the light, as much is sent out the sides. I tried getting a picture, but you can't see what I'm talking about in a picture....the sides of the lenses are transparent....light comes through. But with the actual SB fixtures, no light escapes through the sides of the lenses. THEY AREN'T SELLING THE SAME PCB BOARD AS WHAT IS IN THEIR FIXTURES!!!! Maybe the same beads, but not the same lenses.

A picture of all channels at 100 percent...and again, light scatter on the center fixture on the back canopy wall:

I'm ticked at SB.....should have gone with a less expensive black box so I'd have three of the same! I'm shooting them an email to see what they say.

Ugg.

So the board only light , it (the lenses ) looks visually different from the other two?

It should look differnt if the lenses are different.

If they are the same , I’d suspect aging parts , bad connection or a very technical thinga m jiggy is not frampaning the doo dad

 

[Flippers4pups]

I'd say lenses. I would be not happy as well over the whole thing, but there's a way to see if they can be equalled out.

Requires taking them apart.

Take all lenses off all lights and measure the output.

Or

Take equal amounts of lenses from each board and swap them across all boards.

Can hurt now. Me personally, I like the lenses pulled on my units. Better light blending. That's just me.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Difficult to get a picture showing the difference in lenses because the light floods the camera. This is the best I could do. Here are the lenses in the fixture with no light coming out the sides of the lenses:

And here are the lenses on the PCB board, with light scatter coming out the sides of all lenses:

 

[redfishbluefish]

Here's what I just sent SB Reef Lights:

I received the new PCB board and was surprised to see that it does not have the same lenses as what was in the two SB fixtures I've purchased. The PCB board went into a Mars Aqua body. Once I turned on all three fixtures, it was clear that the lenses in the PCB board were not the same as what was in the fixtures. The lenses in the PCB board are transparent around their sides, allowing light to diffuse out the sides. It is clearly seen in the attached picture, where you can see the center fixture scattering the light in all directions, lighting up the back of the canopy. In addition, with all channels at 100 percent, the two SB fixtures had LUX measurements of up to 46K, while the SB PCB board only max'ed out at 30K. I would greatly appreciate it if you could send me replacement lenses that match the ones uses in your fixtures.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Lol. Reefers.
You can turn the lights off.


So they are visually different?

;Facepalm

No head hitting desk emoji.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I'd say lenses. I would be not happy as well over the whole thing, but there's a way to see if they can be equalled out.

Requires taking them apart.

Take all lenses off all lights and measure the output.

Or

Take equal amounts of lenses from each board and swap them across all boards.

Can hurt now. Me personally, I like the lenses pulled on my units. Better light blending. That's just me.

The other thing I could do to verify, and probably easier, is to simply switch PCB boards. Although I'm very confident that the scatter in the PCB lenses is what is causing the major difference.