I have fixed 2 of these units and on both the large ceramic capacitor (mlcc) near the low voltage regulator (center near the barrel plug) was shorting to ground. Popping it off solved the problem. It will likely cause some extra ripple in the circuit not having it, but I haven't noticed any issues. I will likely source out some replacements at some point.
I just had the same exact short on my light, turned out the plugs become loose over time and causes moisture to get in and short out the power supply unit. I appreciate your information, I'm going to take that board to a TV repair guy and see if he can repair the board. I do it all the time for work with chiller boards because they are dirt cheap
@@myreeflife7072 they're trying to convince me to send it in... Do you mind saying how much they wanted? they also told me if it was a moisture issue it would not be covered because that's not their fault 😂 which is so asidizing, I'm not even going to get into it..
Larry Meloro I ended up buying a discounted unit from them for around 300. Plus all the shipping costs. I still have my broken unit. They too told me it wasn’t covered.
Glad you got a response and a resolve by the end of your experience. A month would have been a brain 🧠 wreck for me. Any way I just got mine in the mail I hope it works I hope 🤞
Ure surge was bigger that the surge suppression u were using. Most of the power bars are inaquidate, around 1600 joules, if I was a quality one u could have used their warranty to get a new led fixture. Gotta get a whole house arrestor mine is 3300 joules and 50ka with a 5 year 75k warranty.
The power supply on these are poorly designed, simply plugging in an energized AC/DC power brick into the light rather then pugging the brick first into the light before plugging it into the wall can cause significant sparking. There is effectively no inrush mitigation on the circuit, causing the power supply to hammer the circuit if the barrel jack isn't making perfect contact from salt, dirt or corrosion, or the cable is moved.
I had an AI Prime. I went to and fro via email with them for a couple weeks trying to have a simple question answered about one of the functions. Never got an answer that gave me any information I could actually use to figure out how to use the specific feature I was asking about. What a waste of time and energy. Not impressed. So when the time came to buy a light for my new tank, I got a Kessil ap700. Didn’t even consider AI after experiencing their customer disservice. I’m sorry to hear of your experience. ☹️
Reefgrrl It’s unfortunate they have such horrible service. And the whole time I was dealing with them I wanted to switch to Kessil lol. Glad to hear you got out of the AI trap! 🙂
That PCB mounted to the heatsink above the LEDs would be known as a "driver module". It contains the MOSFET chips for taking the source voltage and "applying" the specified current to the LEDs themselves. The board is glued to the heatsink because the mosfets onboard will generate lots of heat.
Good build quality it packed in 1 month out of warrenty ??? My Chinese black boxes have been running 100% 6 years nows that's good build quality 👌 the smaller they are the less they run cool
There crap the power supply already has a surge protector i opted for maxspect Razor rsx 200 parts are available better Cs and when you buy free extended warrenty so you get 2years
I have fixed 2 of these units and on both the large ceramic capacitor (mlcc) near the low voltage regulator (center near the barrel plug) was shorting to ground. Popping it off solved the problem. It will likely cause some extra ripple in the circuit not having it, but I haven't noticed any issues. I will likely source out some replacements at some point.
Good to know. Thank you for the info
I just had the same exact short on my light, turned out the plugs become loose over time and causes moisture to get in and short out the power supply unit.
I appreciate your information, I'm going to take that board to a TV repair guy and see if he can repair the board. I do it all the time for work with chiller boards because they are dirt cheap
Larry Meloro Thanks for sharing that. I wish you luck. It cost me too much going through AI.
@@myreeflife7072 they're trying to convince me to send it in... Do you mind saying how much they wanted?
they also told me if it was a moisture issue it would not be covered because that's not their fault 😂 which is so asidizing, I'm not even going to get into it..
Larry Meloro I ended up buying a discounted unit from them for around 300. Plus all the shipping costs. I still have my broken unit. They too told me it wasn’t covered.
@@myreeflife7072 do you still have it? would you sell it? i have a 26 that needs parts!
simboy2003 No I don’t sorry. If you’re in Canada, the Canadian distributor has parts
Glad you got a response and a resolve by the end of your experience. A month would have been a brain 🧠 wreck for me. Any way I just got mine in the mail I hope it works I hope 🤞
Ure surge was bigger that the surge suppression u were using. Most of the power bars are inaquidate, around 1600 joules, if I was a quality one u could have used their warranty to get a new led fixture. Gotta get a whole house arrestor mine is 3300 joules and 50ka with a 5 year 75k warranty.
The power supply on these are poorly designed, simply plugging in an energized AC/DC power brick into the light rather then pugging the brick first into the light before plugging it into the wall can cause significant sparking. There is effectively no inrush mitigation on the circuit, causing the power supply to hammer the circuit if the barrel jack isn't making perfect contact from salt, dirt or corrosion, or the cable is moved.
I had an AI Prime. I went to and fro via email with them for a couple weeks trying to have a simple question answered about one of the functions. Never got an answer that gave me any information I could actually use to figure out how to use the specific feature I was asking about. What a waste of time and energy. Not impressed. So when the time came to buy a light for my new tank, I got a Kessil ap700. Didn’t even consider AI after experiencing their customer disservice. I’m sorry to hear of your experience. ☹️
Reefgrrl It’s unfortunate they have such horrible service. And the whole time I was dealing with them I wanted to switch to Kessil lol. Glad to hear you got out of the AI trap! 🙂
Good to know. Thanks. Shoddy imo them not replacing the whole light. How much was the part?
Mr Fish They didn’t have the prices online and they didn’t tell me either so I’m not sure.
My Reef Life ah I thought you had to buy a spare part. No worries
That PCB mounted to the heatsink above the LEDs would be known as a "driver module". It contains the MOSFET chips for taking the source voltage and "applying" the specified current to the LEDs themselves. The board is glued to the heatsink because the mosfets onboard will generate lots of heat.
Good build quality it packed in 1 month out of warrenty ??? My Chinese black boxes have been running 100% 6 years nows that's good build quality 👌 the smaller they are the less they run cool
There crap the power supply already has a surge protector i opted for maxspect Razor rsx 200 parts are available better Cs and when you buy free extended warrenty so you get 2years
That's a bummer
Would you still recommend this light?
Frank Saralegui If support is not an issue then yes the light perform good when they are working right. Easy to program.