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Warning of power surge damage when plug into controller powerbars

PSA: Do not plug in your ReeFi into powerbar controller such as Hydros, GHL, Apex, etc. When relay switches on other devices switch off, it can create power surge to the other outlet that are still on, and these powerbars do not isolate the outlets. Ideally they should have put MOV (varistor) to prevent surges from induction backfeed. I have seen 5 ReeFi Uno 2.0 Pro that have been damaged by power surge. Best is to plug the ReeFi directly to a surge protection power stripe.

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ReeFi Uno Pre-order shipping update

First, I want to thank all of you for your support with ReeFi Uno pre-orders.

I ran into some issues with some of my suppliers (mainly my glass supplier).  My glass supplier had some issues with gluing the nuts on the glass panel, but it’s finally resolved.  They have initially send 50pcs of glass panels and after testing, the person I hired over there confirmed they passed.  They have delivered the rest of the glass panels and I have rearranged workers to assemble Uno at another factory due to glass delays.

Yesterday is the 2nd day of assembly and we found a couple glass panels where they glued the nut on top of the protective plastic layer.  The people I hired are checking for quality as they are assembling Uno.  I have ordered enough extra glass panel that this should not affect the rest of the production.

A little background story…  during ReeFi Duo Extreme production, I was able to rely on my brother’s contact because he had a large operation in China.  So when I needed some cardboard cartons made, his carton supplier would come visit me at my brother’s factory and take a sample of Extreme and design packaging to be drop safe and eco-friendly on my request.  Even though my order quantity is below their usual minimal order quantity requirement, this supplier did this for me as a courtesy to my brother.  Also, for freight shipping, I was able to piggy back off my brother’s many 40ft containers as he ships to States side monthly.  Unfortunately for me, my brother have moved all his operation to Cambodia.  Some of his vendors which my brother is their main client have followed him to Cambodia.  So for this Uno production, I have found new suppliers that are willing to work with me, but as new suppliers there are hiccups on the way.

For example, this time with Uno, I will be focusing more on partnering with LFS as well as online sells.  Some LFS feedbacks with Extreme is that they like the eco-friendly packaging but they want a retail box to help educate and sell off the shelf.  I decided to go with full color retail box and found my carton supplier.  However, when I received the mass order of color boxes, the color tone is off (red, orange, and yellow tones just seems off) and do not match my image files nor their initial samples.  As a new supplier, they wanted payment upfront so I have no recourse.

I ended up ordering full color photo stickers to correct this issue.

This time around, I had to design my own eco-friendly Uno packaging.  It took some time but I managed to design my own packaging dieline (cut lines and fold lines) and ordered them:

Due to the pandamic, I decided not to travel for my family’s safety.  What seems like a simply task if I was there in person, took hours of online chat and video conference to finally instruct my contacts on how to fold the above packaging to this.  This ended up costing 3x more the Styrofoam quote but I wanted to make my packagings as eco-friendly as possible.

During initial test assembly about 3 weeks ago.  I realized I’ll need more thermal paste than I estimated.  However, when I received the 2nd batch of thermal paste.  My supplier forgot the put end caps on the syringes.  Instead of risking getting thermal paste all over my workers hands and possibly accidentially transfer to the Uno assembly, I had the resend me new batch.

Uno assembly is underway now.

Instead of piggy back on my brother’s containers like I did in the past.  I had to go with a freight forwarder which means I’m an new importer and there are several US Custom’s paper work.  I have completed my bond certificate with US Custom’s office and am ready to go.  My freight forwarder have explained to me that with the pandemic, shipping have been very limited and hard to schedule.  They told me after missing my initial freight schedule, to expect late Jan.  I’m checking on the option of shipping my pallets separately to get some sooner.  When I get my new confirm freight schedule, I’ll update you guys again.

Sorry for the delay.  I’m doing everything I can to get the Unos here.  Thank you for your patience.  I promise it will be worth the wait.

Sincerely,

Daniel Lu
ReeFi Lab, LLC.

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Independent testing of the ReeFi Uno LED by Dana Riddle is underway

Independent testing of the ReeFi Uno LED by Dana Riddle is underway:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reefi-led-uno-testing-soon.766239/#post-8074763

ReeFi Uno

This compact LED fixture packed a whopping 72 LED diodes and 180W of max power. Using ReeFlectors to create even color blend of soft cast lighting without blinding side glare.

Other features:

  • 9 unique color LED spectrum with 9 individual channel for the most control.
  • Built-in WiFi and user configurable program schedule.
  • Continuous firmware updates to bring new features.
  • More details here.

ReeFi Uno is a game changer to continue ReeFi’s mission statement to create affordable premium LED lighting to the reefing community. ReeFi Uno is designed by reefer with microprocessor designer background and is made for reefers.

Continuing with the innovations from the ReeFi Duo Extreme, ReeFi Uno breaks the industry standard by bring premium LED reef lighting to unheard of under $2 per watt with most competition are over $4 per watt! All this and ReeFi Uno is backed with 3 years warranty!

Pre-order now for additional 20% saving and free shipping in the US for limited time and quantity only:
ReeFi Uno Pre-order Special

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ReeFi Uno sneak preview

Sneak preview of preproduction ReeFi Uno. Only thing that’s not the same as final production version is that it uses a 3D printed prototype shell while the production shell is still in the plastic injection mould tooling phase.

This little Uno with form factor of only 7.25″ x 5.68″ x 1.73″ pack a whopping 180 watts! Using latest 2 layers copper core PCB fab technology with direct contact from LED diode’s thermal pads to copper core for superior heat transfer. That along with 4 phase exchange vapor chambers are what make is possible to stay so tiny with such power. Just like the ReeFi Duo Extreme, ReeFi Uno will be backed with 3 years warranty.

More exciting specs with pricing and availability will be released Oct 9th. Pre-ordering with discounts will also be available on Oct 9th.

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RMS Mount Adaptor with 3.6 degs correction option

RMS arms are known for it’s slight droop. The droop angle seems to be the same regardless if mounted with ReeFi Duo Extreme/Deluxe or Radion LEDs.

ReeFi Lab has added an option to correct for this 3.6 degs droop with using RMS Mount Adaptor for ReeFi Duo Extreme/Deluxe LEDs.

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Save $100 per Extreme for ReeFi Love

One of the main pillars of ReeFi mission is to provide best value to our customers. As we explore different ways to promote our new ReeFi Duo Extreme LEDs, what better way to reach wider audience and still be best value than to let our ReeFi users be our voice.

If you’re willing to give a little love to ReeFi by tagging #ReeFiLove in your favorite Facebook reef groups with your experiences and pictures of your reef setup with ReeFi Duo Extreme. Make sure you like ReeFi FB page so you can tag ReeFi. Also share your experiences and pictures of your reef setup with ReeFi Duo Extreme on your favorite reef forum. We would love to see pictures of your corals as they color up and their growth progressions with ReeFi. Use the following coupon code to save $100 for each ReeFi Duo Extreme! Save and then Share with coupon: ReeFiLove

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Myth about LED lighting and Lenses

There is a general believe that light from LED diodes are narrow beam and require wide angle lenses to give it wider spread. Today we’ll explore the hidden truth of LED lighting and lenses.

This is a typical LED flashlight with optical lens that you can zoom. Picture on the right is the exact LED flashlight but I removed the LED lens.

Holding the flashlight about 8″ from the door. As you can see from the below 3 pictures:

  • Optical Lens Zoomed In all the way: You get super bright narrow focused light.
  • Optical Lens Zoomed Out all the way: You get wider spread typical of wide lens.
  • No Optical Lens: LED by itself has 180-120deg spread.

Optical lens are great to focus the light to area of interest and provide brighter illumination in that localized area. However, this is not ideal in reef aquarium settings because now you get disco ball effect with different color LEDs with it’s own focused lens. The advantages of optical lenses are purely for the LED light manufacturers. Using LED lenses provide brighter illumination at deeper water penetration so less LED diodes can be used. Below are some advantages for optical lenses:

  • Less LED diodes needed to give same PAR at the bottom of the tank to lower production cost.
  • Less LED diodes means less heat generated, thus cheaper and less efficient heatsink and fan can be used to even lower production cost.
  • Less LED diodes removes the complication of metal core PCB wire routing and heat transfer, which lower the production cost even more.

Unfortunately, all these cost savings from using optical lenses do not get pass down to the consumers, but the consumers get all the disadvantages/issues:

  • Focused light from each LED diodes is like a bunch of flashlight which causes the well known Disco Ball effect. This is especially aggravated with water surface movements.
  • Create intense light to shadow contrast which is why a lot of people either switch to T5 or supplement with T5.
  • Added cost of add-on diffuser to fix the problem but sacrifice PAR performance.
  • Even with the most focused lens, if you can see the convex part of the lens, stray light will hit your eye, so shades needed to be added.

This picture illustrate stray light hitting the camera causing flares to show up in the picture. This was taken with flashlight zoomed maxed to pin point focus pointing straight up and camera is taken next to it.

ReeFi’s solution is to eliminate optical lens all together and add the following:

  • ReeFlector™: individual reflectors to provide uniform blended light without disco ball effect.
  • Custom metal core PCB with direct thermal paths technology allows for more LED diodes without sacrifice PAR performance.
  • Custom design heatsink with maximum heat transfer surface area using zipper fins technology.
  • Custom high pressure blower fan instead of cheaper lower pressure axial fan.