AI Hydra HD LED first impression

[dz6t]

I have the new Hydra52 HD for several days now, they are very different lights than the older Hydra 52/26.
1. Gone is the purple cast from Hydra 52/26, the new HD is more blue like the original AI Sol.
2. The on board controller is a plus, well, every time you need to program the light, you need to logon to AI-Fi (that mean bye bye web browsing)
3. The iOS app is great, the windows based app sucks.
5. It has three white LED instead of 4 in the older Hydra52/26 per LED cluster.

 

[mvallee]

As someone who is considering purchasing Hydra 52's can you give your opinion, pro or con on point 1 and 5 comparing the hydra 52 vs. hydra 52 hd?

1. is losing the purple cast and being more Blue a pro or a con, is it just visual or some benefit or loss in regards to coral growth.
5. Three White LED's vs four, Pro or Con and if you could elaborate

Thanks, looking forward to your answers as well as future update on your impression of these HD as they compare to the regular Hydra.

 

[mchartier]

What settings are you running (everything at a 100% or atleast even) I have the 52's and I found a template for 15k settings and I have no purple cast.

 

[dz6t]

I am running them at 100% when doing the comparison.
I prefer the new look because it is closer to Radium 20K metal halide.
It is too early to tell coral growth.

 

[mchartier]

Thanks, I'm hitting 85% on mine

 

[Steviereefs]

That's awesome thanks for the heads up man, I've been excited about this light. Does the new feature make it feel like you get more out of the light as far as the power goes?

 

[dz6t]

Yes it does, I can relocate powers to each channels.
By turning down white, I have plenty of wattage to apply to blue or UV.
The fixtures are running at their max 120w.

 

[dz6t]

The Hyper Drive technology definitely separate AI Hydra HD from the rest of the premium LED. I think they are the best LED on the market right now in US.
But I don't think you can go wrong with the previous generation of AI Hydra either.

 

[dz6t]

Hydra 52
16 Cree XT-E Cool White (>70CRI)
4 OSRAM OSLON Deep Red
4 Cree XP-E Green
12 Cree XT-E Royal Blue
8 OSRAM OSLON Very Deep Blue
4 SemiLED 415nm Violet
4 Edison Opto 400nm UV


Hydra 52HD
12 - Cree XP-G2 Cool White (> 70 CRI)
12 - Cree XT-E Royal Blue
12 - Cree XP-E2 Blue
4 - OSRAM OSLON Deep Red
4 - Cree XP-E2 Green
4 - SemiLED 415nm
4 - SemiLED 400nm

 

[dz6t]

So you can see a significant different chip set on the new Hydra HD.
Major differences:
1. Cool white: newer chips despite they are almost identical at 340mA (XP-G2 vs XT-E), but 4 less LED chips.
2. 12 Cree Blue vs 8 Osram Very Deep Blue

 

[dz6t]

That reminds me the very successful AI Sol they made:
AI Sol:
8 White
8 Blue
8 Royal Blue

Hydra 52HD:
12 white
12 Blue
12 Royal Blue

 

[Puff Daddy]

The older 52s grow coral well. I have two of them on a tank. I still prefer my tank with Kessils/T5s on my other tank but 2 years of growth under the 52s has stood the test of time.

Do the 52 HD have any flickering when you try to video them from a phone? Have you noticed any buzzing sounds?

 

[dz6t]

There is no question that the older Hydra grow coral well, for matter of fact, I just bought another two brand new older Hydra 52.