Rapid led questions

Ccanno66294 · Jan 30, 2013

I'm getting ready to order some LEDs for my tank and pretty sure I'm gonna go with the rapid led kits. What would you buy the kit for the 125 gallon that has to be soldered or the 48 and 24 kit that requires no soldering? Tank is 125 gallons.

Swine · Jan 30, 2013

Id get the soldering kit but thats because i know how to solder. Soldering is really easy and it Will be fairly hard to break the LEDs with bad soldering. I even asked them to send me used drivers to get the cost down by a couple of bucks. These guys have incredible customer service and Will help you choose the right kit.

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Ccanno66294 · Jan 30, 2013

I have no problem soldering just wasn't sure what would be the better option.

BBoley24 · Jan 30, 2013

+1 RapidLED

You can't go wrong. Check out their as is section on their heatsinks as well!

Ccanno66294 · Jan 30, 2013

I just went back on there website and you can now get the 125 kit solder less so maybe ill get that

DerekFF · Jan 30, 2013

The solderless saves you TONs of time and for me frustration. I'm not that great at soldering and next time ill for sure get solderless. It's so much cleaner looking also.

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occ_motorcycles · Jan 30, 2013

Just put a soulderless kit together last night and it was a pain. I woul rather spend the time shouldering each on because the connections will be better.

The issue I had mainly was I was told I had to use washers between the soulderless "bracket" thing and the led chip. No problem. Got it all built and wires attached and still nothing. Tested every led and all were good so I took the washers out and it lowered the contacts to the LEDs and made a better connection and then worked.

So I suggest the ones you soulder yourself.

Good luck.

DerekFF · Jan 30, 2013

It sounds like a grounding issue which has nothing to do with them being solderless. On my solder rapid set I had a ton of grounding issues with the star to the plate, or screws touching the star and then grounding it out that way.

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occ_motorcycles · Jan 30, 2013

DerekFF said:
It sounds like a grounding issue which has nothing to do with them being solderless. On my solder rapid set I had a ton of grounding issues with the star to the plate, or screws touching the star and then grounding it out that way.

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Definitely not a grounding issue. I have built at least ten fixtures for different people and it was a connection issue not grounding. I have never used the soulderless ones and will never again.

DerekFF · Jan 30, 2013

Dang. Local club had a little meeting with the solderless and it was over in about 20 minutes. We were left wondering how to fill the rest of our time since the kit went together so fast and easy. Well OP do what you feel like. Either way rapid is a great company with great customer service and you can't go wrong with them. If you do have a problem you can always call them direct and talk to them about any trouble shooting issues

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occ_motorcycles · Jan 30, 2013

DerekFF said:
Dang. Local club had a little meeting with the solderless and it was over in about 20 minutes. We were left wondering how to fill the rest of our time since the kit went together so fast and easy. Well OP do what you feel like. Either way rapid is a great company with great customer service and you can't go wrong with them. If you do have a problem you can always call them direct and talk to them about any trouble shooting issues

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Agreed. Rapid led is a company I have done business with and they are good. Hope you enjoy!

ifarmer · Jan 30, 2013

i had done several DIY light myself in the last few years.
DIY is not worth it. Too messy and has very little resale value.
LED are cheap these days, you better off buying as oppose to DIY

DerekFF · Jan 30, 2013

ifarmer said:
i had done several DIY light myself in the last few years.
DIY is not worth it. Too messy and has very little resale value.
LED are cheap these days, you better off buying as oppose to DIY

Somewhat true. They definitely never look as nice as a radion/kessil/onyx/razor, but you can choose led layout, colors, channels and the satisfaction of DIY. These are all things you can get with radion and razor, but you can do it for less, and compared to kessil you can get more options for about the same price.

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DerekFF · Jan 30, 2013

But yes resale isn't the same though.

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Swine · Jan 31, 2013

Why would you need to resell unless you are getting out of.the hobby. Every time you upgrade or down grade you have the greatest amount of flexibility. The one thing dont like is they dont sell a enclosure just inCase lol.

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PaulKreider · Feb 6, 2013

I got the soldering kid, its tricky figuring out how your going to run the wires at first but once you get it its easy! Make sure to get a splash cover for you heatsink too, i got the 20inch black heatsink, love it, looks great and the splash guard its worth the extra $$. 36 leds for my 55gal is more than enough!