Cheap Chinese LEDs lead to aquarium fire at Arizona community center preschool

By Brian Blank on Jan 30, 2013

For many aquarists, a rite of passage is buying some cheap version of a product to save a few dollars only to regret it in the end when it fails. For most of us this means a pump that stops working or plastic that cracks. But for some of us its much worse with a heater failure or a light fixture catching fire and one teacher learned this the hard way. The Chandler, Ariz., preschool teacher working a the East Valley Jewish Community Center used donations from aquarists to cobble together a reef aquariums for the kids to enjoy only to have a cheap Chinese LED light catch fire and cause extensive damage to the building.

The teacher received donations of coral, fish and equipment and built her own sump, overflow and skimmer to bring the reef experience to the children in her classroom. Needing a light, she turned to eBay and picked up a couple of 35W LED pendants for around $75 a pop and all was fine until the fixture caught on fire setting off the building’s sprinkler system. The fire was not that large thanks to the sprinklers, but the water damage to many of the classrooms threatened to shutdown the school and community center for months. Thankfully, the local community banded together and with donations was able to open in a matter of day instead of months.

We feel for the teacher who was only trying to bring a new, positive experience to the children only to have the fixture cause havoc to the situation. According to her posts on an aquarium forum, the LED flood light was similar to the one pictured above. We can see how she feels guilty about the incident and hopefully the aquarium community can come together and provide some alternatives for bringing the reef experience closer to growing children.

[via 3Reef]

Clive Bentley

While this is a little eye opening, I ask that readers don’t blindly go defaming companies that import Chinese fixtures into the US or Europe. Not all Chinese (I don’t even like calling them that) fixtures are created equal, and the quality of the components used changes from one company to the next.
99% of the time, it’s the electrolytic capacitors that fail in these units. It’s an unfortunate part to skimp on to save a few pennies considering how critical these components are to the power supplies, but it happens. Sometimes it’s not even the fault of the manufacturer, as they can sometimes get bad batches of capacitors from their supplier. There was an issue with this about 10 years ago in the PC industry where bad caps made it into motherboards and power supplies, and caused all manner of failures.
XD_1

Not just PCs. A lot of flat screen TVs die by having caps blow. I have a nice 10″ SCT telescope I bought in the ’90s that was bricked by the caps a couple years ago.

Also, although the teacher was doing this herself, it’s a reminder why everyone who’s an installer/servicer –even if you’re a sole proprietor working out of your garage — needs to have liability insurance.
TerenceF

I am in total agreement here. American != quality and Chinese != cheap as a universal maxim. Many of the issues that occur with products being built in either country have more to do with design, production oversight, and quality control than just their country of origin. If we stopped buying aquarium products that had Chinese made components, there would not be much left to buy.
Gotfrogs

Great, I have the fixture pictured above.
http://www.facebook.com/axel.marrero.9 Axel Marrero

Though it is true that you get what you pay for, I have to admitt that a quality led fixture is way too expensive for a vast majority of the population. There are good options out there if you do the research. BUT!, by and large when you compare what the chinese are producing compared to something with a brand name, you see how much said companies are capitalizing on reef hobbyist. We are getting hosed taking into consideration those products are made in CHINA also! In the end these companies end up turning off alot of potential reefers. 600 to 750 dollars which covers a 2×2 area for a fixture is just ludicrous. Mounts that run perpendicular to the tank instead of lengthwise to get you to buy more fixtures? Not everybody can DIY and they bank on that too.
Clive Bentley

The price of certain fixtures does seem a little over inflated based on what you get, but again, it’s all down to the quality of the components, and the quality checks imposed on the actual manufacturer of the various parts. Like Terence mentioned, made in China does not automatically mean that it’s an inferior product. Most of Apple’s products are made in China, and most consider them some of the best built and most reliable consumer electronics products at this time.

While the cost of many of the LED fixtures on the market seems excessively high, there are always less expensive options. The average price of what would be considered a “premium” LED fixture is coming down to something more reasonable. Just look at products like the AI Sol and the JBJ Unibody. Lots of power, lots of features, and high quality for a reasonable price.

LED fixtures aren’t the only product to have high price tags for premium versions. There are still some rather spendy T5 and metal halide fixtures from premium companies, and they offer even less control and flexibility than even the cheapest dimmable LED fixture.
XD_1

Do you feel lucky?
ChrisChambers1981

And I have something very similar on my planted fw tanks….
janetora

Funny the ebay listing had info about it’s warranty and it was safety certificated: CE and ROHS. I researched for months while I got money together for lights. I never found any “red flags” like this article to make me steer clear. I even contacted the ebay seller after and told them about the fire. They told me that they were now getting lights with a different design and wondered if that might be why.
Clive Bentley

ROHS means nothing for safety regulations. It’s an environmental compliance certificate, meaning no harmful chemicals were used.

CE markings don’t automatically make a product safe either. CE is similar to UL markings, but is a European spec. Depending on the class of device, they can also be self-certified by the manufacturer, meaning a certifying body never actually touches it to confirm it’s safety. Anything with a CE mark should have a certification number that can be checked against to make sure it’s legit.

There is also a chance that CE could also mean “China Export”. The two symbols look almost identical.
http://twitter.com/clownfishman Hubert CLOWNFISHMAN

Is the picture the exact model that got burnt down?
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1566767051 Andrew Hart

The price on a decent reef capable LED fixture is too damn high!
http://www.facebook.com/julian.blanco.73113 Julian Blanco

Par 38 bulbs are about 80 dollars and probally cover the same areas as those pendants, with better light

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