Questions about drivers for a Viparspectra t300

[Paully0723]

Hello,
So I was setting my t300 above the aquarium noob mistake hanging the light with shotty hooks anyways it fell in the water not plugged in so I took it all apart and dried it the best I could opening the driver boxes and drying them with a blow dryer waited a few hours plugged it in and it smoked 2 of the drivers burnt I emailed Viparspectra and they have informed me that a unit that was made last year is no longer available for parts does anyone know where I can get new drivers for this thing?TIA

 

[bishoptf]

Hello,
So I was setting my t300 above the aquarium noob mistake hanging the light with shotty hooks anyways it fell in the water not plugged in so I took it all apart and dried it the best I could opening the driver boxes and drying them with a blow dryer waited a few hours plugged it in and it smoked 2 of the drivers burnt I emailed Viparspectra and they have informed me that a unit that was made last year is no longer available for parts does anyone know where I can get new drivers for this thing?TIA

Maybe post the pics without the red circle so we can get an idea of what is borked, on one of them looks to be just a resistor, not sure on the other one. May want to get some closer pics also.

@Sral @theatrus any idea what the cheapest way to replace the led driver or just repair them? The drivers are pretty basive 12v, on/off control, pwm input and ground. I think the easiest would be to fix the boards but was hoping someone could chime in and give your opinions on how we could get the light working again...thanks

 

[Paully0723]

Hello,
So I was setting my t300 above the aquarium noob mistake hanging the light with shotty hooks anyways it fell in the water not plugged in so I took it all apart and dried it the best I could opening the driver boxes and drying them with a blow dryer waited a few hours plugged it in and it smoked 2 of the drivers burnt I emailed Viparspectra and they have informed me that a unit that was made last year is no longer available for parts does anyone know where I can get new drivers for this thing?TIA

 

[Paully0723]

led driver voltage 80-100vdc 580-630ma info on the outside of the driver no brand

 

[redfishbluefish]

Trying to find power supplies for black box LED's is almost impossible. My suggestion is to buy a used one and either use that one or use that one for parts. A quick search on eBay, I found THIS ONE that goes off in 16 hours.

 

[bishoptf]

Trying to find power supplies for black box LED's is almost impossible. My suggestion is to buy a used one and either use that one or use that one for parts. A quick search on eBay, I found THIS ONE that goes off in 16 hours.

Thats an ancient one, I do agree finding an old unit for cheap would be the best if you can find one.

@redfishbluefish on a separate note, I would like to get your input on the DIY Nopox dosing, I found an old thread on njreefers forum where you posted the recipe and wondering if your still dosing etc...should I post in the chemistry forum and tag you there? I don't want to hijack this thread but let me know if that would be the best place, thanks.

 

[oreo54]

led driver voltage 80-100vdc 580-630ma info on the outside of the driver no brand

Like previously mentioned "exact" drivers are hard to find.
Substitutes, well yeah.

Then there is the dimming issue.
Historically there have been numerous types and dealing with it isn't always easy..

Then sometimes you need to run slightly different specs.

But this will run the boards.

Then there is the fan thing..

Meanwell lcm-60U
2-90v dc 500mA.
3 in 1dimming
$68 plus shipping for 2.

I doubt if the led string draws more than 90v. Strings probably 25 diodes so would take the V(f) to be 4v per led.
If all are violets yea maybe. Blues are like 3.7 max at probably higher current than 500mA. Worst case the driver never outputs the full 500mA.
You could measure a good strings voltage to confirm

Anyways sort of difficult to make it "as it was"
Then, depending on age, your violets probably are no longer running at 100%

You can search some more, never know what you will find.
"IF" I remember correctly Inventronics made some closer to the correct spec drivers.
Also hard to find.

Best plan would be a new one.

Viparspectra 203W Aquarium Light Timer Control Series T300 LED Grow Light

Viparspectra 203W Aquarium Light Timer Control Series T300 LED Grow Light. Best price guarantee on all orders. Fast and secure delivery. Click to learn more

growace.com

Btw my picking a vendor does not mean I endorse that vendor

 

[Sral]

Hello,
So I was setting my t300 above the aquarium noob mistake hanging the light with shotty hooks anyways it fell in the water not plugged in so I took it all apart and dried it the best I could opening the driver boxes and drying them with a blow dryer waited a few hours plugged it in and it smoked 2 of the drivers burnt I emailed Viparspectra and they have informed me that a unit that was made last year is no longer available for parts does anyone know where I can get new drivers for this thing?TIA

Sry about your loss.
I think with all the crevices you need much more drying time than a few hours. First thing might be to ask viparspectra support for a circuit drawing, since it’s discontinued anyway.

I would also appreciate a more close up view of the parts, since Reef2Reef massively scales the pictures down in resolution or quality.

Can you also provide pictures of the other side of the board ? The burn on the left looks like it’s on a pin coming from the other side.

 

[oreo54]

Old-ish smaller Viparspecras used
Shenzhen Fahold HP060A-FAN drivers.
The 2 are similar.

 

[Paully0723]

Thats an ancient one, I do agree finding an old unit for cheap would be the best if you can find one.

@redfishbluefish on a separate note, I would like to get your input on the DIY Nopox dosing, I found an old thread on njreefers forum where you posted the recipe and wondering if your still dosing etc...should I post in the chemistry forum and tag you there? I don't want to hijack this thread but let me know if that would be the best place, thanks.

I bought it new in 22 and had it stored in the basement until I did this new build so it probably has about 30 mins worth of runtime on it sadly just gonna trash it can't find parts for something isn't a good thing I can find all sort of parts for my razor 420s and they are very old

 

[Sral]

Like previously mentioned "exact" drivers are hard to find.
Substitutes, well yeah.

Then there is the dimming issue.
Historically there have been numerous types and dealing with it isn't always easy..

Then sometimes you need to run slightly different specs.

But this will run the boards.

Then there is the fan thing..

Meanwell lcm-60U
2-90v dc 500mA.
3 in 1dimming
$68 plus shipping for 2.

I doubt if the led string draws more than 90v. Strings probably 25 diodes so would take the V(f) to be 4v per led.
If all are violets yea maybe. Blues are like 3.7 max at probably higher current than 500mA. Worst case the driver never outputs the full 500mA.
You could measure a good strings voltage to confirm

Anyways sort of difficult to make it "as it was"
Then, depending on age, your violets probably are no longer running at 100%

You can search some more, never know what you will find.
"IF" I remember correctly Inventronics made some closer to the correct spec drivers.
Also hard to find.

Best plan would be a new one.

Viparspectra 203W Aquarium Light Timer Control Series T300 LED Grow Light

Viparspectra 203W Aquarium Light Timer Control Series T300 LED Grow Light. Best price guarantee on all orders. Fast and secure delivery. Click to learn more

growace.com

Btw my picking a vendor does not mean I endorse that vendor

Quick note: the LEDs don’t draw voltage, they draw current based on the voltage they get. It’s therefore important that the drivers survive the DC voltage supplied by the power supply.

It’s then the drivers job to limit the current to what is set by the surrounding resistors.

 

[Sral]

I bought it new in 22 and had it stored in the basement until I did this new build so it probably has about 30 mins worth of runtime on it sadly just gonna trash it can't find parts for something isn't a good thing I can find all sort of parts for my razor 420s and they are very old

Well, first thing is to locate what has been burned. If you compare the burn marks left and right, they are on Pin locations that go through the board. So the burned component is a through hole component on the other side.

 

[Sral]

I bought it new in 22 and had it stored in the basement until I did this new build so it probably has about 30 mins worth of runtime on it sadly just gonna trash it can't find parts for something isn't a good thing I can find all sort of parts for my razor 420s and they are very old

Another idea I had: if it was salt water, simply drying it might leave you with a thin coat of salt on everything. As far as I know salt is somewhat conductive, so that might interfere with proper operation in a myriad of ways.

So one might think about rinsing with RODI water and drying and cleaning with kitchen towel. Afterwards you can wait a thorough drying period and only afterwards go for desoldering/replacing burnt parts and do testing.

I‘d wager that the driver component itself is burnt, because the residual water/ salt made it run too much current for too long.

 

[Paully0723]

Another idea I had: if it was salt water, simply drying it might leave you with a thin coat of salt on everything. As far as I know salt is somewhat conductive, so that might interfere with proper operation in a myriad of ways.

So one might think about rinsing with RODI water and drying and cleaning with kitchen towel. Afterwards you can wait a thorough drying period and only afterwards go for desoldering/replacing burnt parts and do testing.

I‘d wager that the driver component itself is burnt, because the residual water/ salt made it run too much current for too long.

Sounds very likely and yes it was salt and salt water is way more conductive I know the LEDs are ok because they are sealed housing and no water was in them but not so lucky on the drivers looks like the only work around is to find a used unit as no one has these in stock I've searched high and low and even looked for used with no such luck but if anyone has one or sees one for sale I'm definitely a buyer or maybe I just use the led board and hook it up to a external driver that can handle them obviously id lose the ability to set times and what not but still would be better then throwing away good stuff due to bad drivers I had a new timer driver that was shipped with the light as Viparspectra knew that was the commonly failed part so really only need 2 led drivers that will run the fans and lights I will open the drivers and remove the silicon on the other side of the circuit board so we can see what burnt thanks for all the insights and recommendations very helpful group here..

 

[oreo54]

Sounds very likely and yes it was salt and salt water is way more conductive I know the LEDs are ok because they are sealed housing and no water was in them but not so lucky on the drivers looks like the only work around is to find a used unit as no one has these in stock I've searched high and low and even looked for used with no such luck but if anyone has one or sees one for sale I'm definitely a buyer or maybe I just use the led board and hook it up to a external driver that can handle them obviously id lose the ability to set times and what not but still would be better then throwing away good stuff due to bad drivers I had a new timer driver that was shipped with the light as Viparspectra knew that was the commonly failed part so really only need 2 led drivers that will run the fans and lights I will open the drivers and remove the silicon on the other side of the circuit board so we can see what burnt thanks for all the insights and recommendations very helpful group here..

Try DHgate.. WELL over 20 pages of drivers.
Sorry hard to narrow search though.

https://www.dhgate.com/wholesale/search.do?separate=1&act=search&dspm=pcen.sp.search.1.PUobM3iKtvH0vy0sPoCR%26resource_id%3D&sus=&searchkey=led+driver+&catalog=&pageNum=14#pusearch1812

 

[bishoptf]

Here is another thought, I have had both vipar units the bigger one (over my tank now) and the smaller one. I think the led drivers in the units are the same for both so I think you could look for a used 165w unit and maybe have more luck. If I remember the bigger units have 3 drivers while the smaller one has 2, but I believe them to be the same led driver in both instances. Not sure how we can verify that but I know we had several teardown thread that may have some up close pictures.

Just a thought, would need to verify but I believe that to be the case...