AquaIllumination Blade Announced

[rtparty]

A small update to my earlier first thoughts:

I haven’t heard back from AI but it’s the weekend so no shock. I backed the screws out myself and the O ring is absolutely part of the water proofing. So if anyone buys one and the O ring is loose, it’s a 2 minute fix. Beyond easy.

On the bad news front:

I have to assume this kills any IP rating for the light. I don’t put a lot of trust in IP ratings anyway since there is no authoritative entity that controls it. I’m not sure I’d tout an IP rating if I was AI or any other company UNLESS the item is supposed to be used completely submerged.

We will see what AI says about the “exposed” wires here. I don’t see how any water could get in for my setup but on the rim of the tank? Absolutely it could be an issue.

I know of about 15 other Blades from people I talk to and trust and none of them have this issue so far. Mine and telegraham’s are the only so far that I’ve personally seen. Could be plenty more once more people get them.

 

[DanyL]

This is standard in almost every industry. It’s not exclusive to the saltwater industry.

Cars? You bet ya. Phones? Absolutely. Companies with bank accounts deeper than the Mariana Trench and it happens all the time.

People can talk smack all day long but you simply can not beta test everything. How a company handles the issues speaks volumes. Nothing is perfect especially not in a small hobby like ours

How would you explain that some companies have a long track record of bad QC and others don't?

Mistakes do happen and design flaws may arise over time as well, but saying that all new products and sometimes even old models will have high percentage of failures and manufacturing defects is fine seems a bit crazy to me, no matter how well they handle things later on.

 

[rtparty]

How would you explain that some companies have a long track record of bad QC and others don't?

Mistakes do happen and design flaws may arise over time as well, but saying that all new products and sometimes even old models will have high percentage of failures and manufacturing defects is fine seems a bit crazy to me, no matter how well they handle things later on.

Who said anything about “all new products will have a high percentage of failures?”

I certainly didn’t say that.

I said it is common for brand new products to have issues in all industries. Phones bending, phones blowing up, cars randomly catching on fire, etc. We see it quite often as a society from every manufacturer out there. Companies that have billions of dollars to develop and test products still have defects get through the cracks once 100k people are using that item.

 

[DanyL]

Who said anything about “all new products will have a high percentage of failures?”

I certainly didn’t say that.

I said it is common for brand new products to have issues in all industries. Phones bending, phones blowing up, cars randomly catching on fire, etc. We see it quite often as a society from every manufacturer out there. Companies that have billions of dollars to develop and test products still have defects get through the cracks once 100k people are using that item.

You insist to make the comparison to big corp, fine.

When Apple released the iPod nano in 2005 they didn't know the battery will start to explode years later, in 2011 (6 years later) they launched a recall and replacement program which ran for 6 more years, until 2017 - 12 years after the original device was released.

Wheres is the recall program for all the Hydras with burned up LEDs?
And there are many other examples where big corp take responsibility, or made to take responsibility for their faulty products years after the warranties have passed, especially when design flaws are involved.

I let's put this specific case aside though, as I said - design flaws will be discovered over time, for sure, and no, I don't expect them to run a recall program 6 years later.
What bothers me is the lack of high standards during the manufacturing process, or in other words - poor quality control.

When you pay for an iPhone you don't expect it to come all scratched out of the box.
You don't expect this from other companies either.

When you pay for a branded keyboard, you don't expect the cable to be stripped at the connection point, right?
Then why should we as a community accept this kind of stuff from a company in this industry?
AI isn't some Chinese no-name company, no. They are a brand, they undoubtedly used some sneaky ways to gain popularity, but it is what it is, and as such they need to meet the expectations of their customers.

 

[rtparty]

You insist to make the comparison to big corp, fine.

When Apple released the iPod nano in 2005 they didn't know the battery will start to explode years later, in 2011 (6 years later) they launched a recall and replacement program which ran for 6 more years, until 2017 - 12 years after the original device was released.

Wheres is the recall program for all the Hydras with burned up LEDs?
And there are many other examples where big corp take responsibility, or made to take responsibility for their faulty products years after the warranties have passed, especially when design flaws are involved.

I let's put this specific case aside though, as I said - design flaws will be discovered over time, for sure, and no, I don't expect them to run a recall program 6 years later.
What bothers me is the lack of high standards during the manufacturing process, or in other words - poor quality control.

When you pay for an iPhone you don't expect it to come all scratched out of the box.
You don't expect this from other companies either.

When you pay for a branded keyboard, you don't expect the cable to be stripped at the connection point, right?
Then why should we as a community accept this kind of stuff from a company in this industry?
AI isn't some Chinese no-name company, no. They are a brand, they undoubtedly used some sneaky ways to gain popularity, but it is what it is, and as such they need to meet the expectations of their customers.

You tried once again to put words in my mouth.

I didn’t say to accept it. Again, I said it is not uncommon for things to get past QC from even the biggest and best.

iPhones bending day one? Samsung Note phones blowing up very early on? Firestone tires blowing up while driving?

AI lens melting? The issue is known about and they send you a free set of new lenses if you call. Even years after warranty.

Radion screws way too tight? Sent you out brand new pieces that took 30 seconds to fix. If you can’t do this, you can’t even do this hobby.

Really not a big deal especially if they fix it. When they decide to turn a blind eye and pretend it never happened? That’s the issue.

 

[DanyL]

You tried once again to put words in my mouth.

I didn’t say to accept it. Again, I said it is not uncommon for things to get past QC from even the biggest and best.

iPhones bending day one? Samsung Note phones blowing up very early on? Firestone tires blowing up while driving?

AI lens melting? The issue is known about and they send you a free set of new lenses if you call. Even years after warranty.

Radion screws way too tight? Sent you out brand new pieces that took 30 seconds to fix. If you can’t do this, you can’t even do this hobby.

Really not a big deal especially if they fix it. When they decide to turn a blind eye and pretend it never happened? That’s the issue.

You play wisely on a fine line between what you say and what you imply, that's a nice trick to pull on an argument, I'll give you that.

And again, for your comparison - I intentionally separated design flaws from manufacturing QC.
As I already mentioned twice, burned out LEDs much like Firestone tires blowing up while driving and iPhones bending they are all design flaws, and I expect the company to come forward and fix them.
They aren't acceptable in no way at all though, and they aren't as common as you try to make them look, it is actually rare to find such spectacular failures in any industry, especially for flag ship products.

And now I'll re-iterate myself yet again - QC during the manufacturing process is what bothers me the most.
A product is assembled and packaged by employees, no one went on to look at it to make sure everything was properly assembled before packaging? heck, they even do it automatically these days, with high speed cameras and ML models to catch faulty units as the go. And yes, you do need to pay for it, it's a QC service, but somehow companies with less budget to work with manage to do so.

 

[Kfactor]

I just hate how on all reef tank related stuff it’s meant to be by water it’s whole life but nothing is rated for it . One thing that gets me is the 1 year warranty / and to get it you have to jump though hoops to maybe get it . To give a 1 year warranty is a joke on reef equipment that’s how much they trust there Products lol

 

[Acros]

I just hate how on all reef tank related stuff it’s meant to be by water it’s whole life but nothing is rated for it . One thing that gets me is the 1 year warranty / and to get it you have to jump though hoops to maybe get it . To give a 1 year warranty is a joke on reef equipment that’s how much they trust there Products lol

To be fair, Ecotech and AI have the best customer service in the industry. It’s almost no questions asked replacements or shipping parts for DIY fixes.

 

[Kfactor]

To be fair, Ecotech and AI have the best customer service in the industry. It’s almost no questions asked replacements or shipping parts for DIY fix

i would have to disagree my 2 experiences with them have been terrible / i shipped back 2 ai prime's 16hd's becuease the lens melted and the colours didn't match when hooked up together and the shipped me 1 back and said thats the best they could do for me after a 2 months of emails

 

[atoll]

This is standard in almost every industry. It’s not exclusive to the saltwater industry.

Cars? You bet ya. Phones? Absolutely. Companies with bank accounts deeper than the Mariana Trench and it happens all the time.

People can talk smack all day long but you simply can not beta test everything. How a company handles the issues speaks volumes. Nothing is perfect especially not in a small hobby like ours

Cars are much more complex, contain many more components than a relatively light, no real comparison. The more complex the item the more likely there can be a problem and when there is you take your car to the garage and they fix it. The manufacturer doesn't send you the parts to fix it yourself.

 

[Goby74]

I just received a 12” grow for an IM 15 cube I’m setting up. Quality is nice and I’m going to try it out using the tank mount instead of mounting on a bracket. Easy to setup in the app and has full schedule control. I like that it doesn’t have a fan and uses less wattage but still has good output, we shall find out!

I was about to order a few 12” bars for my nano tanks. You got any photos with your new lighting? Thanks!

 

[Tamberav]

@rtparty appreciate your honesty in showing yours has a problem too.

Sometimes I feel that the beta testers are not always showing everything - sus

 

[Tamberav]

I would honestly be ticked to have exposed wire on a brand new light though.

 

[rtparty]

@rtparty appreciate your honesty in showing yours has a problem too.

Sometimes I feel that the beta testers are not always showing everything - sus

Just to be clear, I’m not a beta tester or anything like it. I just bought early out of my own pocket.

I’ve been testing lights for close to 15 years now. They are easily my favorite equipment in the hobby and I’m always intrigued by them. Especially the releases that get a lot of press (read marketing) since I want to test the manufacturer’s claims. I’m much more interested in testing if a product does what it is claimed by those making it. Direct comparisons are often pointless IMO unless we know the intended use.

edit: I will add I know a couple beta/early testers of these and none of them have the wire issue so far

 

[enb141]

Thing is there aren't many industries where this kind of practices are acceptable, then why here?
We talk about hundreds of dollars worth of lighting (Radions, Hydras), pumps (Nero, MP, Vectras, Versas) and other products which suppose to keep highly delicate animals alive.

It's one thing to say the software isn't baked because it can be fixed remotely, but *** it's hw, and it'll be shipped abroad to international costumers with limited or no access to warranties, what would they do?

That's at least my 2 cents, which were earned by the very same practices AI/Ecotech employs here, and as someone who now knows better not to deal with a company that doesn't respect its own customers.

Even with that, unfortunately they AI and Ecotech seem to be the ones to give more support, I don't like the way they cheap out things, but since they seem to be the standard "quality" in they hobby, a lot of people will buy they even with their flaws.

And those who buy the first defective products praise the manufacturer for sending them new parts to DIY fix it FOC lol.

I don't care about DIY myself, I actually prefer that way that sending the broken product back to the manufacturer, In the meanwhile I can use the broken product until I receive the spare parts, so is a win win to me.

This is standard in almost every industry. It’s not exclusive to the saltwater industry.

Cars? You bet ya. Phones? Absolutely. Companies with bank accounts deeper than the Mariana Trench and it happens all the time.

People can talk smack all day long but you simply can not beta test everything. How a company handles the issues speaks volumes. Nothing is perfect especially not in a small hobby like ours

Yep, this is the new standard, that's why I'm reading posts like this to see if the issues that the first batch (beta) units are a huge or are just cosmetic.

 

[atoll]

Even with that, unfortunately they AI and Ecotech seem to be the ones to give more support, I don't like the way they cheap out things, but since they seem to be the standard "quality" in they hobby, a lot of people will buy they even with their flaws.

I don't care about DIY myself, I actually prefer that way that sending the broken product back to the manufacturer, In the meanwhile I can use the broken product until I receive the spare parts, so is a win win to me.


Yep, this is the new standard, that's why I'm reading posts like this to see if the issues that the first batch (beta) units are a huge or are just cosmetic.

You're easliy pleased. Many of us find the shoddy way customers are treated unacceptable. Some of these company's know they are selling products with issues. Customers often having to wait sometime for the replacement parts.

 

[telegraham]

Mine and telegraham’s are the only so far that I’ve personally seen. Could be plenty more once more people get them.

I know of another with at least one with the bad harness. It's not the IP66 thing for me. My aircraft electrician background very much dislikes the electrical safety aspect. Low voltage, but arching let's the magic smoke out and can scare users.

 

[rtparty]

I know of another with at least one with the bad harness. It's not the IP66 thing for me. My aircraft electrician background very much dislikes the electrical safety aspect. Low voltage, but arching lets the magic smoke out and can scare users.

I took mine apart and the wires are attached inside the fixture. They are not loose in any way.

It’s the black sheathing that looks like it has pulled away. Would this cause any issues if the wires/connections are not loose or exposed?

 

[Devaji]

For those who were curious about PAR, here are some PAR measurements:

thanks for this.

I wish BML was still in the aquarium light business. They had awesome light bars and that was 7 or 8 years ago. They even had an option to pick your leds for the light strip. I had 3 over my 75 and they would grow anything and mimicked my previous T5 setup.

YES! I have there 36" controllable one on a 40br loved it. upgraded to a 36" x24x24 that when they said they dont have the time or energy to do aquarium stuff as its a tiny part of there biz and wanted to focus on grow lights.
so i went with reef breeders. sold that BML light wish I keep it so found a used on controllable one on ebay and grab it. still have it in my "back up" will use some day pile of gear.
thought about pulling it out for a new build 36x24x20 sea horse tank i am setting up. but wanted more control.

Warming up to this form factor.

that does look nice. but for ME I am trying to limit the light spill in the room.

 

[Devaji]

OK guys I thinking about these lights for a new build. lets talk this out.

tank is a RS 300XK G2 and will be a seahorse tank. softies, Gorgs. and macro. I have 2X AI primes I was gonna use.
also have a 36" BML non controllable bar if it had the ramp up/down feture i would just use that.

it's the 2nd tank in the room and other half hates all the blue ligh coming from the tanks.
thought this could be a nice solution.

cons:
if I have to mount it then might as well us the AI primes. looking to keep light spill out of the room with out building a canopy.

was hoping 1 30"er would be enough for softies, macros, gorgs thoughts. the par and spread are looking like it. if I need two then meh not as appealing

I wish it was more "full spectrum" like the primes. I was thinking to run a hr or two mid day with more reds/whites for the macros.

it's new tech, often when i buy to early I regret it later. about 6 months form now we will see some real world experience from other reefers.

not so sure i like the clear mounting and feet hardware

pros:
if I can fit on the tank it would keep light spill in the tank and not in the room. or at least limit it. a big selling point for me.

has most of the features that we all wanted in the bar style lights

love the slim form factor & passive cooling.

I like the Ai app and schedules.


So IDK what you do guys think? I can return one 1AI prime and try this out and as my tank grows can add another one in a time.

think it's would trying out over 2X AI primes?