NICREW LED Color variance between units

[Oblio]

I have two 36" NICREW RGB+W 24/7 LED lights mounted on a 125 G tank. I really like these so far, especially the 24/7 cycling with intensity ramping. I noticed that the two lights have noticeably different light outputs at the same color settings. I'm suspecting either a cold solder joint or potentially a bad lot of LEDs in one of the fixtures. I haven't narrowed down the offending color channel(s) or checked date codes. Has anyone had this issue before with either NICREWs or LEDs in general?

 

[mbsqw1d]

I have two 36" NICREW RGB+W 24/7 LED lights mounted on a 125 G tank. I really like these so far, especially the 24/7 cycling with intensity ramping. I noticed that the two lights have noticeably different light outputs at the same color settings. I'm suspecting either a cold solder joint or potentially a bad lot of LEDs in one of the fixtures. I haven't narrowed down the offending color channel(s) or checked date codes. Has anyone had this issue before with either NICREWs or LEDs in general?

Not had the issue, no. What controllers are you using on them?

 

[Oblio]

Not had the issue, no. What controllers are you using on them?

The ones that came with them.
I'll eventually hack them, probably with an ESP32 microcontroller with WiFi so I can host a webserver to control/monitor, along with a temp probe. This will also eliminate the need for programming two controllers as I'll drive both lights with one custom controller. I'll be able to get better intensity and color granularity and much better programming capabilities. More for fun than utility, but it would be nice for instance to be able to have a on demand ramp up/down to turn on/off the lights with better than 10% granularity in intensity.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Honestly nicrew lights are budget and the build quality reflects that. The variation in output could be due just to different batches of leds used.

I have a nicrew light that has been run for less than 100 hours and the power supply has aleady.

For the price they aren't bad but I would expect this kind of inconsistencies in build qualities to be honest.

 

[Oblio]

Honestly nicrew lights are budget and the build quality reflects that. The variation in output could be due just to different batches of leds used.

I have a nicrew light that has been run for less than 100 hours and the power supply has aleady.

For the price they aren't bad but I would expect this kind of inconsistencies in build qualities to be honest.

Thanks, I wasn't ready to spend big bucks yet and the 24/7 cycling appeals to my wife. If the housing and board is sound the quality seems decent (these are my first LEDs so I have none to compare with), I figure I can replace the LEDs once they start fading out (or fail). At that point I'll just be using the fixture and likely replace the LEDs with high quality devices from a single reel.

 

[Uberhoust]

I have three nicrew lights one is the 24/7 type with the 24 hour cycle. It has some issues, the timer loses time so I have to frequently reset it, and it is not as bright as the other two. But the plants seem to grow well with it though I have it on a 20 gallon long so it doesn't have far to go with the light. All the others are on the nicrew pro ramp timers, which have been working well except with the G2 configuration when it gets to the dimmest part of the ramp it starts to flash the LEDs which the fish do not appreciate, I work around that by ramping down to a point then just turning off, though that means I have to use another two ramp points. Otherwise they seem to work pretty good.