AI Prime possibly dead?

HWEP

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Hi all,

Firstly, I'm new here. I joined yesterday after lurking in the shadows un-registered for some time. I really love it! I've got a 30gal Red sea.

I'm having some trouble with my AI Prime 16HD light. I think I know the answer, but you never know...

I'd taken the light off the tank, unplugged it, and put it back on the tank. I've done it a thousand times (WC day, it sits in a risky place). Around 10 minutes after re-mounting it, It went into thermal shutdown out of nowhere. Before this, the fan was working as normal, light working as normal etc. I unplugged it and followed AI's guide when this happens.

Since then I can’t get it to work. The actual spectrum of LEDs are flashing “all on” every other second or sporadically it stays "all on" for a few minutes then goes back to flashing. The odd time it's flashed on the UV colours too. What's worse, is there's NO light on the AI indicator, as if it's unplugged. I've opened the light and i can unfortunately smell something a bit hot/ sizzled and there's a slight brownish hue on the circuit board- which is to be expected if it's gone in to thermal shut down.

It’s refusing to factory reset under any circumstances. I've un-registered everything and the app isn't locating the S/ Number. I did try to get a video but unfortunately the flashing light just blinds the camera completely.

I'm pretty sure this is just it's death. It's always been kept max height from tank and kept clean. It's around 2 years old.

For now i've picked up a Nicrew Hyper reef 100w which seems to be doing the job pretty well... i'm pleasantly surprised considering it cost me £65/ $90 from a local reefer brand new in box.

If someone can confirm it is definitely dead, i'll sell it for spares or it can go to the big tank in the sky :(.

Thanks in advance!!!
 

_AV

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It sounds like you've done all the regular troubleshooting steps. The light is most likely dead and needs a repair or replacement. The fact that it won't even come up in the app tells me that the problem is somewhere outside of the actual LED cluster. But the problem is most likely electrical and not something that can be solved with a reset.
 
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HWEP

HWEP

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It sounds like you've done all the regular troubleshooting steps. The light is most likely dead and needs a repair or replacement. The fact that it won't even come up in the app tells me that the problem is somewhere outside of the actual LED cluster. But the problem is most likely electrical and not something that can be solved with a reset.
Thanks _AV. I did think so. For now i'll use my temp light until i get something more long term. Do you have any personal recommendations? It has to be mounted to the tank.
 

MONTANTK

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This happened to me before. It’s very common for the wire to separate from the board but it is an easy fix if that’s the issue. I sent it to AI and it cost about $12 to fix and I had the light within two weeks of sending it to them
 
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HWEP

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This happened to me before. It’s very common for the wire to separate from the board but it is an easy fix if that’s the issue. I sent it to AI and it cost about $12 to fix and I had the light within two weeks of sending it to them
Interesting, how did you work out that it was the wire? or did you just send it to AI for them to tell you?
 

MONTANTK

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Interesting, how did you work out that it was the wire? or did you just send it to AI for them to tell you?
I had issues with getting the light to turn back on. The AI light would flicker sometimes until eventually it just wouldn’t turn on at all. One way to tell if if the black cord that runs into the housing is separated and exposing bare wire. Seems to be a common issue but not a for sure tell
 

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