WhiskeyCoffee
Well-Known Member
Just upgraded my Viparspectra 165w to the SB Reef Light PCBs. This was a fairly easy upgrade, however they use a different shape Molex connection so I had to splice my wires and use my old pin connections. It was nerve wracking but simple when using butt splices.
First thing I noticed was on the side of the box, it says "PCB Board" with Chinese characters. I believe SB orders the boards from China and then retrofits them with their own LEDs. At least I hope this is the case.
Second thing I noticed was a rattle in the box, this was due to light covers coming off. Fortunately they snap back on and they have a layout available on their website so you are putting the lenses back in the correct position.
I was very impressed when I opened the Viparspectra lights. Very clean and organized, didn't seem like they cut any corners. As you can see the SB and VP almost look identical from above, expect VP adds additional heatsinks on top. The effectiveness is debatable and unfortunately I don't own an infrared thermometer.
At this angle you can see that the VP and SB boards are the same thickness, 1/16". Many of the lower end black box lights use boards as thin as license plates (supposedly).
Here I've completed the upgrade and you can see the butt splices I had to use.
Here you can see the SB Reef Light LEDs definitely have more purple (right):
So in my opinion, Viparspectra definitely seems to be on the "higher end" of the black box spectrum. The color and arrangement of the lights seems to be almost on par with SB, with SB having more true UV and better lenses for light distribution. I would say it's almost not worth it to upgrade if you already own Viparspectras and this upgrade would be a better choice for people who bought extremely cheap black boxes such as Mars Aqua, Galaxyhydro, etc.
Time will tell if this was a solid investment, though.
First thing I noticed was on the side of the box, it says "PCB Board" with Chinese characters. I believe SB orders the boards from China and then retrofits them with their own LEDs. At least I hope this is the case.
Second thing I noticed was a rattle in the box, this was due to light covers coming off. Fortunately they snap back on and they have a layout available on their website so you are putting the lenses back in the correct position.
I was very impressed when I opened the Viparspectra lights. Very clean and organized, didn't seem like they cut any corners. As you can see the SB and VP almost look identical from above, expect VP adds additional heatsinks on top. The effectiveness is debatable and unfortunately I don't own an infrared thermometer.
At this angle you can see that the VP and SB boards are the same thickness, 1/16". Many of the lower end black box lights use boards as thin as license plates (supposedly).
Here I've completed the upgrade and you can see the butt splices I had to use.
Here you can see the SB Reef Light LEDs definitely have more purple (right):
So in my opinion, Viparspectra definitely seems to be on the "higher end" of the black box spectrum. The color and arrangement of the lights seems to be almost on par with SB, with SB having more true UV and better lenses for light distribution. I would say it's almost not worth it to upgrade if you already own Viparspectras and this upgrade would be a better choice for people who bought extremely cheap black boxes such as Mars Aqua, Galaxyhydro, etc.
Time will tell if this was a solid investment, though.
