Mixing Kessil lights?

[Lylelovett]

Hi all,

I have the opportunity to purchase some used Kessil lights (less than a year old) for my new 5x2x2 mixed reef. I'm looking at 2 A360WE's and 1 A360W.

I will be controlling them from an Apex.

From what I've read the the "E" lights are brighter and more energy efficient.

My question is, as this is my first reef tank experience, will I experience any issues with evenly lighting my tank, or matching the lights for sunrise/sunset, by mixing lighting? Am I better off matching all three lights?

Thanks in advance,
J

 

[Jathan334]

I personally would all the W in the middle so that it’s being overlapped by both of the WE’s but your shouldn’t have any issues

 

[Crabs McJones]

Hi all,

I have the opportunity to purchase some used Kessil lights (less than a year old) for my new 5x2x2 mixed reef. I'm looking at 2 A360WE's and 1 A360W.

I will be controlling them from an Apex.

From what I've read the the "E" lights are brighter and more energy efficient.

My question is, as this is my first reef tank experience, will I experience any issues with evenly lighting my tank, or matching the lights for sunrise/sunset, by mixing lighting? Am I better off matching all three lights?

Thanks in advance,
J

That is a very good question. As you mentioned there were variances between the W and the WE, but i dont think it would cause an issue and you wont really notice much difference visually.

 

[Montiman]

I have 1W and 2WEs with the W in the center you can’t tell a difference. The only thing I notice is the w can run at a lower setting on my apex VDM so at night it stays on longer than the WEs

 

[Lylelovett]

I have 1W and 2WEs with the W in the center you can’t tell a difference. The only thing I notice is the w can run at a lower setting on my apex VDM so at night it stays on longer than the WEs

So I'm connecting my 2WEs and 1W to a Profilux controller. I can either connect them in series and control them as one light, or individually as 3 separate lights. (Connecting as 1 light is cheaper, so that's my first choice.)

As I understand it, when you daisy-chain the units together, any settings on the control knobs are ignored. So my question is, do you find the light output of the two models similar enough that if the control knobs are set the same (or daisy-chained) that the light looks the same? Or does the W need to be set drastically differently to match?

(if it's drastically different I would need to by an additional box to control the W separately to match the WEs)

Does that make sense?

Thanks!

 

[Montiman]

The color looks exactly the same and the intensity is different but it is slight enough no one has ever noticed but me.

The issue I described only happens as the lights dim in the evening. Durring About the last minute before my apex lowers the 0-10 to a point all the lights turn off the W alone remains on while the WE’s are off. The W is able to run at a lower power setting.

This doesn’t happen in the morning. It may be that a higher threshold is needed to turn on the lights than to turn them off.

 

[Lylelovett]

The color looks exactly the same and the intensity is different but it is slight enough no one has ever noticed but me.

The issue I described only happens as the lights dim in the evening. Durring About the last minute before my apex lowers the 0-10 to a point all the lights turn off the W alone remains on while the WE’s are off. The W is able to run at a lower power setting.

This doesn’t happen in the morning. It may be that a higher threshold is needed to turn on the lights than to turn them off.

Cool. I think I'll give it a shot controlling as one and if it annoys me too much I'll bust the W out on it's own. Thanks.

 

[madweazl]

I haven't run three daisy chained but thought I read something that the third one in line had noticeably lower intensity. Just something to to investigate.

 

[Montiman]

I haven't run three daisy chained but thought I read something that the third one in line had noticeably lower intensity. Just something to to investigate.

All I can say is that this has not been an issue for me. I see no explanation for why the third would be dimmer.

 

[madweazl]

All I can say is that this has not been an issue for me. I see no explanation for why the third would be dimmer.

The 0-10v signal drops across the span of lights.

 

[Montiman]

The 0-10v signal drops across the span of lights.

This may be true but the question of the OP is about mixing different Kessil lights. I see no reason why mixing would be any different than three of the same light.

I will also say that I have seen systems with as many as 10 kessils all run in series with no discernible difference in output. I am sure at some point the voltage will diminish but it is at a point we are unlikely to encounter in a real world application.

 

[madweazl]

This may be true but the question of the OP is about mixing different Kessil lights. I see no reason why mixing would be any different than three of the same light.

I will also say that I have seen systems with as many as 10 kessils all run in series with no discernible difference in output. I am sure at some point the voltage will diminish but it is at a point we are unlikely to encounter in a real world application.

I just mentioned that it was something to look out for. In that regard, the Apex module wont power up four A360WEs in series.

 

[wowkingjames]

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