Kessil A360W Problems

[Worom]

Never experienced any flickering with my Kessils A360w. I did get lazy for a while and not clean the vents causing overheating. Luckily they are designed to power down to avoid damage.

[El Mayo]

I have a kessil 150 that has been flickering when hooked up to the controller. So I decided to hook it up to a two prong timer instead. Magically the flickering went away when taking the ground prong out of the equation.hope this helps.

[mixalakis]

I have a 360W for one month now and suddently I cannot work it over 80% . Propably is overheated and automaticaly shuts down.

[Esage]

Originally Posted by Chi Town Reefer

So I have had 4 x Kessil A360W LED lights above my 225 gallon for around 5 months now and I love them and I hate them. The colors of all the fish and corals look great when the lights work but really ****es me off when they don't work. For some reason every few days one of them randomly just seem to not turn on (not just one of them but they all seem to have the same problem). Sometimes the light will flicker on and off for hours before it stays on and sometime it will not turn on for days. During the times of the problems, the fan internally is still running so its not a power issue. I have been having this problem from day one but as soon as I decide I am going to send it in for repair, it seems to turn back on. I am afraid to have to send them in and not have lights during the process, (too many corals to chance). Anyone else having the same problems or know how to rectify them?

Kessil will send you replacement lights and you can keep your current lights until the new ones arrive. You just need to give them a cc number in case you choose not to send back the faulty ones.

[Zacktosterone]

i don't know if you've done this yet but just call kessil and tell them your issue. they will replace it in a heart beat

[kevin.st]

I had an issue with my a350 and Kessil took care of me. This company seriously kicks ***.

[j.a.c.wester]

Are you running them with the kessil controller or apex? Ik had Thatcher problem one time in the beginning. Just reuploaded the program and it was solved!

[rgulrich]

Kessil customer support is great - had problem with one of mine I thought was the power supply and they sent me a complete kit. Turned out it was a cable, so I swapped out the bad one and labeled it, put it back in the box and sent it back with a thank you note.
Great service.

[percula99]

I am really glad to see these posts telling of the great customer service Kessil provides....during the warranty period. What is your experience if the light goes defective after the warranty period? I have three A360W-E pendants and I truly love them. So far my only problem has been a power supply that went bad and was easily replaced at my own cost. A friend of mine has had a different experience altogether. He bought five pendants to put over his 300 gallon reef. Two went defective right at the expiration of his warranty and Kessil sent him two brand new fixtures and told him to keep the bad ones. Six months later and two more fixtures went bad the same day. Out of the five he bought and two replacements, seven in total, four are now defective. He contacted Kessil asking if they could be repaired and they said they could not. We both live in Canada and these lights are $500CDN each up here. So after spending that kind of money he is left with three working lights and no recourse to get them fixed. What to do if the lights stop working and they are out of warranty?

[Zacktosterone]

Yo.... Try this.... Go push the power cord in on every single kessil. Just trust me and try it. Push every power cord into every pendent. Then let me know what happens

[trueperc]

Funny you reply Zackosteron as I believe it was you who I may have purchase some of these kessil from.
Since I started with five in total. The testing I have done is take a known working power supply from one that for sure it working, unhook all other link cables and test. This is ruling everything out but the led unit itself.
The main issue is since now I am out of warranty on all them and clearly have defective units, the only thing I am left to do is throw them the garbage. These are so unique the chances of finding any parts to make them work is highly unlikely. My friend trying to find out for both of us, has anyone had to deal with the company after the warranty period is over. Don't great me wrong, great customer service while under warranty. The thing is at least with Ecotech or AI, you can buy parts or whole upgrade kits and I have even heard of people sending the lights into Ecotech to get repaired. Now I am not sure if this is also people outside the US but still you for sure have more options with them. It does suck that I currently have 4 fixtures at $500 per just doing nothing after roughly a year and a half. What I do find strange is that they never seem to want the old fixtures back, make me wonder how much these are really worth or costing them.

[Scorpius]

Never had any issues with my Kessils. I have almost two years use out of one of my units.

[Esage]

I received a refurbished light fixture when I had some LED's fail after the Kessil was out of warranty

[SF Nano Reefer]

My A360W started having problems a couple weeks ago. It would turn on flicker a few times and then turn off altogether but the fan will still stay on. I contacted Kessil and they said since it was 10 months out of warranty, they can only offer me a little "discount" off the newer version. I have to say I am extremely disappointed as I spent $450 on a light and it didn't even last 3 years. I've had an Ecotech Radion that was purchased a year before my Kessil and have had no issues whatsoever. It's frustrating that they can't offer repairs or any solutions other than to shell out more money for a new light. I've read from several places that this has happened to many people so it isn't an isolated incident but their response was, "This is not a known issue because there can be lots of factors causing the issue." A few months ago I was considering their AP700 for a new tank build I'm working on but after this debacle, I think I'll stick to Ecotech. Basically, if you're out of warranty your only option is to buy another light.

[percula99]

I have seen this same issue pop up time and time again. What good is the boast that LEDs last 10,000 hours or 5 years if the circuitry that runs them fails far sooner than that. Then you are told your only recourse is to buy another one. It does not inspire much confidence or customer loyalty. I have three of these fixtures for 21 months now and hope they don't fail me. If you bought a car and after one year it broke down and the dealership told you we can't help you, why don't you buy another car, what would you do?

[WaReefer458]

I think you guys are correct but think of it this way. If you buy a 360 for 400$ and it lasts 3 years, that comes down to 133$ a year. They use a ton less electricity than mh or t5, they run way cooler which prevents cost and power consumption from running a chiller or ac unit. And they are sleek and don't take up hardly any space. A 100$ programmer will way outlast the lights. So even with the purchase of a controller and goosenecks you can round that up to about 150$ a year. What are you spending on power, bulbs, and ballasts for other lighting? It all evens out in the end. Led is a "wear" item on a tank no different than a bulb in a fixture. If you looked at it like the whole fixture was the equivalent to a bulb, it's no more expensive. Just boils down to 400$ per unit every 4-5 years or 150-200$ a year in mh or t5 bulbs, plus the higher energy costs. I have 2 Kessil a360we's on my 40b and I've been happy with them. My sps don't seem to agree but when I upgrade to my 200g in the spring I will use my existing lights and do t5 supplements.

[trueperc]

wareefer458, your logic may work for you and in a perfect world it might seem you have it right, but when a unit fails after a year they all of a sudden your logic doesn't work. Also to even compare, you need minimum 2 kessil A360we to even come close to matching the coverage and output of a single metal halide with a half decent reflector. The biggest problem and that is with any led is coverage. kessil seem to be some of the worst for shadowing. For example for percula99's 180 he would need min 6 units where he could like the same with 3 metal halides. All of a sudden you are not that far off, now electricity usage argument has been beaten to death and has been clearly shown you really are not saving as much as you think. With leds you are not having to add heaters and they will go on more often. Chiller is not necessary, I have never owned one and know many who don't, it really depends on where you live. My big thing is it would be great if leds did last the 3-5 years and some do but some don't and when they do its very costly.

[manilaboy1vic]

Originally Posted by Zacktosterone

Yo.... Try this.... Go push the power cord in on every single kessil. Just trust me and try it. Push every power cord into every pendent. Then let me know what happens

i second this.. and push the cable into whatever controller you got..

when i first got mine.. i think i had only the color channel going and was like.. wth.. then i pushed the cables in to recheck and wa-la.. the intensity channel kicked in.

i was on blue only channel for a week or so..

[October]

I installed 2 A350W's in Dec 2012. Within 1 yr, one died and was replaced under warranty. This replacement unit just died today. Meanwhile, my other light has been functional since 2012 without a glitch.
I think there are definitely quality issues with production that results in premature failure. I am contacting Kessil tomorrow and will see how they'll handle my situation.

[percula99]

Originally Posted by October

I installed 2 A350W's in Dec 2012. Within 1 yr, one died and was replaced under warranty. This replacement unit just died today. Meanwhile, my other light has been functional since 2012 without a glitch.
I think there are definitely quality issues with production that results in premature failure. I am contacting Kessil tomorrow and will see how they'll handle my situation.

I am interested in hearing their reply to you. From experience so far I predict they will say that they are sorry, but the fixture is out of warranty and they can't help you. They will then offer you a few tips on how, hopefully you can fix them, none of which will work. I might be wrong, and if I am, good for you, but I doubt it. Please post their reply.

[marineMentor]

Hey everyone, I had the opposite experience with Kessil -- They denied me a warranty repair or replacement on a light that failed after 1.5 years of use. More details provided below.

I wanted to share my experience with a broken A360W Tuna Sun E-series light.
The short version:
It broke, was still within the 2 year warranty (1.5 yr old), and they did not warranty the light. Instead, I was offered one at $210 USD, plus $30 USD shipping, plus $56 CND duties paid. Needless to say, I'm very disappointed in Kessil as a company.
The long version:
I own two A360W E-series tuna sun led lamps.
One recently failed after 1.5 years of use on a 90 gallon planted tank. It just stopped working. All I get is a flash of light when I plug it in. Then nothing. And it won’t repeat that flash until I leave it unplugged for 15 mins while the transformer resets itself. I maintained the light and dust it often using compressed air in a can. The light shouldn’t have failed, but it did. And it was under warranty, but a replacement wasn’t offered.
As you can imagine, I’m very disappointed and expected these (supposedly?) high quality lights to work hassle free for years. I was even more disappointment when Kessil’s turned their back on me (i.e., warranting the light and sending a free replacement) when the light was still under the 2 year warranty period.
I was also denied access to repair service because I live outside of the US (in fact, all international customers are denied repair services). Instead, was offered a special “one time deal” which I begrudgingly bought, but am now second-guessing my decision. I contacted Kessil first by email and then by phone. Both agents (and I spoke to the customer service manager on the phone) offered the same solution—I could buy a light at a reduced cost. The first offer was $270 USD and the second was $210USD (Plus $30 USD shipping and $56 CND duty at the door). So after all the fees and exchange rate to canada, the light cost me nearly $400 dollars—the same price as my original light cost.
Has anyone else had similar poor experiences?
Or the opposite situation—did Kessil’s customer service blow you away?
It’d be nice to find out if I’m a ‘one-off’ or if this is the norm.
Cheers.

[slief]

Originally Posted by marineMentor

Hey everyone, I had the opposite experience with Kessil -- They denied me a warranty repair or replacement on a light that failed after 1.5 years of use. More details provided below.

I wanted to share my experience with a broken A360W Tuna Sun E-series light.
The short version:
It broke, was still within the 2 year warranty (1.5 yr old), and they did not warranty the light. Instead, I was offered one at $210 USD, plus $30 USD shipping, plus $56 CND duties paid. Needless to say, I'm very disappointed in Kessil as a company.
The long version:
I own two A360W E-series tuna sun led lamps.
One recently failed after 1.5 years of use on a 90 gallon planted tank. It just stopped working. All I get is a flash of light when I plug it in. Then nothing. And it won’t repeat that flash until I leave it unplugged for 15 mins while the transformer resets itself. I maintained the light and dust it often using compressed air in a can. The light shouldn’t have failed, but it did. And it was under warranty, but a replacement wasn’t offered.
As you can imagine, I’m very disappointed and expected these (supposedly?) high quality lights to work hassle free for years. I was even more disappointment when Kessil’s turned their back on me (i.e., warranting the light and sending a free replacement) when the light was still under the 2 year warranty period.
I was also denied access to repair service because I live outside of the US (in fact, all international customers are denied repair services). Instead, was offered a special “one time deal” which I begrudgingly bought, but am now second-guessing my decision. I contacted Kessil first by email and then by phone. Both agents (and I spoke to the customer service manager on the phone) offered the same solution—I could buy a light at a reduced cost. The first offer was $270 USD and the second was $210USD (Plus $30 USD shipping and $56 CND duty at the door). So after all the fees and exchange rate to canada, the light cost me nearly $400 dollars—the same price as my original light cost.
Has anyone else had similar poor experiences?
Or the opposite situation—did Kessil’s customer service blow you away?
It’d be nice to find out if I’m a ‘one-off’ or if this is the norm.
Cheers.

They didn't deny you warranty repair. Their warranty is 12 months. I just pulled this from one of the 360WE boxes. I think they were pretty fair offering you a new light at nearly half off. That said, I have 10 of the 360WE's over my tank and haven't had a single issue and mine are every bit as old as yours was.

This is the warranty card pulled from one of my original boxes. Note the warranty period.

[percula99]

Hi marineMentor, like Slief said, the warranty period is just one year. It is two years on the spectral controller if you have one. I am having issues with a similar fix you were offered. I have three Kessil A360W-E fixtures controlled by the spectral controller. All are daisy chained together. If I turn off light 1, lights 2 and 3 should go off. Instead lights 1 and 3 go off, but light 2 dims from bright white to just blue. It won't turn off in this configuration and is too bright to be considered a moon light. If I turn light 2 off, lights 2 and 3 both go off as they should. Kessil offered me a new light at $299USD. I pressed them on that and they reduced the price to $230USD plus $20USD shipping. Honestly I don't know why we should pay $56CDN for duty under NAFTA if it is built in the US. It is cheaper than buying a new one. I have had issues with faulty power supplies also so there is long term quality issues with this product. As I mentioned in a previous post on this thread: "What good is the boast that LEDs last 10,000 hours or 5 years if the circuitry that runs them fails far sooner than that." As far as I can tell the LEDs are all functioning properly, it is the circuitry that fails.

[marineMentor]

thanks for the comment perc. I guess I gave Kessil way more credit than I did their warranty. I never thought I'd have to rely on the warranty. My bad I guess.

[hfp75]

I like the kessil but I’ve had 3x 360we burn out in less than a year ***.

It’s a bad design that looks nice.....

I think the lights are lemons in a nice package...

Kessil replaced one, sold me another direct and now said we can give you the specs of the fan if you want to try n replace it.

For 400+ they should work longer than a few years....