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Coral Vue Hydros

Aquastyle problems


godfathernikki

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godfathernikki

I have a 24led kit from aquastyle, and its been up and running for 2 days. Today I came home and one of the arrays wasnt on. I switched the drivers and the suspect array worked, telling me that it is either the driver or pot.

 

Question: In order to eliminate some variables, can I remove the pot and connect the two dimming wires together and bypass the pot completely? Or will this result in fireworks...

 

I am trying to determine if the pot or driver is the culprite.

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jedimasterben

Yes, you can remove the pot and it will still work just fine. I would do a continuity test on your LEDs in that string, as well.

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godfathernikki
Yes, you can remove the pot and it will still work just fine. I would do a continuity test on your LEDs in that string, as well.

 

 

So do I just remove the pot, or do I also have to wire the two dimmer wires together?

 

I would do a continuity test on your LEDs in that string, as well.

 

What is this and how do I do it? :) I did run them on the working driver and the lit up fine, but I dont think this is what you are talking about.

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andrewguilfoy

If you disconnect the pot, and separate the two pot wires, let them just hang free and cap them, this assuming you have the gold box maxwells, the led's should still light up.

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jedimasterben
What is this and how do I do it? :) I did run them on the working driver and the lit up fine, but I dont think this is what you are talking about.

Do you have a multimeter?

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godfathernikki
If you disconnect the pot, and separate the two pot wires, let them just hang free and cap them, this assuming you have the gold box maxwells, the led's should still light up.

I do have the gold boxes and I just tried this. No success

 

Do you have a multimeter?

No, and I'm getting the distinct impression that you're going to tell me that I need one lol.

 

Im guessing it's the driver. I also went through and redid the connections after the first try didnt work, but still nothing. I was hoping it was the pot because it seems thats what most people have issues with :(

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jedimasterben
No, and I'm getting the distinct impression that you're going to tell me that I need one lol.

 

Im guessing it's the driver. I also went through and redid the connections after the first try didnt work, but still nothing. I was hoping it was the pot because it seems thats what most people have issues with :(

Yep, looks like you're gonna need one lol. they are cheap at Home Depot or Lowes, you just need a basic one.

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godfathernikki
Yep, looks like you're gonna need one lol. they are cheap at Home Depot or Lowes, you just need a basic one.

 

 

Well I'll probably pick one up tomorrow, I have been meaning to get one for a while for various other things. Im still thinking it's the driver, though, but I might as well double check.

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It's the driver. If the lights did not work without the pot and worked when you switched drivers then you have your answer already.

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jedimasterben
It's the driver. If the lights did not work without the pot and worked when you switched drivers then you have your answer already.

They didn't switch the drivers.

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godfathernikki
They didn't switch the drivers.

 

 

I did actually swap the driver/pot pairs(i have 2 arrays, white and blue). neither array worked on the first broken set, and both arrays worked on the one that was working when i got home.

 

Unless there's a short in the power cable or something, it's gotta be the driver. I'm still going to double check tomorrow befor I bug aquastyle for a replacement though. Thanks for your help guys

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jedimasterben
I did actually swap the driver/pot pairs(i have 2 arrays, white and blue). neither array worked on the first broken set, and both arrays worked on the one that was working when i got home.

 

Unless there's a short in the power cable or something, it's gotta be the driver. I'm still going to double check tomorrow befor I bug aquastyle for a replacement though. Thanks for your help guys

Oh, makes sense. If you switched the drivers and both strings worked, then it's definitely the driver and you need to email Ray, he'll send you another ASAP.

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godfathernikki

I emailed aquastyle and they also asked me if I had a multimeter lol. So I ran out and got one today. They asked for voltage so thats what I tested. 0.79v on the broken driver, 42v on the good one. Hopefully they will replace it, it does look nice even if it only lasted 2 days lol

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godfathernikki

Just got an email. Said they would ship one out (yay!)but not until wednesday(awww) due to the holiday. Hopefully my corals can hold out for another week or so on half power. I already gutted my MH fixture to put the leds in it, so no backup light.

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I just went through this with Ray when one of my 3 drivers shorted after 4 weeks. It took about 5 days to receive the driver USPS. New driver is in and working great. Only downside is it took me 45 minutes to remove the old one and solder the new one in.

 

Its hard to believe I'm dealing with a company in Hong Kong.

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godfathernikki
I just went through this with Ray when one of my 3 drivers shorted after 4 weeks. It took about 5 days to receive the driver USPS. New driver is in and working great. Only downside is it took me 45 minutes to remove the old one and solder the new one in.

 

Its hard to believe I'm dealing with a company in Hong Kong.

 

Yea it was fairly painless, I just sent them my readings and they said ok. Hopefully shipping goes smoother than it did the first time with fedex. They marked it delivered when it never showed, and all I could get out of fedex was 'there was a delay.' Ended up taking almost a week longer than the estimate, and the box was pretty beat up.

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I emailed aquastyle and they also asked me if I had a multimeter lol. So I ran out and got one today. They asked for voltage so thats what I tested. 0.79v on the broken driver, 42v on the good one. Hopefully they will replace it, it does look nice even if it only lasted 2 days lol

 

I'm curious, was the driver disconnected from the pot and the array when you tested?

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godfathernikki
I'm curious, was the driver disconnected from the pot and the array when you tested?

 

When I tested voltage on the broken one, it was disconnected from just the pot, but still connected to the leds. The working driver was tested connected to both the pot and leds.

 

I didn't solder the pot back up to the broken driver just to test it. According to the responses here I should have still gotten power out of it, so I didn't go to the trouble.

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godfathernikki
you should be fine with half power. just think about it as your acclimation period to the new lights

 

Haha yea, I guess that works.

 

On a side note: Anyone know if these things have any heat issues? Mine were warm when running them and I want to put them in an enclosure or project box, just worried about over heating them.

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Haha yea, I guess that works.

 

On a side note: Anyone know if these things have any heat issues? Mine were warm when running them and I want to put them in an enclosure or project box, just worried about over heating them.

 

They get warm to the touch but nowhere near hot during normal operation. I have mine in a vented aluminum enclosure. Just make sure the enclosure is well vented and you will be fine. They would not do well in a sealed enclosure.

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godfathernikki
They get warm to the touch but nowhere near hot during normal operation. I have mine in a vented aluminum enclosure. Just make sure the enclosure is well vented and you will be fine. They would not do well in a sealed enclosure.

 

Ok thanks, I can probably put them inside my fixture with the leds then. It's a sunpod that I removed the mh and moonlights from, and it has a fan vent on it, so I'm thinking I should be ok.

 

Going to wait until I get the new driver though, so I only have to take it all apart once.

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  • 2 weeks later...
godfathernikki

Just in case any one happened to be following, I got the new driver 2 days ago. It's installed and running. So far so good.

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