Sealife Surge LED's

[Louie D.]

Hi folks,
I purchased a 36 inch "Sealife Surge LED" light back in 2014. It's worked pretty well for me in my mixed reef, however, I just recently ran into an issue where the blue leds are flickering. The light runs off of 2 seperate drivers/power supplys. When I swap drivers, the issue follows driver/power supply. I assume it's a faulty driver or wire, but I cant seem to trace it. Anyone out there have one of these lights and if so, any similar issue or advice on how to fix it? Appreicate any help or ideas.
Thanks!!!

 

[Awesome Dennis]

What's the driver look like?

 

[pjb9166]

I have to look.. I still might have a brand new one I got as a replacement. Thought there was something wrong with my fixture when I received it. Wound up being one of the plugs wasn't plugged in at the manufacturer. Can't promise, but I'll take a look.

 

[Louie D.]

Awesome. Thanks for the feedback guys. Meanwhile, heres a few pictures of the driver that seems to have the problem.





There are 2 ballasts. One for white and one for blue, but when I swap the connectors the problem still persists (blue lights still flicker).

Below is one of the ballasts with the cover removed, looks like “well-lit” is the manufacturer but can’t find a replacement ballast on their website. Both ballasts have the same markings but one controls the blue and the other the white.

 

[Louie D.]

Awesome. Thanks for the feedback guys. Meanwhile, heres a few pictures of the driver that seems to have the problem.





There are 2 ballasts. One for white and one for blue, but when I swap the connectors the problem still persists (blue lights still flicker).


Below is one of the ballasts with the cover removed, looks like “well-lit” is the manufacturer but can’t find a replacement ballast on their website. Both ballasts have the same markings but one controls the blue and the other the white.

 

[pjb9166]

Awesome. Thanks for the feedback guys. Meanwhile, heres a few pictures of the driver that seems to have the problem.

You know there can be a loose connection. It one of your solder joints could be cracked. Do you have dials of digital for the two channels?





There are 2 ballasts. One for white and one for blue, but when I swap the connectors the problem still persists (blue lights still flicker).

Below is one of the ballasts with the cover removed, looks like “well-lit” is the manufacturer but can’t find a replacement ballast on their website. Both ballasts have the same markings but one controls the blue and the other the white.

 

[Louie D.]

 

[pjb9166]

@Louie D.

Hey.. I just wanted to get back to you. I'm sorry I couldn't find that starter/ballast... We moved back in 2017. I think I probably thrown it away at that time.. I'm really sorry I couldn't help you out.

 

[Mike_Diako]

The pictures you posted aren't showing up. For me at least. Are the fixtures dimmable? If the blue channel does it with either of the drivers I that would lead me to believe that the driver isn't the issue. I think the next step would be to check each individual diode to make sure they're working. You could have a corroded connection too due to salt creep. That could potentially raise the resistance of the circuit just high enough to overdrive the driver which would cause it to flash.

 

[Louie D.]

@Louie D.

Hey.. I just wanted to get back to you. I'm sorry I couldn't find that starter/ballast... We moved back in 2017. I think I probably thrown it away at that time.. I'm really sorry I couldn't help you out.

Thanks for checking and getting back to me. I appreciate the effort.

 

[Louie D.]

The pictures you posted aren't showing up. For me at least. Are the fixtures dimmable? If the blue channel does it with either of the drivers I that would lead me to believe that the driver isn't the issue. I think the next step would be to check each individual diode to make sure they're working. You could have a corroded connection too due to salt creep. That could potentially raise the resistance of the circuit just high enough to overdrive the driver which would cause it to flash.

Yeah sorry about the pictures. Not sure what happened there but I’ll try posting them again. The fixtures are dimmable and when I swap the drivers the issue follows the driver. In the driver there are actually 3 ballasts. 1 is for the whites, 1 is for the blues and the last is for the moons. I’m still troubleshooting, but got a lead on some spare ballasts at a LFS that bought up the inventory from where I purchased this light.

 

[Louie D.]

Hey guys, I picked up a used driver from Max Reef in Bridgeport. They bought up the left over inventory from The Coral Reef (where I got the light originally). Must have been a fault with the blue driver cause the blues now work just fine in my light. However....now my moon lights dont work. So, Im going to try and swap out the moon balast on this unit I picked up with the moon balast from the original driver. Wish me luck. Also, not sure what happened to the photos I added, most likely user error, but I'm giving it a shot just so you guys can see what I'm talking about. As I mentioned above, there are 2 drivers, one for each half of the light.

Here's the original driver/housing:

Here's the internal balasts:

and here's the light itself:

 

[Mike_Diako]

Those look very similar to the ballasts in many of the black box LED fixtures. Glad you fixed the issue. In regards to the moon light, I can't help but laugh, my light did the same thing last time i took it apart, The 4 pin Molex connector in mine came unplugged from inside the driver. It's probably something simple. Good luck.

 

[Louie D.]

Those look very similar to the ballasts in many of the black box LED fixtures. Glad you fixed the issue. In regards to the moon light, I can't help but laugh, my light did the same thing last time i took it apart, The 4 pin Molex connector in mine came unplugged from inside the driver. It's probably something simple. Good luck.

Thanks! Fingures crossed, I'll give it a go this evening.