Kessil woes

[andrewkw]

 

[TheOne]

I know they list not to take the light apart for warranty but I emailed and asked about it and was told that they would still honor my warranty. And in fact they did when I had to send one in that had an led strip go out.

I run 5 kessil a360we's on my tank and an h350 in my refugium and so far kessil has replaced two of them free of charge. They even covered shipping both ways.

If I was OP I would still send in the light. They will replace it with a new one for a major discount.

Be glad it's not ecotech. I had to pay $450 when they serviced my light and then they sent it back without the power supply. All in the span of about 3 weeks where as kessil had me a new light in under a weeks time.

And for anyone else reading this you really need to take these lights apart at least once every 6 months and deep clean them out. Also I would recommend blowing them out every few months. I bought an electric blower that takes 30 seconds a light to blow out.

 

[User1]

And you just spray this stuff on?

I do not know about the spray on products and not sure I would personally use them. I would guess it would change the air flow and thermals of the unit. My reply was more along the lines of the issue, in my opinion anyway, isn't unique to Kessil. Not defending them just my opinion though. If a dialog is open with Kessil I'd personally go that route because you are already invested. It may help protect the other lights if you have them. Especially if one has the problem you can let them know you have others now at risk.

 

[Val Shebeko]

Not quite that bad

 

[Grigs]

And you just spray this stuff on?

Yes, it's just a thin lacquer. Don't spray it on any moving parts, but in the case of the chips whose pins were coated, this would prevent shorting due to salt. There is a decent chance that if you remove the salt with another bout of alcohol that chip will work again.

You could always ask Kessil if they would void a warranty for applying conformal coating. All it requires on their end is the application of alcohol followed by a soldering iron to remove. No biggie, at all.

 

[Val Shebeko]

Yes, it's just a thin lacquer. Don't spray it on any moving parts, but in the case of the chips whose pins were coated, this would prevent shorting due to salt. There is a decent chance that if you remove the salt with another bout of alcohol that chip will work again.

You could always ask Kessil if they would void a warranty for applying conformal coating. All it requires on their end is the application of alcohol followed by a soldering iron to remove. No biggie, at all.

this stuff?

 

[Val Shebeko]

Any kind of alcohol? I have 192 proof grain spirits or rubbing alcohol. Seems to me a littke water might dissolve the salt a bit better and carry it off.

 

[Grigs]

Yeah, that stuff should work fine. I found one cheaper that looks like it would do the job.

Amazon product

As far as alcohol, we used isopropyl. If you use any water make sure that you use DI and as little as humanly possible, as in just barely wet a q-tip. Hit it with a hair dryer or hot air gun prior to applying the conformal coating to ensure that you get all of the moisture out. I use acid brushes with 80% of the bristles cut off to help remove and dust or particulate. Should work great soaked in alcohol to remove your salt creep.

 

[Val Shebeko]

Yeah, that stuff should work fine. I found one cheaper that looks like it would do the job.

Amazon product

As far as alcohol, we used isopropyl. If you use any water make sure that you use DI and as little as humanly possible, as in just barely wet a q-tip. Hit it with a hair dryer or hot air gun prior to applying the conformal coating to ensure that you get all of the moisture out. I use acid brushes with 80% of the bristles cut off to help remove and dust or particulate. Should work great soaked in alcohol to remove your salt creep.

Gonna try it, thanks. Post a link if you can for the cheaper stuff.thanks

 

[Kessil]

I just wanted to chime in here to say that all of our lights already have a conformal coating on the PCB boards to protect again water damage and corrosion. Spraying additional coating will void the warranty but after two years you are free to do whatever you want.

Not only do we recommend cleaning out the light with canned air, but keeping the body of the light free of dust and salt creep is important for preventing salt from getting into the fan in the first place. Some setups with a lot of splashing and salt creep may require heavier cleaning with something more than canned air as TheOne mentioned. We also changed the design of our fan in the newer model the A360X to help prevent this.

 

[Val Shebeko]

Appreciate the chime. There was the tiniest bit of corrosion around the one component. Dust minimal when I opened it up.
Maybe they missed a spot when they put down the coating . Can’t say. But being early retired and not made out if money going to try alcohol to clean out the corrosion and if it comes back to life give it a spray.

 

[Kessil]

Appreciate the chime. There was the tiniest bit of corrosion around the one component. Dust minimal when I opened it up.
Maybe they missed a spot when they put down the coating . Can’t say. But being early retired and not made out if money going to try alcohol to clean out the corrosion and if it comes back to life give it a spray.

It's possible each unit is assembled and dipped by hand.
If its already outside of warranty give it a shot! I'm interested in the result.

 

[MyTankSux]

Pro tip: These things are awesome. I use it to clean out dust from my computer, air vents in my car, water drips around base of my aquarium etc

XPOWER A-2 Airrow Pro Multi-Use Powered Air Duster, Canned Air Replacement, Dryer, Air Pump Blower – XPOWER Manufacture

xpower.com

 

[Val Shebeko]

It's possible each unit is assembled and dipped by hand.
If its already outside of warranty give it a shot! I'm interested in the result.

okey dokey, going to try it and keep you posted.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Welcome to the amazing world of LEDs!!

The "future" of reef lighting.

 

[Val Shebeko]

Pro tip: These things are awesome. I use it to clean out dust from my computer, air vents in my car, water drips around base of my aquarium etc

XPOWER A-2 Airrow Pro Multi-Use Powered Air Duster, Canned Air Replacement, Dryer, Air Pump Blower – XPOWER Manufacture

xpower.com

Picture or link please

 

[Val Shebeko]

Picture or link please

Never mind, got it.

 

[Grigs]

I just wanted to chime in here to say that all of our lights already have a conformal coating on the PCB boards to protect again water damage and corrosion. Spraying additional coating will void the warranty but after two years you are free to do whatever you want.

Not only do we recommend cleaning out the light with canned air, but keeping the body of the light free of dust and salt creep is important for preventing salt from getting into the fan in the first place. Some setups with a lot of splashing and salt creep may require heavier cleaning with something more than canned air as TheOne mentioned. We also changed the design of our fan in the newer model the A360X to help prevent this.

That is great to know that you apply it, however conformal coating does degrade over time and requires reapplication, particularly in applications where heat is present. You may consider evaluating some older units that are sent in to you for reapplication. If the coating had been intact salt creep or minor splashing should have had no impact.

 

[MyTankSux]

Never mind, got it.

It didnt like the original amazon link. I try not to buy stuff from there anyways. I should've just posted the mfg website from the beginning. Mine works awesome. Had it for almost 2 years now. I always find new ways to use it. I think i paid roughly 40-50

Edit: I even dropped my t5 fixture into my tank when I was setting it up. Blew it out with this bad boy immediately and the fixture still works even though it 1/2 submerged for 2-3 seconds. The t5 fixture is a cheapo non waterproof.

 

[Val Shebeko]

It didnt like the original amazon link. I try not to buy stuff from there anyways. I should've just posted the mfg website from the beginning. Mine works awesome. Had it for almost 2 years now. I always find new ways to use it. I think i paid roughly 40-50

Edit: I even dropped my t5 fixture into my tank when I was setting it up. Blew it out with this bad boy immediately and the fixture still works even though it 1/2 submerged for 2-3 seconds. The t5 fixture is a cheapo non waterproof.

Getting a blower and a can of the coating. Going to do all my Kessils. Appreciate all the help.