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TJSlayer
05-27-2011, 05:03 AM
InWatter Stingray LED Review


Well let me start off by saying first and foremost dealing with Bongy at InWatter has been a true pleasure, he answered every question I threw at him and was always courteous towards other fixtures that I was comparing to during my research on LED’s. Totally professional about everything every step of the way; and up front about everything as well.


I confirmed my purchase with him on May the 18th and sent him my payment via PayPal at the same time as he insisted that I not send payment until the light was ready to ship. This also included him taking the time to test everything out personally before shipping for several days.

The light arrive exactly 8 days later from Hong Kong which I considered to be very fast for shipping and the shipping was about $115 Canadian which was also very reasonable. Packaging was great as well.


First Impressions of the light
Build quality is top notch
Light is heavier than expected and very solid
Light is dead quite has fans for cooling but they have yet to come on
BOY IS THIS SUCKER BRIGHT!!!! (Running at about 50% power right now)
Great coverage over the tank dues to the way they space the LED’s out.
Controls are very easy to work
Power cords are setup in a very smart way allowing for a great distance from the tank
Adjusting the color is great can pretty much dial in exactly what I want


I tried to take a bunch of pictures of me setting up the light and such, but like an idiot I left the lens cap on so needless to say they were useless….

But I do have pictures, although they didn’t turn out the greatest so I will be taking more in the coming days….


All in all the light has more than meet my expectations, and so far I’m very impressed, time will tell if the corals and critters like it as much as I do, but I expect they will.

Stingray

http://www.denpaul.ca/SALT/LED.jpg

TEK Light

http://www.denpaul.ca/SALT/TEK1.jpg

Stingray

http://www.denpaul.ca/SALT/LED1.jpg

TEK

http://www.denpaul.ca/SALT/TEK2.jpg

Stingray

http://www.denpaul.ca/SALT/LED2.jpg

TEK

http://www.denpaul.ca/SALT/TEK3.jpg

Stingray

http://www.denpaul.ca/SALT/LED3.jpg

TEK

http://www.denpaul.ca/SALT/TEK4.jpg

Stingray

http://www.denpaul.ca/SALT/LED4.jpg


If you have any questions or want to see something special let me know and I will do what I can.

Cheers

TJ

TJSlayer
05-27-2011, 05:05 AM
Here is a short video of it in action

http://www.denpaul.ca/SALT/INWATTERSTINGRAY.wmv

Bblinks
05-27-2011, 05:25 AM
It looks really nice, did you have the LEDs set at full or only 50% on those pictures? I know its a long shot, but do you think you can get some par reading? Btw I would really dial down the intensity on the unit, we don't want to burn any of the corals.
Thanks for doing the review, love to see more.:wink:

Samw
05-27-2011, 08:51 AM
That looks awesome!

nlreefguy
05-27-2011, 09:53 AM
It looks really nice, did you have the LEDs set at full or only 50% on those pictures? I know its a long shot, but do you think you can get some par reading? Btw I would really dial down the intensity on the unit, we don't want to burn any of the corals.
Thanks for doing the review, love to see more.:wink:

Absolutely agree 100%. From my own experience with switching to LED (from metal halide in fact), I had a major bleaching event due to the increased intensity of the LED light. (could also have been spectrum change, I guess, but the color temp looked around the same to me and I realize the appearance of it can also be deceiving for color temp) Lost a couple of corals in fact. LED's are very deceptive - they don't look as bright to you when you enter the room but I have a feeling that's because the light is very directional.

sphelps
05-27-2011, 12:57 PM
So what was the total cost for the fixture?

TJSlayer
05-27-2011, 01:41 PM
All the pictures were taken with the LEDs at the 50% range. May lower them a bit as well but figured I'd start there.

Total cost including shipping, taxes, and duty would be about $1650.

sphelps
05-27-2011, 01:43 PM
Damn that's a good price, I totally would have gone that route if I had known. The fixture and the tank look great!

TJSlayer
05-27-2011, 01:44 PM
Sorry I don't have the ability to do par readings but they have some that they did at there site.

www.inwatter.com

TJSlayer
05-27-2011, 01:49 PM
PAR readings are here

http://www.inwatter.com/stingrayLightTest.htm

TJSlayer
05-27-2011, 01:55 PM
Thanks Steve, I spent a lot of time going back and forth, before pulling the trigger so to speak, and was hesitant becuase of the company being unknown, etc. They have actually just started selling the units and I have one of the first if not the first 48" units here in North America

But the whole experience was excellent, the gentleman I was dealing with was great (His name is Bongy). The qulaity of the fixture and everything is truly top notch. Will try to take more pictures myself over the weekend, but it litterally looks exactly like what they have on their site.

And they offer a full 2 year warranty.

But so far I'm 150% happy with the purchase.
TJ

mike31154
05-27-2011, 02:13 PM
Thanks for the review, these look promising. Please elaborate on the dimming feature. Is it simply timer based, controlled by processor and does it have a manual feature?

Edit: Never mind re the dimming, I checked the site & there's a photo of the small LCD panel to control the light.

TJSlayer
05-27-2011, 02:15 PM
Here are some basic specs of the unit.

InWatter Stingray is designed to provide the right intensity and color combination for even the most demanding corals, whether they are soft corals, LPS or SPS. We use four different colored LED to enhance the color pop from corals. Our unique smart-PWM dimming provides excellent control and efficiency for our light-loving animals.

Features:

• 3watt CREE LED emitters
• 55 degree Optics
• Separate Light Dimming channel for White, Blue and Moon
• Configurable Sunrise/Sunset timer setting
• Adjustable legs and hanging mount (included with fixture)

2 ft 25.5"
Cool White x 16
Neutral White x 8
Royal Blue x 16
Cool Blue x 8
120 watt Total

3 ft 37"
Cool White x 24
Neutral White x 12
Royal Blue x 24
Cool Blue x 12
180 watt Total

4 ft 48.5"
Cool White x 32
Neutral White x 16
Royal Blue x 32
Cool Blue x 16
240 watt Total

I'm not sure what is in stock at the moment, or if the pricing will be changing, but it give you an idea. I also know Kelly at The Reef Shoppe was looking into becoming a distributor for them in Canada, and we have had a few conversations back and forth, so if you need some details or so you could get in touch with him.

Cheers
TJ

TJSlayer
05-27-2011, 05:02 PM
Programming is somewhat limited but has everything that is really necessary.

You can control the intensity of the blue channel or the white channel from 0-100%

Once you set your intensity this is the max that they reach. (Can be changed any time obviously)

You have two choices for on/off (instant or sunrise)

Instant does just that instant on, sunrise/sunset ramps up the intensity from 0 - 100% over the course of 1 hour, in reverse for sunset. Then then moon effect is controlled on its own. and you have 5 levels of lighting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (not sure what the percent is there, but I tried the lowest level last night which is number one and was happy with that, the others are too bright for my liking. (I like it pretty dim for moons)

There are no thunderstorms, cloud effects, etc. but in talking with users with some of the fixtures that have this effect almost none seem to use it after the initially playing around, or when someone comes over to check out the lights. Then it’s one of those cool or neat things that is fun to show.

I admit it looks cool but I decided it wasn’t critical for me.

Having the ability to have varying levels of intensity through out the day is about the only thing I wish the light could do, but again not critical to me anyways.

I currently have the blues starting at 10:00 am the whites starting at 10:20 am and coming off 12 hours later, then the moons coming on for four hours.

Will probably change that as time goes on, but wanted to see how warm the fixture get’s today.

And no you can’t update the controller via the computer or anything but it’s built into the fixture, will be taking more pics of this later…

TJSlayer
05-28-2011, 08:32 PM
Well I have the blues set at 70% and the whites at 65% and everything seems to be loving it. Some of the fans came on yesterday but they are extremely quite so all is great. Will try to get a better video and some more pics up today.

Todd

TJSlayer
05-28-2011, 11:11 PM
Here are some updated photos and and improved video

http://www.denpaul.ca/SALT/INWATTERSTINGRAY.wmv

http://www.denpaul.ca/SALT/LED-5.jpg

http://www.denpaul.ca/SALT/LED-6.jpg

http://www.denpaul.ca/SALT/LED-7.jpg

http://www.denpaul.ca/SALT/LED-8.jpg

http://www.denpaul.ca/SALT/LED-9.jpg

http://www.denpaul.ca/SALT/LED-10.jpg

TJSlayer
06-01-2011, 02:09 PM
Well after the fist week here are my observations so far:

- Less algae film build up on glass (had to clean 2 times instead of three or four) I beleive this is simply be cause of the more focused light.
- Temperature swing on tank is pretty much non-existant now. Wasn't bad before with the T5's but was still about 3-4 degrees from moring until it peaked, very slowly but still there.
- Color - incredible - so far everyone wh has seen the tank is comenting on how good it's looking and asking what I did. (People that I haven't told about the light to get their reaction) But the color is really nice very happy with it there as well.
- Positive coral responses - so far everything is responding very well to the light, I even have a small piece of a yellowish green leather that shrivelled up many months ago and became detached, it has still been in the tank for 6+ months and I was just going to throw it out as it a colorless blob, but I have noticed that it's starting to grow again, so I will keep a close watch on this. Would be pretty cool if it recovers.

Any questions just ask.

Todd

TJSlayer
06-08-2011, 10:12 PM
Well just finishing up week two and everything's doing great, cleaning glass twice a week as opposed to every second day, and corals are all responding great.

Scooter Blenny sits around more than usual now doing nothing so not sure if he's sun tanning, sick or just not happy about the light.. But otherwise everything else is loving it....

Skimmerking
06-08-2011, 11:27 PM
Todd how high is the recommended height for the LED and what was the cost for a 48" fixture would a 36 " light 4 feet thought about doing 2x 48" or 2x 36"

Bblinks
06-08-2011, 11:28 PM
Thanks for the up-date. keep them coming.:smile:

TJSlayer
06-08-2011, 11:48 PM
Todd how high is the recommended height for the LED and what was the cost for a 48" fixture would a 36 " light 4 feet thought about doing 2x 48" or 2x 36"

Light with the supplied legs sits only about 2" above the rim of the tank, on mine works out to about 3.5" above the water. Comes with a hanging kits and if hung I think even the 36" unit would cover a 48" tank and the 48" would do a 5 footer or 6 footer...

If it was heavily SPS dominated then you would probably be better off with the appropriate fixture for the width, but hard to say....

Kelly at the reef shoppe has them for a great price but the 48" would be around the $1600 mark...

Skimmerking
06-09-2011, 01:13 AM
ya my tank is 96x24x24 and its all lps

TJSlayer
06-09-2011, 06:29 PM
Really Hard to say then as that's a pretty big tank. I don't think you'd come close with one of any type of fixture unless it was a 6 footer.....

But you would probably be better of with two units to cover the width, front to back and depth shouldn't be an issue but if you raised it too high, I think your par values would start to suffer. The 55 degree optics will help with the depth , and because of the arangement the coverage is excellent with no spot light effects.

Two 36" ligts may also work but then your also loosing 60 watts per unit which is 25% of the output. So I think I'd be further inclined to look at 2 48's myself.

But I would also contact Bongy at Inwatter myself to check his thoughts....

TJSlayer
06-21-2011, 11:43 PM
Well a quick update and so far so good. Everything still loves the light, no ill effects what so ever…

Had a good question brought up in discussions with people who have come to view the light, as well as in PM's so I checked with Inwatter and will let you know how they are setup with it (Which made a lot of sense to me) and it may give others the idea to check with their light supplier...

First question is what to do if they change the design of the light down the road and the current panels become different than the newer ones. This has never been an issue with MH or T5 as they are bulbs and will be readily available, and will be for a very, very long time. Even if a light manufacturer pulls the plug, the bulbs will be available no matter what.

Inwatter has said very simply that if they for some reason change the basic design that they would make the current panels available to everyone to stock up on if they didn’t want to try replacing individual leds (which didn’t sound like a real simple option) The panels are currently priced at $75 per unit (2 per foot of fixture)

Seems like a great plan to me and for the paranoid type you could stock up on a complete set of “bulbs” for the light for $600, which may sound expensive but it’s the equivalent of 5 years or more of bulbs…..

May be something to consider down the road…

Some others have said that as long as the LED’s were available it should be relatively simple to replace or at least that it could be done, but I’m not that confident in my soldering ability so I think I would just by the replacement panels myself….

TJSlayer
07-22-2011, 10:50 PM
Well Monthly Update time Light is working fantastically.

Would post more pictures but nothing muchhas changed, but will try to grab a few more in the next week or so.

Cheers
TJ

TJSlayer
02-09-2012, 01:23 AM
Just an updated shot of the tank to compare from a year ago...everything loving the light

http://www.denpaul.ca/SALT/LED1.jpg

http://www.denpaul.ca/SALT/02-08-12.JPG