New Neptune Sky...or?

[gbru316]

A VP I worked for had a great saying..."you can't bake baby's to see what old men will look like".

Agreed.

However, if you know what the old man (failure mode) will look like, you can often create conditions to grow the baby into the old man. That's often not an easy task, though. And I'm not sure a small company like Apex would have the resources to do such a thing.

 

[medi]

Mine are being delivered today. I'm replacing two G4 Ecotech xr30's so I'm sure I'll see a difference, but the sudden markdown definitely made me a little nervous. Ultimately, I decided if I'm happy with the lights, and they work, then I don't care about which version

 

[BigMax]

Agreed.

However, if you know what the old man (failure mode) will look like, you can often create conditions to grow the baby into the old man. That's often not an easy task, though. And I'm not sure a small company like Apex would have the resources to do such a thing.

Agreed.

For a small company it is much to cost prohibitive. Also agree on testing we still do it all for a reason, much of it's targeted at accelerated life testing. I didn't mean to imply it is isn't worthwhile, it definitely is, as it does find weaknesses and exposes potential concerns. You need to do whatever you can to identify short and long term concerns with the tools you have. But, the bake baby's is a bit of a joke to say there are things, rightly so, that only time in use will tell.

 

[rtparty]

I'm writing this for fun so please don't flame me I watched a video for repairing an EB832 by a really solid technician. One of the primary EB832 failures was related to using a triac that was not up to the task and was to easily overdriven (I'm a mechanical engineer not a sparky). What was interesting was that while Neptune was seeing a lot of failures on their EB832 they placed a job posting to hire a EE. I'm guessing they farmed out the design of the electronics and some poor choices were made, subsequently they were looking to bring some expertise in-house? Good move...

One thing I want to get clarification on is one of the third party "Neptune repair" shops has confirmed they have replaced the weak points in the EB832.

I happen to have some insider info and while we see "high" failure rates of the 832, the true numbers don't reflect it at all. I'm not discounting anybody's experience here or trying to give Neptune a pass. I've adamantly been against the 832 for these known problems they wouldn't address.

My father-in-law is a mechanical engineer designing public transit systems. Massive projects in all climates with human lives on the line. When I showed him the 832 tear down videos, he simply chuckled and said it wasn't an EE that designed that. Very poor design.

With that said, I'm about to put an 832 on my tank to replace the EB8. Could be a very stupid move on my part but I trust the numbers I've seen enough.

 

[alabella1]

One thing I want to get clarification on is one of the third party "Neptune repair" shops has confirmed they have replaced the weak points in the EB832.

I happen to have some insider info and while we see "high" failure rates of the 832, the true numbers don't reflect it at all. I'm not discounting anybody's experience here or trying to give Neptune a pass. I've adamantly been against the 832 for these known problems they wouldn't address.

My father-in-law is a mechanical engineer designing public transit systems. Massive projects in all climates with human lives on the line. When I showed him the 832 tear down videos, he simply chuckled and said it wasn't an EE that designed that. Very poor design.

With that said, I'm about to put an 832 on my tank to replace the EB8. Could be a very stupid move on my part but I trust the numbers I've seen enough.

I also spoke to, likely the same, neptune repair shop. He told me based on serial number and pictures of the inside that I sent him that Neptune did in fact fix the major defect on the 832 and that mine should be good to go.

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

Do you need an Apex to program the Sky light?

 

[gbru316]

Do you need an Apex to program the Sky light?

No, you can use the app and program via bluetooth.

 

[amoore311]

I think its just selling incredibly slowly because it's overpriced, and while they aren't axing it right now I feel like it will be axed in the future. The current price is almost exactly where all the folks who got early models and tore them apart, told you they should have priced the fixture in the first place.

The radeon does everything the sky does but better. Once neptune can control ecotech product, there is no need for the Sky to exist, its existence cannibalizes Radion sales.

 

[ycnibrc]

I have 4 sky and 6 kessil 360x for my 360g. I like it very simple to set up with Apex

 

[rtparty]

I think its just selling incredibly slowly because it's overpriced, and while they aren't axing it right now I feel like it will be axed in the future. The current price is almost exactly where all the folks who got early models and tore them apart, told you they should have priced the fixture in the first place.

The radeon does everything the sky does but better. Once neptune can control ecotech product, there is no need for the Sky to exist, its existence cannibalizes Radion sales.

Sky has/had better spread and better software. Mobius is still a major thorn until they completely redo the code on it.

There are also a lot of people that will never buy Ecotech but will buy Neptune and vice versa. Doesn't matter if the mother company is the same. Having both lines means they get both customers.

 

[BigMax]

One thing I want to get clarification on is one of the third party "Neptune repair" shops has confirmed they have replaced the weak points in the EB832.

I happen to have some insider info and while we see "high" failure rates of the 832, the true numbers don't reflect it at all. I'm not discounting anybody's experience here or trying to give Neptune a pass. I've adamantly been against the 832 for these known problems they wouldn't address.

My father-in-law is a mechanical engineer designing public transit systems. Massive projects in all climates with human lives on the line. When I showed him the 832 tear down videos, he simply chuckled and said it wasn't an EE that designed that. Very poor design.

With that said, I'm about to put an 832 on my tank to replace the EB8. Could be a very stupid move on my part but I trust the numbers I've seen enough.

It appears they have made modifications and fixed the major EB832 failure modes over the last year or so. You can look within R2R or YouTube for the repair video, again it was pretty well done. I assume the EB832 has serialization? If so contact Neptune and request the fix cut in information, that could improve you confidence. Like many others I haven't turned over my life support items (heater and recirculation pump) over to a controller power bar. And that's not specific to Neptune there are certain things I use redundancy or a simple is better approach....the more serial dependencies in a chain the greater the potential for failure (that's a simplification but that's a basic premise). Typically for any circuit board they'll have a part number and Rev to identify what the configuration is, if any fixes or modifications have been made, but as some one else said they're a small company and may not use what are standard practices for the electronics industry, if they do that could be of help. (Sorry if I send you on a wild goose chase, but it would be interesting to see what info they can and are willing to provide).

 

[amoore311]

Sky has/had better spread and better software. Mobius is still a major thorn until they completely redo the code on it.

There are also a lot of people that will never buy Ecotech but will buy Neptune and vice versa. Doesn't matter if the mother company is the same. Having both lines means they get both customers.

First statement is massaged marketing bs sorry. Before I get into this, we are talking mere percentage points here in the first place.

If there isn't enough spread to negate an entire required fixture.... what does spread really matter? If you are talking a 4' tank.... you need 2 of each, 6' tank 3 of each, 4' tank 4 of each. The situations where the SKY's nominal amount of "better" spread would equate to any real world advantages over a Gen5 or 6 Radion are few and far between.

-Mobius sucks. Point Neptune, but a weak point to be blatantly honest.

And if neptune doesn't have a light, then Neptune customers are going to pick another brand. They aren't going to leave the tanks unlit.

 

[ycnibrc]

My take on sky led
if a cheap black box led can grow corals then sky shouldn’t have any problems. For me when i decide to buy an equipment for my tank is #1 ease of use. If u have an apex controller then sky is super easy to integrate and easy to use.

 

[areefer01]

Great point. For those sky users, what's your opinion on the lights? Are they working out for you? At the discounted price I'm definitely thinking about switching from my t5 red sea 90 combo. The heat reduction alone would be worth it.

They are an excellent light. A lot of the noise upon launch was by Neptune fans and people that disliked Neptune or some part of it. Others had agendas so when one looks back on the product launch from a hobbyist perspective it was a sad state of affairs. Even if one removes the bias hat.

Looking at the light please note that I run two and have for well over a year now. The display hasn't crashed. The lights have not broken. There is no sticky stuff on the surface. Honestly when I look at the light kit on its own it has held up excellent even as I have them mounted 8" above the water surface. I've splashed, fish have splashed (true, my Zosters butterfly is a odd duck), and it is fine. No salt creep. Nothing. Both fans are working great. No alerts, alarms, nothing. If I am being honest they are pretty boring from that aspect.

As far as the light output I've not noticed any drop off in PAR. I took some measurements before placing them in the display and about 2 months past. Everything is more or less the same. I should note that I do not run my kits at 100% but rather 85% at peak of the day. Ramp, ramp down, 0700 to 2100. Moon lights are at 5% I think. Oh - 2 x SKY over 210 gallon display which is mixed reef at 54 x 30 x 30.

TL; DR sale is over, price was a great price point, light is solid and held up well, hobbyist have to weave through the noise from all parties and make their decision. Ignoring that I think most owners will say the same thing. Good light, holds up well, no issues. Of course I can't speak for all but that is my experience.

 

[rtparty]

They are an excellent light. A lot of the noise upon launch was by Neptune fans and people that disliked Neptune or some part of it. Others had agendas so when one looks back on the product launch from a hobbyist perspective it was a sad state of affairs. Even if one removes the bias hat.

Looking at the light please note that I run two and have for well over a year now. The display hasn't crashed. The lights have not broken. There is no sticky stuff on the surface. Honestly when I look at the light kit on its own it has held up excellent even as I have them mounted 8" above the water surface. I've splashed, fish have splashed (true, my Zosters butterfly is a odd duck), and it is fine. No salt creep. Nothing. Both fans are working great. No alerts, alarms, nothing. If I am being honest they are pretty boring from that aspect.

As far as the light output I've not noticed any drop off in PAR. I took some measurements before placing them in the display and about 2 months past. Everything is more or less the same. I should note that I do not run my kits at 100% but rather 85% at peak of the day. Ramp, ramp down, 0700 to 2100. Moon lights are at 5% I think. Oh - 2 x SKY over 210 gallon display which is mixed reef at 54 x 30 x 30.

TL; DR sale is over, price was a great price point, light is solid and held up well, hobbyist have to weave through the noise from all parties and make their decision. Ignoring that I think most owners will say the same thing. Good light, holds up well, no issues. Of course I can't speak for all but that is my experience.

Your experience follows the lines of everyone I have talked to about them.

At $650ish, they were the best light at the price and anyone who jumped on the sale will be happy.

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

Hopefully there will be a good Black Friday sale on them.

 

[danilericardo]

Never fails when current version of a product suddenly gets big markdown in price. I've been seeing a few used ones selling in the 700 range lately.

Nox Vidmate VLC​

 

[craigvh]

I have 4 Sky's and I love them. I had 8 Radion g5 pro's and disliked the fan noise and Mobius. I plan on getting 4 more Sky's over my 600 gallon. Best led light I've seen. And I'm not the biggest Neptune fan. But slowly warming up more to their products. Their app is great. No problems at all in the 8 months I've had the lights. My 2 cents.