I feel as though people are blowing this out of proportion. Who really looks at these cracks everyday and says wow this like stinks. My xr30 and xr15 have cracks. I loosened the screws slightly to reduce stress. Cracks are now barely noticable but do not mess with the function of the light. It's not like my cover is going to fall into my tank lol. Plus it's in a canopy so your not going to see them unless you turn the light off or are trying to look for cracks while staring at a bright light.
Cracking Radion G5
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Well... I had a discussion with BRS and the guy I spoke to was quite helpful but claimed to have never heard of this problem. It was said the issue would be pushed up the ladder to Ryan and others. Ultimately they don't have any lights right now and expecting end of month. My account was annotated as likely to return for replacement. I think the only thing I'm concerned about is the typical send us the lights and we will send replacements policy. I don't have backup lights at the moment and I'm not going to leave my tank dark for perhaps days. Well I do but I'm not going to the hassle of reconfiguring the top of my tank and dragging out a massive 6ft MH/T5 fixture and hooking it up. No definitive answer but there seemed to be the possibility of CC secured cross shipping or maybe free overnight replacement shipped when UPS scans the returned package leaving things dark just a day. In any case I would really like to see BRS step up and issue an official stance on this. I've used them for years and spent many thousands, as have many others, and would expect nothing less.
In reality though while I want my lights replaced I don't think I want it until the problem is resolved with improved/redesigned parts. Unfortunately I suspect that might be something as half done as the same part with a couple added rubber washers. Worst case I will repair them myself.
And BTW not to judge but Torx has been around 35+ years and a pretty basic tool that's usually part of even a basic bit set. Then again I have more tools than God
Cracking Radion G5
I bought 2 xr15 blues no cracks or clicking noise. I think I'm in the clear guys. What typ of screws did they use?
www.reef2reef.com
I'd bet most people don't even have a set of bits though. I inherited both my grandfathers (auto mechanic) and fathers (home mechanic/tinkerer) plus what I already had so I'm like you and have all the tools imaginable so I notice when I go to a friend's house and they can barely come up with a pair of pliers. My truck's emergency toolbox is usually better stocked than what people have at their houses. Maybe on average reefers will be better equipped but I wouldn't expect most people to have a torx bit.
Normally I would understand all the frustration but given the current situation I agree that this is not a major issue and can be dealt with when it is safe for ETM to get people back into work and solve it.
I know I would personally not be risking my life or my staffs lives to solve a cracking issue in an other wise operational lighting system.
R33fedOut
Well-Known Member
I also agree 100%. As a few of my lights are affected by the defect, they're still on and working like they should. I was on a page last night, that everyone was bashing ETM saying they'd never buy another product from them again. For what? A mold defect! Lol. It's not like the light is INOP.
Hydrored
2500 Club Member
Well, the lights coming on whenever they feel like, a fan that is louder than the G4's, not being able to connect to all of your lights unless you power cycle them, popping noises, warping lenses, cracking cases. I believe these lights were not tested. I have purchased 9 Radion lights and 4 MP40's from these guys in 8 months, I love the products that work. I'm truly disappointed in how ETM released these lights, beta release at best.
Edit: I do agree they should not endanger their employees to solve a cracked piece of plastic. I do think their development team should be working overtime from home to solve the Mobius issues with lights coming on.
R33fedOut
Well-Known Member
Well that's unfortunate, but no reason to bash the company. Just like any new design product, from cars, to TV's, video game systems, and the list goes on. They all have issues with early production models. No beta test would surface all issues that are bound to happen, it's common sense. Everyone uses them differently, in different environments. For many years I and most others know not to buy a new model pre order, because they're bound to have the early stage bugs. Bottom line, it's how CS at ETM handles these bugs that counts. Your expensive investment is only a fraction of what ETM makes in 1 day. Bashing them and saying you're not going to buy more products isn't going to put them out of business .
Hydrored
2500 Club Member
I'm not bashing them, and I will spend more money with them, I don't think calling out the actual issues is bashing by any means.
joe0813
Well-Known Member
Other than a firefighter im also a tech at a GMC dealer, when they released the new body style sierra in 2019.5-2020 you could make an entire days pay from one truck. They have that many problems with them straight from the factory. So ecotech releasing the gen5 and having problems isnt really much of a surprise to me. it happens to the best of companies
Lunardogz
Community Member
Thank you for the temporary fix advice! I slightly loosened the 4 screws and I haven’t heard any snap, crackle, and pop. It was a relieve not hearing that noise. Constantly hearing the noise for hours can drive a person to be irritating at some point. I guess the only thing now is waiting on the replacement parts to come in and fix it permanently.
Not sure anyone knows how much they make per unit once accounting for the cost of the design and tooling. Perhaps replacing a percentage of the cases due to these defects puts them in the red. A percentage of people bashing them can absolutely put a company out of business longer term.
R33fedOut
Well-Known Member
ETM is absolutely NOT going to go out of business because of this. Their product line sells out almost everywhere. Sure, you may be right to a point with alot of other companies, but you know as well as anyone else that's not Ecotech. We understand, you needed to put your .02 in
R33fedOut
Well-Known Member
And why you may ask?? Because myself and most others are still going to continue buying their awesome products. Why? Because they have excellent history of making a great product, and even with hiccups like this, they always make it right.
R33fedOut
Well-Known Member
@Brian_68 --Hmmm. Weird, no where in my post(reply) did I say that, So at this point your putting words in my mouth or just plain took it the wrong way. My opinion holds no more value than yours and, vice versa. Simmer down, we are all in this lockdown together, no need to take it personal, as that's not was intended.Thanks for your .02 and opinion as well. Some it seems think their .02 are worth .03 and no one else can have an opposing thought.
Nothing personal just responding to your reply to me and bashing my opinion that was neutral toward you....
"ETM is absolutely NOT going to go out of business because of this. Their product line sells out almost everywhere. Sure, you may be right to a point with alot of other companies, but you know as well as anyone else that's not Ecotech. We understand, you needed to put your .02 in"
I completely agree and this light has exceeded my expectations by far. I was expecting a serious upgrade in the technology but wow seeing it is truly something. My tank is only 20" tall and the difference in brightness in the bottom of my tank is like night and day. I cant imagine how much better it is for people with 30" tall tanks.
I am actually relieved that the source of the noise has been pin pointed and ETM has a fix. I'm sure we have all been by our tanks a lot and it has been driving me up the wall.
It's like a tanning salon in my basement
This is just an FYI but I really think some of you guys need to do some research on Blue light and its damaging effects on your eyes and lets not even mention UV. I am not knocking anybody's choices but just saying you might want to reconsider the amounts of blue light that is spilling from the light and the long term effects it may have on you and your family.
That is an excellent point that you are bringing up and somthing I have never considered. I am an avid pc gamer and am well aware of the effects of blue light, and sleep schedule. I have personal experience with DES (digital eye strain) and had my eyes checked, even bought some fancy lenses for my glasses to block 95% of it out due to bad migraines.
I have to admit for whatever reason I have never even considered this problem as it relates to the blue LEDs over our tanks. I wonder if my sensitivity is from staring into reef tank LEDs the past 10 years. I know if I'm not using a really nice IPS monitor my eyes suffer. TN monitor with gamma shift forget about it. This never seemed like an issue for me until recently and I am barely on the PC these days.
I think just bc someone goes for blue or pro fixture the difference in harmful light is probably minimal. That is assuming you arent running a combined 6 hour blue ramp. I'm really happy you brought this up though thanks. I might need to consider a floating canopy to the setup to minimize it even further. I think a lot of people dont realize how "white" the blue fixture is with the lime and cyan diodes. That being said the individual diodes are still putting out that harmful light and the more of them the worse it will most likely be.
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