**Mega Ray Issues** / Megaray RECALL

[Ric]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding this.

These bulbs are producing too high of a UVB and UVA spectrum?

If that is the case I just took a close look at the zoomed deep dome lamp fixture. On the box it states "Highly polished aluminum inside the dome greatly increases UVB and UVA output".

Could the domes maybe be the cause?

 

[Alon93]

The domes maybe increase the heat output by a bit but thats about it, the megaray has a built in reflector so a dome with a reflector will do just about nothing.

 

[sidneysix]

we recieved our 160watt megaray yesterday, we put it in our ceramic fitting about 2 hrs ago and after 5 mins it started to produce a strong chemical type smell and we thought tht perhaps the bulb was burning in. we turned it off to check it was ok because the smell was not improving however it has burnt and has pealed off. very dissapointed, first time user! bought from megaray uk, kimbo's reptile world, we have emailed darren.

 

[debs3052]

Okay--after reading all that I can here, I am going to have to switch to a Reptisun 10 at least until Mega Ray fixes the problem. I also had my 2x2x4 enclosure built specifically for the MVB and have used Mega Ray (100watt sb) for a couple of years now, very successfully I might add. It is time to replace and I'm just not willing to spend all the money while Mega Ray sorts out the problem and I can't find any of the TRex's locally (to check the batch number to make sure it's a safe one!).

So, I will change out one of my 18" high-kelvin daylight flourescents with a Reptisun 10, put a halogen or regular light bulb in my ceramic fixture and try to aim it toward the Reptisun so that she can bask with the uvb at the correct temp. (Currently, my ceramic fixture sits on a hole at the top of the enclosure.) Am I missing anything?!

I will also check regularly to see when Mega Ray has a handle on the problem with the bulbs. I really am a loyal customer and have been very satisfied so far. I hope to be able to switch back in the near future. Keep on keeping on John. . .

 

[Germ]

As far as I'm concerned these things shouldn't even be on the market until this problem is properly rectified, not just a spray on 'Mickey Mouse fix' that they are still charging full price for, while the consumer receives a much inferior bulb, compared to the originals. A discount or credit should be offered to those 'Stuck' with the Quick Fix bulbs. I have already voiced my dissatisfaction with these new bulbs, nothing personal meant, purely business. I did not receive the original product that I ordered & received a fixed upper.

Smart move Debs ... I wish the info that is available now was available when I purchased mine in January, had it been, I sure as heck would not have ordered one.

 

[MontysMom]

John was nice enough to send me a replacement MegaRay bulb free of charge a couple of months back... it was fine for the first few days, and then Monty started shutting his left eye again. I placed a plastic liner underneath the bulb for a few days while i waited to hear back from John about it, and lo and behold, I started seeing flecks of the coating falling onto the plastic. Before long there was a TON of dried/curled bits of coating on the plastic. Monty has not been basking much since then, but thankfully it's summer and I put him outside on the back stoop in the sun as much as possible - he loves this, and when i bring him back inside he's bright yellow, alert, active and hungry.

This is so incredibly discouraging. I was going to order a SolarGlo MVB but then i noticed the recent thread on here about those, too. *SIGH* The problem seems to be too LITTLE uvb, though, so i might just order one anyway and "supplement" his uvb by continuing to put him on the stoop outside after i get home from work.

In the meantime, i have my old trusty T-Rex in there until i figure out what to do... it has over 15 months of use but at least it doesn't damage his eyes!!

 

[paullyn59]

What were the batch #'s of the original bad bulbs? I just bought a used setup (their dragon died) that included a megaray bought last December.

 

[paullyn59]

So nobody knows? Mr. Wolff? I think the bad batch #s should be posted in the original post of this thread. I think J1 is one. I don't want to use a bad bulb and risk hurting my dragon and I also don't want to throw away a perfectly good bulb that everyone loved prior to October 2009.

This one is E1 and was not purchased from ReptileUV but from a local store so it could have been on the store shelf for awhile. Has anybody had a good or bad E1 bulb?

 

[lilacdragon]

Hi, PaulLyn.

The lamps which had the "problem" glass were from batches JI, KI and LI. These were manufactured between October and December 2009. All Westron UVB lamps (ReptileUV MegaRays, T-Rex Active UV Heat Flood and Komodo UV-Sun lamps) made with these batch numbers could be affected, but not all lamps from these batches caused problems.
I wrote a summary here:
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/westronrecallspring2010.htm

Lamps from the batch EI were made in the spring of 2009 and were not made in this glass, so they should be perfectly ok. (Obviously, don't forget the basic safety precautions with any mercury vapour lamp and observe the "minimum distance" recommendations very strictly.)

The problem facing people now, with regard to batch numbers, is that many of the JI, KI and LI lamps recalled by ReptileUV have been given the short-wavelength-blocking overspray and should now be safe to use.
So just finding those batch numbers does not necessarily mean a hazardous product.
Lamps made since January 2010 will have a new batch number, I understand from John Wolff that this year's lamps all end with the letter J (instead of I).

I asked Darren Dunnage about the problem reported by a couple of members here, where the new coating has flaked off. He told me they had discovered that this had occurred when they applied this coating over lamps which had already been overcoated with an outer, white magnesium spray coating. (This first treatment was done routinely by Westron, apparently, when they detected lamps with unusually high total UVB output.) The second layer did not bond so well to the glass. Darren says he is not, now, applying the new coating to any recalled lamps that had this first coating.

As for what is happening regarding the other companies (T-Rex, Komodo) I'm afraid I don't have any new information.
T-Rex are selling T-Rex Active UV Heat Flood lamps again here in the UK; I am starting to test two 100W lamps this weekend. These look like the original lamps (PAR38 flood lamps with big brass collars) but there is one big difference - the front glass "car headlight" moulded lens is crystal clear, it doesn't have the milky semi-opaque film inside. This makes the beam very focused indeed, if you hold a piece of paper under it you see a very intense central spot and far less bright areas outside of this. The UVB is in safe wavelengths (no non-terrestrial UVB) but I haven't got any further with the tests than this, so please be patient regarding the meter readings, etc.
(The batch numbers on my samples are CJ )

Frances

 

[lilacdragon]

Oh... just thought I'dd add this.
I tested a MegaRay SB when they first came out, back in 2005. It completed it's fifth year of use in my largest enclosure, two weeks ago. That's approximately 20,000 hours of use at 10 - 12 hours a day.
It is still giving me 93uW/cm2 and UV Index 4.9 at 18 inches...
I know it's a very unusual lamp, but if they could do it once, they can do it again... I hope!

Frances

 

[paullyn59]

Thank You Frances.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Thanks Frances, I realize that you are extremely busy with all of these new lighting tests, etc.
Amazing results on that 5 year old Megaray!!

Tracie

 

[MALIBUSMOM]

Wow...very interesting...just looked at malibus two old megarays...one F1...two years old and one L1 one years old but stopped using after 6 months when i saw the thread here and switched to repti sun...The F1 looks different on the inside(silver)The L1 is more of a gray on the inside and glass is foggy,it was also flaking when i pulled it out, as where F1 is clear.
Glad i pulled the L1 out when i did as it is a bad bulb no doubt.
i will continue to use the reptisun 10.0 as i do not know if the F1 is still good after being used for a year.
No recipt for L1 so i guess i am out of the cash i paid but glad for the wisdom and knowledge of this great web site.
Thanks Cindy

 

[Grimleo]

So I'm having trouble not saying some really bad things about ReptileUV but I am wondering if I have to ship a bad bulb right back to them or should I try to contact him first? The first time I tried to contact the people at ReptileUV it took 2 weeks of emails and calls EVERY day to get a call back from them(and that was just to tell me it was on back order, thanks for telling me). Not only that but I ordered a megaray bulb on June 30 and I only just got my bulb a few days ago(after not having any UV on Squeak for the whole time except natural sunlight). Now I am starting to see signs of eye irritation in Squeak and even though she's a bit brighter now that she has some UV on her, she looks horrible. She won't hunt or eat because she won't even open her eyes. Not only did I get her in really bad condition but when I relied on this company to send me a good source of UV to bring her back up I get this crap? Sorry for the rant but this is so frustrating. I don't even have the money to buy a Reptisun 10.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I am sorry you are having trouble with your new Megaray. Which model is it do you know?
You are going to have to contact John & I am sure he will tell you to send it back. I am not sure if they cover the shipping in cases like that, or not.
For now, just leave the basking light on over her & try to get her some sunlight, when you can. Her eyes should clear up within a few days, since you didn't use it for very long. If needed you can get some sterile saline solution to put in her eyes to help with the irritation if you would like to.
Let us know how things are going.

Tracie