Red Sea Power Supply Short Life

[ubiq]

I have three of their ReefLeds. The warranty is 24 months. Generally, I've been pretty happy with them. The problem is the power supplies. I had one fail at 25 months (which they graciously replaced for free), one fail at 22 months, and now I've just had a 160 S fail at 19 months. My question is: is this standard for led lights? Are the power supplies, industry-wide, built to fail within this window? It seems to me that a well built power supply should last for 10 years, given the cost of lighting. Is 10 years unrealistic, or is there a manufacturer out there with a significantly better track record than Red Sea?

 

[DaJMasta]

Red Sea probably doesn't actually make the power supply itself, other manufacturer's lights often use MeanWell supplies, which are a big manufacturer known for making pretty good power supplies.

Maybe it's something with your installation? If they're all packed together, thermally insulated, or in an area which gets elevated heat or humidity, it could cause premature failure. I'm not sure 10 years is a standard design lifetime for these consumer supplies, but it should be more than 2 years, and I've not seen similar failure rates with other supplies for other things, but perhaps by the same OEM.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I have three of their ReefLeds. The warranty is 24 months. Generally, I've been pretty happy with them. The problem is the power supplies. I had one fail at 25 months (which they graciously replaced for free), one fail at 22 months, and now I've just had a 160 S fail at 19 months. My question is: is this standard for led lights? Are the power supplies, industry-wide, built to fail within this window? It seems to me that a well built power supply should last for 10 years, given the cost of lighting. Is 10 years unrealistic, or is there a manufacturer out there with a significantly better track record than Red Sea?

I'd be looking at the quality of your grid supply, and whether the power supplies have adequate ventilation.

 

[oreo54]

I have three of their ReefLeds. The warranty is 24 months. Generally, I've been pretty happy with them. The problem is the power supplies. I had one fail at 25 months (which they graciously replaced for free), one fail at 22 months, and now I've just had a 160 S fail at 19 months. My question is: is this standard for led lights? Are the power supplies, industry-wide, built to fail within this window? It seems to me that a well built power supply should last for 10 years, given the cost of lighting. Is 10 years unrealistic, or is there a manufacturer out there with a significantly better track record than Red Sea?

Generally speaking and my pet conspiracy theory is the electrolytic power caps in the chinese power supplies last about 3-5 years.
So you brick a ps because of a few 10 cent parts.


Unfortunately some now consider this lifespan " standard" or blame it on heat ( well heat is a factor and can kill a cap prematurely especially cheap caps. Not downplaying it) which is in my opinion ridiculous.

Electrolytic capacitors determine the lifetime of a power supply

The service life of electrolytic capacitors is a key design parameter in power supplies. Our blog summarises the manufacturer's calculations and in-application checks used to define its lifetime.

www.xppower.com

Even sealed ps ( plastic brick) if built well and at a miniscule extra cost can last longer than 5 years though it's still the worst environment.

There are 4387 hours at peak heating in a year.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Generally speaking and my pet conspiracy theory is the electrolytic power caps in the chinese power supplies last about 3-5 years.
So you brick a ps because of a few 10 cent parts.

This is true. Fortunately, I'm capable of identifying and replacing swollen caps.

One induction stove, two TV's, one surround sound sytem, and two computers saved in the last 12 months.

Cheap components, not poor design causes them to fail.

 

[mmorriso]

I had three ReefLED 90s that I got at their release, my friend has them now and they’re still going strong. The power supplies get hot, so it may be if you’ve got them in a challenging environment, such as resting on top of each other, they may fail.

 

[blaxsun]

I sense a Radion upgrade in your future...

 

[ubiq]

Thanks, all. I had the power supplies velcro'ed to the back (1/4" plywood) of the cabinet I have my controllers in, separated by 1/2" each. I'll now be spacing them farther apart in an open, fan-ventilated, compartment. Maybe I can get a few more years out of them. It still seems to me that at $100+ replacement cost each, 5 years should not be an unreasonable expectation.

 

[oreo54]

Thanks, all. I had the power supplies velcro'ed to the back (1/4" plywood) of the cabinet I have my controllers in, separated by 1/2" each. I'll now be spacing them farther apart in an open, fan-ventilated, compartment. Maybe I can get a few more years out of them. It still seems to me that at $100+ replacement cost each, 5 years should not be an unreasonable expectation.

History .

ReefLED Power Supply Issue

Is anyone running the new ReefLED 90 lights? If so, can you tell me how hot your power supplies are when the lights are on? I just setup 2 lights on a 425 XL and one of them died after about 3 hours. Upon inspection of the power supply it burned me pretty good when I touched it. I unplugged...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Tamberav]

I sense a Radion upgrade in your future...

but but but the violet led thingies are known to fail prematurely on those...

 

[Tamberav]

It's too bad the companies use such cheap parts which leads to a waste of resources and this stuff in landfills and plastic finding its way back the ocean.. choking it..

 

[mmorriso]

I sense a Radion upgrade in your future...

To be fair, the G5’s have been released and retired within the ReefLED 90s life and have had their own issues. The G4’s were stalwarts but I’m not sure modern Radion’s should be the benchmark we should use for reliability and duty life.

 

[blaxsun]

To be fair, the G5’s have been released and retired within the ReefLED 90s life and have had their own issues. The G4’s were stalwarts but I’m not sure modern Radion’s should be the benchmark we should use for reliability and duty life.

I'm going on 2.5 years with my G5s, so knock on wood...

 

[mmorriso]

I'm going on 2.5 years with my G5s, so knock on wood...

Understood, and if they’ve been going that long there’s a good chance they’ll keep going, but there’s undeniably been quality issues with the G5’s which may have contributed to the unit being retired in an exceptionally short time compared to any other fixture.

 

[blaxsun]

Understood, and if they’ve been going that long there’s a good chance they’ll keep going, but there’s undeniably been quality issues with the G5’s which may have contributed to the unit being retired in an exceptionally short time compared to any other fixture.

My XR30s both have cracked cases from over-torqued bolts @ the factory...

 

[mmorriso]

My XR30s both have cracked cases from over-torqued bolts @ the factory...

Lol dare I ask why you recommended them in this thread? I love trying different lights out but I’ve avoided the G5’s and will steer clear of the G6’s until they’ve been on the market for a good while.

 

[blaxsun]

Lol dare I ask why you recommended them in this thread? I love trying different lights out but I’ve avoided the G5’s and will steer clear of the G6’s until they’ve been on the market for a good while.

Everything has its quirks - EcoTech isn't any exception. The lights generally run great even though I'm not a huge fan of Mobius (still waiting for the WiFi upgrade). I haven't run the ReefLEDs, but from what I gather it's very much a love or hate relationship with those (not unlike we Radion owners). I picked up a 4th G5 XR15 with the 15% off sale because it was too tempting to pass up, and I'm really glad I did because it's improved my overall lighting/PAR in the tank and everything has benefited as a result. Radions are expensive, but they work, they have great color and shimmer - which is why I don't hesitate to recommend them.

I don't think I'll be looking at the G6 for a while - or at least until one of my G5s goes and the lesser of two evils is replacing it with a G6 upgrade kit (one of the selling points with the G6).