AliExpress A8SE Reef Light

[OscarHaglund]

Just where the plate touches the heat sink should be fine. Dont use too much. Just a thin layer is fine.

If someone could take some photos of this process that would be great as i will need to be doing this asap

 

[RoanokeReef]

If you can use a screw driver you can do this. Just put a small dot of this Amazon product on the back side of the LED board for each LED.

 

[ebolatli]

Remove the lens part with the help of a screwdriver. Gently lift the LED plate just under the LED plate and apply thermal paste to the cooler part and carefully place the LED plate again. Place the lens on it and screw it tightly. That's all.

 

[Dibi]

So I have 6 lights all in the group "All". When I click on any of the lights i get this message. I can only control the lights by connecting directly to them.


Anyone run into this before?

I had this problem. Reset everything, configure it again, pray. Maybe it will fix, here it worked.

 

[Dibi]

Well here is my 6 month review.

I have had the light running on my sps only tank (6 months old) since January of this year. I bought it for $250 USD shipped with a North American power supply. It is as close to a radion as you will ever see. The fans are the same, the lens cover is the same, the housing is near identical with the main difference being the cord runs through the back of this light. The LED count, color and type is the same. I have dissembled my radion G5s to compare components and the only striking difference is the radions run a 10 channel system controlling all colors of leds while the A8 runs 6 and the radion uses Bluetooth connectivity while the A8 uses wifi (will touch more on this).

I currently have the light running beside two g5 XR30 blues and 95% of people would not be able to tell the difference. The color blends perfectly and the par is actually slightly higher than that produced by the radions. The A8 runs a warmer color overall and more closely resembles the pro version of the radion but with minor tweaks in color you can produce the “radion blue” look with very similar par results. With the light set to full intensity I was pushing well over 800 par in the upper parts of the tank. I currently have it set to about 75% blue channels and 20-30% whites and reds and am achieving 600+ par at the top 6” and 150-250 on the bottom 24” down.

Upon first setup I initially struggled with programming the light as it is in Chinese and the English app was not functional at the time. With the help of Google translate and some back and fourth with the supplier I managed to get the Chinese app working while they made improvements to the English app (which is now fully functional). After setup I took the time to create a manual for the light that I provided to the supplier with illustrations on how to program the Chinese app if you only know English. Feel free to reach out and I will provide the document.

As for the connection. I have found it more reliable than the radions Mobius. I have come home many times to my radions being out of schedule, changing times, and only running red/green/individual channels. In all my time with the A8 I only lost connectivity twice. The first time the power went out and the light was running 1h behind schedule until I opened the app and set to current time. The other time the light must have completely lost connectivity and reset to the default 5% on all channels until I reconnected.

Now does it grow coral? Absolutely and oddly enough all my most vivid pieces are underneath the A8.

I have been so impressed with this light that I put my radion G5s up for sale. I figured for the price I sell my G5s for I can purchase about 10 of these lights as they give a discount on 10 units. In all aspects I see that as a win.

Can you give us an update? Specially about growth.

 

[hcker99]

I had this problem. Reset everything, configure it again, pray. Maybe it will fix, here it worked.

When you say reset everything what did you do? Should I delete the lights from the app, and try and re add them? Or do I need to reset the lights by holding the center button down and starting over?

 

[hcker99]

Control each light separately or you will have issues

When you say separately do you mean direct connect? I've unlinked all the lights in the app but this is still happening

 

[DenverSaltyFarm]

got all of my lights today and very happy so far with the purchase A8SE. I did end up getting the radion high intensity lens kit for my lights and it fits perfectly. I now just have to purchase thermal compound to add from the back of the leds cluster to the heat sync. I took photos to show where the thermal paste should be spread. be very careful with the stand off plug in the upper left corner if anyone does this

 

[DenverSaltyFarm]

Also anyone missing the instructions here is photos of mine

 

[bradreef]

got all of my lights today and very happy so far with the purchase A8SE. I did end up getting the radion high intensity lens kit for my lights and it fits perfectly. I now just have to purchase thermal compound to add from the back of the leds cluster to the heat sync. I took photos to show where the thermal paste should be spread. be very careful with the stand off plug in the upper left corner if anyone does this

So are you just adding a little paste to the back of each LED? Like these arrows. Please share a pic once you do this

 

[DenverSaltyFarm]

So are you just adding a little paste to the back of each LED? Like these arrows. Please share a pic once you do this

No you spread a thin layer all over like spreading peanut butter then smash it down on the heat sync like building a pc. I drew a pattern I’ll probably do

Thermo paste with a spreader comes in handy

 

[fishface NJ]

No you spread a thin layer all over like spreading peanut butter then smash it down on the heat sync like building a pc. I drew a pattern I’ll probably do

Thermo paste with a spreader comes in handy

Thank you that is helpful. I wasn't sure if all the area had to be covered or just a curtain area.

 

[DenverSaltyFarm]

Thank you that is helpful. I wasn't sure if all the area had to be covered or just a curtain area.

I don’t think that the entire thing needs to be covered just a bunch of channels of paste to transfer that heat to the big heat sync. That alone will make a massive difference from what is already there. Don’t worry if any paste gets on any of the electronics it won’t short anything out. I cant stress this enough to double check that those electrical pins are lined up correctly before pressing down and reconnecting the leds. Those pins will bend easy.

You can also see videos out there search for “thermal paste cpu” and it’s the same concept. Lots of different ways to do it

 

[Saltfishlover]

So I did this today and when I plugged thr lights back in, one of them went off line. Now the buttons don't light up and no wifi/Bluetooth signal is found on the app. Then they went to full power. I did 3 ljghys and this was thr only one to do this and it was my last light. Any suggestions on a fix?

 

[DenverSaltyFarm]

So I did this today and when I plugged thr lights back in, one of them went off line. Now the buttons don't light up and no wifi/Bluetooth signal is found on the app. Then they went to full power. I did 3 ljghys and this was thr only one to do this and it was my last light. Any suggestions on a fix?

Did you try a master reset? Hold down the center button for 3 seconds then see if the light restores to factory settings. If nothing then take the light back apart and make sure the ribbon is plugged into the led cluster correctly and no pins bent on the cluster plug in the top left corner. Lastly smell it to see if there is a burnt electronics smell (worst case scenario)

 

[Saltfishlover]

Did you try a master reset? Hold down the center button for 3 seconds then see if the light restores to factory settings. If nothing then take the light back apart and make sure the ribbon is plugged into the led cluster correctly and no pins bent on the cluster plug in the top left corner. Lastly smell it to see if there is a burnt electronics smell (worst case scenario)

Yeah, I did all of that and still nothing. The buttons done even light up. I just can't figure out what went wrong. Even the timer is gone. I had to unplug the lights to get thrm.off tonight

 

[Dibi]

When you say reset everything what did you do? Should I delete the lights from the app, and try and re add them? Or do I need to reset the lights by holding the center button down and starting over?

delete the app, reset the leds. Imagine that they are new

 

[Saltfishlover]

Problem is, they are not sending a signal to the app, the lighted buttons don't work or respond.

 

[DenverSaltyFarm]

Thank you that is helpful. I wasn't sure if all the area had to be covered or just a curtain area.

I just found this video reefdudes did showing how to upgrade the actual xr30 light led cluster and you can see how radion added their thermal paste. Does not seem like a lot of thermal paste that radion uses

 

[VDC]

When you say separately do you mean direct connect? I've unlinked all the lights in the app but this is still happening

No, do not chain the lights to control