Orphek Marketing Questions?

[areefer01]

Actually, the title of the thread was intended to catch people's attention. People who might've purchased the bars thinking they were getting something they did NOT get, or people who might be considering purchasing the bars who would be disappointed with them once they got them. In the interest of getting the information "out there" to the maximum number of people, the "toned down" title really changed things. If you were scrolling through pages and pages of posts in the lighting forum looking for interesting information, which would catch your attention more, "lies" or "questions"?

I understand that Orphek is a sponsor here, and I understand that a lot of people have had great experiences with previous products, but this thread was about big, important discrepancies between published and "real world" data for their LATEST product.

But, anyway...

I've been wondering if anyone has followed-up with Orphek about rectifying the reflector issue on the bars that they already bought thinking they came with 70° reflectors? Are they offering some sort of replacement program for the reflectors or bars?

I'm going to give you a virtual hug because you replied in detail but alas this was an old post with the subject line already addressed. Add to the fact I forgot about the thread and post. So technically I should take it back. But heck, if you are ok, I'm ok, so I'm leaving it. The world is already an angry place so here we are. Hobbyist.

Two points you raised that I will answer in good faith. The first is subject line. I actually think the original title was in bad taste for no other reason that party A (hobbyist) and party B (vendor) did not appear to communicate with one another before the post was made. If there was and it was shared and I missed it I will apologize but at the time I do not recall it being done and the subject line went right to the jugular. So yeah, I hit report and said I thought it was in bad taste (thinking on it now I guess I shouldn't have as I am not the topic police).

Second, and this is going to sound harsh, but I don't care about vendors or not. It could have been an active vendor who isn't a sponsor and I would have said the same. I do not use these lights, never have, and don't plan on it so have no skin in the game. I just found the subject a bit over the top and unnecessary. I can be wrong though as it is just my opinion.

It seems the post carried enough attention with updates to get what was wanted done. Hope your day is well.

 

[JohnNYC8]

This thread should stay alive until we get an answer from Orphek. They have been notified about this, the reps have acknowledged that this has been brought up and are waiting for a response from the owner

Did you ever get a response?

 

[Hooz]

So I was looking at OR4 bars again the other day and still dont see any info anywhere about the reflectors being updated. Are the bars available now fitted with the correct reflectors? How do you tell for sure which one you're buying?

 

[Jasonak]

Hey guys!
I was looking on the site. I have two 48" OR4 was wondering about upgrading to the wider reflector. I looked on the site but didnt see them anywhere for sale.
Thanks

 

[Hooz]

Hey guys!
I was looking on the site. I have two 48" OR4 was wondering about upgrading to the wider reflector. I looked on the site but didnt see them anywhere for sale.
Thanks

Did you contact them? I thought they said they'd make it right for the bars that shipped with the wrong reflectors.

Thats why I was asking if they actually ever did anything

 

[Jasonak]

Did you contact them? I thought they said they'd make it right for the bars that shipped with the wrong reflectors.

Thats why I was asking if they actually ever did anything

From there post I assumed they were now shipping them with 70s and you had 40s as a option. I assumed they would have the option to change yours from 40s to 70s with a upgrade on the site. Maybe I misunderstood.

No ive not reached out to them through there website.

Orphek has launched the OR4 with 70D reflectors. We've also added 40D reflector options, allowing clients to choose between the two. Our website has been updated accordingly

 

[Hooz]

When the OR4 was released, it was advertised as having 70 degree reflectors. There was no option for anything else. When it came out that they had 40 degree reflectors and not the advertised 70 degree reflectors (this thread and a few other post on social media), they said they would correct it ... to give people what they were advertising ... and adding the 40 degree lens as an option.

What they were NOT clear on was what they were going to do for the people who THOUGHT they were getting 70 degree reflectors, but actually got 40 degree.

As of today, the website has no mention of reflector beam angle, nor is there an option to choose which you want when buying new bars. I don't see any retrofit options anywhere either.

So I have no idea what's actually coming in the lights today, and it seems they're not very forthcoming with that info either.

 

[craftycamper]

When the OR4 was released, it was advertised as having 70 degree reflectors. There was no option for anything else. When it came out that they had 40 degree reflectors and not the advertised 70 degree reflectors (this thread and a few other post on social media), they said they would correct it ... to give people what they were advertising ... and adding the 40 degree lens as an option.

What they were NOT clear on was what they were going to do for the people who THOUGHT they were getting 70 degree reflectors, but actually got 40 degree.

As of today, the website has no mention of reflector beam angle, nor is there an option to choose which you want when buying new bars. I don't see any retrofit options anywhere either.

So I have no idea what's actually coming in the lights today, and it seems they're not very forthcoming with that info either.

Late response but I just cracked open my two OR4s that came in, one is a blue plus the other is a blue sky. They have those 40 degree lenses, I thought I would be getting 70 degree ones and now im pretty annoyed

 

[craftycamper]

Late response but I just cracked open my two OR4s that came in, one is a blue plus the other is a blue sky. They have those 40 degree lenses, I thought I would be getting 70 degree ones and now im pretty annoyed

An update to this, I reached out to Orphek and it seems like they default to the 40 degree reflectors, but you can special order the 70 degree ones. I was able to request the replacement 70 degree reflectors for my fixtures.

 

[Tide2water]

@craftycamper that’s way better than the answer I got which was that the reflectors/lenses are glued to the board and if I swapped them I’d likely damage the board.

 

[craftycamper]

@craftycamper that’s way better than the answer I got which was that the reflectors/lenses are glued to the board and if I swapped them I’d likely damage the board.

Oh I got that comment as well, but I checked and it seems like its just some sort of somewhat flexible uv cure or silicone glue that Im pretty sure I can scrape off with a plastic razor. Ill update on how much of a pain it ends up being

 

[rtparty]

Orphek joined the industry all based on lies and deceit….a tiger doesn’t change its stripes as they say

 

[craftycamper]

I ended up doing the lens swap and it was extremely easy. The OR4 housings come apart very easily and they have a lot of waterproofing via gaskets and not adhesive which is nice to see. You remove the 4 screws at the end and then the screws on the acrylic cover and you have full access to the lenses.

Once youre inside the fixture, you have 2 options, you can remove the PCB or work inside the fixture with it mounted. I chose to do the latter. Removing the PCB is easy as well, but it is covered in thermal paste on the opposite side so you will need to clean it off and replace it (also good to see, it will help keep the LEDs from cooking).

After that the lenses come off really easily, you have to rock them to tear the silicone adhesive they are attached with. At no point did I feel like I was going to damage something, so be gentle, you shouldnt need much force. The biggest PITA was cleaning the old silicone residue, I used a plastic razor and rubbing alcohol to get the residue off. You want to make sure you get as much off as you can as silicone doesnt like to stick to old silicone.

The new lenses were easy to mount as well, you want to use a neutral-cure silicone for this. Avoid acetoxy cure silicone as the acetic acid can corrode PCBs and metal. It should smell like alcohol when you open it, rather than vinegar. You just need to line up the holes on the lenses with those in the PCB and put a couple small dabs of adhesive down and it should be good. One thing I noticed is that some of the LEDs have some solder balls on the edges which can interfere with the new lenses, so I had to file down tiny areas of a couple of the lenses to get them to fit.

I gave the lenses a couple days to cure and reassembled and that was that. I did notice that the new lenses say D22-90d on them, despite them being 70 degree lenses, so that was interesting.

Overall it was pretty painless and took a couple hours, the majority of which was spent cleaning old silicone. I was charged 1 dollar per lens. In the future if you order OR4 bars and you dont want the narrow lens, email them and they will custom build the fixture with the wider lenses. If you're like me and didnt realize they were still shipping 40 degree lenses then this is your fix.

 

[RocketCityReefer]

The new OR4 bars are marketed as having 70 degree reflectors, but some recent independent testing has proven that to be false.

28 degrees is certainly not 70 degrees!

That PAR map is also horrible, but exactly as you would expect from a string of laser beams. Look at the spectrum at each point, every 5" down the length of the bar. It's like you have a different light over your tank every 5", and that is with the measurements being taken 24" below the bar! My take away was this... If you plan on using Orphek bars to light your tank, plan on using twice the number of bars as you think you need, and mount those suckers on the ceiling so you can actually get some color blending!

I didn't post this to bash on Orphek (although the results speak for themselves). I posted it to point out the blatant dishonesty in marketing that seems to be prevalent, even in the reefing industry. Nobody is testing this stuff, and nobody is calling these people on their BS.

And for all the "AI lights melt lenses" people, guess what... Almost ALL reef LED fixtures can and will burn/melt lenses eventually.

@Ryan - Serious Reefs you asked if there was a need for bench testing. I think stuff like this shows there is ABSOLUTELY a need for bench testing, especially with lighting.

Are you suggesting that every product be torn apart and tested to verify the product marketing? That sounds exhausting. If not, then what is the criteria for product selection?

I would think companies would do that to avoid potential false advertising claims. Seems like good business to have your claims verifiable with testing.

 

[areefer01]

I would think companies would do that to avoid potential false advertising claims. Seems like good business to have your claims verifiable with testing.

Of course. What companies in our hobby do this be it hardware, food, or chemistry?

Lighting I know of one who sent their kit to an independent team. Phillips.

 

[RocketCityReefer]

I would think companies would do that to avoid potential false advertising claims. Seems like good business to have your claims verifiable with testing.

Of course. What companies in our hobby do this be it hardware, food, or chemistry?

Lighting I know of one who sent their kit to an independent team. Phillips.

Very true, maybe something we should push for more of. Like someone said above, we spend a lot of money on equipment in our hobby, would love to know we are actually getting what we pay for .