Steve's LED's Conversion - UK installation problem

W

Woodbeast

Member
Hi all!

Finally took the plunge and purchased the 99% complete RSM250 Retrofit....took the day off work to install it yesterday. Things were going well.....stripped out the stock wiring, got the conversion secured....came to step 18, where you plug it in and make sure it's all still working and.......the lights lit up for a brief second and then the whole system died!!

I have checked the connections, the voltage settings (as this is a UK fit so 240v), ensured the dimmers were isolated, but it feels like something has shorted out??

I'm no electronics expert, so I'm now left without any lighting and no idea what I can do to solve this?

Emailed Steve's technical help over 24 hours ago and a second message via the Contact Us page, but haven't had a response to either. (they were very quick to respond pre sale btw)

Can anyone help, or suggest a way to resolve this, as my poor old tank has no lights now!?!?

Appreciate your help guys!

Jonny
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
Obviously, I'm not an expert on Steve's LEDs, so hopefully Jeff can chime in.

The good news is I suspect a loose connection or some such over a complete short out. But, I know that's the worse case scenario, so I get the concern entirely. I'd be anxious as well. Sorry to hear you are having this trouble. :( On the plus side, I haven't heard of anyone truly shorting out these lights yet, but I know they list that as a warning. So, I don't think that's the most likely scenario.

The first thing that comes to my mind based entirely on what happened to me is are you sure you plugged the connection into the tyhpoon controller correctly?

This part in red.


Typhoon.jpg

The reason I say that is because I had trouble telling which was top and which was bottom. So, I actually had the plug in upside down at first. That resulted in more or less what you say you saw. The lights flashed on and off and then wouldn't come on again. Fortunately, it didn't short my system or anything. So, I flipped it over and then they worked.

I also wonder is the typhoon controller set up so that your lights would be on now? I imagine so, but just asking.

This is a pretty difficult place for things to break down in terms of knowing what to do. So, aside from that I'm kind of leaning towards going down the checklist of connections and making sure everything looks right...particularly on the controller connections.

Hopefully, Jeff @StevesLEDs can chime in.
 
W

Woodbeast

Member
Thanks Pat - it's definitely not to do with the typhoon, as I'm at the stage before they recommend installing that, so that's unconnected.

The installation went pretty well, the only issues I had were with a couple of bits:
  1. Attaching the 1st heatsink - the first screw sheared off and remained inside the tube so I drilled a new hole and was fine after that.
  2. Secondly the manual dimmers - I was planning to set them up next to the stock timer, but on installation, found that the dimmers set furthest away, didn't have enough cable to reach this point? Also on one of the dimmers, one of the soldered wires (black), came off? So I soldered it back on carefully, set them to their fullest on position, covered them in isolating tap and taped them inside the hood. So I was really careful to ensure there were no exposed bits to cause a short. I was also really careful to ensure there was no chance of a short with the reattachment of the wire?
Thanks for tagging in Jeff, as I could certainly do with his help right now!!!

Not having the lights on has certainly highlighted the impact the stock set up has on temp, as I'm running at 26 degrees C compared to 28-29 with the lights on.
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
Have you heard anything from them yet? I can try to help troubleshoot, but you are in a strange place to help. I.e., everything feels like it went right to you, but it's not working. I'm not sure I'm really qualified to help well.

Your dimmer issue does seem odd to me. All 4 of mine are in my old timer slot with plenty of wire to get me there. I'm sure glad they didn't break with me having to resolder. I would have been in serious trouble.

I'm surprised you haven't heard back from them yet, but if you wanted we could start trying to troubleshoot together with pictures and such. I, not sure how effective that would be.

You seem to be handling this pretty calm.
 
W

Woodbeast

Member
Pat24601 said:
Have you heard anything from them yet? I can try to help troubleshoot, but you are in a strange place to help. I.e., everything feels like it went right to you, but it's not working. I'm not sure I'm really qualified to help well.

Your dimmer issue does seem odd to me. All 4 of mine are in my old timer slot with plenty of wire to get me there. I'm sure glad they didn't break with me having to resolder. I would have been in serious trouble.

I'm surprised you haven't heard back from them yet, but if you wanted we could start trying to troubleshoot together with pictures and such. I, not sure how effective that would be.

You seem to be handling this pretty calm.
Click to expand...

No - still not heard anything. Left an Urgent email on Monday when the issue occurred to their Tech Support email address and later that day left a standard message concerning the same issue via their 'contact us' page. Had auto confirmation emails, but no actual response for either.

I messaged Jeff personally this morning as well.

I may seem calm but I'm not very happy at all, I'm giving them the rest of today and after that I'll be considering leaving a review and posting on here about my experiences post sales. This has not been a cheap purchase by any stretch, so it's a real puzzle as to why I've heard nothing from them?

There could still be serious collateral damage if I can't solve this soon, as my livestock is only going one way at the moment!!

Just tried replacing the US to UK Adaptor, but no life!!

Thanks Pat - really appreciate your offer of help...I'm going to remove all the components from the hood I think, so I can independently test. I also have the added complication of my youngest lad being severely Autistic so I can't work on it when he's around, as he'd like nothing better than getting his hands on it and probably doing the system irreparable damage!! Will post once I've done this.
 
StevesLEDs

StevesLEDs

RS Sponsor
Just a quick update. We are training a few people to improve our customer service. This came at the cost of not being able to check emails yesterday. Sorry I missed your urgent post! We are in the process of resolving this process over email. If anybody has a similar issue and needs assistance, just let me know and I can post the summarized findings.

So far, we have determined it was a power supply that was damaged in shipping. We are sending a no-cost replacement via 3 day air International Express across the globe so we can get this resolved as fast as possible.

Thanks,
Jeff
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
Jonny - here hoping you get it sorted soon...

if you don't know this already... your tank can go without lights for a week and it won't harm your fish or corals... lots do this to fight algae & it's frequent recommended ... so don't let element get you down

Here hoping you get them soon, up & running & your corals Love them & grow better than ever !!!
 
W

Woodbeast

Member
StevesLEDs said:
Just a quick update. We are training a few people to improve our customer service. This came at the cost of not being able to check emails yesterday. Sorry I missed your urgent post! We are in the process of resolving this process over email. If anybody has a similar issue and needs assistance, just let me know and I can post the summarized findings.

So far, we have determined it was a power supply that was damaged in shipping. We are sending a no-cost replacement via 3 day air International Express across the globe so we can get this resolved as fast as possible.

Thanks,
Jeff
Click to expand...
Awesome news Jeff - thanks for your help today. Will email you shortly. :bounce:
 
W

Woodbeast

Member
nanoreefing4fun said:
Jonny - here hoping you get it sorted soon...

if you don't know this already... your tank can go without lights for a week and it won't harm your fish or corals... lots do this to fight algae & it's frequent recommended ... so don't let element get you down

Here hoping you get them soon, up & running & your corals Love them & grow better than ever !!!
Click to expand...
I didn't know that, so that's quite a relief.......hopefully I can get it all sorted v soon, thanks to Jeff. I was getting so worried, so am well pleased that progress is being made again!!
 
W

Woodbeast

Member
StevesLEDs said:
Just a follow up checking to see if everything was taken care of. Is it up and running?

Jeff
Click to expand...
Hi Jeff,
I'm still awaiting the unit...it's been in customs for a couple of days and I've just been forewarned by email that a customs duty is payable before they'll deliver it. Once I receive the official notice, I'll get this paid and the parcel delivered. Will keep you posted on progress.

Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk
 
StevesLEDs

StevesLEDs

RS Sponsor
Desmond is correct, it was marked as a warranty replacement item and there should be no duty on it. Let me know if you need any information from me to expedite this.

Jeff
 
D

Desmond

Well-Known Member
They tried the same on me in Norway and I told then where to stick it. Took original receipt and paid nothing ☺ they got me good on the reef link I ordered from the UK though

Sent from my SM-G870F using Tapatalk
 
StevesLEDs

StevesLEDs

RS Sponsor
We use the US postal service which does a handoff to the UK postal service. When that happens, the import duty is usually reduced, because the US postal service pays the duty of the first $75 or so.

Jeff
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top