Maxspect LED owners!!!

[gambitcobra]

yes crank2211, on all 4 of my units the rails all sit kinda bent inwards. small flaw but they work!

[wydchr]

From what I can gather the LEDs on the star shaped bases are quite susceptible to excessive heat and much care needs to be taken if soldering/resoldering.

@gambitcobra:I see you have already done some soldering, did you have any problems at all?

Looking forward to the pics crank2211

David.

[gambitcobra]

nope none at all, its super easy!

[wydchr]

Excellent, well that's good to know. Have you 'upgraded' your LEDs to the Crees then?

[crank2211]

Hard to get a decent night shot with moonlights.. Here's the best I could do. I think this was an 8 second exposure.. 4x 1w blue moonlight I believe.

Not quite such a deep deep royal blue in real life, It's a smidge whiter. Very clean looking with beautiful shimmer. Next time I'll try to get some of the sand from above to give me a white reference once I find my tripod.

[Bouncer]

gambitcobra,
Are you running your Maxspects in a open top canopy or does it have a lid? Also, what's the depth of your bow? Thanks!

[garrett_ta2000]

I just reacently heard of Maxspect. Can a 160w support sps corals in my 125gal. (6ft long) as well as my 250w hqi? If not is there a model that can. . .My tank is going to be sps dominated and I'd really like to go LED.

[Wijic]

Originally Posted by garrett_ta2000

I just reacently heard of Maxspect. Can a 160w support sps corals in my 125gal. (6ft long) as well as my 250w hqi? If not is there a model that can. . .My tank is going to be sps dominated and I'd really like to go LED.

I believe in PAR tests the 160w was comparable to a 250w MH, so you should be able to swap over without problems. For a tank that long, you'll need three units to cover it fully.

[enduserferg]

I got mine last night, and I do have to agree the rails are bent inward. Mine came in with no bent fans (G2170), and everything seemed to be fine, the one thing i did notice was in the morning the time had not changed from what i put in last night (I got in late though). I did not have time to play with it much last night or this morning. I'll have to take a look at it when i get home, any one have this happen to them? is it just me not pressing some final button?

Also it said to peel off protective plastic from the shield before using the unit, for the life of me i could not see, feel, or peel any type of protective plastic on the acrylic shield.

[BFG]

Originally Posted by crank2211

The only con I see so far is the mounting rails built into the fixture to accept the legs are bent inwards a bit. This means the legs don't sit totally flat and look pretty stupid. I haven't messed around with it yet but it looks like they can easily be bent out.

Don't bent them! Loosen the screw that is attached on the lightset body connecting to the rail. It will straighten out.

[Emps]

Originally Posted by BFG

Don't bent them! Loosen the screw that is attached on the lightset body connecting to the rail. It will straighten out.

Good tip. Thought I might have been the only one with the bent rails. Got my g2 110w on Friday and no bent heatsink fans, just the slanted in rails.

[gambitcobra]

Originally Posted by Bouncer

gambitcobra,
Are you running your Maxspects in a open top canopy or does it have a lid? Also, what's the depth of your bow? Thanks!

its not really open, it has 3 huge open lids that I keep off just for air circulation. Plus with them closed the canopy does get warm.

with 3 units on under the canopy


this is what the canopy looks like from the front


also the center of the tank is over 20 inches deep from front to back. The sides are only 17inch. Sorry I am at work or I would measure the depth.

[gambitcobra]

Originally Posted by wydchr

Excellent, well that's good to know. Have you 'upgraded' your LEDs to the Crees then?

yes 90 percent of my units are now all Cree leds. Its not a HUGE difference but its nice. Also I wanted more of a 20k look so I swapped 5-6 white Semi leds to Royal Blue Crees. The difference is huge!

[garrett_ta2000]

I was planning to get three. . .Where is the cheapest place to get them or a site with reasonable price?

[Bouncer]

gambitcobra,
I was browsing through your pics yesterday & when I saw the pic you posted of your canopy, I wondered if that was a possible black lid in the pic. Thanks for clarifying! I have a similar closed-top canopy that I'll have to mod to create some air flow. I'm considering two G2-160's for my 48"x18"x24" 90G. mixed reef build. Do you think it's adequate?

[KMP]

^ that would be perfect.

[gambitcobra]

Originally Posted by Bouncer

gambitcobra,
I was browsing through your pics yesterday & when I saw the pic you posted of your canopy, I wondered if that was a possible black lid in the pic. Thanks for clarifying! I have a similar closed-top canopy that I'll have to mod to create some air flow. I'm considering two G2-160's for my 48"x18"x24" 90G. mixed reef build. Do you think it's adequate?

yes you are correct about the black plastic covers for the canopy. Its a Oceanic tank and canopy for everyone who was wondering.
And I think 2 160 units would be PLENTY of light for your 90 gallon tank.

[moondoggy4]

Love the stand gambitcobra.

[jetfixr]

Why are there no dealers in the USA for these lights? I understand there is a patent issue with LED fixtures and many of them can only be sold in China. But as I understand it, there is only a patent infringement if the LED fixtures are dimmable, which these are not.

[Garage1217]

Very simple, the company is brand new and can barely keep up with production as is it seems.

Now on to post the original info I posted that was lost.
When I received my G2 160W units, I have a few small issues. After a bit my blue leds on one unit started to flicker. Upon digging I found 2 issues. One was a pinched wire at the endcap, the other was the control board was not seated very well inside the power supply. Resolved both issues and have not had a problem since. Other than that, everything has been working flawless since install!

Everything was VERY well packaged. No shipping damage!


Two fixtures taken out of the box. You can see some bent fins here, not noticeable in installation. Still ticks me off however. Bends happened during machining out the fan area.


Sexy sleek power supplies taken out of the package


Photo of the power supplies turned on. One showing time, the other showing temp


Photo taken to show the leds lit. In person looking at them on will rip your retinas & tear your corneas. Insane bright. Noticed the 4 square cutouts, do I smell a version with 4 10-15W leds to come? I think so


Hanging system mounts rock solid on the fixture. Nice black chrome finish.

[Garage1217]

Now for the light show. Moonlights are darker than this in person but IMO perfect. Just enough to see inside the tank!


With all blue on, they turn your tank into the most amazing disco crazy thing you will ever see! Pics do not show it but everything looks like a hippies house with lots of black-light posters!


This is with just the 3W blue + 3W white. This is the look the purchasers of the units without 30W leds should expect. Looks like a vivid, violet color. Simply stunning.


With all leds on including the 30W white, the tank looks so so. Not quite this white in person, but not that great of a look.


This is a direct comparison of my old halide setup on the left, VS. The leds on the right. Makes the halides look insane blue, never noticed it before until I compared them



Likes
- Energy efficient
- Much lower cost that comparable led fixtures
- Timers are a snap to set
- Leds are easy to replace
- Choices of Cree or Semi at time of purchase
- Look very sleek in black / silver
- Easy user service if one is handy
- 18 Month warranty, others have proven fast turn around
- Hanging mounts work well & are a sexy black chrome
- No expensive optics required for outstanding performance
- Battery backup so timer settings are not lost when power goes out
- Fans are very quiet
- Temperature monitoring & over-temp shutdown

Dislikes
- Bent heatsink fins
- Moonlight leds look like an afterthought / add on
- Sockets which attach the mounting rails fit poorly & look bent, but are not
- Cable from fixture to power supply needs to be longer
- Color with 30W leds + all others is not super desirable
- The 4 purple 3W leds do practically nothing
- Overall the fixture itself feels like a prototype / pre-release with 100% functionality
- 30W leds not even close to a 18K or whatever the manufacturer claimed. More like a cool white led at best

Facts
- 160W G2 Fixtures are / were comparable to my 250W 20K halide setup
- Led's run much cooler & can be mounted much closer to the surface of the water giving them a distinct advantage over halides
- With timers on each set of leds, you can actually tune your system to use less electricity & still provide excellent viewing durations
- Purple leds can be replaced with blues which help cure the ugly 30W leds
- Wires are soldered to the stars, 2 prong sockets are only on the circuit board side. If you replace leds, you have to solder
- Each group of leds can be turned on or off at any given time
- These fixtures run cool enough even with all leds on, that you can touch the fixture and it simply feels warm.

[Garage1217]

My test scenerio. Halides VS. Leds simplified over the original. This should be taken as setup vs setup comparison and nothing more. Not an "all led vs all halide comparison" as the fine details are infinite like bulb types, ballast tyles, reflector types and so forth. I simply conducted this test on my own to see if they could keep up with my halides that had always grown amazing SPS.
Halides
- PFO 250W mini pendant
- EVC 20K DE 250W bulbs
- Coralvue 250W e-ballasts
- Quality connectors

VS.

Leds
- Maxspect 160W G2 Fixtures

The test area, 24" x 16" Setup over black cloth to help eliminate reflection



Test #1
Since you can mount these led fixtures & others very close to the water VS. Halides. I felt this test was valid. My halides were mounted 5" off the surface of the water. The leds are 3" off the surface of the water. So I setup the test area with the maxspect lights 13" above the test surface & the PFO pendants 15" from the test surface. In this configuration which simulates my particular tank situation, the maxspect 160W G2 fixtures outperformed the halides hands down
Maxspect output at 13" above test surface


Halides 15" above test surface



Test #2
With both fixtures at an equal height of 13" the halides had no trouble mopping the floor with the leds. However mounting halides 3" off the waters surface would be foolish with halides because of the intense heat. So in short, as stated above, leds do have a very distinct advantage over halides.
Halides 13" above the test surface

[Garage1217]

Now for the argument of the cost of halides like the ones I had VS. these maxspect units. This was taken from another writeup I did but the facts are solid so feel it is valid here.

New setup/pair of 250W Halides. Of course anyone can go cheaper when purchasing used so keep that in mind as again, this only compares new product to new product. Also some cheaper products are available to run halides. I just tossed some prices of of common name brand units I have run or others have run.
- $150 shipped for a pair of quality pendants = $300
- Quality e-ballasts $130ea shipped = $260
- Quality bulbs / prices on average $55-$90ea shipped so will say $150 shipped average
- Quality connectors to mate ballasts to pendants $10
- LED moon light system, only if you choose to run one $30
- Quality timers for halides + moonlight $50
- I could add in more power strips to accommodate timers and so forth but will leave them out
Total $800.00

My led setup for the manufacturer I chose.
- $980 SHIPPED which includes timers, moonlights gizmos & widgets

Total difference of $180.00

I sold off a frag tank I had no desire to run any longer and my 2 pairs of halide setups which paid for my lighting change. Also sold some frags which helped pay for other efficiency mods to my tank. So in short, did not cost me anything more than I already spent to go this route. I understand this is my situation and most others would not be in this situation.

Now for the electrical savings. Lets go off rated face value only. I pay $0.10 cents a kwh.
- At 500W using e-ballasts x 10 hours a day = $182 per year
- At 320W x 10 hours a day = $116 per year
Difference of $66 a year.

Now, for most led fixtures on the market including mine. You can control the individual sets of leds. This leads to more power savings, equal viewing time.
Old setup
- Halides on for 10 hours a day at 500w
- New controllable setup, I can stagger between low power usage of the 3W white + 3W blue leds & then use the high power 30W leds for a 6 hour window only to aid in growth. On my setup with the light schedule I am running, My 10h daily average is now 255w Now my yearly savings just went to $89.18 a year which is not bad at all.



Now since I am on a rant. Lets talk operating costs.
In the last 2 years of owning halides which I loved / still love I have had the following issues.
- 1 ballast replacement as it died. Took 2.5 weeks to get this resolved grrrrrr
- 5 bulb failures. Including higher end brands. One of which running me $100 a bulb and took a lot of arm twisting to get them to replace it even though it was 2-3 months old. 3 of those failures came from one brand but will not mention them. So no one can say there is no cost other than parts when owning a halide setup or t5 setup period. Crap happens & crap dies for no reason same as any product.


On the led fixtures, I do expect failures plain and simple over the coarse of ownership. If I took the 18 month warranty out of the picture, the 3W leds I run cost around $2.50 shipped each to replace. The 30W units cost $19 to replace. And again I am covered under warranty as the manufacturer has proven to provide excellent service so far to others that have had issues. Although shipping takes awhile. But then again I have had US based companies take awhile to replace parts.

In short LED's currently DO make perfect sense depending on your situation. Led's themselves have been proven reliable and the simple power supplies that run them are not new fancy technology that has to be proven.

Some may find it beneficial cost wise to run halides, especially if purchasing used setups or going to cheaper all in one fixtures. Makes total sense to me and anyone else.

Now if one can afford it or afford it by selling off the lights they already own & want to reap the benefits of electrical savings, then led are the way to go! Also a lot of other benefits come into play such as heating of the home with halides. I live in Az so when my AC is fighting the halides, it cost me more to operate. The leds run many times cooler so that should help this years electrical bills.

For me, in the end it is all about total system efficiency. My OCD has made me try to build the most efficient aquarium that I can run out of my current system. has been a lot of fun doing it as well!

[KMP]

Garage - thanks for bringing that info back to the boards.

[f350power]

Glad we are back up and running again!

Received my 2 G2 230 watts yesterday! No damage during shipping and everything works great. Only thing I didn't get was 110v power cords. Good thing I had a few extras laying around from past computers.

Lights are very well built and I have no dark areas in my 150 gallon reef tank. I am very glad that I order these and am very happy with them.