LEDTRiC iNSPiRE, review

tigrtraps · Jan 13, 2013

The LEDTRiC iNSPIRE was waiting for me when I got home last night. Delivery was a quick 4 business days to my door. This smart LED fixture has kept my attention since it was announced. It promises high power output, ease of use, customizability, and a wireless remote so I donâ€™t have to get off my couch to turn on the moonlights. The light was announced sometime back in August of 2012 and was available shortly after. Recently a price drop came from LEDTRiC.com if the buyer is ok going with a shorter warranty, and that is what made me pull the trigger.

HARDWARE

Solid. The one word that really describes this unit. Itâ€™s 8lbâ€™s of weight isnâ€™t overwhelming. In fact it inspires (ha....) confidence in the product. My roommate, who isnâ€™t into fish stuff whatsoever, held the light and immediately said â€œfeels like qualityâ€. The sleek silver aluminum chassis fits the unit very well as it is flanked by the strong plastic end caps. Everything is tight and nothing rattles if shaken. There are no physical buttons on the fixture, only the main power switch on the right side

Small things were thought of as well in the design of the body. There are plastic feet on the unitâ€™s LED face so if you sit the unit LED side down on a table it sits on the plastic feet and not the lenses. The packaging came with a standard hanging hook that connects to four points on the iNSPIRE. The power cable plugs into the top side by a 3 pin power plug with a screw cap to hold down the power plug. The front of the unit has has a digital display that brightly shows red text which is easy to read from across the room. Beside the display is the IR sensor for the remote.

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tigrtraps · Jan 13, 2013

LEDâ€™s

52 LEDâ€™s canvas the almost 16 inch long body. The LEDTRiC iNSPIRE features 5 different colors of LEDs; 11-6500K CW, 25-455NM RB, 8-420NM TV, 4-495NM Cyan, 4-660NM Deep Red. These are spread out over 4 channels, and each channel can be controlled independently on a 0% power up to 100% power. The iNSPIRE comes with 120 degree lenses, but if you ask nicely LEDTRiC can take those off. These are laid out in a staggered formation and the colors are mixed between each other. The light spread at 17â€ off the water will overlap a 36â€ long 40 breeder. I may find a 48â€ tank just to see what the light would look like above it.

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tigrtraps · Jan 13, 2013

Features

As a smart lighting fixture the iNSPIRE lists a slew of desirable features. Out of the box it has a preset day/night cycle with â€œnatural weather simulationâ€ (no lightning as far as I can tell). That actually means at 10 a.m. the first 3 channels begin to ramp up in a linear fashion from 0% to 100% culminating at 11:40 a.m.. The 4th 6 RB channel follows a separate schedule as it also pulls moonlight duty. For daytime duty it begins itâ€™s ramp up at 6 a.m. and hits 100% at high noon. The channels all hold their 100% until 6 p.m. and then they begin to ramp down. It should be noted that this built in preset schedule with â€œnatural weather simulationâ€ cannot be modified. The preset schedule start and stop times are set in stone, as well as the unit going all the way to 100% intensity. A person can always off-set the unitâ€™s clock to manipulate the start/stop times, but if your tank isnâ€™t ready for the 100% intensity of the LEDs this isnâ€™t the setting for you.

A user can set their own custom schedule. Each channel has 8 points in the 24 hour schedule it can be programmed for. This is all done by use of the wireless remote and the display screen. None of which is overly complicated. The wireless remote is also the only way to control the unit. Powering on the LEDs, programming, changing light intensity, anything and everything. That works fine as long you donâ€™t drop the remote in the aquarium.

There is the one part of the light Iâ€™m having an issue with. The fanâ€™s are always on, always. The fans are on when the LEDs are off or have been off for hours and the unit is cold (21 degree celsius read by the Temp monitor on the unit). Since I wonâ€™t run moonlights all the time, that means while I sleep the fans will be churning away. The only way to turn them off is to turn off the main power switch. This is how the unit has been designed, as it does provide bulletproof protection of the components and insures LEDTRiCâ€™s 1-3 year warranty.

Iâ€™m intending to put the iNSPIRE over a custom 42â€x20â€x18â€ tank I have coming. It will hang approximately 17-19 inches above the water line to get the coverage that I want. Of course updates will follow on growth, and long term use of the iNSPIRE.