Must read for anyone with Gavita LED

[Zekethefreak]

Hi I am running 2 brand new Gavita 1700e LED and have noticed that when plugged in to a lighting controller (I’ve tried Gavita controller and TrolMaster with the same results) the light output is less than when plugged directly in to a wall socket.

I have have tested with an apogee par meter that 100% on the controller (Gavita or Trol) the light does not output as much light as with just plugging the light directly in to the wall socket. 100% on the controller is 5-10% less light output than direct to wall socket. This is the same for both of my brand new 1700e with led adapter. Have you noticed the same? Can you check? I’m trying to explain to Gavita support but not getting anywhere. Can anyone think of a reason this might happen. Many thanks.

 

[Madmax]

@Anthem are you running the controller bro..

 

[Anthem]

Hi I am running 2 brand new Gavita 1700e LED and have noticed that when plugged in to a lighting controller (I’ve tried Gavita controller and TrolMaster with the same results) the light output is less than when plugged directly in to a wall socket.

I have have tested with an apogee par meter that 100% on the controller (Gavita or Trol) the light does not output as much light as with just plugging the light directly in to the wall socket. 100% on the controller is 5-10% less light output than direct to wall socket. This is the same for both of my brand new 1700e with led adapter. Have you noticed the same? Can you check? I’m trying to explain to Gavita support but not getting anywhere. Can anyone think of a reason this might happen. Many thanks.

What light adapter are you running for the trolmaster?
on the e series adaptors there are 2 plugs, on the last one in the run there is one plug not being used. did you keep the funky jack in place? those have to stay in place if you are not running to another light.

 

[Zekethefreak]

What light adapter are you running for the trolmaster?
on the e series adaptors there are 2 plugs, on the last one in the run there is one plug not being used. did you keep the funky jack in place? those have to stay in place if you are not running to another light.

Hi I’m running the LMA -14 from troll. I also have the old style Gavita specific one both have the same problem. I didn’t know about the last one needing the jack in so perhaps that will fix it. Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll give it a try. If you have light meter it’s be worth checking your setup.

 

[Zekethefreak]

Hi so I’ve got in touch via DM with another member here who has confirmed he is experiencing the same issue.

Please if anyone has any Gavita LED lights that are used with a controller check as I suspect it’s a design flaw that will impact your yield. Also of the 1st 2 units I bought they both had to be returned due to leds not lighting up within the first year and one of the replacement units had a driver fail that resulted in the 3 bars not lifting up which also had to be returned under warranty.

I suspect with this I may have been unlucky and the store swapped the units no problem for brand new which was great service but every run now will have been compromised by using a controller and some degree of failure which is far less than expected from what should be a well built product.

 

[SamJan]

Hi I am running 2 brand new Gavita 1700e LED and have noticed that when plugged in to a lighting controller (I’ve tried Gavita controller and TrolMaster with the same results) the light output is less than when plugged directly in to a wall socket.

I have have tested with an apogee par meter that 100% on the controller (Gavita or Trol) the light does not output as much light as with just plugging the light directly in to the wall socket. 100% on the controller is 5-10% less light output than direct to wall socket. This is the same for both of my brand new 1700e with led adapter. Have you noticed the same? Can you check? I’m trying to explain to Gavita support but not getting anywhere. Can anyone think of a reason this might happen. Many thanks.

Hi
Currently running 1700e s and the way you explained is little confusing !! You didn’t mention anything about adapters!! Are you using the LED adapters? Those 2 lights supported to be connected together and both use their own adapters!! And those adapters are connected to the wall sockets !!

 

[Zekethefreak]

With the Gavita LED you need to use the Gavita LED adapter to connect them to a controller if you wish to dim, sunset / sunrise etc.

Gavita e-Series LED adapter by | Gavita – Retail

This product runs inline with the power cord to the fixture. Using this device in conjunction with the LED fixture will control them with an EL- controller

gavita.com

If you use this LED adapter even at 100% the light will output around 5-10% less light than if you don’t use it.

Does this make sense?

 

[Zekethefreak]

Sorry I’m not great at explaining it. It’s quite complicated how it works.

 

[Zekethefreak]

I have 2 x Gavita LED adapters, 2 x Gavita 1700e and have tried this with Gavita master controller and TrolMaster controller with the same results.

Also I have tried using the LED adapter with the dummy plug and you still loose 5-10% light output so it’s not the controller the issue must come from the Gavita LED adapter or the drivers inside the 1700e

 

[Zekethefreak]

What light adapter are you running for the trolmaster?
on the e series adaptors there are 2 plugs, on the last one in the run there is one plug not being used. did you keep the funky jack in place? those have to stay in place if you are not running to another light.

Hi I just tested the setup with the dummy plug in place on the output of the last Gavita LED apdapter. It made 0 difference still approx 10% less light output when used with a controller.

***************

If anyone is using a Gavita led light and any kind of lighting controller I urge them to check the light output compared with running them without a controller and get back to me. I strongly suspect a lot of people out there are having the yield reduced by at least 10% by using lights or Gavita led adapters that don’t work with any controller.

 

[Anthem]

Well I reached out to Trolmaster and I got a response. What you are stating it true. Trolmaster is only designed to allow the light to go to 100 percent of the fixtures ability. I see you tried both the trolmaster and gavita but what gavita did you try? I am asking because they have 2 models and 2 generations. From what Trolmaster stated they can be ran at 115 percent to reach the same output as just plugging the fixture directly into the wall. Which is what I am assuming the gen 2 controllers will do. Gavita has 2 generations of the e series adaptors as well. If you have the ones with the waterproof extensions for the RS plug those are gen 2.

This is extremely frustrating because I have been chasing my tail with yield since I put the lights on the trolmaster. I think this is about it for me with Gavita. They are just too committed to forcing you to use their secondary products it is too frustrating to continue with their products.

 

[sshz]

Most of you already know I own the adapters and controller and never felt they were worth hooking up.......I’d say this kind of seals the deal. I’m curious if you ever hooked up just 1 led and measured, wondering if it was still a 10% loss or was it down to 5%. Or will 3+ more LED’s reduce it even further?

It’s a safe bet Gavita won’t be any help, as they didn‘t even know about lenses that were on the 1650e but not the 1700e’s. I was asking about lense angles and they thought I was nuts.......

So, unhook the adapters and controller, and do everything by hand- well worth the additional 10% boost.

 

[Anthem]

Most of you already know I own the adapters and controller and never felt they were worth hooking up.......I’d say this kind of seals the deal. I’m curious if you ever hooked up just 1 led and measured, wondering if it was still a 10% loss or was it down to 5%. Or will 3+ more LED’s reduce it even further?

It’s a safe bet Gavita won’t be any help, as they didn‘t even know about lenses that were on the 1650e but not the 1700e’s. I was asking about lense angles and they thought I was nuts.......

So, unhook the adapters and controller, and do everything by hand- well worth the additional 10% boost.

Sshz any chance you can pull out that controller and plug it into just the wall and see if you have the ability to run the light program up to 115 percent?

 

[sshz]

This video shows you can run them at 115%.........he’s running hps but it works the same for the LED’s.

www.YouTube.com/watch?v=pNsbEE3LDQY

 

[Zekethefreak]

Well I reached out to Trolmaster and I got a response. What you are stating it true. Trolmaster is only designed to allow the light to go to 100 percent of the fixtures ability. I see you tried both the trolmaster and gavita but what gavita did you try? I am asking because they have 2 models and 2 generations. From what Trolmaster stated they can be ran at 115 percent to reach the same output as just plugging the fixture directly into the wall. Which is what I am assuming the gen 2 controllers will do. Gavita has 2 generations of the e series adaptors as well. If you have the ones with the waterproof extensions for the RS plug those are gen 2.

This is extremely frustrating because I have been chasing my tail with yield since I put the lights on the trolmaster. I think this is about it for me with Gavita. They are just too committed to forcing you to use their secondary products it is too frustrating to continue with their products.

I’ve tried quite a few combinations now. So I’ve tried the Gavita EL1 Gen 2 controller at 115% - same problem.

Trolmaster LMA-10 Gavita light adapter at 115% or 100% - same problem

Trolmaster LMA-14 Led light adapter at 100% - same problem.

Gavita dummy plug inserted in to Gavita led adapter - same problem.

As soon as you just plug the light in to the wall you get 10% more light.

The problem must lie with Gavita not TrolMaster and must be the drivers inside or something with the LED adapter. So frustrating for me to. Lost some serious yield to this now. I’ve tried Lumatek/Photontek and Mars FC6500 today and none of these have any reduction in light output when used with a controller

 

[Zekethefreak]

This video shows you can run them at 115%.........he’s running hps but it works the same for the LED’s.

www.YouTube.com/watch?v=pNsbEE3LDQY

This video shows you can run them at 115%.........he’s running hps but it works the same for the LED’s.

www.YouTube.com/watch?v=pNsbEE3LDQY

Yes you can run at 115% but the light output on the LED is the same as 100%

The 115% is for boosting the HPS only. I was running Gavita HPS and LED in the same room with the same controller and have tested this with the Apogee par meter.

@sshz are you running any kind of controller for your lights? And thanks for your input.

Gavita have some explaining to do...

 

[BurnzYzBudZz]

I know a couple cats absolutely crushing it with the trolmaster/thinkgrowLED combo. Just a little though..

 

[Zekethefreak]

Most of you already know I own the adapters and controller and never felt they were worth hooking up.......I’d say this kind of seals the deal. I’m curious if you ever hooked up just 1 led and measured, wondering if it was still a 10% loss or was it down to 5%. Or will 3+ more LED’s reduce it even further?

It’s a safe bet Gavita won’t be any help, as they didn‘t even know about lenses that were on the 1650e but not the 1700e’s. I was asking about lense angles and they thought I was nuts.......

So, unhook the adapters and controller, and do everything by hand- well worth the additional 10% boost.

Sorry sshz I didn’t see this post

 

[sshz]

No, I own them but never hooked them up as I didn’t see much of an advantage. I’m more of a hands on guy, and since retired I’m home most of the time to turn off/on things and monitor the room, heat and Led’s.

I’ve asked my buddy at Gavita, let’s see what he comes back with.........

Lastly, I’m wondering if you have a faulty Master Controller, only because I haven’t heard about the issue before this. But I don’t go searching stuff out like others either......... if you want I can send you my brand new never used controller, and you can test that one too.

 

[Zekethefreak]

Most of you already know I own the adapters and controller and never felt they were worth hooking up.......I’d say this kind of seals the deal. I’m curious if you ever hooked up just 1 led and measured, wondering if it was still a 10% loss or was it down to 5%. Or will 3+ more LED’s reduce it even further?

It’s a safe bet Gavita won’t be any help, as they didn‘t even know about lenses that were on the 1650e but not the 1700e’s. I was asking about lense angles and they thought I was nuts.......

So, unhook the adapters and controller, and do everything by hand- well worth the additional 10% boost.

Yeah you’re right on the plug it in and do it by hand. I agree shame I spent £700+ so getting on for $1000 us on adapters and controllers + the time and yield wasted. Sure they are great lights when they work but 3 out of for me have failed and been replaced and now this.