- Joined
- Sep 29, 2020
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- 121
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- Location
- San Luis Obispo, CA
Hi All,
I purchased two pre-embargo ATI Straton units for testing and feedback. The two units were replacing an 8-Bulb 48" ATI Powermodule over half of my new ~340g SPS reef. I wanted to document my findings and comparison on PAR, heat, sound (none!), look, build quality, coverage, and so on. ATI didn't give me the units, and I am speaking without any obligation to them.
I will also be putting up a youtube video when I get a chance with unboxing, details on the User Interface, and such. I'll link it here when I do
Appearance:
Compare to Previous T5 Lighting:
Some shots of the hanging kit, with a quarter for size comparison:
Heat:
Cost/Value:
UI/Setup:
I purchased two pre-embargo ATI Straton units for testing and feedback. The two units were replacing an 8-Bulb 48" ATI Powermodule over half of my new ~340g SPS reef. I wanted to document my findings and comparison on PAR, heat, sound (none!), look, build quality, coverage, and so on. ATI didn't give me the units, and I am speaking without any obligation to them.
I will also be putting up a youtube video when I get a chance with unboxing, details on the User Interface, and such. I'll link it here when I do
Appearance:
- Extremely sleek, about 9lbs, 18.5"x18.5"x0.5", the rest of the tech specs are here (ATI Straton Webpage)
- New, smaller hanging kit, very similar to classic units. I had a minor issue with one of them, but I think I was using the wrong hanging wire at the time (new units use SMALLER diameter hanging wire, they come with it)
- Power supply is a industrial Meanwell Driver shown below
- Wireless module is in-line, small, and allows pretty easy setup, it has an ethernet port too if you dont have wifi
- Reset hole (common design) is located on the wireless module for resetting unit
- They made their own light power cable, which is clear/white this helps it blend in MUCH better than a black cable
Compare to Previous T5 Lighting:
Some shots of the hanging kit, with a quarter for size comparison:
Heat:
- The Straton limits power to the LEDs if the fixture reaches 58C.
- When I first received the unit, I ran it with all LEDs at 100 percent for 8 hours in a house at about 24C (75F)
- The units reached a MAX temp of 46C, which I still have not seen them surpass. You can track their temperature live on the UI (user interface)
- Example:
- I know there will be heat concerns since the unit is passively cooled, I am telling you that I do not think this will be an issue, for anyone.
- Even in a closed canopy, with ventilation, I believe they will be fine. They don't even feel hot to the touch, just warm on top.
- My 8 bulb powermodule cranks out WAY more heat.
- Worth noting, much less power is being lost to heat here than with a MH or T5
- My units pull a maximum of 215W (advertised is 230W)
- This is likely due to the units being designed for 220V power (Europe) and using them in the USA (110V), higher restive losses due to higher current is my hypothesis
- To match the PAR of my 8 bulb powermodule, I had the units drawing 145W EACH, so a total of 290W.
- I need to stress that. The 48" Powermodule draws 550W (Apex power monitoring) and to match that coverage and PAR, I am now using only 290W
- The diffuser plate does an excellent job of eliminating the disco effect, and you still get some shimmer (not MH levels, but way better than flat T5 light)
- You can control THREE SEGMENTS of the light SEPARATELY
- Separate Spectrum, PAR, Timing on:
- Front
- Middle
- Back
- You can group all the fixtures Fronts, or all the middles or Backs in one group, or tune them all separately
- So if you want lots of PAR in front and less in back? No problem.
- Want to get sunset/sunrise effect? No problem.
- This is a pretty awesome feature.
- Separate Spectrum, PAR, Timing on:
- I initially mounted 2 Stratons over the 8 foot tank beside an 8-Bulb powermodule, and then recorded PAR measurements at 0.5", 6", 12", 18", 24" deep at several locations under each light
- I will show those plots in the next post for:
- Comparison 1: Full power all LEDs, T5 at full power.
- Comparison 2: SPS/LPS spectrum used (closer to my ATI T5 spectrum), Stratons at full power (but some LEDs are turned down to achieve spectrum), T5 at full power
- Findings Summary:
- Straton (as expected due to size) has excellent coverage, and easily achieves high PAR levels even low in the tank, very similar to the T5, but with higher PAR (can be turned down)
Cost/Value:
- MSRP is $1100 each
- They say the unit will cover 30"x30" space, I can verify that. If hung higher, it would cover more just fine.
- One could probably cover an 8 foot tank with three, but I opted for 4 in the end so that I could hang lower to minimize light spillage
- For comparison, to get the same coverage, I would use 4-6 Radions (I would go with 6 radions since I hate shadowing), or 4 CoralCare Units
- 6x Radion G5 XR30 ($840 each) = $5040
- 4x G2 Coralcare ($900 each, plus $150 controller) = $3750
- 4x ATI Straton ($1100 each) = $4400
- So they are above Radion and Coralcare in per-unit price, but I consider them to be a solid value since they are silent, attractive (to me), and significantly more powerful than the G2 CoralCare.
UI/Setup:
- The units come well packaged, the power cable from light to WiFi box is about 6", then another 1" to the Power supply, then a standard computer power cable to the wall
- The units come with a standard hanging kit (like current ATI but smaller)
- When you power the unit on, it puts out a wireless network, you just hop on that, teach it your network name/password, and then it hops on your network and you can then access it via its IP address [pretty standard]
- No Bluetooth [I kind of hate bluetooth so this isn't a drawback for me but may be for some]
- When you set up additional units in the same fashion on the same network, you can access ALL by accessing one (via its IP address)
- Here is a snapshot of the UI:
- So you can see here I have 4 units now, their temperatures, the dots on the plot show the spectrum and power at each point.
- You can use their pre-programmed spectrums, or create your own (shown here):
- Here is an example of how to group the segments of each light (it does it this way automatically):
- Then Finally you can set the time zone, wifi details, login/password (default is admin/admin), firmware update, name the light, and see the cool demo