Blue light bar, options? Going with a different brand...

[Graffiti Spot]

So I am running two radiums and supplementing with four or2 bars. I have had issues with four bars so far with them flickering right out of the box and I can’t figure out why, while the supplier just says they have had no other issues with any other bars. At this point I feel like I need to switch to another brand. The light will work sometimes fine, it ran for two weeks when I switched to a new power supply and moved some stuff around but now is randomly flickering again. When it starts flickering it won’t stop until I turn it off for a while and try again sometimes they work for a while it seems. I tried moving the chords to see if something is loose causing it to do this but it just happens when they are untouched.
I have two bars that have worked for a few months with no issues that I have seen so far. So I am looking to get two bars from a different manufacturer. I sent one last email to see what options I have and to see if orpek looked at the old flickering strips and found out why they are doing this so I am waiting on that reply, but I am sure I will have to change two strips for different brands. I am tired of taking apart my light setup just to deal with these brand new really nice looking lights that I can’t get to work properly!

Has anyone had operational issues with any of their supplemental light bars? I do not want this to happen again. I heard the fixtures they make have the same issues with flickering with some people but I thought that was a component that would not be in these on and off type strips. I am sad because these orpek bars are solid and built well and look good, but with such a simple product flickering, it has me worried. I wish I had time to take them apart or the knowledge of what to look for. If anyone has knowledge of why they would be randomly flickering please let me know! The vendor has given me no advice.

I am aware of reefbrite xho and sb reef. Are there other options? I have tried the cheap 21 led strip lights probably from China and am obviously not going to use those again.

I do like the reefbrite xho but does it really put out good par? It has less leds than the orpeks and no lenses (which I like) but if it doesn’t push par then I am not really interested. I am not getting these to make my tank blue and crazy looking. I am getting them to help light the tank the best I can.

I do like the sb reef daylight because it has a number of white bulbs in it too. I tried a daylight from orpek and the light spread was completely uneven and bright as can be on the ends of the bar. It looked wrong. If anyone has the sb reef daylight strip that could share a pic of their tank lit by just that strip I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[Hypnotoad]

Check out the Illumagic vitamini strips.

Australian brand distributed by Dalua.

Unique Corals out of LA is the main US dealer.

they look nice.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I will that’s a new one thanks! Any others anyone knows of let me know!

 

[Graffiti Spot]

It looks like those are under powered strips but I haven’t found exact specs on them yet.

 

[oreo54]

It looks like those are under powered strips but I haven’t found exact specs on them yet.

Don't forget you can customise Orphek's
Flickering like that is generally a driver issue.
There are few parts really. Driver and a circuit board.
Next is a bad diode connection...somewhere.

4 flickering right out of the box is Very odd.
Some people had issues with radio frequency issues from metal halide ballasts screwing w/ the LED drivers

 

[Jaebster]

Another option may be GHL Lightbar 2. Dont own them YET. Will be putting 2x Deep Actinic Lightbar 2's on my build.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Oh man I didn’t know they made bars that’s good to know thank you!

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Don't forget you can customise Orphek's
Flickering like that is generally a driver issue.
There are few parts really. Driver and a circuit board.
Next is a bad diode connection...somewhere.

4 flickering right out of the box is Very odd.
Some people had issues with radio frequency issues from metal halide ballasts screwing w/ the LED drivers

Thank you for the reply! I am using luxcore 250/400 ballasts. Not sure if that would be the issue with them or not? It does happen when the lights are on sometimes but also when the lights are off so maybe it’s something else. I am hoping they can solve the issue without me messing with them too much since I have no time to really. But I will try because I like how well built they are.

 

[Snoopy 67]

Reefbreeder's has one, you can pick the color balance.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Awesome thank you! I think I have options now for sure.

Orpek finally got back to me about the lights so I have my fingers crossed that they can tell me what’s happening and fix it. If not I will probably go with either reefbrite sbreef or reefbreeders. If anyone likes one of these more than the other for certain reasons I should consider please share!

 

[Barrett]

I love my reefbreeders lumen bars

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I have been trying to solve this with orpek but communication is slow. Took a few days for them to respond and I get a reply every other business day or so.
Today I noticed the or2 bars that flicker are the ones next to my halide reflectors. I hooked up the ground wire on my reflectors but I am going to try insulating the reflector away from the or2 bar because they are hanging against each other. I don’t know if it will work or why I didn’t think of this potentially being a problem before.

 

[C. Eymann]

I have been trying to solve this with orpek but communication is slow. Took a few days for them to respond and I get a reply every other business day or so.
Today I noticed the or2 bars that flicker are the ones next to my halide reflectors. I hooked up the ground wire on my reflectors but I am going to try insulating the reflector away from the or2 bar because they are hanging against each other. I don’t know if it will work or why I didn’t think of this potentially being a problem before.

Sounds like a good place to start, do you have a IR thermometer? how hot are the bars getting?
I am planning to mount two Orphek bars possibly into my t5 fixture, but Im worried about them overheating, so Im curious what you find is the problem. Godspeed

 

[Graffiti Spot]

These bars stay incredibly cool. I have one at work I can bring home but I doubt that’s the issue. I also have a fan blowing across the water and fixtures that are hanging.
The only thing that confuses me is that this happens even when the halides are off so I didn’t think this would be the issue. We will see what orpek says next email I receive. So far they have just asked three separate questions each in their own email, that I have already gave them answers to in the original email... kinda frustrating but I guess they have to cover all the basics first. I can’t imagine at how long it would take if I had to fix something myself, since they email one sentence per email.