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Sun Brite Slim Line LED's instock
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Playapixie
Well-known member
I've had the Sunbrite Slimline S now for a few days on my Solana 34 and thought I'd share the information I learned from the manufacturer, as well as some of my thoughts about this light on the Solana:
The light didn't come with any real instructions, so I wrote to Sunbrite with my questions. Of note, the timer sequence is very different from anything I'd read online prior to purchasing. Here are his answers, and a few of my own observations/comments at the end:
1) is it ok if the mounting bracket is in the water? There doesn't seem to be any way to mount it that doesn't put it in the water in my tank. Won't aluminum oxidize? And is it dangerous to have metal with electric components in the water? Will the aluminum (I think it's aluminum) leech metals into my tank?
Answer: It's ok to be in the water. The unit is only 24DC, it's safe even the entire Unit is in the water. (not the power supply!)
2) What does the "timer setting" button do, exactly? And how does it work? When does it start and end? And what is the cycle that it cycles?
Answer:
Button A: once you pushed it, the internal clock starts at 6.00AM. Button B: Demo mode, it will run through the sunrise to sunset cycle. For demo purpose only. Button C: cycle through the white LEDs, 20% at a time. Button D: for the blue LEDs, works the same way as button C.
3) If I select a light color/intensity, when the timed cycle comes on, does it go to my pre-set color, or to full bright on all LED's?
Answer:
Once you plug in the power, the unit is 100%. use button C or D to adjust the intensity. Then click on button A to start the timer. Once you click on A. The clock starts at 6.00 am.
4) If I change the lights during a timed cycle, what happens in the next cycle? Does it cycle back to the most recent color? Or reset to something else?
Answer:
You may just unplug and plug it back in to reset the clock.
5) Did the Slimline S come standard with the 60 or 80 degree optics?
Answer:
All slim line and slim line S comes with a 80 degree optic. You may purchase 60 degree optic at $.99 a piece.
When I asked for clarification the sequence of lights for the timed sunrise/sunset moonlight feature:
Answer:
Pressing A sets the timer at 6AM, then:
6am first group blue.
9 am second group blue.
11am first group white.
1 pm second group white. Everything on.
The sunset starts at 5pm, it shuts off the first group of white (5 of them).
Then 7 pm shuts off the second group of white.
9pm shuts off the first group of blue
then it jumps to moon lights mode, only 4 in the middle driven at 0.1 watt each
My thoughts now that I've been playing with this unit for 5 days:
On the timer sequence:
~The timed sequence is kind of a bummer to me. It seems that you only get full lights for 4 hours in the middle of the day. And there is no way to have these 4 hours be the evening hours when most of us are home to enjoy the aquarium unless the tank is dark most of the day and light well into the wee hours of morning. And for a big chunk of the evening (and morning), the tank is all blue. So I'm pretty disappointed with the way it's programmed. For the time being I've set it to start the sequence at 8AM, but since I only got these directions yesterday afternoon, I haven't had a chance to live with it a few days to see how I feel about it in practice (or how the animals in the tank will do with this scheme.)
~When I asked if the light could be re-programmed with a different program, his reply was: "All program are pre set and burn into a ROM. We might able to burn a different one for you in the future. Please keep bugging me." So it may be that they can somehow send another program, but I'm unclear how/when/for what cost. I'll check back with him again another time. In the mean time I'm gong to try living with their program for a bit and see how it feels, and if I don't like it, I'll just put the light on an old-fashioned timer (which is a big bummer since the programmed sunrise-sunset and moonlights was a big part of why I chose this fixture.)
On the spread over my Solana 34:
~Well, so far I haven't been able to find the ideal way to mount this light over my Solana 34 (20"X20"X20" cube with built-in rear sump.) Mounted on the back glass wall, the farthest back row of lights barely clears the sump section, which means that a lot of the light actually falls into the sump. I've got chaeto growing back there on a reverse schedule, so light in the sump isn't ideal. This also means that the bulk of the lights are centered on the back half of the tank. The light fall-off from that location means that the very back of my rockwork is wel-lit, but the front third of the tank is much less lit. Light does reach the entire floorplan, though. It's just that the intensity is greatest in the rear, and not centered over my rocks. If you have a pure cube with no sump and centered rockwork, this light might work well for you in up to a 20"X20" cube.
~My Solana has the wood trim & top holder on the top, and I like it and want to keep it. However, I can't figure out any way to mount the light and still keep the wood trim around the top. If I was totally happy with the light spread with the lights mounted on the back wall, I would just modify my trim to accommodate it. But since the position of the lights is too far back in my tank anyhow, I'm not going to cut up my trim section.
~I tried mounting the light on the black wall between the back sump and the tank. However, in order to do so, the mounting bracket has to be very far in the water, and I don't like a) how it looks, b) that metal is in the water (although they say it is safe, I'm not convinced it won't cause electrolysis or leech metal into the tank...anyone with more knowledge of aluminum, salt water, and electricity have an opinion?), c) the back wall seems too fragile/flimsy to hold such a heavy light with the torque it produces, d) the bracket blocks access to the 2nd chamber media box. So I've ruled this out as an option.
~Considered mounting it on the side, which puts the spread in a decent location, but still puts the bracket deeply in the water, and I'd have to greatly modify my wood trim. Plus it looks funny on the side.
~My temporary solution: I've removed the mounting bracket and stuck some felt pads under the corners and have it sitting on the glass. Unfortunately, this doesn't get the fixture high enough to get light spread over the whole tank (it needs to be maybe 6 inches up to get good coverage.) Considering making some taller legs from dowels or something, but sliding the light on the glass is a pain. So ideally I'm going to make (or have made) a bracket that straddles the tank and holds the light at the ideal level, which would also allow the glass to be opened and closed with the light in place. Seems workable, but well, it's going to take some work.
~Also of note, no matter how you mount the bracket on the back of the Solana, your ability to access the second chamber to change media baskets/etc is limited.
The long and the short of it:
If the bracket as provided serves your dimensions (probably a pure square of 16-20" with no rear sump), and you can live with the bracket in the water (perhaps not true in every case), and you don't mind the timer sequence as programmed, this is a sharp light. But it seems like its design is quite limited as is.
Hmmm, maybe I'll go back to bugging them and see if there is any way to get a mounting bracket that would move the light further forward over the tank. It seems that if they want to sell this fixture for a variety of tanks, having more than one mounting bracket might be good for them (shorter for smaller tanks, longer for larger ones.) Just a thought.
Dawn
The light didn't come with any real instructions, so I wrote to Sunbrite with my questions. Of note, the timer sequence is very different from anything I'd read online prior to purchasing. Here are his answers, and a few of my own observations/comments at the end:
1) is it ok if the mounting bracket is in the water? There doesn't seem to be any way to mount it that doesn't put it in the water in my tank. Won't aluminum oxidize? And is it dangerous to have metal with electric components in the water? Will the aluminum (I think it's aluminum) leech metals into my tank?
Answer: It's ok to be in the water. The unit is only 24DC, it's safe even the entire Unit is in the water. (not the power supply!)
2) What does the "timer setting" button do, exactly? And how does it work? When does it start and end? And what is the cycle that it cycles?
Answer:
Button A: once you pushed it, the internal clock starts at 6.00AM. Button B: Demo mode, it will run through the sunrise to sunset cycle. For demo purpose only. Button C: cycle through the white LEDs, 20% at a time. Button D: for the blue LEDs, works the same way as button C.
3) If I select a light color/intensity, when the timed cycle comes on, does it go to my pre-set color, or to full bright on all LED's?
Answer:
Once you plug in the power, the unit is 100%. use button C or D to adjust the intensity. Then click on button A to start the timer. Once you click on A. The clock starts at 6.00 am.
4) If I change the lights during a timed cycle, what happens in the next cycle? Does it cycle back to the most recent color? Or reset to something else?
Answer:
You may just unplug and plug it back in to reset the clock.
5) Did the Slimline S come standard with the 60 or 80 degree optics?
Answer:
All slim line and slim line S comes with a 80 degree optic. You may purchase 60 degree optic at $.99 a piece.
When I asked for clarification the sequence of lights for the timed sunrise/sunset moonlight feature:
Answer:
Pressing A sets the timer at 6AM, then:
6am first group blue.
9 am second group blue.
11am first group white.
1 pm second group white. Everything on.
The sunset starts at 5pm, it shuts off the first group of white (5 of them).
Then 7 pm shuts off the second group of white.
9pm shuts off the first group of blue
then it jumps to moon lights mode, only 4 in the middle driven at 0.1 watt each
My thoughts now that I've been playing with this unit for 5 days:
On the timer sequence:
~The timed sequence is kind of a bummer to me. It seems that you only get full lights for 4 hours in the middle of the day. And there is no way to have these 4 hours be the evening hours when most of us are home to enjoy the aquarium unless the tank is dark most of the day and light well into the wee hours of morning. And for a big chunk of the evening (and morning), the tank is all blue. So I'm pretty disappointed with the way it's programmed. For the time being I've set it to start the sequence at 8AM, but since I only got these directions yesterday afternoon, I haven't had a chance to live with it a few days to see how I feel about it in practice (or how the animals in the tank will do with this scheme.)
~When I asked if the light could be re-programmed with a different program, his reply was: "All program are pre set and burn into a ROM. We might able to burn a different one for you in the future. Please keep bugging me." So it may be that they can somehow send another program, but I'm unclear how/when/for what cost. I'll check back with him again another time. In the mean time I'm gong to try living with their program for a bit and see how it feels, and if I don't like it, I'll just put the light on an old-fashioned timer (which is a big bummer since the programmed sunrise-sunset and moonlights was a big part of why I chose this fixture.)
On the spread over my Solana 34:
~Well, so far I haven't been able to find the ideal way to mount this light over my Solana 34 (20"X20"X20" cube with built-in rear sump.) Mounted on the back glass wall, the farthest back row of lights barely clears the sump section, which means that a lot of the light actually falls into the sump. I've got chaeto growing back there on a reverse schedule, so light in the sump isn't ideal. This also means that the bulk of the lights are centered on the back half of the tank. The light fall-off from that location means that the very back of my rockwork is wel-lit, but the front third of the tank is much less lit. Light does reach the entire floorplan, though. It's just that the intensity is greatest in the rear, and not centered over my rocks. If you have a pure cube with no sump and centered rockwork, this light might work well for you in up to a 20"X20" cube.
~My Solana has the wood trim & top holder on the top, and I like it and want to keep it. However, I can't figure out any way to mount the light and still keep the wood trim around the top. If I was totally happy with the light spread with the lights mounted on the back wall, I would just modify my trim to accommodate it. But since the position of the lights is too far back in my tank anyhow, I'm not going to cut up my trim section.
~I tried mounting the light on the black wall between the back sump and the tank. However, in order to do so, the mounting bracket has to be very far in the water, and I don't like a) how it looks, b) that metal is in the water (although they say it is safe, I'm not convinced it won't cause electrolysis or leech metal into the tank...anyone with more knowledge of aluminum, salt water, and electricity have an opinion?), c) the back wall seems too fragile/flimsy to hold such a heavy light with the torque it produces, d) the bracket blocks access to the 2nd chamber media box. So I've ruled this out as an option.
~Considered mounting it on the side, which puts the spread in a decent location, but still puts the bracket deeply in the water, and I'd have to greatly modify my wood trim. Plus it looks funny on the side.
~My temporary solution: I've removed the mounting bracket and stuck some felt pads under the corners and have it sitting on the glass. Unfortunately, this doesn't get the fixture high enough to get light spread over the whole tank (it needs to be maybe 6 inches up to get good coverage.) Considering making some taller legs from dowels or something, but sliding the light on the glass is a pain. So ideally I'm going to make (or have made) a bracket that straddles the tank and holds the light at the ideal level, which would also allow the glass to be opened and closed with the light in place. Seems workable, but well, it's going to take some work.
~Also of note, no matter how you mount the bracket on the back of the Solana, your ability to access the second chamber to change media baskets/etc is limited.
The long and the short of it:
If the bracket as provided serves your dimensions (probably a pure square of 16-20" with no rear sump), and you can live with the bracket in the water (perhaps not true in every case), and you don't mind the timer sequence as programmed, this is a sharp light. But it seems like its design is quite limited as is.
Hmmm, maybe I'll go back to bugging them and see if there is any way to get a mounting bracket that would move the light further forward over the tank. It seems that if they want to sell this fixture for a variety of tanks, having more than one mounting bracket might be good for them (shorter for smaller tanks, longer for larger ones.) Just a thought.
Dawn
Skimmy
SKIM FU
excellent first hand info playapixie,
i think you mentioned that you could take the mounting arm off and rest ther fixture directly on the glass, that might be a decent permanent option,
as well as hanging the fixture from your celing or an "over-the-tank" mounting bracket/arm like this:
JUMP START 2FT STAND ONLY
plus, i cant believe that they only give you full power of all led's for 4 hours... that should be an adjustable parameter for god's sake. but for your function, it might be better to just use the analog timer as you say, and then you can adjust the blue, white ratio yourself within your longer timer cycle.
i think you mentioned that you could take the mounting arm off and rest ther fixture directly on the glass, that might be a decent permanent option,
as well as hanging the fixture from your celing or an "over-the-tank" mounting bracket/arm like this:
JUMP START 2FT STAND ONLY
plus, i cant believe that they only give you full power of all led's for 4 hours... that should be an adjustable parameter for god's sake. but for your function, it might be better to just use the analog timer as you say, and then you can adjust the blue, white ratio yourself within your longer timer cycle.
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