FixReef is now also on YouTube!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMAmpCr_0gSwhmTNGzXTPtg
Enjoy this repair, now in HD
It has been awhile since my last repair article. And for a good reason, you guys have been keeping me busy with the repairs. Thank you.
Let's take a short break from picking on Neptune Apex and spend some quality time with another hobby darling: Ecotech.
In this repair I'll tackle "the impossible". A fellow reefer sent me this Radion XR30 G3 Pro.
The light was not working of course, but it also had this label attached to the face plate:
The sticker on the light reads: "This part is water damaged and can not be used. The part has been disabled for safety reasons".
The history of this light is that, when it failed, the owner sent it in to Ecotech for a after warranty repair. The light came back with this sticker on it and an offer of a tiny discount towards a brand new $800+ G5. So the reefer came to me for... a second opinion.
So let's open it up and find out everything about that water damage!
Here's what the light looked like on the inside:
Nothing criminal (yet) on the surface. How about the other side?
You know, I'm starting to think someone is pulling my leg here. I wish my own lights looked this good!
How about some good old microscope inspection?
That's right. The USB connector above, which is usually exposed to the exterior and rusts out the first, looks brand new with the original shine to it.
I have not seen a G3 in this perfect of a condition before.
The only slight corrosion was around the battery on the board. And even that was not at all bad and certainly wouldn't have cause the light to shut down:
But... alright. So if it's not water damage, then what is actually wrong with this light?
It's time to examine the LED modules.
It turns out that both modules had the most common issue with Radions: a couple of UV LEDs shorted/burned out, plus one or two white LEDs bad as well.
Any chance that replacing those LEDs will fix the light?
Cleaning up and prepping the LED pads on the modules:
It's time to get some brand new replacements:
Replaced all the LED and they even seem to work:
Great. All the bad LEDs have been replaced. It took some effort, but will it actually get the light to work again?
Hey, so far soo good. But I can't fully test this light with no active cooling.
Let's reassemble the light and give it another try.
Always a good idea to put high quality thermal grease where it belongs:
But will the light work at full intensity?
Oh yeah! Not only does it lit up, but it stays at 100% intensity with the cooling running. I also replaced the broken fan while I was at it.
And now the light is fully functional once again.
The biggest mystery of this repair turned out to be the red sticker, presumably from Ecotech service department.
This light was the furthest thing from a water damaged unit. Want to see true water damaged Radion? Head over to my youtube channel and check out this video for an example.
Moreover, the problem was limited to some burned out individual LEDs.
What happened here is that Ecotech assumes all older lights to have "water damage" based solely on the fact that they are old and potentially have been hanging over water for a couple of years. Manufacturer repair service is limited to whole assembly replacement only, which in case of Radion is essentially the main board, LED pucks and the fan. After some time, Ecotech can no longer stock those complete assemblies for older lights, at which point they can no longer repair them and deem them "water damaged" for a reason I can't agree with or endorse. Based on this repair, I'm not sure if Ecotech even opened up the light.
The goal of this article is to bring issues like this to light and also demonstrate that the repair is still quite possible and actually economical in most cases.
But for today, this light is happy again. I will let the owner decide what to do with the red sticker.
Coming soon, among other things:
- Repair of an exotic $500 Royal Exclusiv Red Dragon skimmer controller
- Brain surgery of an Apex DOS or what to do if the CPU burned from the inside
So stay tuned, subscribe to the channel and these articles, but most importantly - enjoy the hobby.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMAmpCr_0gSwhmTNGzXTPtg
Enjoy this repair, now in HD
It has been awhile since my last repair article. And for a good reason, you guys have been keeping me busy with the repairs. Thank you.
Let's take a short break from picking on Neptune Apex and spend some quality time with another hobby darling: Ecotech.
In this repair I'll tackle "the impossible". A fellow reefer sent me this Radion XR30 G3 Pro.
The light was not working of course, but it also had this label attached to the face plate:
The sticker on the light reads: "This part is water damaged and can not be used. The part has been disabled for safety reasons".
The history of this light is that, when it failed, the owner sent it in to Ecotech for a after warranty repair. The light came back with this sticker on it and an offer of a tiny discount towards a brand new $800+ G5. So the reefer came to me for... a second opinion.
So let's open it up and find out everything about that water damage!
Here's what the light looked like on the inside:
Nothing criminal (yet) on the surface. How about the other side?
You know, I'm starting to think someone is pulling my leg here. I wish my own lights looked this good!
How about some good old microscope inspection?
That's right. The USB connector above, which is usually exposed to the exterior and rusts out the first, looks brand new with the original shine to it.
I have not seen a G3 in this perfect of a condition before.
The only slight corrosion was around the battery on the board. And even that was not at all bad and certainly wouldn't have cause the light to shut down:
But... alright. So if it's not water damage, then what is actually wrong with this light?
It's time to examine the LED modules.
It turns out that both modules had the most common issue with Radions: a couple of UV LEDs shorted/burned out, plus one or two white LEDs bad as well.
Any chance that replacing those LEDs will fix the light?
Cleaning up and prepping the LED pads on the modules:
It's time to get some brand new replacements:
Replaced all the LED and they even seem to work:
Great. All the bad LEDs have been replaced. It took some effort, but will it actually get the light to work again?
Hey, so far soo good. But I can't fully test this light with no active cooling.
Let's reassemble the light and give it another try.
Always a good idea to put high quality thermal grease where it belongs:
But will the light work at full intensity?
Oh yeah! Not only does it lit up, but it stays at 100% intensity with the cooling running. I also replaced the broken fan while I was at it.
And now the light is fully functional once again.
The biggest mystery of this repair turned out to be the red sticker, presumably from Ecotech service department.
This light was the furthest thing from a water damaged unit. Want to see true water damaged Radion? Head over to my youtube channel and check out this video for an example.
Moreover, the problem was limited to some burned out individual LEDs.
What happened here is that Ecotech assumes all older lights to have "water damage" based solely on the fact that they are old and potentially have been hanging over water for a couple of years. Manufacturer repair service is limited to whole assembly replacement only, which in case of Radion is essentially the main board, LED pucks and the fan. After some time, Ecotech can no longer stock those complete assemblies for older lights, at which point they can no longer repair them and deem them "water damaged" for a reason I can't agree with or endorse. Based on this repair, I'm not sure if Ecotech even opened up the light.
The goal of this article is to bring issues like this to light and also demonstrate that the repair is still quite possible and actually economical in most cases.
But for today, this light is happy again. I will let the owner decide what to do with the red sticker.
Coming soon, among other things:
- Repair of an exotic $500 Royal Exclusiv Red Dragon skimmer controller
- Brain surgery of an Apex DOS or what to do if the CPU burned from the inside
So stay tuned, subscribe to the channel and these articles, but most importantly - enjoy the hobby.
