Cracking Radion G5

[HolySmoke]

worse part is I have to pull the hood and all of the cabling from my control cabinet. I guess it may be time to try Orphek or T5’s with Orphek bars

My thoughts exactly OR2 bars and t5s alternating.

 

[HolySmoke]

@Hypnotize thank you so much for that post it made my day.

Both of my xr30s are cracked. The xr 15 isn't cracked however on closer inspection it looks like one of the 4 bolts is torqued excessively and the whole housing is tweaked. I dont think the 15 has popped at all but hard to say when I have pop rocks all day long from the other two.

@ca1ore yes that would be a tradgety and very sad if that happened. I dont think the loss will be that big on their end but who knows. Only thing that needs to be replaced Is the housing which if I had to guess costs ecotech no more than $20 usd. They are probably going to fight with the manufacturer about it but most likely ETM is gonna have to eat it. The margins should be more than enough to cover the loss and the new material that they decide to use.

 

[Joel Franco]

I have two XR30 Blues and one XR15 Blue and only the XR30's have cracks around the bolts. Personally, I do not believe the cause is from over torquing. Heat is the definatetly the problem. I have already replaced one lens due to poor packing of an almost $900 light. I would be fine replacing the case myself if they waived the warranty.

 

[robbyg]

Not sure I saw anyone suggesting it is the consumers fault. Depends, I suppose, on how wide spread the problem is. If it is indeed just a small percentage then a swap-in-transit may make sense; if it’s a significant percentage then I’d guess they’d send out a user replaceable part with some kind of warranty waiver. Significant warranty repair problems can drive a small business to insolvency .... I’ve no desire to see that happen to ETM, particularly while small businesses are suffering significantly ... I’ve too much of their stuff at home to be orphaned. I suppose no matter what they do somebody will get their nose out of joint.

Yep there is always going to be a chorus of people who will go on and on about it until the company closes their door and then we are all left with nothing. I can tell you straight up that I know Ecotech has invested a lot of cash that they don't have into expansion and new products. The Covid event hit them at the worst possible time and it is very possible that they may not make it through, especially if people start pressing them with bad PR. I sure do like my Vortech's and would hate to see Ecotech join the huge list of companies that won't be around after this event.

 

[Joel Franco]

In order to fix this ETM will have to some infuse a metal bracket similar to a gasket to strengthen the areas around the bolts.

 

[HolySmoke]

@robbyg that is a good point about being absolute terrible timing for this to happen and I'm sure they desperately needed to recoupe capital. I too love the mp line of pumps.

That being said I think most hobbyists are pretty reasonable. I'm annoyed but not gonna jump ship just yet bc of this. If they offered me a warranty compensation and a new housing I would be happy to replace it for them to keep downtime to a minimum.

I'm not upset with the housing **** happens. I'm upset with ecotech money management. They new this was an issue before shipment and they needed to recoup costs to fix it basically on our dimes.

 

[Joel Franco]

I posted this in another post and wanted your thoughts. In order to fix this ETM will have to somehow infuse a metal bracket similar to a gasket into the plastic to strengthen the areas around the bolts.

 

[PerplexyHexy]

Ive been a machinist for about 15 year and I can tell you that countersinked/counterbored through hole for that screw is way too close to the edge... is that a countersink or counterbore? Looks like a countersink... Either way, thats a bad engineering mistake especially with something that heats up pretty quick and also cools down at the same rate... Daaaaaaang

 

[PerplexyHexy]

I posted this in another post and wanted your thoughts. In order to fix this ETM will have to somehow infuse a metal bracket similar to a gasket into the plastic to strengthen the areas around the bolts.

Should have just used standoff inserts... easy, cheap, problem solved

 

[madweazl]

Ecotech has a good trans-ship policy. I'm sure once they figure out a solution, they'll make right with everyone so there isn't any downtime. Sucks there is an issue but I've pretty happy with there customer service on a couple issues I had with MP40s.

 

[twiatr2001]

Glad I kept all my g4 pros instead of selling them, still brand new in box

 

[NeverlosT]

OOf, and riiiight when the CoralCare Gen2 is coming out... bad timing for a mistake.

I hope that Ecotech takes care of everyone. I was about to order 6 XR30's but now I may wait and see how the CoralCares look in a few weeks.

 

[drawman]

OOf, and riiiight when the CoralCare Gen2 is coming out... bad timing for a mistake.

I hope that Ecotech takes care of everyone. I was about to order 6 XR30's but now I may wait and see how the CoralCares look in a few weeks.

Just hope you won't have to deal with Phillips customer service they are a nightmare!

 

[twiatr2001]

Just from looking at everyone on this tread, there's probably way more people on other forums and at home that are going through the same thing, and to add to it I believe Ecotech is closed due to the pandemic, so that sucks for everyone, hopefully all this passes soon and nobodies light scrap out on them due to the cracks.

 

[ca1ore]

They knew this was an issue before shipment and they needed to recoup costs to fix it basically on our dimes.

..... and you know this how?

 

[HolySmoke]

..... and you know this how?

Simon you are right and I'm sorry because I dont know that 100%. I wish I could edit my post because that is a serious accusation and I really hope it isn't true. Even if it is true and they absolutely needed to ship to save their aces I'm ok with it because I really like their whole line of products.

However I did hear from a good friend of mine who I wont mention that there were issues with the g5 units on either feb 17th or 18th and they would be delayed. The reason I say I'm not 100% is I dont know what those issues were and the reason I apologized is I misspoke and you know what happens when you assume.

Dont get me wrong I love ETM and really respect what they are doing over in PA. I would hate for them to go under trying to elevate the hobby for all of us. People are outraged about these lights but I'm not one of them because diodes are working and they arent overheating. I know ETM will fix or replace any issues and that's that. I'm just reporting the facts for potential buyers.

 

[NeverlosT]

Just hope you won't have to deal with Phillips customer service they are a nightmare!

Do tell?? Did you have a poor experience with a Gen 1 unit? I was hoping a big company like phillips would have good customer service.

Anyhow, dont want to derail the thread.

 

[HolySmoke]

@Tim at EcoTech Tim I dont know if this is an option but would it be possible to use a stiff food grade silicone(temp reasons) for the housing or atleast just the bottom instead of plastic? I was thinking about this today and aluminum probably isn't feasible because of cost.

 

[NeverlosT]

I would suggest that the torq of the fasteners, or the fastening system itself is the likely cause. That or they could simply change the material of the plastic cover slightly (different glass fill amount) to alter the strength or stiffness.

There are many solutions, but most will still fail if the attachment method is allowing excessive torque on those fasteners and therefore excessive compressive stress on that material. I also wonder, with UV LEDs right there, if UV embrittlement may occur over time to that plastic (obviously not the issue here since this is failure at the other end of the bell curve).

 

[HolySmoke]

I have two XR30 Blues and one XR15 Blue and only the XR30's have cracks around the bolts. Personally, I do not believe the cause is from over torquing. Heat is the definatetly the problem. I have already replaced one lens due to poor packing of an almost $900 light. I would be fine replacing the case myself if they waived the warranty.

You might be right but impossible to say without testing. The expansion and contraction wouldn't be an issue if the bolts weren't restricting the movement and creating the popping. They need some sort of springs or different material to allow for the expansion.
I think with the current cooling solution, and number of diodes tightly packed, drastic temperature change is inevitable.