Solaris Owners Attention

[DaveK]

Well, if all this is true and PFO was selling these lights knowing that they had deficiencies, then a class action liability lawsuit may be in order. ...

Here is the thing about class action lawsuits. To make one of them work, you are going to need to get a lawyer interested. To do that, there is going to have to be a lot of money that can be obtained for the damages done.

PFO is a small company, with little money. If you go after them and win, all you'll do is bankrupt the company. The lawyers will get most of the money, and you'll end up with something like a $200 credit toward the purchase of a new PFO lighting fixture. (Remember all those class actions against the automakers, when they were making a lot of money?)

In addition, you'll wait years to see any results.

 

[Dentoid]

I have no problem with the company or the light. I was addressing the complainers.

 

[Techno-Vicki]

I have three lights and none of them work correctly since...never. Although I still love my 400 I series, I wonder how long it will work adequately. I have thousands of dollars invested in a very poorly serviced product. This is a problem.

 

[Frankie]

Very disturbing news. I had high hopes when they first came out, then saw all the issues. Like Scott, I knew they were going to have to work out this new tec over a few years. I have been watching it decline over the last few months on other forums and feel terrible for the people who are suffering with bad units. Some, like Jack said are even dead in the water with no light and a small fortune invested. I hope there will be a fast turn of events on this one.

 

[reefracer]

Well, I am one who bought in early and am still running a 36" G series, only had two small problems with the unit. One upon powering up the first day one of the led banks didn't fire up, a call to Pat directed me to a loose connection that fixed that problem, the second was a simple line out on the display and a call to Pat got me a new one. I know sounds like mine may be the only "oldie" out there still running but all of the leds are still working! I agree it probably will not keep SPS and recently added a Nova Extreme Pro unit so now I run both units on the tank. The Pro fans are LOUD, but for the money very nice light. I first bought a NE and it didn't even fire up, so I sent it back and got this unit which works great. I have talked with Pat about an "UPGRADE" for my "G" and been told one would be coming but now that doesn't look very promising. I this point it would almost have to be a giveme as I couldn't see dumping another bundle into this unit. Jack, I'll send you a PM with contact info just to see what happens with the PFO I wish them well. Robert

 

[AQTCJAK]

Well here is an update I called again today no instead of the general mail box it is if you know you parties extention you may enter it @ anytime no matter what extention you know you get the same thing

 

[Dentoid]

Sounds like they're having problems with their voice mail system.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Very disappointing. I'm a techy guy and I loved the idea of an LED fixture..

I think part of the problem is trying to do too much too quickly. If they left out some of the bells and whistles at first, my opinion is they'd probably be able to get a solid, simple, and probably more affordable product out. After they have that PERFECTED, they'd be able to start adding the little things, one thing at a time.

 

[Varga]

wow I feel bad for them. Imagine your phone ringing and every call is a complaint about the lights.

Does PFO make these or just sell them?

 

[burning2nd]

Ill just screem sunpod....
as i dance...


that sux.... i thought the led thing was the bomb.... but i guess it bombed ....

sorry to hear... anyone got a good pic of the brake down and how they wired it?

 

[Jason25]

What they might want to consider is consulting a company who deals in electronics and brain storm. One of the downsides to new technology is there alot of problems and that usually continues on for a few years and in that process people that purchased that product get angry and the company suffers greatly. I agree that a lack of customer service is unacceptable to any degree. Thank god I did not buy one of these "yet" I was looking to buy one over the holidays but for one reason or another choose to hold off for a bit.

Jack I work for a very well known electronics company that manufactures various products for the millitary, if PFO would be interested in seeking outside help they could speak to someone from my company and they might be able to come to an agreement.

 

[michael_cb_125]

They should have just went the simple route. That is what Elos has done with their E-lite, and it is a solid simple effective LED lighting system.
~Michael

 

[rmlevasseur]

You are probably right Mike as far as it would have been more stable, but then I probably would not have purchased it.

My guess is that it was not really the bells and whistles that caused the problems though, rather I'm not sure they just matched their transformers or got the volatage down correctly. LEDs really should last 15 years unless you juice them wrong. Most of the problems people experienced with LEDs burning out appear to be from people that were running them 100%, as I tend to run my blues.

Tom at PFO was always extremely helpful to me when I called, but if he was running the ship, perhaps its better if a new captain takes over.

In the meantime, I have begun to think that it might be prudent to have a backup light in mind quickly should the Solaris fail again. I have to admit, the T5 v. Halide decision is a tough one. I think I would have to go T5 for heat/humidity reasons.

 

[AQTCJAK]

I am currently working with a guy to see what we can do here is what we have so far:

1. Fans that work better quality than they installed
2. I am going to a shop here in town on Monday to see if they can rebuild & or produce the power supplies for us
3. We have also found a guy that thinks he can remove all the bad leds & replace them with the good ones. Only issue we see here is that our stock only consists of the bad ones we currently have. SO 2 bad strips will make one good one in theory.

The only draw back I can see to this is we can not give this stuff away nor do we think we can fix every light system out there we are going to take it on a first come first served basis. We are going to experiment on our lights in our shops then move to others lights.

Fans are $15.00ea plus freight
Power supplies & LED Bars prices are un- none as of yet we don't even know our costs yet.

We are just going to pass on our costs to everyone who we can help.

 

[lcstorc]

Unless I missed something, I really think this is all a bit pre-mature. Perhaps you guys are right but personally I see no reason to jump to conclusions. Perhaps because my Solaris works just fine but they have been known since day one for their customer service so I would be really suprised if they just closed up and took off.
Now coming up with alternate replacements is never a bad thing.
Even if this is all true LED is definitely the way of the future. Perhaps not this fixture but there are already several alternatives and they will just improve over time. Solaris has come a long way since the beginning and others will as well.

 

[rmlevasseur]

No doubt about that Lynn. My immediate concerns aren't for the future of LED though, but rather the future of my $3500 light!

Jack: are you saying that we are now on our own with regards to warranty and that we should attempt non-warranty work if needed???

 

[michael_cb_125]

I would not go "tweaking" these fixtures just yet. It seems to me that many are blowing this way otta proportion. I dont like the solaris, but I do not think that PFO will ditch everyone.

If you start doing non-warranty repairs, the warranty will be void.
~michael

 

[AQTCJAK]

Here is my thoughts on this between my lights & my customers light & the other party that I am working with lights for their shop as well as their customers lights we are looking @ about $150K worth of lights that either don't work @ all partially work etc. This means several things to me since PFO has not returned nor warrantied any call with us since prior to Thanksgiving their Chief engineer quit & now voice mail is a circle of the same thing for 3 days now. Everyone knows I am a business man if my phone system was broken I would have it fixed or forwarded to a number that could & or would take calls. I am under the impression because of research that I have done PFO is in a lot of legal & financial trouble as of late. This still is no reason not to work with customers & or dealers.

I am going to get my attorneys involved as of Monday. However I can not have 100's of thousand of dollars in lighting destroy that much or equal to that much in corals.

This is just my opinion I do not want to start any arguments over this just trying to offer help. I have worked on the LED lights for PFO warranty work & am an authorized dealer for them no warranties will be voided this way.

 

[Jeremy0322]

Completely off the subject, I was just thinking to myself that Jak hadnt been around alot lately. Hows it going?

 

[Dentoid]

LED light technology is going to change over time as will aquarium lighting in general with increased research and awareness of coral husbandry. These Solaris lights will be obsolete in a few years time. I never intended to keep my Solaris for 10-15 years. When the technology changes I will change with it.

With respect to coral husbandry, success is measured in years, not months. This technology is still in its infancy and with the changes that have occurred just within the Solaris fixture itself, is evidence that all the data is not in. Some feel like LED technology is the future, others think the old way is a safer bet. I don't know what is going on with PFO's aquarium division. Perhaps they are reorganizing for better customer service, who knows. For me I'm satisfied with my purchase and aside from minor problems in the beginning, the fixture has performed as it was intended and marketed. I know my warrantee will expire in 11 months. If I start having problems after that, then I will consider another fixture based on the current research and accepted methods of coral husbandry.

Buyers remorse and bashing PFO is unproductive and quite frankly not helping, but contributing to the problem.