Just a "Heads up" for Meijiu 650watt F8+ users and prospective buyers.

So I run these Chinese made Meijiu lights in my flower tents. I currently have four of them lighting two 10x10 tents. Been about two years since I first plugged them in and have had great results. Big fat dense potent terpy colas. I yield around 20-30 ounces per light per cycle. No complaints there.

Here's the problem...

First time it happened was about a year ago. Smoke filled the flower tent! Now thank God I check down there regularly because the exhaust was just pumping the smoke out and literally fueling the fire.

Come to find out it was a bad connector. These connectors are used to connect the Inventronics drivers to the light bars so the driver could be shipped separate. It had melted and begun to catch fire. Again, Thank The Good Lord I got down there in time!

I didn't think much of it other than hopefully it was just a fluke and a shorted wire or something. I have a few spare lights so I just set another one up and put the burnt one to the side.

A few months ago I decided to tinker with the light and see if I could get it to shine again. So I opened it up and checked it all out. Looked all good except that burnt connector so I just cut out the connector and bypassed it completely. Light works like a charm every since.

Yesterday another one did the exact same thing. Started smoking began to catch fire and spark...I smelled burning plastic coming from down there and caught it before it got bad.

I wrote the sales lady who originally sold me the lights and told her of the problem. She acted like she didn't understand basic English all of the sudden...lol

So I know customer service wont help or even hear my complaints...

Now I know there will be some shit about buying Chinese lights or whatever but it is what it is. I made the investment. It paid off even with the burnt connectors. Same thing could happen with any light I suppose.

I promptly cut out all the connectors from the remaining lights and bypassed them before they melt down as well. I suggest if you own these lights or are thinking of buying them you do the same.

Good looking out, I would want to have this info for any light I run.

I amTHE...GanjaFarmer said:

So I run these Chinese made Meijiu lights in my flower tents. I currently have four of them lighting two 10x10 tents. Been about two years since I first plugged them in and have had great results. Big fat dense potent terpy colas. I yield around 20-30 ounces per light per cycle. No complaints there.

Here's the problem...

First time it happened was about a year ago. Smoke filled the flower tent! Now thank God I check down there regularly because the exhaust was just pumping the smoke out and literally fueling the fire.

Come to find out it was a bad connector. These connectors are used to connect the Inventronics drivers to the light bars so the driver could be shipped separate. It had melted and begun to catch fire. Again, Thank The Good Lord I got down there in time!

I didn't think much of it other than hopefully it was just a fluke and a shorted wire or something. I have a few spare lights so I just set another one up and put the burnt one to the side.

A few months ago I decided to tinker with the light and see if I could get it to shine again. So I opened it up and checked it all out. Looked all good except that burnt connector so I just cut out the connector and bypassed it completely. Light works like a charm every since.

Yesterday another one did the exact same thing. Started smoking began to catch fire and spark...I smelled burning plastic coming from down there and caught it before it got bad.

I wrote the sales lady who originally sold me the lights and told her of the problem. She acted like she didn't understand basic English all of the sudden...lol

So I know customer service wont help or even hear my complaints...

Now I know there will be some shit about buying Chinese lights or whatever but it is what it is. I made the investment. It paid off even with the burnt connectors. Same thing could happen with any light I suppose.

I promptly cut out all the connectors from the remaining lights and bypassed them before they melt down as well. I suggest if you own these lights or are thinking of buying them you do the same.

View attachment 5108840View attachment 5108841

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These are the same connectors used on 99% of any horticulture light now, sounds like it wasn’t fully screwed together to me and it shorted out

bk78 said:

These are the same connectors used on 99% of any horticulture light now, sounds like it wasn’t fully screwed together to me and it shorted out

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I thought that when the first one fried so I made sure all the others were as tight as possible. They still fried. Took years. IF they were loose wouldn't they have shorted sooner?

i will be checking all mine after this run is over and give them all a good cleaning with ISO just to be on the safe side.

I amTHE...GanjaFarmer said:

I thought that when the first one fried so I made sure all the others wre as tight as possible. They still fried. Took years. IF they were loose wouldn't they have shorted sooner?

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Fan moving the lights ever so slightly day in and day out could possibly loosen them over time?

Anyways, shitty it happened to you, and anyone with a light with these connectors (chinese or not) should definitely clean and check their connection. I’m going down right now actually to do mine.

bk78 said:

Fan moving the lights ever so slightly day in and day out could possibly loosen them over time?

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Hmm...I never thought about vibration and such. Could have loosened them over time to be sure. Thank you for the insight!

The only way they will loosen now is if wire nuts and electric tape don't stop it.

Kinda makes sense because I use BIG fans and the whole house vibrates because of it.

So it would probably have been a good idea to check them regularly and retighten them if needed.

That could for sure have been it... I guess.

I amTHE...GanjaFarmer said:

Hmm...I never thought about vibration and such. Could have loosened them over time to be sure. Thank you for the insight!

The only way they will loosen now is if wire nuts and electric tape don't stop it.

Kinda makes sense because I use BIG fans and the whole house vibrates because of it.

So it would probably have been a good idea to check them regularly and retighten them if needed.

That could for sure have been it... I guess.

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It likely would’ve shorted out and tripped the breaker before any fire started. Good on you posting this though because even every American made (assembled in USA) light run these connections. And people need to check theirs

I was looking at these ali connectors but now in know better. Theyre abor 5€ here from a decent shop so no biggy. In my years of diying ive had one alibaba wago burn on me only, with about 240w going
thru it, but thats it.
Kudos to OP for the info and: diy it and make sure that each string dont have to carry too much wattage!

From an electricians point of view a dead short is much better than a loose connection. The loose connection arcs and that creates heat which we don't want. A dead short on the other hand blows the fuse/trips the breaker and damage is prevented. Good call to check your connections.
Sometimes a little slack loop on the cable strategically placed is better to absorb vibration than a neat straight connection. Maybe just check before each grow cycle just to keep safe.

A good connection should not heat up. Maybe a good idea for folks to start just checking for heat at connectors on all equipment. If you open it up and it is discolored it is trash.

bk78 said:

These are the same connectors used on 99% of any horticulture light now, sounds like it wasn’t fully screwed together to me and it shorted out

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What brand and certification are you referencing....
Seems like a very stupid thing to try and blanket statement here just because it "looks" like 10 others from alibaba.

Alibaba,

those don't look like any connectors i've seen the ones i've seen look like this


these ones look kind of cool

Fardsnarp said:

A good connection should not heat up. Maybe a good idea for folks to start just checking for heat at connectors on all equipment. If you open it up and it is discolored it is trash.

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Maybe it's a good idea to buy quality products to begin with, .

PadawanWarrior said:

Maybe it's a good idea to buy quality products to begin with, .

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You seem to be hyping up mars products currently, looks like they are using the same one but green

PadawanWarrior said:

Maybe it's a good idea to buy quality products to begin with, .

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I made my living fixing good name brand products under warranty. I doubt many of the folks making grow lights have full end to end audit capability of their supply chain. Price doesn't guarantee quailty. It does help them stand behind failed product better because that is built into the margin.

Do the quantum board connectors share a similar potential issue? I went and checked mine out, I have one of the very common aluminum heatsink 240w quantum boards.

I checked all the connections just in case, I would not be able to replace my lights right away, and I also have pets that I can not replace at all

you can buy wagos at crown ace hardware I would just use those. If you want it to be waterproof I would put wagos inside a water proof junction box.