BeamsWorkLED Timer Dimmer for EA DA Series

Beamswork makes a range of affordable LED light fixtures for both fresh and saltwater aquaria. I have 12 Beamswork fixtures from 48” to 72” in my fish room, all of them ~2 years old, and they have been working flawlessly. These fixtures are also excellent values, with only the 72” fixtures costing more than $100. In this price range, you don’t get all the bells and whistles of expensive programmable fixtures, but you do get a range of well-built fixtures that offer different spectral outputs and light intensities to fit a variety of applications.The DA (5 rows of LEDs) and EA (3 rows of LEDs) series are freshwater fixtures that offer 6500K white LEDs and 460nm actinic blue LEDs in a single fixture, the only settings being white + blue ON, blue only ON, and OFF. However, these fixtures are pre-wired for this bespoke dimmer/timer module, a simple plug-and-play accessory that allows you to operate the 6500K (white) and actinic (blue) LEDs independently, to set an automatic ON-OFF 24-hour cycle, and to dim the lights in ten increments from 100% to 10% brightness. So for an additional $15 per fixture, you get the basic automatic features of much more expensive units.I am very impressed with this dimmer/timer module, which seems to replace an older, similarly-priced Beamswork control module that had the timer function only. The programming is a bit tricky- more on this below- but once set the units seem to perform flawlessly. I particularly like the dimming function, which allows you to set light levels according to your needs. And if you have skittish fishes that are easily frightened by your fussing with the lights every day, the automatic timer/dimmer will make them very happy.The instructions for programming the timer/dimmer are not as clear as they could be, and I’ve yet to see an online review that describes the process adequately. That said, here are a set of instructions that should help you program these units in a straightforward manner.(1) INITIAL SETUP.(a) Switch the light fixture OFF. You will no longer be using the light switch.(b) Unplug the light fixture.(c) Unscrew the cap from the dimmer receptacle, which is located on the light fixture at the end opposite the ON/OFF switch. Plug the control module into this receptacle.(d) Plug the light fixture back into its power source. The lights will flicker once, and the timer/dimmer will power up, showing 1200 on its display.(2) SET THE TIME.(a) There are two buttons on the control module- a white one for the white LEDs (Mode 1) and a blue one for the blue LEDs (Mode 2). Hold both buttons down simultaneously for a few seconds, and the 1200 display will start to blink. Set the time- the white button for hours and the blue button for minutes; note that this is a 24-hour clock. Release. After a few seconds, the display will stop blinking; the clock is now set.(3) SET THE DIMNESS LEVELS FOR THE WHITE AND BLUE LEDs.(a) Hold the WHITE button down for ~3 seconds, until 888 appears on the display; release the white button; 10 will appear on the display, which corresponds to 100% brightness. Use the white button to scroll through the dimness levels, from 01 (10% brightness) to 10 (100% brightness); choose your dimness setting. Release. After a few seconds, the display will stop blinking; your dimness choice for the white LEDs has now been set.(b) Hold the BLUE button down for ~3 seconds, until 888 appears on the display; release the blue button; 10 will appear on the display, which corresponds to 100% brightness. Use the blue button to scroll through the dimness levels, from 01 (10% brightness) to 10 (100% brightness); choose your dimness setting. Release. After a few seconds, the display will stop blinking; your dimness choice for the blue LEDs has now been set.(4) SET THE ON/OFF CYCLE FOR THE WHITE AND BLUE LEDs.(a) WHITE LEDs. Hold the WHITE button down for ~5 seconds, 888 will appear initially, then ON will appear. Release the white button. Set the time you would like the white LEDs to turn ON, using the white button to set the hours and the blue button to set the minutes. Your ON time will flash a few times, then OF will appear. Set the time you would like the white LEDs to turn OFF, using the white button to set the hours and the blue button to set the minutes. Your OF time will flash a few times, then the time-of-day will appear on the display. Your white LED ON/OFF cycle for each 24-hour period has now been set.(a) BLUE LEDs. Hold the BLUE button down for ~5 seconds, 888 will appear initially, then ON will appear. Release the blue button. Set the time you would like the blue LEDs to turn ON, using the white button to set the hours and the blue button to set the minutes. Your ON time will flash a few times, then OF will appear. Set the time you would like the blue LEDs to turn OFF, using the white button to set the hours and the blue button to set the minutes. Your OF time will flash a few times, then the time-of-day will appear on the display. Your blue LED ON/OFF cycle for each 24-hour period has now been set.Programming is now complete.FINAL THOUGHTS- I started out with 3 of these dimmer/timer control modules, and they performed flawlessly, so I ordered 9 more. I will update this review once I can say something more about their longevity.One feature that I would have liked in these modules would have been the ability to program more than one ON/OFF cycle per 24-hour period, but I suppose that would have added to the cost. The basic programming cycle that I use at present is blue LEDs ON from 0600-2200, and white LEDs ON from 0800-2000. That yields a 12-hour period each day with white plus blue (daylight) illumination, 2 hour periods at the beginning and end of each day with blue (moonlight) illumination only, and eight hours each day with the lights off (2200-0600). However, since there are ten modules controlling the light fixtures in my fish room, they are offset by a few minutes each so that all the lights don’t turn on and off simultaneously.Once set up, you can change any setting you like without having to reprogram the whole module, simply by following the instructions above to get into either the dimmer or timer programs, and then resetting your parameters accordingly.The dimming function is great, allowing for a variety of lighting effects. With the white lights set at 100%, you will have bright 6500K light, especially with the DA fixtures. I prefer a setting of 10-20% white plus 100% blue for my tanks, which have only low-light plants.Bottom line- I really like these dimmer/timer modules; they are well worth the money.

Needs better instructions. I had to scour YouTube for hours before I found a snippet in a longer video of someone's tank setup that actually showed me how to set it up.

This product is great! The set up process isn't very intuitive but I set it up after 5-10 minutes. I live in an area where there are a lot of power outages and despite that, the timer hasn't reset once and keeps right on schedule. Love this product! It's nice and dependable.My one small complaint would be I wish the screen could be dimmed or turned off after no activity as the blue light is rather bright at night

Works as described. Happy with the product.

This dimmer and timer is great for my beamswork planted tank light. I already have a smart plug to control the on/off schedule, but what this does is allow me to control how bright I want the white and blue LEDs separately. In the morning, I like to have the white LEDs turn on first and the blue LEDs turn off an hour later. Then at night, I like to have the blue LEDs turn off first and the white LEDs turn off an hour later. I have a low tech tank and noticed the light is a bit too bright at 100%. After getting tons of green water/algae, I lowered the brightness to 60% and the schedule for only 6 hours. This helped once the plants started to out-compete the algae. Now, I have the timer set to 9 hours and the brightness up to 90% for white and blue LEDs. I'm beginning to see green spot algae on the glass, but it's been fine other than that. The plants are growing much faster than before when I had my Nicrew light. I highly recommend this light if you want a brighter light at an affordable price.

Instructions aren’t completely clear when it comes to dimming the lights. I almost returned it but in order to dim the lights (in my case the 72” Beamswork) set the light to the middle off position, not the white or blue light. Hope it helps anyone, it’s pretty much plug and play after that

Has dimmer options my last one didn't have which is nice to be able to adjust brightness. Best part for me though is no longer having to manually turn on/off my lights now. Set the on off time and it's good to go.

The instructions doesn't make any sense. Lol. Ready to throw it out the window!! Good grief.