Ai new controller/hydra issues right out of the box

lostintheocean

lostintheocean

New member
I just got my hydra and have had several issues. Of course AI is closed for the weekend so.... The plastic cover over the fan was rubbing the fan whenever it turned on, I managed to flex the cover to get this to stop but for a 10 minute old $400 light this was pretty disappointing. There were also a few scratches around the fan cover on the metal heat sink.

Now the controller. I updated the firmware and was setting up the timers but the clock will not move on my controller. I set the time and when I go to the home screen it never moves. From the video on the AI site it should start right away. Also when I turn the storm to start now nothing happens.

Has anyone else had these issues? This many issues with a brand new $500 set up is pretty sad and now I am think I should have got another T5 set up. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
Have you created a ticket on the support website or tried calling? From what I have experienced they are pretty good at helping even over the weekends via the ticket system.

I haven't read of anyone having those problems so I don't know what to say about it.
 
Thank for your reply. They closed about 30 minutes after i discovered the issues so bad timing there. I did email them and submit a ticket request and am waiting to hear back. Having issues with both items right out of the box is not to reassuring though. I have read they have great customer service so we will see. If not I guess I will have to go back to the vendor I got them from for replacements but I am using these for a grad school project so time is of the essence.
 
I got a prompt response from AI and working to get the issues resolved. A was surprised to hear back since they are closed on the weekend per there website hours. One of the reasons I went with AI was all the positive reviews of their customer service and so far I am very glad I did.

My project.

I am going to bleach some stony corals. I just a pair of elk horn frags, birds nest frags, and monticap frags. They were from an aquaculture greenhouse reef farm and each frag came from the same colony. I am going to use the light to bleach them as I think this will be the easiest and most controllable method. Once bleached or partially bleached one of each frag will go into a tank with ideal temp and the other set of frags will go into a temp stressed tank. I am going to monitor the recovery rate of the bleaching event for the corals at the different temperatures. If I have time I do another run with different temps but my time is limited. If I have money I would set up more for this trial but I could only afford to set up two tanks. They will be identical and side by side.
 
From my experience their email works better then the phone. I'm sure with the two latest products just recently released or soon to be they are probably super slammed busy.
 
Update. I received a replacement controller from AI last night and it is not working either. It is having the same issue. I tried calling AI and I got a personal voice mail so that seems a bit odd. Hopefully I can get through to someone today.
 
2 in a row, that sux! I had the ai nano and at night the nano had a internal green led blinking indicating that its the light is working. Problem is that it blinked brighter than the moon light. The controller also would not respond accurately and would have multiselection whenever you try to get a single selection. This was hugely annoying as you would have to spend alot to time trying to adjust the light and with three color leds everytime you try to select a color to adjust it would fly pass the color you actually wanted to adjust. I ended up selling the nano form being so annoyed and now looking into new leds. This was one of my questions to find out if ai had fixed this issue, but it seems now they have other. Guess i may have to go another route. Damn, and their hydra looked so promising!
 
Well, I was eventually able to reach support again and they overnighted me another controller. So far this one appears to be working. Although it is hard to get through to support it has been good. I have only set up the easy timer set option but it has been working and the weather affects are working as well. I do like the light but with the scratches on the light it self and the two defective controllers make me wonder about longevity of the units and the controller really needs to be built with a battery on board.
 
I'm sure a big portion of their staff was tied up at MACNA over the weekend etc. thats probably why you weren't able to grab them easily. They have always been quick to respond for me when I needed help. Glad you got taken care of.

I actually prefer the easy timer setup, I really like the sunrise/set it creates. They recently added the timer setup easy to the Director too, so now I can get the same result quickly.
 
Hydra lights are a HUGE disappointment

Hydra lights are a HUGE disappointment

I have had nothing but problems with these lights since I purchased them. AI sent a replacement that was also defective. I had to cannibalize the replacement light to fix the defective light. Less than two days later they turned into Christmas lights, cycling on and off intermittently. Now two lights are doing the same thing. I'm betting the third light will join the party before the upcoming firmware update is released. My fish are stressed and stopped eating. AI support isn't getting the job done as far as I'm concerned. Just wanted to share my experience with the hydras.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
AI Hydra 32 question
Replies
3
Views
905
Batman222b
B
T
TM Trigger Systems Platinum V2 Controller
Replies
0
Views
379
tmann51
T
T
I'm confused...
Replies
12
Views
679
wvned
wvned
D
Which sump would you choose?
Replies
5
Views
388
Devilphish
D
E
What's Old is New Again
Replies
2
Views
524
Uncle99
Uncle99
Back
Top