**Mega Ray Issues** / Megaray RECALL

[GoFast]

Well after 5 days of the new megaray, I am satisfied. E is active, alert, eating, pooping, basking, and his eyes are both wide open. Anyone having a problem with the new megarays, I would suggest they increase their distances. The closest that E can get to the light at this point is now 18". That is the top of his head to the bottom of the bulb. Previously, it was 14" and I was having all kinds of issues.

I figured this out with my TREX that I just got in the interim of waiting on the megaray fix. When E started closing his eyes with the trex, I simply increased the distances. The two weeks that I had that set up, he would still bask but was still somewhat dark and not quite as active as I was used to. The new megaray, so far,has alleviated everything.

 

[ajkry2]

Increasing the distances didn't mess up the temps too bad?

I have a Mega Ray on order, and I'm just trying to get my head around all of this...

 

[GoFast]

Not really...temps may have dropped a degree or two at the most.

 

[puffsmama]

Just wanted to place a post here...I have had Kiera under her Mega Ray 100 watt SB for 6 days now, and so far so good. I have done a little playing around with height, basking rocks, etc, and found that the KISS method is working the best...after trying to be complicated about basking spots, lights etc...I remembered that it is my dear brother who taught me the KISS method...and it is working wonderfully...for those of you who don't know...the KISS method is "Keep It Simple Stupid"!!! No offense to any one out there...the "stupid" refers only to myself :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
The tiles on Kiera's floor of her tank I have found to absorb heat very nicely, and she loves laying on top of her slumber tent that was made for her, and that gets nicely warm as well...
so this is what I have come up with for her now...





the MegaRay is on the left end in the deep dome fixture. The closest she can get to it is 17 inches. Her temps on her slumber tent are 104 to 105 with the Mega Ray that distance. So far we are having NO eye issues!!
The middle light is a regular household compact fluorescent light. Soon it will be one of the brighter flourescent lights that I ordered from John at ReptileUV. And the light on the right side is a 50 watt Phillips halogen. The temps on that end of the viv range from 90 on top of the turtle to 83 around the entire area on that end to 78 at the coolest spot on that end. That gives her a second basking area out of the UV so that she can regulate when she wants to catch some UV rays and when she doesn't.
I am very pleased so far with the Mega Ray and Kiera is too. Her belly is always a creamy white now, and she is more active. I would rather have it at the maximum distance and would use a heat light if needed to have the MVB at the max distance, but I am getting great temps with just the Mega Ray. Anyway, just wanted to share my experience thus far with it!!

 

[beardie parents]

I placed my first order with Mac Industries just last friday, about 7:40 am MST (according to the paypal email receipt). Boy, those guys are quick. Within about 5 minutes of placing the order I got an email that said my order had shipped, including a tracking #. They did ship it out on Friday as I was able to track it on Saturday in Fayetteville, NC, and this is through the US postal service's tracking site, which takes awhile to update, sometimes it won't show that it is in your local area until a few days after you get the product. I'm glad we (Bill and I) decided to go with the 60 watt EB setup, and had the $ for it now, as the only other way to do it is to go with the trex, from what I've read, they are having the same problems as the Mega Rays were having a few months ago. Now that Mac Industries has fixed the Megas, and also the way they handled the problem that arose last year, I feel safe in ordering from them. I do know that if I have a problem with the bulbs (which I seriously doubt because there seems to be only one problem that arose since they fixed the other problem) they will make it right, and I can use the t rex's I have has I'm sure they still have some life in them as I don't use them much more than 4 hours a day, maybe 6 when it's too cold to take our girls outside and they've been in use for a couple of weeks longer than one year. I think the heat output on them is diminishing from what it was this time last year, tho it is a little cooler this year than it was last year.

 

[applejacks155]

So i purhached a replacement mega ray today cause my old bulb was up. When i got home i took it out put it in then noticed some paper for packaging on the bottom the date on the paper was january 16 2010 should i be concerend that my bulb is one of the problem ones?

 

[diamc]

It would be a good idea to see what the batch # is which is printed on the left side near the Megaray logo. If it's J1, K1 or L1, please let us know.

 

[lilacdragon]

It probably will be JI KI or LI, because it is probably one that has been treated with the new coating. They are not sending out any lamps direct from ReptileUV in North Carolina which have not been coated, I'm sure about that. But they do have a large number of freshly coated lamps, from what I hear..

If you bought the lamp direct from Westron, or from a store elsewhere in the USA or Canada I suppose it might be an untreated one..

...but isn't it more likely that they just use old newspaper crumpled up, for packaging? The date on the newspaper might just mean there's a pile of old papers waiting for this "recycling" method...

If you are concerned, do go straight to the ReptileUV website and email John Wolff directly. He won't mind, I'm sure, and it's far better than worrying about it...

Frances

 

[beardie parents]

I agree. I got my order on the Monday after I ordered it (I ordered it the previous friday am). When I opened the box, both of the 60 watt eb boxs said 'lo uvb'. I emailed them that evening and had a response the next am. I did have the bulb I ordered but they forgot to take the 'low uvb' stickers off the box, that I can understand.

 

[diamc]

Those are great points Frances. Also, contacting ReptileUV directly is the best thing to do to get the answers.

 

[MomOf5Beardies]

So how can I make sure I am not getting a recalled bulb?
We are almost done with the building of our new enclosures and I want to use MVBs. I also don't want to wait 2 weeks to get them.
I have 7 enclosures to light so it will be quite an order and I would like to know that I am getting good, safe bulbs. My babies are all between 3 and 5 years old and are all very healthy. I want to keep thm that way

Sorry of this has been answered but after looking through the first 8 or 9 pages I decided to just ask. :study:
Thanks
Jill

 

[lilacdragon]

Hi, Jill.

If you purchase ReptileUV MegaRay lamps from their website, the lamp you will be sent will be a bulb from the series manufactured by Westron which untreated, might have caused problems, but which has been oversprayed with the new filter coating and cured at a high temperature so that the coating will not degrade. The lamp will have been hand tested with a Solarmeter 6.5 after the coating has been cured, to ensure the UV Index is now not too high for normal use at a distance of 14 - 16 inches.
This is what I've been told by Bob MacCargar at ReptileUV.
These bulbs should be safe to use.

If you buy a T-Rex Active UV Heat at the moment, I am afraid we do not know what they are selling nor what they are "expecting in 2 weeks time".
I have received an email from Alan Botterman, CEO of T-Rex, saying "In regards to getting you some new Westron bulbs; I believe they have just shipped the 1st batch of our bulbs with the correct parts. I will make sure I send you something to test as soon as I receive them."
I am not sure what "correct parts" refers to, but I will certainly test anything he sends.
Personally I would not put any untested lamp over my own dragons though...

A kind donor has sent me two of the T-Rex Economy Bulbs and I hope to test them over the coming weekend.

Best wishes,

Frances

 

[MomOf5Beardies]

Thanks for the reply Frances.
I have wanted to put them under these for a long time and now that we have made enclosures that are appropriately sized I am reading about the problems. Wouldn't ya know :?
After much thought and discussion, I think we are going to stick with the 10.0s. We have been so fortunate to have our 7 dragons stay healthy. Our rescues have thrived and our dragons that we have had since they were babies have never been sick. I would hate to do something that MAY hurt them.
I am sure we are being over cautious and these lights are probably fine, but I think we are going to stick with what has worked for them for so long.
Jill

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Great to know.

 

[Germ]

Just going to throw my $.02 in here. I have been using a Mega-Ray 160w for 3 months now in one of my 90 Gal. enclosures without health issue. Prior to this and in all my other enclosures, I have been using 10.0 Linear tubes as my UVB sources for years without problems. But I wanted to try an MVB, with full intentions of converting all my other enclosures also, as I had read & heard how 'Good' they are. As soon as my expiry date comes up, I will be going back to the 10.0 tube. The reason being that I was led to believe that an MVB would provide both my heat & UVB. At the minimum safe distance of 15" for a 160W Mega-Ray, it does not come anywhere near having sufficient heat, so I still have to supplement it with a 50W Halogen. They don't give off bright white light either, so I still have to have a regular 18W bulb in my Fluorescent fixture in order to light my enclosure near what I had previously.

With the 10.0 18W tube fluorescent, I needed 90W & 50W halogens for heat & the enclosure was better lit than it is now.

So let's do the Math.

Previously, I was using 158W of power 12hrs/day and it did & have been the job very well for years.

Now, with the Mega-Ray, it is costing me, 228W (144%) of power 12 hrs/day, more expensive bulb, my enclosure isn't as well lit, less heat, doesn't seem to be any more beneficial to my animals than my previous setup, less functionality in setup (Didn't have to stay away 15+") & doesn't last any longer.

Yup! I'll be going back to the 10.0 tube.

Germain

p.s.
Why does this board always seem to go offline or become unavailable just as/before you hit the submit button ? Gotten to the point I'm going to start writing my posts in notepad, then 'Save, Copy & Paste'. :wink: