Hey guys,
so i've spent tonight tripping out reading up a ton on C.A.P. in particular the NEXTGEN Ballast series and the 5 year full warranty that supposivley comes with the ballasts.
Here are two reports that will explain this better than I can at 1:08 AM on a friday night with Math at 830 in the morning 30 miles on a lame freeway. But basically I want you to read what both these guys said then take into account your own experience if any with C.A.P. and please respond. Room mate just picked one up and Im thinking about picking one up also, though this has really deterred me tonight and I want to know if I should have him return his NOW.
Take it easy.
HYdrologist
Oh and I want to know If I should start running around with a torch, motivating other growers to boycott these retards like these two dudes will explain.
FIRST DUDE
Well this was originally going to be my "look at my awesome new grow light" post. But there won't be any pictures because I don't want any speed reader out there to look at the picture, not read what I write, and mistake that for an endorsement of what I'm beginning to think is one of the worst-built lighting products available.
I'll admit it, I got taken.
I want to go big this winter on growing some veggies inside, and that means I need some big light. Fluoro's will handle lettuce and such okay, but if I'm going to get any serious tomatoes I need some serious light, right? So I head out (virtually) to a retailer and I start browsing through lights, ballasts, etc. I wanted to be able to run HPS and MH both, so I could blast my plants with blue-spectrum and encourage a lot of leafy growth without much height, and HPS for when I start getting some tomatoes (the redder spectrum is better for ripening.) I'm there, weighing my options, going cheaper on the one hand or paying more for quality, and being who I am I like to opt for the spot on the curve where you can maximize your quality per dollar. Unfortunately, I left off the part about researching and just went by stats and price.
Don't do that. Always do your homework.
If I'd done my homework, as I have now, I'd have avoided buying this POS Nextgen ballast. It looked like a great deal. Not the cheapest of course, but it was digital, would run 400 or 600w bulbs, HPS or MH... it had it all. Including what looked like a nice warranty. I got a 400w HPS and a 400w MH bulb for it, and set everything up for a test run to see how much heat each one made. Everything seemed great at first. It fired up fast, was obscenely bright, everything you could want. I was running the lights 18 hours a day to see how hot the grow room got so I'd know how much, if any, additional ventilation I'd need and on the third day I heard a loud "wham" from the next room and went in to find the bulb shattered all over the floor.
Now tradition required the cat be blamed. That she had been napping on the couch when the explosion rudely woke her, and that the door to that room had been fully closed at the time were inconsequential details. Clearly, the cat was at fault. She always is. Unbeknownst to her, I conducted an actual investigation into the cause while maintaining the Official House Policy of Scape-catting. I couldn't find any reason the bulb might have burst so I figured it was probably just a bad bulb or something. I replaced it (carefully) with the HPS bulb and restarted the test. Two days later when I wasn't at home, that bulb blew as well. Officially, this was another criminal act by the Scape-cat, but unofficially I was beginning to suspect the ballast was bad.
So I did some research. Sure enough, this wasn't an isolated incident.
The next step was to invoke the warranty. The retailer I bought it from informed me to contact the manufacturer, "Amerinada" (Ameri-nothing? Weird name. Anyway...) Okay, not their problem, so I shoot them an email. And wait. And wait. Nada. So I call. They ask me if I'm a retailer, I say "no", and they hang up. I figure I just got disconnected or something so I try back.
How can I put this nicely? I would rather try, under penalty of death by scrubbing with iodine-soaked steel wool, teach advanced multi-dimensional physics to a retarded june bug, than try to have any kind of actual conversation with anyone at Amerinada. As near as I can tell their company policy is to ignore, transfer into oblivion, or simply disconnect any customer that calls in. And I'm not the first person to have that problem either, it seems.
Now that I have done my research I realize I didn't even get to check for the other common "features" of the Nextgen ballast — namely incredible heat levels and RF interference. I thought the ballasts were kind of hot but I didn't pay a lot of attention to it and I wouldn't have known how hot was too hot at that time anyway. And with no bulbs I can't really turn the damn thing on anyway.
Lessons Learned (again)
1. Always do your homework. Find out what other people have to say about it before you buy it, especially when you're laying out a few hundred bucks.
2. Warranties only imply that the manufacturer stands behind their product if the manufacturer actually intends to honor the warranty.
3. There's no good way to explain to your wife that you blew a couple hundred dollars for something that doesn't work that has a warranty no one backs up, all because you were in too big a hurry to check up on the product or the company that makes it.
Now let me be abundantly clear here — is it their fault that this ballast is a piece of crap and is a more effective bludgeoning weapon than lighting component? Absolutely. Is it their fault I got suckered? No. That's all on me. It's their fault they suck, and my fault I fell for it.
What's really sad is that not 12 hours later I spent more than an hour checking, double-checking, and triple-checking the customer reviews on an SD card I bought for my wife. Yeah, I didn't want to waste 8 bucks on an SD card that had a bad track record...
HERES THE SECOND GUY
Plantlightinghydroponics.com A.K.A. Aladdins lights suck BIG TIME. About a year ago I began a search for the equipment to build/design a grow room. I went to local shops and looked online. After comparing the prices of the two I decided to go online with a company called Plant lightinghydroponics.com A.K.A. Aladdins lights out of twinsburg ohio. BIG MISTAKE!!! I ordered over $3000.00 worth of equipment. Three Electronic NEXTGEN 1000 watt ballasts, high end bulbs, carbon filters, controllers, ect. No expense was spared. When I received the equipment I opened the ballasts to find that they had scratches and tool marks on the fasteners. I immediatly called PLH and spoke with one of the managers Jeff. He assured me that the ballast were new and they did not ever sell used or refurbished equipment. Being in a crunch for time, I just wanted to get things started so I dropped the issue. I figured if I had a problem with the NEXTGEN ballasts I could always rely on the manufactures 5 year warranty. WRONG!!!
Side note: I was warned about buying equipment from online vendors from local hydro shops and here on RIU. They said that returns would be a nightmare if even possible, customer service is poor to say the least, and that there were a lot of fly-by-night companies that just won't be in business when it comes time to make warranty claim. I DID NOT listen to these critics, mainly because there was a significant difference in the $$$$$ amount between my local shop and these online vendors. In my case around $1,400.00 difference.
lo and behold six months into my operation one of the NEXTGEN 1000 watt ballasts failed. Just quit working. Supposidly your able to self diagnose these ballast but this thing was DEAD. Fortunatly for me I bought (3) of these ballasts and was only using (2). So I switched out the dead ballast for the backup one and was instructed by Jeff @ PLH to send the broken ballast back to Custom Automated Products, C.A.P; which i did. He stated that if the ballast was deemed defective they would send me a "new" ballast. Three weeks went by and I heard nothing. I called Plant lighting hydroponics (AKA Aladdins lights) and this time spoke with another manager Mike. He told me that in fact the ballast was shot and C.A.P had sent me out a "new" ballast. That was this past monday. Well today I received the "new" ballast. Except the ballsat isn't new. They sent me a refurbished unit ...WTF...So I call the jokers at PLH and the manager Mike tells me that they must of fixed my ballast and just sent it back instead of a new one. I tell him the there are stickers all over the box that say REFURBISHED and the invoice says: replace with REFURB. He tells me that he is going to call CAP and call me right back. He calls back and says, Custom Automated Products policy is: If the ballast breaks within 90 days of purchase then they would have sent me a new ballast. But since it was outside of the 90 days (180Days) it is their option to send me a refurbished or new unit. WTF...If you look at NEXTGEN ballasts their BIG selling point is their 5 YEAR WARRANTY. Fucking Bullshit. CAPS warranty card that comes with each ballast states: 5 YEAR WARRANTY (3 years 100% and 2 years prorated.) So I called CAP today and they told me the same bullshit. I asked the lady at CAP, why doesn't the warranty card state anything about this 90 day bullshit? She did not have an answer. I asked her if she thinks it might be important to add this imformation to the warranty card for the benefit of customers and potential customers? She stated that she would "speak to the higher ups" about my concerns but that was their company policy.
This has got to be illegal. PLH, CAP, and the likes need to be put out of business through boycotts. We growers need to mobilize and force these bootleg companies to give us the service and products we deserve. Just because what many of us do is considered taboo and illegal in some situations, we are subjected to overpricing, no return policies, poorly designed products, shitty customer service, and an overall POOR experience.
Just warning all of you growers who were considering CAP equipment, you might want to reconsider. The reason I went with NEXTGEN ballast is because of their 5 year warranty. Filthy liars. And as far as PLH a.k.a ALLADIN LIGHTS, all of the warnings about online vendors proved to be true with them. I have never dealt with such a poorly run business in my life. From the manager to the employees, all are worthless. There were several other issues I had with PLH but I have spent enough time on these crooks.
so i've spent tonight tripping out reading up a ton on C.A.P. in particular the NEXTGEN Ballast series and the 5 year full warranty that supposivley comes with the ballasts.
Here are two reports that will explain this better than I can at 1:08 AM on a friday night with Math at 830 in the morning 30 miles on a lame freeway. But basically I want you to read what both these guys said then take into account your own experience if any with C.A.P. and please respond. Room mate just picked one up and Im thinking about picking one up also, though this has really deterred me tonight and I want to know if I should have him return his NOW.
Take it easy.
HYdrologist
Oh and I want to know If I should start running around with a torch, motivating other growers to boycott these retards like these two dudes will explain.
FIRST DUDE
Well this was originally going to be my "look at my awesome new grow light" post. But there won't be any pictures because I don't want any speed reader out there to look at the picture, not read what I write, and mistake that for an endorsement of what I'm beginning to think is one of the worst-built lighting products available.
I'll admit it, I got taken.
I want to go big this winter on growing some veggies inside, and that means I need some big light. Fluoro's will handle lettuce and such okay, but if I'm going to get any serious tomatoes I need some serious light, right? So I head out (virtually) to a retailer and I start browsing through lights, ballasts, etc. I wanted to be able to run HPS and MH both, so I could blast my plants with blue-spectrum and encourage a lot of leafy growth without much height, and HPS for when I start getting some tomatoes (the redder spectrum is better for ripening.) I'm there, weighing my options, going cheaper on the one hand or paying more for quality, and being who I am I like to opt for the spot on the curve where you can maximize your quality per dollar. Unfortunately, I left off the part about researching and just went by stats and price.
Don't do that. Always do your homework.
If I'd done my homework, as I have now, I'd have avoided buying this POS Nextgen ballast. It looked like a great deal. Not the cheapest of course, but it was digital, would run 400 or 600w bulbs, HPS or MH... it had it all. Including what looked like a nice warranty. I got a 400w HPS and a 400w MH bulb for it, and set everything up for a test run to see how much heat each one made. Everything seemed great at first. It fired up fast, was obscenely bright, everything you could want. I was running the lights 18 hours a day to see how hot the grow room got so I'd know how much, if any, additional ventilation I'd need and on the third day I heard a loud "wham" from the next room and went in to find the bulb shattered all over the floor.
Now tradition required the cat be blamed. That she had been napping on the couch when the explosion rudely woke her, and that the door to that room had been fully closed at the time were inconsequential details. Clearly, the cat was at fault. She always is. Unbeknownst to her, I conducted an actual investigation into the cause while maintaining the Official House Policy of Scape-catting. I couldn't find any reason the bulb might have burst so I figured it was probably just a bad bulb or something. I replaced it (carefully) with the HPS bulb and restarted the test. Two days later when I wasn't at home, that bulb blew as well. Officially, this was another criminal act by the Scape-cat, but unofficially I was beginning to suspect the ballast was bad.
So I did some research. Sure enough, this wasn't an isolated incident.
The next step was to invoke the warranty. The retailer I bought it from informed me to contact the manufacturer, "Amerinada" (Ameri-nothing? Weird name. Anyway...) Okay, not their problem, so I shoot them an email. And wait. And wait. Nada. So I call. They ask me if I'm a retailer, I say "no", and they hang up. I figure I just got disconnected or something so I try back.
How can I put this nicely? I would rather try, under penalty of death by scrubbing with iodine-soaked steel wool, teach advanced multi-dimensional physics to a retarded june bug, than try to have any kind of actual conversation with anyone at Amerinada. As near as I can tell their company policy is to ignore, transfer into oblivion, or simply disconnect any customer that calls in. And I'm not the first person to have that problem either, it seems.
Now that I have done my research I realize I didn't even get to check for the other common "features" of the Nextgen ballast — namely incredible heat levels and RF interference. I thought the ballasts were kind of hot but I didn't pay a lot of attention to it and I wouldn't have known how hot was too hot at that time anyway. And with no bulbs I can't really turn the damn thing on anyway.
Lessons Learned (again)
1. Always do your homework. Find out what other people have to say about it before you buy it, especially when you're laying out a few hundred bucks.
2. Warranties only imply that the manufacturer stands behind their product if the manufacturer actually intends to honor the warranty.
3. There's no good way to explain to your wife that you blew a couple hundred dollars for something that doesn't work that has a warranty no one backs up, all because you were in too big a hurry to check up on the product or the company that makes it.
Now let me be abundantly clear here — is it their fault that this ballast is a piece of crap and is a more effective bludgeoning weapon than lighting component? Absolutely. Is it their fault I got suckered? No. That's all on me. It's their fault they suck, and my fault I fell for it.
What's really sad is that not 12 hours later I spent more than an hour checking, double-checking, and triple-checking the customer reviews on an SD card I bought for my wife. Yeah, I didn't want to waste 8 bucks on an SD card that had a bad track record...
HERES THE SECOND GUY
Plantlightinghydroponics.com A.K.A. Aladdins lights suck BIG TIME. About a year ago I began a search for the equipment to build/design a grow room. I went to local shops and looked online. After comparing the prices of the two I decided to go online with a company called Plant lightinghydroponics.com A.K.A. Aladdins lights out of twinsburg ohio. BIG MISTAKE!!! I ordered over $3000.00 worth of equipment. Three Electronic NEXTGEN 1000 watt ballasts, high end bulbs, carbon filters, controllers, ect. No expense was spared. When I received the equipment I opened the ballasts to find that they had scratches and tool marks on the fasteners. I immediatly called PLH and spoke with one of the managers Jeff. He assured me that the ballast were new and they did not ever sell used or refurbished equipment. Being in a crunch for time, I just wanted to get things started so I dropped the issue. I figured if I had a problem with the NEXTGEN ballasts I could always rely on the manufactures 5 year warranty. WRONG!!!
Side note: I was warned about buying equipment from online vendors from local hydro shops and here on RIU. They said that returns would be a nightmare if even possible, customer service is poor to say the least, and that there were a lot of fly-by-night companies that just won't be in business when it comes time to make warranty claim. I DID NOT listen to these critics, mainly because there was a significant difference in the $$$$$ amount between my local shop and these online vendors. In my case around $1,400.00 difference.
lo and behold six months into my operation one of the NEXTGEN 1000 watt ballasts failed. Just quit working. Supposidly your able to self diagnose these ballast but this thing was DEAD. Fortunatly for me I bought (3) of these ballasts and was only using (2). So I switched out the dead ballast for the backup one and was instructed by Jeff @ PLH to send the broken ballast back to Custom Automated Products, C.A.P; which i did. He stated that if the ballast was deemed defective they would send me a "new" ballast. Three weeks went by and I heard nothing. I called Plant lighting hydroponics (AKA Aladdins lights) and this time spoke with another manager Mike. He told me that in fact the ballast was shot and C.A.P had sent me out a "new" ballast. That was this past monday. Well today I received the "new" ballast. Except the ballsat isn't new. They sent me a refurbished unit ...WTF...So I call the jokers at PLH and the manager Mike tells me that they must of fixed my ballast and just sent it back instead of a new one. I tell him the there are stickers all over the box that say REFURBISHED and the invoice says: replace with REFURB. He tells me that he is going to call CAP and call me right back. He calls back and says, Custom Automated Products policy is: If the ballast breaks within 90 days of purchase then they would have sent me a new ballast. But since it was outside of the 90 days (180Days) it is their option to send me a refurbished or new unit. WTF...If you look at NEXTGEN ballasts their BIG selling point is their 5 YEAR WARRANTY. Fucking Bullshit. CAPS warranty card that comes with each ballast states: 5 YEAR WARRANTY (3 years 100% and 2 years prorated.) So I called CAP today and they told me the same bullshit. I asked the lady at CAP, why doesn't the warranty card state anything about this 90 day bullshit? She did not have an answer. I asked her if she thinks it might be important to add this imformation to the warranty card for the benefit of customers and potential customers? She stated that she would "speak to the higher ups" about my concerns but that was their company policy.
This has got to be illegal. PLH, CAP, and the likes need to be put out of business through boycotts. We growers need to mobilize and force these bootleg companies to give us the service and products we deserve. Just because what many of us do is considered taboo and illegal in some situations, we are subjected to overpricing, no return policies, poorly designed products, shitty customer service, and an overall POOR experience.
Just warning all of you growers who were considering CAP equipment, you might want to reconsider. The reason I went with NEXTGEN ballast is because of their 5 year warranty. Filthy liars. And as far as PLH a.k.a ALLADIN LIGHTS, all of the warnings about online vendors proved to be true with them. I have never dealt with such a poorly run business in my life. From the manager to the employees, all are worthless. There were several other issues I had with PLH but I have spent enough time on these crooks.
)
