Viparspectra 165watt, Anyone using these?

[KonradTO]

can anyone tell me which LED and where I can get them from?
The burned up light was at the top#6
So like A6
I’ve seen some on Amazon, but I have no idea what I’m looking for. I have emailed the company multiple times and no answer. Any help would be appreciated

Maybe this helps

LED - Modding Viparspectras - because why not :)

I have this in some of the other threads and thought I would make one posting to just focus on what I have been doing with the viparspectra and document the findings etc. I will just document what I am doing and information concerning the lights and how possible to make it even better than it...

humble.fish

I would say just get a random 3W blue diode, its not gonna make much difference..

 

[Koh23]

Plain 3w led, chinese, really dont matter....

 

[KonradTO]

Since the Vipar does not have any UV you could use this occasion to add a couple of 400nm diodes

 

[Dr. Joe]

This. Thread. Is. Awesome.

I have two Viparspectre 165w on my 90 gallon. My lights are about 7" above the water surface. Before reading this thread, I had mine set at 12% white and 32% blue. Yesterday, I adjusted them to 5% white and 38% blue, and will be ramping up my blue to 50%.

Great to hear about everyone's setup and successes. And big 'thank you' to @icejam for the chart!

Do you have an update on your lights and their settings? My lights are about 7in above the water too

 

[Dr. Joe]

This. Thread. Is. Awesome.

I have two Viparspectre 165w on my 90 gallon. My lights are about 7" above the water surface. Before reading this thread, I had mine set at 12% white and 32% blue. Yesterday, I adjusted them to 5% white and 38% blue, and will be ramping up my blue to 50%.

Great to hear about everyone's setup and successes. And big 'thank you' to @icejam for the chart!

Do you have an update on your lights and their settings? My lights are about 7in above the water too

 

[SPS2020]

I just recently returned my smatfarm led fixture and my Viparspectra came in a few days ago.
I must say, these Viparspectra fixtures are an excellent bang for your buck.
Much better spread and spectrum than the other black box led fixtures, I have tried.
These are comparable to some of the other higher end led fixtures one the market.
Note: I said some of the higher end end fixtures, not all.
There are some very nice high end fixtures on the market, they also come with a high price tag $$$
I suppose it all depends how much your able or can stomach spending on led fixtures.
I also want to mention as your reading though this several page thread, you will need to take some of the information being given with a grain of salt.
Some of it, simply isn’t true.
Ex. Can’t tune each color independently.
Some key takeaways from this thread.
Most all black box led fixtures of this style come with 90* lenses. Viparspectra included.
120* lenses will give you a better spread.
I have 120* lenses on order and when they come in, I will do a side by side with no lenses, 90* lenses and 120* lenses.
I tried removing the 90* lenses on both my Viparspectra and mars aqua black boxes.
I didn’t care for the look, promptly put the 90* lenses back on, just until the 120* lenses come in. I did not care for the look of running these with no lenses. Even my wife told me to put the lenses back on, lol! IMO… Very noticeable difference.
I will have to do some additional testing/comparison but it does not seem that running these without lenses gives the same
Spread as 120* lenses, but when the 120’s come in, we will definitely find out.
I am a systems engineer by trade and will see exactly where this fixture is at with and without the lens options and report back.
I am currently running this fixture on a 210 gallon tank, 6x24x29 tall. ~12” above water line. 3 fixtures across the top.
The Viparspectra fixtures do NOT come with independent color channels like some of the higher end led fixtures do.
You can not independently tune whites, blues, greens, reds, etc.
Viparspectra has 2 channels, whites and blues. That’s it. You can set the intensity of each channel (2 channels total) independently.
When my 120* lenses come in, will follow up.

Curious what you thought about the 120 degree lenses and the height mounted above the water line?

 

[dstockwell]

Update on my lights, local reefer @imperialreef.com help me with the lights, I was running way to strong. So for my 55 now running @ 10 inches above water 25 blue and 2 white.

 

[KonradTO]

Update on my lights, local reefer @imperialreef.com help me with the lights, I was running way to strong. So for my 55 now running @ 10 inches above water 25 blue and 2 white.

These lights are strong. I removed the lenses to decrease intensity and spotlight effect. Now I run them 6 inches above the water and at 70%B 4%W. You might find interesting this

Viparspectra 165W (NO LENSES) vs Kessil A160: Lux comparison

Hi everyone, I am reporting here some tests I did with my led fixtures to compare light intensity (in LUX, not in PAR). My fixtures are 1 Viparspectra 165W (NO LENSES) and 1 Kessil A160WE. ------------ The main aim for me was to understand how to set up the viparspectra for having a light output...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[ikaros70]

Curious what you thought about the 120 degree lenses and the height mounted above the water line?

The 120* lenses arrived and I installed.
Gives better spread. It’s noticeable to the eye, and you definitely see it when taking par measurements. I’m not seeing any “hot spots” with the 120* lenses.
I have my lights mounted 14” above the water line. Mostly due to having a large tank and only 3 Viparspectra’s, I think I could use a 4th across the top of my 210 gallon.
I am going to buy another Viparspectra and will then be able to lower them some.
I am just starting to get corals back in the tank and haven’t mapped out the entire tank yet, just took some initial par measurements and these lights are very strong. You definitely need a par meter to adjust the, if you try doing it by eye, your going to burn **** up.
On my main display (210 gallon, 72L x 24w x 29h). Tall tank). I have the blue channel at 100% and the white channel at 1% (gives a 20k look) I’m from the days halide had a strong hold on the hobby, just like the 20k look.
at the bottom of tank (sand bed), this is giving me about 100 par at the middle of light fixture and about 85 on the edges. I have 3 Viparspectra spread out across the top of the tank, one covers a 24” square.
Once I start getting more corals, I’ll get a 4th Viparspectra for the 210 and lower the lights.
You pretty much need 4 of these across a 6’ tank. This will basically allow me to lower the light some and also lower the intensity of the blue channel. My 210 is just now getting to the end of the “ugly stage” and will be adding another Viparspectra and more corals soon.
Once I do that, I’ll map out my tank with par measurements and post them.

 

[SPS2020]

The 120* lenses arrived and I installed.
Gives better spread. It’s noticeable to the eye, and you definitely see it when taking par measurements. I’m not seeing any “hot spots” with the 120* lenses.
I have my lights mounted 14” above the water line. Mostly due to having a large tank and only 3 Viparspectra’s, I think I could use a 4th across the top of my 210 gallon.
I am going to buy another Viparspectra and will then be able to lower them some.
I am just starting to get corals back in the tank and haven’t mapped out the entire tank yet, just took some initial par measurements and these lights are very strong. You definitely need a par meter to adjust the, if you try doing it by eye, your going to burn **** up.
On my main display (210 gallon, 72L x 24w x 29h). Tall tank). I have the blue channel at 100% and the white channel at 1% (gives a 20k look) I’m from the days halide had a strong hold on the hobby, just like the 20k look.
at the bottom of tank (sand bed), this is giving me about 100 par at the middle of light fixture and about 85 on the edges. I have 3 Viparspectra spread out across the top of the tank, one covers a 24” square.
Once I start getting more corals, I’ll get a 4th Viparspectra for the 210 and lower the lights.
You pretty much need 4 of these across a 6’ tank. This will basically allow me to lower the light some and also lower the intensity of the blue channel. My 210 is just now getting to the end of the “ugly stage” and will be adding another Viparspectra and more corals soon.
Once I do that, I’ll map out my tank with par measurements and post them.

Thank you for the update! I have the 120's on my 300w and it is about 4.5" off the water. Whites are 1% and Blues at 45%. PAR varies, but it is hitting 450+ easily directly under the light in the upper third of the tank. It's a Clarity Plus acrylic tank, so the bracing makes it difficult to get readings with the light so low. I'm going to raise it just bit to see if I can get better spread. There aren't any good mounting options for the tank and suspension from the ceiling isn't possible.

 

[billyocean]

You can mount on the wall and hang as well.

 

[Rp8]

Good day, so I have received the replacement diode, but when I get it in place the blues come on but only a few of the whites dimly light. Everything else works. The timer is on they are turned up. But nothing from the whites. Any help?

 

[Rp8]

And I have checked the other leds they all look fine

 

[Rp8]

Any trouble shooters out there?

 

[oreo54]

Any trouble shooters out there?

Sure...switch the drivers to eliminate them as an issue.

After that you either still have an open diode, bad diode or a voltage " leak" to the circuit board.

You can test the string by putting an amp meter " in line" . See if the driver is putting out 550mA ( common driver, see label on driver)
Also test the voltage across the string.
Should be around 90v ish..

 

[oreo54]

Oh and make sure you didn't put any in backwards....
VOM set to diode or low ohms and you can test each.

 

[Rp8]

Thanks for responding, I only replaced one diode and double checked the drivers. I’ll put a multimeter on it tomorrow. Thanks again

 

[oreo54]

If you swapped drivers and it's the same white channel out..drivers are probably good .
Take the vom across each diode and see if you get( dim) light.
If you go from say negative of the prev diode and plus of the diode you are testing it can show if there is a break in the trace.

Keep in mind it will only light a wee bit

 

[Rp8]

Sounds like this is my problem

 

[Rp8]

No white lights until you get to the blue I replaced. Then dimly lit whites after that for the next 6 white lights then nothing. All the blues work though