Steve's LED issues

Schad · Mar 6, 2017

Does anyone have specs for Steve's SemiLeds?? I just got the refugium/scrubber kit from him. It came with a packing slip that says to get installation manual on the products page. There is nothing there. The package I got makes me very nervous. The entire driver is an open circuit board. Called into Steve's today and the kid that answered the phone said " yeah we changed that package and haven't updated it yet." According to the picture it should come with 2 drivers and 2 fans. I got one driver and no fan. I confirmed the wiring with the kid on the phone. Just connected it up, plugged it in, and it blew up in my hand. Now the house has that awesome burnt electronics smell. I cant believe that they would push a product to the aquarium industry with exposed circuits. I was trying to find out from the kid what voltage and amperage these LEDS require. He was unable to tell me. All he was able to tell me is a max voltage of 36v. This seems like a very obscure voltage. I am wondering if anyone has had luck hooking these straight to a power supply. I can buy another driver from Steve's but i'm a little bitter now and really am not comfortable with 120v and some heat shrink protecting it

smokin'reefer · Mar 6, 2017

Yeah, directions were sketchy and scarce on the upgrade for my BC29. Had to source directions from different locations and guess which one was for mine since they had gotten different drivers. 4 hour job turned into 2 days. Just have to trial and error and study all available instructions.

smokin'reefer · Mar 6, 2017

Did you get the transformer?

This breaks it down to the 12 or 24v. Don't remember what mine was. Mine was different application and was last year.

Schad · Mar 7, 2017

I didn't get a transformer. All I got was the driver. That's really the reason I called them. They managed to convince me that this would work. I then asked about the exposed solder everywhere, they told me to wrap it in electrical tape.

smokin'reefer · Mar 7, 2017

I would try to Google the name and model on the driver and see what information you can find out.
I wish I could remember more details and help you out. But I was year and a different setup.
Steve's should do a better job on instructions, but I think they are more of a parts bundlers. Their instructions are like using a Camaro repair manual to fix a Mustang.
This was super challenging to me and I feel your frustration. I had an advantage. I have a tech rat friend that works with LED. He takes video game console and controllers and pumps out with different color LED. This was still pretty challenging for him.
After we got it all together, I really do like it. I have come on reef2reef and not recommended it because of the challenge, but if you're into the challenge, it is a good kit that I got.
Life for me is all about experiences. Growing and learning. Good luck.

Schad · Mar 8, 2017

Ended up finding out that they run at 36v 700ma. The 120v was supposed to go to the two white wires. Everything electronic in my world. Input power is always red and black. Not the case here. Ended up ordering a Mean Well apc-35-700, I'm not "patiently" waiting for it to arrive. Thanks for your input guys. Just wanted to put that out there incase anyone else is looking for the same info.