The Modified Black Box Thread

[Reefs of Space]

I just picked up a phlizon 20" long black box and the blue channel flickers on and off. Bad driver or bad dimmer?

 

[reeferfoxx]

I just picked up a phlizon 20" long black box and the blue channel flickers on and off. Bad driver or bad dimmer?

Sounds like a dimmer.

 

[Reefs of Space]

Sounds like a dimmer.

Ok thanks. I'm going to rewire the blues to the whites dimmer to test it for sure.

 

[Reefs of Space]

It's still happening with the other dimmer, so I tried switching The driver or power supply. Still doing it. It's more like turning off and on slowly rather than flickering, and it only does it when it's turned up more than about 80%. One of the blue leds is out, but there are resistors.

 

[VbReefer]

Have 4x popular grow Wi-Fi boxes.

Regarding lenses.
I removed all 90 degree lenses and couldn't be happier.disco is all but gone. Lost a little intensity but these lights have some power to spare in most cases. I do recommend only pulling the lenses themselves and not the lens cup that surrounds the led .A small slotted screwdriver or pick works great. Only had one or two cups pop off and they pop right back on with no glue needed.

Another recommendation is to encase the entire backside of the dimmers with hot-glue, silicone, or epoxy. Wish I would have done this when brand new.

To anyone that has Wi-Fi boxes that run Wi-Fi schedules and suffer from lights coming on randomly. Double check your schedules but most cases I think it's the dimmers. Easy test is to switch to manual and usually the light will go back to brightness it was stuck on. Turn dimmer a few times till light goes off then turn back on Wi-Fi and it should be fixed temporarily.
Also recommend giving the dimmers a full workout once a week as the seem to get gummed up. For this reason as well as corrosion I'd also recommend mounting 12" or better off the surface. And add fans if inside a closed canopy.

I've just removed 2 of the 6 leads from the Wi-Fi/manual mode switch. The 2 on the Wi-Fi end were the correct ones to leave me with Wi-Fi mode only. Pulled the other end(manual side) first and it left me with manual control only.

Hopeful that this will stop any weird behavior. Will report back.

 

[Benga]

Another recommendation is to encase the entire backside of the dimmers with hot-glue, silicone, or epoxy. Wish I would have done this when brand new.

What does this do? prevent rust or something?

 

[VbReefer]

What does this do? prevent rust or something?

Yes, corrosion.
The dimmers or pontentiometers are known to have issues. Especially when hung low.

They make a spray for old car radio dials that could help restore a smooth transition between the full range of brightness.
but probably best to replace with a quality part if you keep having issues with one.

 

[baldbrah]

how many 395nm UV's are recommended for 1 black box?

 

[reeferfoxx]

how many 395nm UV's are recommended for 1 black box?

I incorporated 2 into my BB.

 

[McPikie]

how many 395nm UV's are recommended for 1 black box?

Depends how many LEDs you have in the blackbox really.

I run a 99 LED unit and have around 6 UVs, along with the 3 UV moonlights

2018-04-27_08-37-39 by Phil Cookson, on Flickr

 

[VbReefer]

Wanted to report back and say that I haven't been having any issues since I disconnected 2 of the 6 leads on the Wi-Fi/Manual switch.
No more waking up in the morning to one light stuck on approx 10% white channel.

 

[JordanM]

Looking for some opinions on the ViparSpectra LED diodes.
I own 4 of the ViparSpectra LED lights and am looking to make some changes. What would you recommend changing on these lights to improve them? The most obvious thing I can see is adding some UV. I have three of these over a 120 Gallon 6 foot long 24" deep tank and one over my 12" deep 2x2' frag tank. I am thinking about removing the lenses on these as well as im starting to see some SPS shadowing and dying in the frag tank. Below are the details on the viparspectra, may also remove some of the 6500K and change them to 20000K as the white channel is very white.

- (55pcs) High Intensity 3W Bridgelux/Epileds LEDs
- Channel one: Violet(420nm), Royal Blue(450nm), Blue(470nm)
- Channel two: Green(520nm), Red(660nm), Neutral White(6500K), Cool White(12000K)

 

[baldbrah]

i also have a viparspectra and i changed all the blues to royal blue and 2 of the royal blues to 395nm UV. I am trying to mimic the SB light layout as I've heard great things about them.

 

[JordanM]

i also have a viparspectra and i changed all the blues to royal blue and 2 of the royal blues to 395nm UV. I am trying to mimic the SB light layout as I've heard great things about them.

Awesome to know you have the same lights and are trying the same things. Do you have SPS? Are you noticing shadowing? What are your settings on? I was running Blues on 60 and Whites at 1 since this is what I have heard worked but then my red planet started turning green so I have now bumped my blues to 65 and whites to 5.

Did you change any of the diodes on your white channels? It seems bumping the whites from 1 to 2 has really made the tank alot whiter and I do like more of the bluer look. Also where did you purchase the UV diodes? I have heard that you want to make sure you get reputable ones so they last awhile. I dont mind opening the light every 8 months to replace them. Do you still have all your 90 degree lenses on?

 

[McPikie]

If you have a look at my previous threads, I changed some of the LEDs on my evergrow white channel for blues/UVs

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/evergrow-2080-led-replacement-re-jig.380197/

 

[NY_Caveman]

Awesome to know you have the same lights and are trying the same things. Do you have SPS? Are you noticing shadowing? What are your settings on? I was running Blues on 60 and Whites at 1 since this is what I have heard worked but then my red planet started turning green so I have now bumped my blues to 65 and whites to 5.

Did you change any of the diodes on your white channels? It seems bumping the whites from 1 to 2 has really made the tank alot whiter and I do like more of the bluer look. Also where did you purchase the UV diodes? I have heard that you want to make sure you get reputable ones so they last awhile. I dont mind opening the light every 8 months to replace them. Do you still have all your 90 degree lenses on?

May be different for those lights, but I know For the SB Reef Lights they recommend no channel at lower than 4%.

“**PWM drivers may not be stable below 4% resulting in flickering. Please do not use any values under 4% unless zero.”

http://sbreeflights.com/WiFi-Ramping-Calculator.xlsx

 

[JordanM]

Thanks for the document. Ive been slowly bring the whites up and have them at 5% currently and blues at 65%.

 

[Owen77]

Hi all, ive read through this thread with interest although a lot of the finer points have gone over my head. I have 3 of the mars aqua 165w lights over my 5' sps dominated tank. I have modified them a little by removing the warm white leds and replacing them with 395nm and 420nm leds. Im quite happy with how it turned out. I did remove the lenses in an attempt to imrove the spread but a quick test with a seneye suggested that I was loosing half the PAR so I put them back on and raised the lights higher.

So looking at the original advert it says they have 60 degree lenses and yet through the whole of this thread I haven't seen 60 degree lenses referred to as the standard for these lights. Is there a way of telling if they are 60 or 90 degree lenses by their appearance? I was thinking of replacing the 60's with 90s and pulling out a few more whites and replcing them with 440nm and 470nm as there is none of them in there at all. Does this sound reasonable?

thanks

 

[Flippers4pups]

As far as telling which lenses are which, Im sorry, I'm not sure.

A few questions:

I run these over my 6ft 125. 3 165w boxes. I'm running them at 12" above water line with all my lenses pulled and I'm getting 300 par at the tops of my rocks with 60% blues and 20% whites. How high up are you hanging yours?

 

[Owen77]

As far as telling which lenses are which, Im sorry, I'm not sure.

A few questions:

I run these over my 6ft 125. 3 165w boxes. I'm running them at 12" above water line with all my lenses pulled and I'm getting 300 par at the tops of my rocks with 60% blues and 20% whites. How high up are you hanging yours?

Hi, I have mine at 12" above the tank now running 100% blue and about 60% white. I haven't tested the par at these settings as I stupidly sold the seneye on - kicking myself for that now. I have two braces on my tank and I'm hoping if I change the stock 60 lenses for 90s I can refuce the shadowing they cause. I've got the bits, just need a few hours of peace to do it.