Question How do I repair Sola Nightsea Light?

[Bogs]

SOLA NIGHTSEA have lost C5 big capacitor

I didnt see anything about the sola nightsea

 

[andyhi]

Posting my findings. All my lights have the three central spots and the 6 outer floods, except for the 2500 which is just one huge LED.

I'm a bit surprised, but it looks like the boards for your 2000SF and NightSea may be drop in replacements for each other. Both have board/part numbers 502-0238-A. (Not that I would try swapping them.)

The specs on the current NightSea model at L&M show 3000 lumen for flood high.... I thought the night seas were closer to 800 lumen or perhaps there have been upgrades along the way.

I would expect the more powerful lights to have different boards to deal with the higher current. I know the newer higher output lights that accept the newer charger have larger capacity batteries than my old 1200 s/f.

 

[andyhi]

Thanks for getting these pictures! Looks like the 2000SF is the closest match? Same id at the top(502-0238-A). I do notice the small chip above C8 is different from my nightsea, hopefully its just a different part/revision and not a specific part for the nightsea. I cant tell from your picture, but does the chip above C8 on the nightsea match the 2000SF on yours?

The other interesting thing is that there are 2 metal sheets that run off the side. Mine did not come with that and I wonder if that was what caused it to fail.

If you are talking about the thin white strip with two thin metal traces connect beside the LED module connector - It's 2 - 3 inches long and wraps outside the battery pack but the inside housing of the light.

Originally I thought it had to do with sensing the exterior on/off switch. My 1200 s/f has it, but other newer lights 3 do not... so it's not required for the exterior on/off/led output selector switch. It some what resembles an antenna but for what purpose? These lights have to be cooled in water at high output... so they aren't much use as a remote controlled photo / video lights. L&M does have a topside pro video line. Given the strip wraps around the battery pack, perhaps it's a temperature sensor for the battery.... but this should be built into the battery pack's onbaord battery management system / electronics. Who knows.

As for trying to find a replacement board - It's only going to be available to L&M repair unless you can salvage a board from a parts only light... but that would be risky unless you have an option for return.

 

[Bogs]

If you are talking about the thin white strip with two thin metal traces connect beside the LED module connector - It's 2 - 3 inches long and wraps outside the battery pack but the inside housing of the light.

Originally I thought it had to do with sensing the exterior on/off switch. My 1200 s/f has it, but other newer lights 3 do not... so it's not required for the exterior on/off/led output selector switch. It some what resembles an antenna but for what purpose? These lights have to be cooled in water at high output... so they aren't much use as a remote controlled photo / video lights. L&M does have a topside pro video line. Given the strip wraps around the battery pack, perhaps it's a temperature sensor for the battery.... but this should be built into the battery pack's onbaord battery management system / electronics. Who knows.

As for trying to find a replacement board - It's only going to be available to L&M repair unless you can salvage a board from a parts only light... but that would be risky unless you have an option for return.

Yeah, the white strip is the one I was talking about. A temp sensor would make sense, but from what you say it sounds like they dont even put it on a lot of their lights(unless that is a quality control issue). I had also considered maybe its grounding with the case, but that seems far fetched as well.

L&M wont let me purchase a replacement board. My only options are to try and solder new components on which I cant find a place to buy them or find a salvage light with the same board.

 

[Bogs]

I'm a bit surprised, but it looks like the boards for your 2000SF and NightSea may be drop in replacements for each other. Both have board/part numbers 502-0238-A. (Not that I would try swapping them.)

The specs on the current NightSea model at L&M show 3000 lumen for flood high.... I thought the night seas were closer to 800 lumen or perhaps there have been upgrades along the way.

I would expect the more powerful lights to have different boards to deal with the higher current. I know the newer higher output lights that accept the newer charger have larger capacity batteries than my old 1200 s/f.

The lumens must be based on the battery instead of the board design? I would be shocked if a company changed any components on that board and still gave it the same part number. Alternatively they could be dishonest regarding the 3000 Lumens. As far as I know no one has verified the light can actually do 3000 Lumens. Perhaps the light is actually 2000 lumens like the 2000SF.

Would be cool to get access to something like this to measure the real value.

 

[js47]

The specs on the current NightSea model at L&M show 3000 lumen for flood high.... I thought the night seas were closer to 800 lumen or perhaps there have been upgrades along the way.

The lumens must be based on the battery instead of the board design? I would be shocked if a company changed any components on that board and still gave it the same part number. Alternatively they could be dishonest regarding the 3000 Lumens. As far as I know no one has verified the light can actually do 3000 Lumens. Perhaps the light is actually 2000 lumens like the 2000SF.

Would be cool to get access to something like this to measure the real value.

Important to note that L+M rate the Sola Nightsea at 3000 milliwatts, not 3000 lumens. 3000mW at the 435 nm wavelength of the Nightsea is really only equivalent to about 100 lumens, but lumens are not the important factor for a light such as this. More info: Lumens and Lights for Fluorescence - NIGHTSEA

Since the Nightsea uses the same battery as the the 1200S/F, 2000S/F, and the 2500F with identical published runtimes to the 1200S/F (and longer runtimes compared with the 2000S/F and 2500F), I would guess that the Nightsea is simply a blue light equivalent to the 1200S/F. That said, based on my calculations which assume the spot used on the Nightsea is equivalent to the spot used on the 800S/F and 1200S/F then the maximum flood of the Nightsea would be only 882 lumens if it were white light.

 

[Bogs]

Important to note that L+M rate the Sola Nightsea at 3000 milliwatts, not 3000 lumens. 3000mW at the 435 nm wavelength of the Nightsea is really only equivalent to about 100 lumens, but lumens are not the important factor for a light such as this. More info: Lumens and Lights for Fluorescence - NIGHTSEA

Since the Nightsea uses the same battery as the the 1200S/F, 2000S/F, and the 2500F with identical published runtimes to the 1200S/F (and longer runtimes compared with the 2000S/F and 2500F), I would guess that the Nightsea is simply a blue light equivalent to the 1200S/F. That said, based on my calculations which assume the spot used on the Nightsea is equivalent to the spot used on the 800S/F and 1200S/F then the maximum flood of the Nightsea would be only 882 lumens if it were white light.

Thanks! I did not see the milliwatts in the spec. Not fan of this type of marketing since most competitors list it as lumens. It just acts to trick people into buying their lights.

 

[js47]

Thanks! I did not see the milliwatts in the spec. Not fan of this type of marketing since most competitors list it as lumens. It just acts to trick people into buying their lights.

I actually approve of it since lumens don't count for squat in a blue light. Besides, nobody would purchase a Nightsea if they said it was 100 lumens.