Hey ppl; i bought a MARS II 400 (roughly $250 AUD) in February this year and 28 of the diodes have completely died! You can see on the veg setting, only 25/80 of the diodes continue to function. On the bloom setting, only 29/80 work. I've only been growing <2 years so i don't have huge experience with LED's, but for 35% of the diodes to have died after 5 months of use sounds pretty ridiculous... I calculated the light has been 'on' for roughly 2700 hours, a fraction of the advertised lifespan of 50,000 - 100,000 hours! Now i gtg hunt for a warranty i think i own :<
I mean if they uphold your warranty not a bad thing. But if you are mid growing, and have to send the unit that will be a hampering of that. Sometimes even high dollar LEDs go out, and its the same process. So I wouldn't necessarily say no to marshydro or that its a crappy company. Crap happens. My current 6 Jock Horror Autos, coco coir grow.
It's been a common issue with their lights. I had my light repaired under warranty twice...third time I said fk it.
Mars is wonderful about sending you replacement parts. I warn people all the time about the reliability issues in the older mars 1 and II series lights. I almost bought some myself until I started finding many people using the II series that were having issues like you. Mars did learn from their mistakes and put much higher quality more reliable components in the next series of lights they made. I haven't heard of any of the pro and proII series breaking down. I doubt they enjoy dealing with broken lights either. That's a problem a company that wants to remain successful has to take seriously and they did. Their new lights they're designing and testing now are using top quality reliable leds and drivers like other diy lights. Meanwell, cree, ect. They want to remain relevant in the market and move ahead with something competitive based on cree cobs. I'm excited to see the results. PM smokesara and explain the situation they may be able to send you replacement parts. They want a new logo to match the new approach.
Hi Radagast Sorry about the problem, It looks like the driver has problem, please send email to solutions@mars-hydro.com or pm me your email address, we would like to fix the light.
That is some pretty quick response time from @smokesara imo - if they fix (or replace) your light as quickly I'd say it's pretty darn good. J
Smokesara (MarsHydro associate) reached out to me in a pm and is helping me resolve the issue. After 3 months from purchase they can repair it with most costs covered (with the exception of a 1 way delivery fee). So i guess i'm downgrading to my ufo light for a few weeks until they can fix it (not the worst thing since i'm only in early veg). Imo this is a pretty good deal - whats $30 shipping fee next to the burden of a broken light?
It's 1/10th of what you paid for a light that's under warranty. I'm not saying you shouldn't get it repaired, but to say that it's a good deal is funny.
Eh most companies don't cover shipping on the return end regardless.... it just so happens it's not the cheapest thing to ship which sucks but repairing the light for free is also an option if the owner is somewhat savvy and open to learning lol It does completely suck that it went out so early though. Grow journal
If they will renew your warranty after they fix it (ask them about it) then I would go that route. If not, and if you know how to solder, I'd rather not pay anything.
Yea bugger it i think i'll get them to sent me the parts, soldering is a piece of piss. Think ill spend that $30 on some smart pots and upgrade.
Hi Radagast, Your light looks like the driver has problem, Could you exchange the drivers to confirm that? here is a video that shows how to test if the fault caused power supplies or LEDs
That's a bunch of crap. Only 3 months old and you have to pay shipping or fix it yourself, What a joke. They tried the same with me. I bitched about it in their forumn and mars took care of the shipping to save face. I'll never buy their junk again.
