Help - LED Black Box Power Supply

[redfishbluefish]

I like my Black Boxes….and YES, they grow all corals like weeds. With one of my fixtures (a Mars Aqua with an SBReef board) the white channel is not working, believing the power supply is shot. I hear a clicking sound when I try to turn it on. Now I want to simply replace this power supply but the problem is that there is absolutely no information/label on the current power supply.

This power supply is for the proverbial black box LED that has 55 3 watt leds running at approximately 2.1 w each. One power supply runs half the LED’s. This unit does have a variable pot to control the light intensity. The power supply has the following coming out of it:

1. 2 wires supplying power IN.
2. 2 wires going to the fans.
3. 2 wires going to the LED board.
4. 4 wire ribbon going to the variable pot.

And the question is, what power supply do I need to buy to replace this one?

 

[redfishbluefish]

I need to change my screen name to "Obsolete Reefer." I think most equipment I have is now obsolete....SBReef Lights, Mars Aqua Lights, Fathom Lights, Waveline Return pump, Reefkeeper II Controllers....all no longer available!!! Darn, I'm old!

This doesn't look promising. I've spent the morning looking for a new black box that had two separate power cords and were adjustable.....NO LUCK. They don't make them anymore. I'm doing this to continue to use the method of control of my lights. The closest thing I found were Viparspectra, which pretty much just matches the number of LED's and the size of the light. It's controlled separately with a single power cord with its own timing panel.

 

[F4u-SuperCorsair]

I bought some old reef stuff that has an old homemade reef light. It uses 4 power supplies and a standalone controller. 2 heat sinks and a bunch of LEDs bolted to it.

 

[augiedoggy]

I need to change my screen name to "Obsolete Reefer." I think most equipment I have is now obsolete....SBReef Lights, Mars Aqua Lights, Fathom Lights, Waveline Return pump, Reefkeeper II Controllers....all no longer available!!! Darn, I'm old!

This doesn't look promising. I've spent the morning looking for a new black box that had two separate power cords and were adjustable.....NO LUCK. They don't make them anymore. I'm doing this to continue to use the method of control of my lights. The closest thing I found were Viparspectra, which pretty much just matches the number of LED's and the size of the light. It's controlled separately with a single power cord with its own timing panel.

Not sure if you still have this or not?
It appears the capacitor at location Ce51 is bloated slightly on top and if it is this is likely your issue... This can be repaired for a couple dollars if you know anyone who can solder. You just need the value off it.. My caps in that loacation are 220uf and 35v but I believe my drivers are older than yours.

These caps failing are a VERY common occurance in electronics these days... cant tll you how many power supplies, flat screen tv's and PC's ive replaced capacitors like this on.

You Can also buy compatible led drivers on ebay for about $15 shipped and wire them to a $10 90v pwm controller and repair them that way. hopefully this link doesnt break any rules? its not something I could see a sponsor sells so.

Constant Current LED Driver 60W 18-30X3W DC 54-105V 600mA Lamp Bulb Power Supply | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Constant Current LED Driver 60W 18-30X3W DC 54-105V 600mA Lamp Bulb Power Supply at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

or these for $10,

Constant Current LED Driver 30W 10-18X3W DC 30-60V 600mA Lamp Bulb Power Supply | eBay

30W High Power. High Power Chip LED. All High Power LED. LED Mix Kits. DIP Through Hole LED. SMD SMT LED. SMD Pre-Wired LED. LED dIODES.

www.ebay.com

On my old mars lights the little 0-10v knob controllers broke on my 3 lights (little board with green box in your photo) I couldnt find them anywher but ive just ordered replacement 0-10v potentiometers to replace them after learning the other 10 pins for 12v and onoff can just be jumpered on that driver board since I use timers anyway.

 

[augiedoggy]

So posting here jinxed me! lol

I literally had the same failure on the same 2 220uf 35v capacitors on one of my 4 lights yesterday. Luckily I was an easy and inexpensive repair to solder in two replacements.you can see the 2 bulging tops on the bad caps below labeled ce51 and ce53... same two that the OP had fail here.

I had a couple im my box of caps but heres a link to quality replacements for reference. it you can sold you can replace these they have a + and - orientation labeled on the cap and board for the 2 leads.

qty 10 NICHICON 220UF 35-VOLT RADIAL 105-DEG UVZ1V221MPD FREE SHIPPING | eBay

New and original Nichicon Capacitor part # UVZ1V221MPD. 220uf 35-volt 105-DEGREE size 10mm x 12.5mm. WE ARE AN AUTHORIZED NICHICON DISTRIBUTOR.

www.ebay.com

Hopefully this will help others with this eventual failure

 

[Foneman02]

I need to change my screen name to "Obsolete Reefer." I think most equipment I have is now obsolete....SBReef Lights, Mars Aqua Lights, Fathom Lights, Waveline Return pump, Reefkeeper II Controllers....all no longer available!!! Darn, I'm old!

This doesn't look promising. I've spent the morning looking for a new black box that had two separate power cords and were adjustable.....NO LUCK. They don't make them anymore. I'm doing this to continue to use the method of control of my lights. The closest thing I found were Viparspectra, which pretty much just matches the number of LED's and the size of the light. It's controlled separately with a single power cord with its own timing panel.

Is there any way to convert the Viparspectra into 2 separate channels? Currently both blue and white channel powered by a single power cord.

 

[Foneman02]

So posting here jinxed me! lol

I literally had the same failure on the same 2 220uf 35v capacitors on one of my 4 lights yesterday. Luckily I was an easy and inexpensive repair to solder in two replacements.you can see the 2 bulging tops on the bad caps below labeled ce51 and ce53... same two that the OP had fail here.

I had a couple im my box of caps but heres a link to quality replacements for reference. it you can sold you can replace these they have a + and - orientation labeled on the cap and board for the 2 leads.

qty 10 NICHICON 220UF 35-VOLT RADIAL 105-DEG UVZ1V221MPD FREE SHIPPING | eBay

New and original Nichicon Capacitor part # UVZ1V221MPD. 220uf 35-volt 105-DEGREE size 10mm x 12.5mm. WE ARE AN AUTHORIZED NICHICON DISTRIBUTOR.

www.ebay.com

Hopefully this will help others with this eventual failure

I have the exact same problem. 2 mars lights failing on one channel. Both boards had blown capacitors in these locations. Replaced capacitors on both boards. One board lights up channel flickering eventually will light. The other board does not work at all.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Not sure if you still have this or not?
It appears the capacitor at location Ce51 is bloated slightly on top and if it is this is likely your issue... This can be repaired for a couple dollars if you know anyone who can solder. You just need the value off it.. My caps in that loacation are 220uf and 35v but I believe my drivers are older than yours.

These caps failing are a VERY common occurance in electronics these days... cant tll you how many power supplies, flat screen tv's and PC's ive replaced capacitors like this on.

You Can also buy compatible led drivers on ebay for about $15 shipped and wire them to a $10 90v pwm controller and repair them that way. hopefully this link doesnt break any rules? its not something I could see a sponsor sells so.

Constant Current LED Driver 60W 18-30X3W DC 54-105V 600mA Lamp Bulb Power Supply | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Constant Current LED Driver 60W 18-30X3W DC 54-105V 600mA Lamp Bulb Power Supply at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

or these for $10,

Constant Current LED Driver 30W 10-18X3W DC 30-60V 600mA Lamp Bulb Power Supply | eBay

30W High Power. High Power Chip LED. All High Power LED. LED Mix Kits. DIP Through Hole LED. SMD SMT LED. SMD Pre-Wired LED. LED dIODES.

www.ebay.com

On my old mars lights the little 0-10v knob controllers broke on my 3 lights (little board with green box in your photo) I couldnt find them anywher but ive just ordered replacement 0-10v potentiometers to replace them after learning the other 10 pins for 12v and onoff can just be jumpered on that driver board since I use timers anyway.

Sorry, I missed this posting and just seeing it now. Upon further testing, it wasn't the power supply but one of the LED's was totally fried and being in series, the whole string was out. I ended up replacing this fixture with a ViparSpectra, and liked it so much, I replace the other two fixtures I had (SBReef Basic) with ViparSpectra's as well.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Is there any way to convert the Viparspectra into 2 separate channels? Currently both blue and white channel powered by a single power cord.

I haven't had a reason to open the ViparSpectra, so I don't know how it's wired up. However, scratching my head and giving it some thought, I don't know why you'd want to try separating the channels....they are already "separated" at the internal timer that comes with the unit. I hope that makes sense.

 

[augiedoggy]

I have the exact same problem. 2 mars lights failing on one channel. Both boards had blown capacitors in these locations. Replaced capacitors on both boards. One board lights up channel flickering eventually will light. The other board does not work at all.

Sounds like you still have a bad capacitor somewhere on the board.
I have a 5th blue and white only light I bought on ebay recently that will sometimes do this and Ive yet to open it up

 

[augiedoggy]

I just repaired 3 of my dead fixtures including 2 old mars aquas that have been in my attic for years.. I found the on off dimmer knobs that failed can be replaced with simple 0-10v dimmer knobs I bought on ebay for like 3 bucks. the third fixture was one that fell into my tank while on when the steel wire support cables both snapped while I was adjusting the intensity. ( that was a scary situation I prevented from ever reoccurring by cutting an opening in my canopy roof and mounting all four on top of my canopy about 14" from the water which also improved the spread while drastically minimizing exposure to salt creep.) I also swapped out some leds with different blue and uv versions.

 

[augiedoggy]

sounds like you still have a bad capacitor somewhere on the board.

I haven't had a reason to open the ViparSpectra, so I don't know how it's wired up. However, scratching my head and giving it some thought, I don't know why you'd want to try separating the channels....they are already "separated" at the internal timer that comes with the unit. I hope that makes sense.

Dont they also sell a cheaper version with only 2 knobs? Or am I thinking of something else?
I purchased a bunch of smart plugs that work with amazon home and set up automated timers for all the lights as well as voice activated commands for water change and feeding to turn off and on certain devices in a certain order so far its worked well and I like that it alerts me if the power has been lost to one of my devices such as the sump return pump or heater.

 

[Foneman02]

I haven't had a reason to open the ViparSpectra, so I don't know how it's wired up. However, scratching my head and giving it some thought, I don't know why you'd want to try separating the channels....they are already "separated" at the internal timer that comes with the unit. I hope that makes sense.

If there's an internal timer i,m not aware of it .perhaps the unit I bought last year is a different model. If you have any info on how to turn it on I would appreciate.

 

[Foneman02]

The model I have is the 165 watt unit. I'm an idiot I have a black box Wills light.

 

[Foneman02]

The model I have is the 165 watt unit. I'm an idiot I have a black box Wills light.

Sounds like you still have a bad capacitor somewhere on the board.
I have a 5th blue and white only light I bought on ebay recently that will sometimes do this and Ive yet to open it up

I wish I had an electronic s repair back round. The 2 capacitors I replaced had obvious bloated tops. There are other capacitors that look ok. I don't really know how to trouble shoot the other capacitors . I do have a multi meter but what setting would you use to trouble shoot a capacitor ? Or could it be some other component on the board ? If the other capacitors are still connected to the board can you still trouble shoot them? Sorry to bother you with so many questions.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I wish I had an electronic s repair back round. The 2 capacitors I replaced had obvious bloated tops. There are other capacitors that look ok. I don't really know how to trouble shoot the other capacitors . I do have a multi meter but what setting would you use to trouble shoot a capacitor ? Or could it be some other component on the board ? If the other capacitors are still connected to the board can you still trouble shoot them? Sorry to bother you with so many questions.

The capacitors I've replaced were obviously blown....swollen tops. You can test them with a multimeter, but you need to unsolder and discharge before testing. If you google "testing a capacitor" you'll find videos that show you how to do it.

It most certainly could be some other component. As noted above, the variable pot (the dial to adjust intensity) could be shot. And in my case above, one of the LED's was out, making the whole string to be out. That can be tested if your multimeter has the LED testing option.

 

[augiedoggy]

They also make a cheap meter for testing the caps without removing them which I have but honestly for as cheap as they are Id just replace then all on this board at that point.

one way to narrow it down is with a heat gun only heating specific caps at a time before testing if you can do it.

I had to replace one of my new caps twice because the replacement was actually faulty and out of range though it looked fine (cheap cap) I grabbed one off and old tv board I had in my attic and that worked.

 

[augiedoggy]

The model I have is the 165 watt unit. I'm an idiot I have a black box Wills light.

From what ive seen, In the beginning they advertised these as 120w units and now they are all advertised as 165w units regardless of what drivers are used and the actual wattage range.

 

[redfishbluefish]

From what ive seen, In the beginning they advertised these as 120w units and now they are all advertised as 165w units regardless of what drivers are used and the actual wattage range.

No 165W fixture runs at 165 watts. That is the calculated wattage of 55 3W LED's. Each LED runs at approximately 2.1W, which comes out to approximately 120 watts.

 

[redfishbluefish]

They also make a cheap meter for testing the caps without removing them which I have but honestly for as cheap as they are Id just replace then all on this board at that point.

one way to narrow it down is with a heat gun only heating specific caps at a time before testing if you can do it.

I had to replace one of my new caps twice because the replacement was actually faulty and out of range though it looked fine (cheap cap) I grabbed one off and old tv board I had in my attic and that worked.

Not knowing your level of electronic stuff, you do know that there is a positive and negative side to a capacitor. If it's a new capacitor, the longer lead (wire) is the positive side. Obviously, they need to be installed properly as well, knowing what connection is the positive and negative connections.