Disappointing experience with aqua illumination

Cliff717 · Mar 3, 2017

Well I thought I would share my latest experience with aqua illumination. But first I have to say that in the past I have been a huge fan of AI lights; in my fish room I currently have at least eight different lights all the way from AI sol blue to a couple of AI prime all the way up to the main units on my main display; they are four ai hydra gen1 lights. One reason I have been extremely loyal to aqua illumination is because of their customer service it is always been spot on; and the second thing I have like about AI is that they could always repair my lights. I have had some AI sol's that went back and they were even able to repair the motherboard and fan for me at very little cost to get my lights working again. That is why I bought the hydra's years ago. The hydra lights are generation 1 but they are all I need; they worked perfectly up till about three weeks ago when I noticed my tank was getting dimmer and dimmer so I opened it up and found that the royal blue channel on three of my four lights had quit working. I guess this is to be expected because are use the royal blue at 100% and have done so for the last six months since my tank upgrade. Now they are used lights and I am not worried about having to repair them; I get that but the problem comes is when I contacted a ai to get new blue pucks. I was told that they no longer make the blue pucks and that in order to fix my lights I have no option but to upgrade them to the 52 HD. This will cost me approximately $500 a light! This is totally crazy to me! It's not like these lights are crazy old they are only a couple of models out. I can't believe they've already stopped making the blue LED pucks! I cannot afford $2000 to fix my lights. I guess I will just go with Chinese black boxes from now on at least I could take out a led and Solder one in
What do you guys think? Am I looking at this all wrong?

3mm3 · Mar 3, 2017

Cliff717 said:
Well I thought I would share my latest experience with aqua illumination. But first I have to say that in the past I have been a huge fan of AI lights; in my fish room I currently have at least eight different lights all the way from AI sol blue to a couple of AI prime all the way up to the main units on my main display; they are four ai hydra gen1 lights. One reason I have been extremely loyal to aqua illumination is because of their customer service it is always been spot on; and the second thing I have like about AI is that they could always repair my lights. I have had some AI sol's that went back and they were even able to repair the motherboard and fan for me at very little cost to get my lights working again. That is why I bought the hydra's years ago. The hydra lights are generation 1 but they are all I need; they worked perfectly up till about three weeks ago when I noticed my tank was getting dimmer and dimmer so I opened it up and found that the royal blue channel on three of my four lights had quit working. I guess this is to be expected because are use the royal blue at 100% and have done so for the last six months since my tank upgrade. Now they are used lights and I am not worried about having to repair them; I get that but the problem comes is when I contacted a ai to get new blue pucks. I was told that they no longer make the blue pucks and that in order to fix my lights I have no option but to upgrade them to the 52 HD. This will cost me approximately $500 a light! This is totally crazy to me! It's not like these lights are crazy old they are only a couple of models out. I can't believe they've already stopped making the blue LED pucks! I cannot afford $2000 to fix my lights. I guess I will just go with Chinese black boxes from now on at least I could take out a led and Solder one in
What do you guys think? Am I looking at this all wrong?

I feel your pain. I tried hard for 5 years to really like led but they fail a lot. And when they fail you may end up finding your 2 year old fixture is obsolete and mandatory upgrade. My first fixture was 1k. didn't even hit 2 years. To get it repaired not only cost me more money but would be without lights for weeks (not even possible). So I boxed it and purchased more fixtures. The new ones have made it 2 years so far, so I am happy there but I'm tossing led and going back halide. When halide failed it was normally a capacitor that was running for years. (quick 15 dollar fix)
I really believe you will begin seeing more issues with this as these led systems log more time.

Cliff717 · Mar 3, 2017

Yes I have to say it really sucks. I did love these lights and I wish I could repair them at a decent cost. And especially being Canadian our dollar is in the toilet right now so I have to pay 30% extra on anything I buy from the US so it makes replacement lights very expensive

reeferfoxx · Mar 3, 2017

Black Boxes are a cheap investment and should be considered DIY. With interchangeable.. everything, you control the spectrum, fan quietness, lenses, etc. All that comes at a price of getting them dialed in to an acceptable spectrum and intensity. If you go that route, just keep them on the dim side for a few weeks and then slowly increase intensity. Many people have had success and many don't have the patience.

ahiggins · Mar 3, 2017

That sucks to hear...I use AI exclusively as well. Granted, its only been about 2 years.
I wish you the best luck with your new lights...for most of us, its the most expensive part of owning a reef.

Cliff717 · Mar 3, 2017

I just would like to know what has changed. I had a set of AI souls repaired and they were almost 10 years old and ai did an excellent job of repairing them at decent cost. Now all of a sudden they don't have replacement parts for a two model old light? I wonder if eco-tech purchasing them has made them change their business plan to force people to buy new instead of repairing old?

reeferfoxx · Mar 3, 2017

Cliff717 said:
I just would like to know what has changed. I had a set of AI souls repaired and they were almost 10 years old and ai did an excellent job of repairing them at decent cost. Now all of a sudden they don't have replacement parts for a two model old light? I wonder if eco-tech purchasing them has made them change their business plan to force people to buy new instead of repairing old?

Oh. I have no idea of Ecotech or AI's business ethics or dealings. I would say they want to increase sales and promote new products.

Fishmantim · Mar 26, 2017

I have the ai Vegas would like to upgrade my Vegas they use to sell upgrade kits not anymore any way to upgrade any help would be great don't really want to buy new

Nomadic1 · Mar 26, 2017

This recently happened to me as well. One of the reasons I bought into the AI system of lighting (I have EIGHT SOLs ) was because they promised your investment would never become obsolete, because you could upgrade the parts as a newer generation came out. I have had two SOLs fail on me in the past, and, it was a simple fix to get a new mainboard on their website, take the light apart, and repair it. Same thing with the pucks. I upgraded two of mine to the Vega a few years ago as well, and went through the same disassembly and reassembly procedure. Super easy to do. Two weeks ago, one of my SOLs started "slow pulsing" the light and could no longer be controlled. Contacted AI to be told "sorry, we don't make the parts anymore. Maybe you can send them in and we can take some parts out of refurbished units and fix it for you, if anything is available." SO, then I asked about possibly upgrading the the unit via the upgrade kit to a Hydra 52 HD. The girl told me those weren't available anymore, either, but, I could by a refurbished HYDRA 26 for $100 off the retail price if I so chose to. So, I said thanks for nothing, and, I told them what I thought about their promise of being obsolescence-proof. Ever since the merge with Ecotech, their customer support has become a big FAIL.

711reefer · Mar 26, 2017

I love how every manufacturer boasts about leds lasting for 20 plus years yet they all have comical warranties.

Velcro · Mar 26, 2017

Almost makes all that "money you save from not having to buy bulbs every year" seem irrelevant

Nomadic1 · Mar 26, 2017

Yep...that's why I'll never give up the T5s on my main tank.

711reefer · Mar 26, 2017

plenty of halides and t5s running for 10 plus years.

Fin · Mar 26, 2017

Nomadic1 said:
This recently happened to me as well. One of the reasons I bought into the AI system of lighting (I have EIGHT SOLs ) was because they promised your investment would never become obsolete, because you could upgrade the parts as a newer generation came out. I have had two SOLs fail on me in the past, and, it was a simple fix to get a new mainboard on their website, take the light apart, and repair it. Same thing with the pucks. I upgraded two of mine to the Vega a few years ago as well, and went through the same disassembly and reassembly procedure. Super easy to do. Two weeks ago, one of my SOLs started "slow pulsing" the light and could no longer be controlled. Contacted AI to be told "sorry, we don't make the parts anymore. Maybe you can send them in and we can take some parts out of refurbished units and fix it for you, if anything is available." SO, then I asked about possibly upgrading the the unit via the upgrade kit to a Hydra 52 HD. The girl told me those weren't available anymore, either, but, I could by a refurbished HYDRA 26 for $100 off the retail price if I so chose to. So, I said thanks for nothing, and, I told them what I thought about their promise of being obsolescence-proof. Ever since the merge with Ecotech, their customer support has become a big FAIL.

Man, I am kicking myself now. I held on to the old parts from my 4 SOLs (after upgrading to Hydra 52s) for at least a couple of years and just threw it all away a few weeks ago. I would have much rather seen some of the parts go to someone that needed them. That's why I usually hate to throw stuff away. :-(

Flippers4pups · Mar 26, 2017

I personally think AI products are very good, as I've seen first hand many tanks using them. Same can be said about Ecotech, but there's a story in every story.

Me, coming from the early days of reefing and having been around all that time, I've got to see first hand the advancements in the products for the hobby and how many times the "wheel" has been reinvented, branded and the new and improved "wheel" touted as better for XYZ reasons, thus at a slightly higher cost. The older versions just went away into the sunset.

This thread is a classic example of that on steroids! What AI and ecotech have done was brand their products at a very high initial cost, thus to us hobbyists, must reflect a superior product. But in all reality the cost of designing, materials and producing doesn't justify the cost.

Here's why....

By doing this they have boxed themselves into a corner with no way out. They have competition now. No, not against another high end manufacturer like themselves, but the Chinese.

It's not that the Chinese have produced anything at the level they are or spend the amounts of money in advertising they do and ask for ungodly sums of money to own, but a product that has proven its value in its performance, that stands on its own merit and is sold by "word of mouth".

Can be easily repaired, if needed by the user for very little money, modded if you choose, completely thrown away if at the end of its useful life and replaced with another one just like it, if needed, all for a small fraction of what it would cost for one high end light. No need to send in for repair.

Going rate of eight to one! Eight Chinese black boxes to one high end light fixture!

If the Chinese get better at adding more features, keep the reliability and keep their costs in or close to that ratio (which I'm seeing now) the corner will get smaller and smaller for the high end companies.

If customer service is justification for stratosphere price tags, then they must change what their doing now, before it's too late.

Velcro · Mar 27, 2017

Flippers4pups said:
I personally think AI products are very good, as I've seen first hand many tanks using them. Same can be said about Ecotech, but there's a story in every story.

Me, coming from the early days of reefing and having been around all that time, I've got to see first hand the advancements in the products for the hobby and how many times the "wheel" has been reinvented, branded and the new and improved "wheel" touted as better for XYZ reasons, thus at a slightly higher cost. The older versions just went away into the sunset.

This thread is a classic example of that on steroids! What AI and ecotech have done was brand their products at a very high initial cost, thus to us hobbyists, must reflect a superior product. But in all reality the cost of designing, materials and producing doesn't justify the cost.

Here's why....

By doing this they have boxed themselves into a corner with no way out. They have competition now. No, not against another high end manufacturer like themselves, but the Chinese.

It's not that the Chinese have produced anything at the level they are or spend the amounts of money in advertising they do and ask for ungodly sums of money to own, but a product that has proven its value in its performance, that stands on its own merit and is sold by "word of mouth".

Can be easily repaired, if needed by the user for very little money, modded if you choose, completely thrown away if at the end of its useful life and replaced with another one just like it, if needed, all for a small fraction of what it would cost for one high end light. No need to send in for repair.

Going rate of eight to one! Eight Chinese black boxes to one high end light fixture!

If the Chinese get better at adding more features, keep the reliability and keep their costs in or close to that ratio (which I'm seeing now) the corner will get smaller and smaller for the high end companies.

If customer service is justification for stratosphere price tags, then they must change what their doing now, before it's too late.

Agreed. The only thing I happily spend high dollar on after owning a few ecotech products are the vortechs. I don't think the chinese come close in performance and reliability from my experience with jebao. The lights do not impress me but I much prefer the look of halide or t5 in combo with royal blue LEDs.

GoVols · Mar 27, 2017

I say this about the HD's.
If you want to control them with the smart phone app, then your good.

If you want to control them with your homes Wifi using a laptop, then their just about absolute garbage.

James Robert · Oct 27, 2017

GoVols said:
I say this about the HD's.
If you want to control them with the smart phone app, then your good.
If you want to control them with your homes Wifi using a laptop, then their just about absolute garbage.

James Robert · Oct 27, 2017

Just happened to me , On one of my hydras, Royal blues went out, Made the phone call to here the same. No problem here. I just will never buy a product that they are accompanied with. Simple as that. Even if they sold the pucks, at 50.00 a pop, Are they nuts. AI are no different then black box.

jda · Oct 27, 2017

They are a tech company more than they are a hobby company. They have this nailed with the false promises of "upgradeability," timely upgrades and new products and the strategic placement of their products into the hands of popular stores and hobbyists to shill for them. It works... I see it all the time that X store or Y reefer uses them.... but they got them for free to post about how awesome they are. They will not be able to survive without any of this... tech is a hard business.

To be fair, I don't know if AI decided to stop the fixing and upgrading after or before EcoTech merged, so perhaps this was never their intention.