Photon 48” V2 - Violet channel issue

[jetor]

Two of the banks of violet colored leds on my 48” v2 are not working. All other colors are working and the other two banks are working fully. Is there a easy fix? I am dangerously handy at fixing electrical things

 

[Reef Breeders Verified Sponsor]

If you have a voltage (multi-meter) put it in resistance mode. This gives out a very light voltage that will dimly illuminate working LEDs when polarity is correct. The LEDs have a small silver pad on either side, and a +/- mark to indicate polarity.

If all LEDs work- next check the traces.

That means touch + to the + side of one LED, then touch the - side to the + side of the next LED in the series to the - side of that LED, and see if voltage passes through (you'll know because the first LED will light up).

If all traces and LEDs on BOTH sides of the driver are good- then it's likely the driver. You may find that an LED is out, or corrosion has ruined a trace on the board (if you see green stuff on the LED board- it's probably been corroded).

Wiping your light down to remove salt creep and avoiding splashes generally prevents this. I opened a light in service since 2016 with no signs of salt creep inside this AM.

If LED boards look good, all LEDs work, etc.- it's most likely the driver. We have both LED boards and drivers in stock if you want to do a DIY repair.

 

[jetor]

If you have a voltage (multi-meter) put it in resistance mode. This gives out a very light voltage that will dimly illuminate working LEDs when polarity is correct. The LEDs have a small silver pad on either side, and a +/- mark to indicate polarity.

If all LEDs work- next check the traces.

That means touch + to the + side of one LED, then touch the - side to the + side of the next LED in the series to the - side of that LED, and see if voltage passes through (you'll know because the first LED will light up).

If all traces and LEDs on BOTH sides of the driver are good- then it's likely the driver. You may find that an LED is out, or corrosion has ruined a trace on the board (if you see green stuff on the LED board- it's probably been corroded).

Wiping your light down to remove salt creep and avoiding splashes generally prevents this. I opened a light in service since 2016 with no signs of salt creep inside this AM.

If LED boards look good, all LEDs work, etc.- it's most likely the driver. We have both LED boards and drivers in stock if you want to do a DIY repair.

Excellent, I will give It a go this weekend.
I had it open to install the reef nexus upgrade chip and don’t recall seeing any corrosion. What’s a new driver or board going to set me back?

 

[Reef Breeders Verified Sponsor]

Excellent, I will give It a go this weekend.
I had it open to install the reef nexus upgrade chip and don’t recall seeing any corrosion. What’s a new driver or board going to set me back?

Board- $50- Driver- $30. We can replace individual LEDs on undamaged boards, but a new board is typically better.

 

[revenant]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I have the a very similar issue as the OP..

I bought a tank used in Jan of this year which came with two Photon 48v2+'s and one of them works wonderfully.. I went through the long process of programming it with the remote for a very granular ramp up and ramp down.. I had planned on using 4x 165w Viparspectras over my new 8' tank, but I like the coloring of my corals better with the Photon...(I am using just one of them over my soon to be old tank while I am in flux moving things to the new tank)...

So I decided this morning to put the other Photon 48v2+ over the new larger tank on one side and did a test power-on before mounting it.. It does it little power-on dance lighting all of the channels individually for a second or two, and the violet, royal blue, cool blue, and white LEDs are not working on the plug side. Freakin UGH!

So only the red and green are working on that one side. Is this for sure a physical issue with the light? Can it be reset to some kind of default setting to overcome this? The light looks like it's in excellent shape, super clean, etc.. Are the extra parts still available for these? Is there any chance of recovering the light without needing to buy parts? I am guessing the LEDs are soldered to a PCB board inside?

At any rate I am scatching my head a little atm figuring out what I want to do here. Any advice would be wonderful. Thanks very much!!

 

[revenant]

PS: on a side note, the one Photon 48v2+ which is working is coming on an hour early.. very strange. I go through the program and at 9am all channels are 0% but the blues/violet is coming on like it's 10am. The clock is right. Maybe power drain the light or something??