Steve's LEDs

S

Snyper19

Active Member
PREMIUM
ziggy said:
If all 4 channel cards are the same, I would swap the one connected to the bad light strip with another one. This will tell you if it's the card or possibly the LED that died. Also by moving the bad channel, it may make an intermittent connection work.
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it turned out to be one of the dimmer knobs that is not working properly. After a few tests that Jeff told me to do (which I appreciate his time and patience) he figured it out and found that the reason the blues not turning on is the dimmer knob.

Thanks Jeff and Ziggy for your help.
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
Alrighty, my LEDs appear to be installed. Although I do think that whoever at Steve's wrote: "Your kit will be 99% assembled, effectively reducing the installation time from hours to less than 10 minutes" should have to face the justice of Joffrey Baratheon.

I started about 12:30 today and finished at 11:00 pm (not including clean up or installing new moon lights, which I will do tomorrow...maybe). I took about 2 hours out to spend with my kids, but that basically means I spent 8.5 hours on it. My wife is about ready for a divorce, I think.

The instructions were terrible and what took so much time was that until I had the hood open, I couldn't tell what the instructions really meant. So, there was a lot of figuring out what they were getting at and then doing that vs. whatever the instructions said.

This thread was a lifesaver...particularly with the Typhoon controller. Those instructions were downright abyssmal.

The one thing that has me worried is that 1 of the 4 screws that holds the LEDs on really didn't drive in that far. I hope I don't come home someday to LEDs in my tank. :)

Looks very cool, though. Would be hard to go back.

The killer thing to me, really, is that it really isn't that hard. If I was doing it again I could probably do it in under an hour pretty easily. It's just that knowing what to do is so unclear from the instructions provided.

I'll decide later if it was worth it...
 
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Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
I miss-posted here, but since I did I'll ask a question.

Is 40% intensity a good place to start?
 
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DianaKay

DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
Pat24601 said:
I miss-posted here, but since I did I'll ask a question.

Is 40% intensity a good place to start?
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I just checked my journal
http://reefsanctuary.com/forum/index.php?threads/dianakays-rsm-250.82991/page-35
And I started my LEDs at 50% and ramped up to 55% the next week with no adverse affects to my corals. I think you'd be OK to start with at least 45%.
40% just sounds a little low on the percentage. Go longer on the fade in fade out if you think you want less light to start with. You are going to SO L:heart:VE the sunrise & sunset!!! :sunshine: :celebrate:
Why not make it longer...I just upped my LEDs to 80% and increased my fade in & out to 2 hrs & 45 minutes. I enjoy the fade :heart:.
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
Cheers Pat for the great update - I will never give it s go... your so brave !

I will end up selling my RSM 250 1st & buying the new RSM 250 led model whenever it comes out, unless there a complete hood replacement option...

I would pay someone $500 to install Steve leds before I would have the confidence to try an install of the "Your kit will be 99% assembled, effectively reducing the installation time from hours to less than 10 minutes"
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
Pat24601 said:
As I look at Steve's LEDs for the RSM 250 and the 99% option kit, the sales page says " Your kit will be 99% assembled, effectively reducing the installation time from hours to less than 10 minutes. A phillips screwdriver using the included 4 screws is all that is required for installation, except if you purchased the "RSM Timer/Moonlight Prewire," then a hand drill is required to drill 1-3 small holes"

I know the 10 minutes is untrue marketing hype. The question I have is about the drilling. When I look at the instructions (and they aren't clear without opening the hood), it looks like drilling is required even without the timer prewire.

Not that its my biggest concern but will I need to drill?
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BTW, the answer to this question is, yes, you need to drill. :)

I'm going to post a bit about the issues I ran into when installing to help people later and where to drill is one of the topics I'll cover.
 
DianaKay

DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
The install when done by my electrician friend didn't cost me anything :) So $500. seems way too HIGH Glenn :winky: And if you are going to spend $$$ on an UPgrade tank: get a 90gallon tank!!! It's only fair to give your fish more room!! :rolleyes:
I bet I could bring my friend up to your place & get your lights installed for $100. and a pizza meal out. :yup: :cool:
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
nanoreefing4fun said:
Cheers Pat for the great update - I will never give it s go... your so brave !

I will end up selling my RSM 250 1st & buying the new RSM 250 led model whenever it comes out, unless there a complete hood replacement option...

I would pay someone $500 to install Steve leds before I would have the confidence to try an install of the "Your kit will be 99% assembled, effectively reducing the installation time from hours to less than 10 minutes"
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I totally would have paid $500 for the install. I just couldn't find anyone to do it. I actually tried. Well, I probably could have found someone eventually as someone will take $500, but I asked some folks and they didn't want to. :)

Arkansas is a bit far for me or I'd help. ;) If Diana's friend really would do it for you, might be something to consider. :)

The 99% thing is total marketing hype. That said, it is really ONLY hard because it isn't clear what to do. Anyone that has done one could do another pretty easily (I think). At least, another of the same type. So, it isn't that it's hard per se, just a steep learning curve with inadequate guidance. Anyone could really do it.

Most of this thread went over my head until I was actually able to see the LEDS and open up the hood and THEN start to understand what everyone was talking about. But, once you know it, you know it.

Diana, I'm trying to mimic your pattern exactly on my testing. So, do you set a 9:30 start, 8:45 end, 2 hour 30 minute fade? I'll up my percent a bit on your advice.
 
DianaKay

DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
That's my pattern & the times that I have stuck with for ON & OFF.
I increased from the 2 hours fade in/out to 2 & 1/2 only after I ramped them up in percentage. The times worked well for me because of my bed time being at around 9:30pm. I got to see the sunset & a little bit of night lights BOTH before I went to bed.
Did I tell you that You are going to L:heart:VE sunrise/sunset :sunshine::winky:
I am excited for you! :Dimage.jpg
My cat loves to see the tank lighting up just as much as I do!! :cat:
 
D

Danreef

Well-Known Member
DianaKay said:
That's my pattern & the times that I have stuck with for ON & OFF.
I increased from the 2 hours fade in/out to 2 & 1/2 only after I ramped them up in percentage. The times worked well for me because of my bed time being at around 9:30pm. I got to see the sunset & a little bit of night lights BOTH before I went to bed.
Did I tell you that You are going to L:heart:VE sunrise/sunset :sunshine::winky:
I am excited for you! :DView attachment 42073
My cat loves to see the tank lighting up just as much as I do!! :cat:
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I can see your cat managing also the MP10 controller.....He/she likes to play with the different modes and put the coral and fish crazy ?.... :)
 
Joeys Tank

Joeys Tank

Well-Known Member
Congrats on getting the install done, Pat :) I told you it would take a better part of a day.

40% is a great place to start, but give your coral time to adjust to the new light source as well as intensity. I would give it a week. Then, if you feel like they need more light, increase it by a couple of percent every other day. The reason why I am not suggesting 1% a day is because you need time to notice a change in the coral. If it is a continuous change, you may reach a point where it is too much intensity, but your coral haven't had enough time to respond to the change.

Watch for bleaching of coral. This will be a great indicator that you are set too high.
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
Joeys Tank said:
Congrats on getting the install done, Pat :) I told you it would take a better part of a day.

40% is a great place to start, but give your coral time to adjust to the new light source as well as intensity. I would give it a week. Then, if you feel like they need more light, increase it by a couple of percent every other day. The reason why I am not suggesting 1% a day is because you need time to notice a change in the coral. If it is a continuous change, you may reach a point where it is too much intensity, but your coral haven't had enough time to respond to the change.

Watch for bleaching of coral. This will be a great indicator that you are set too high.
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You defintely steered me correctly on the time commitment. Thanks!

Good advice on the lighting. I will see how it goes. One clear downside of all of this is I'm messing with a system that had been working for me. Hopefully, I don't screw something up.
 
Joeys Tank

Joeys Tank

Well-Known Member
I feel like my system can handle more light, but I have been distracted. I need to be in the scientific mindset before I start playing with light intensity. Another thing I have been kicking around is super illuminating (80-90% in a particular color band) the coral when I take photos to see if that has any effect on pic quality
 
Kman237

Kman237

Active Member
Would anyone recommend me doing this? I really want to get away from T-5's and go LED. Should I go with steves leds or should I wait save and just get the new reefer tanks? You can check out my build on my thread if you like. I have experience building computers and pretty good cable mangement. I'm just really scared to open the hood and screw something up big time and then have no lights lol. I have way to many corals to loose if I ended up with no lights.

I would definitely get the 90%+ kit. Also computers are more plug and play then you think and just managing your cables.

Any advice would be great. I'm iching to move to LED and get away from all the heat from T5's
 
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Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
Here's the thing, it's really not that hard at all (in fact it's pretty easy) and the chance of you screwing up your hood is really low. Of all of us that have done this, I recall almost everyone being worried about screwing up their hood and not even one person actually doing it.

That said, it took me like 8.5 hours to do it just because it is so intimidating and I wanted to be 100% sure at every step. I could do it well under an hour now and not be at all intimidated.

It's one of those things that seems hard before you do it and really easy after.

That said, I had a whole emergency back up plan in my head in case I destroyed my hood. I didn't come close to needing to use it, but it made the process less intimidating to have a mental plan of how not to lose my corals if I screwed something up.

So, my bottom line recommendation is you'll be more than fine and shouldn't fear doing it at all. But, leave yourself some time so you don't feel pressured.
 
Kman237

Kman237

Active Member
Pat24601 said:
Here's the thing, it's really not that hard at all (in fact it's pretty easy) and the chance of you screwing up your hood is really low. Of all of us that have done this, I recall almost everyone being worried about screwing up their hood and not even one person actually doing it.

That said, it took me like 8.5 hours to do it just because it is so intimidating and I wanted to be 100% sure at every step. I could do it well under an hour now and not be at all intimidated.

It's one of those things that seems hard before you do it and really easy after.

That said, I had a whole emergency back up plan in my head in case I destroyed my hood. I didn't come close to needing to use it, but it made the process less intimidating to have a mental plan of how not to lose my corals if I screwed something up.

So, my bottom line recommendation is you'll be more than fine and shouldn't fear doing it at all. But, leave yourself some time so you don't feel pressured.
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Awesome! You make me feel 100% more confident I can do this. I'm going to read through the instruction now. Make a back up plan and then probably place my order.

Thank you so much for the detailed reply. I really appreciate it. Again thank you! I will let you know when I start my installation. I've been reading through this thread a few times now. Making sure to gather all the tips yall have provided.
 
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