Spider farmer SF-4000 appears to be a fire hazard.

Spiderfarmerled said:

Hello, spider farmer customer service here.
Sorry for the late to reply, please do not worry, we will try best to solve your issue.
Please DM us your order information (Order number from which platform) .
Looking for your kindly reply.
Thanks

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Hi, I sent my amazon invoice to your support rep that handles your amazon transactions. This is the response I received:

Hello
We're very sorry for this situation
This is not caused by burning out, it should be a yellow patch caused by accidentally spraying certain dyes or chemical liquids on the surface of the light board and mixing with glue. It should could be removed by hand. It only affects the appearance and does not affect the normal use of the lamp.
Is that ok we refund you $20 as compensation ,is that ok for you?
And we provide 3-year after sales services ,so you can contact us any time when you get problem in the future

I'm not satisfied with this response at all. What is actually occurring is the glue is melting at hot spot points on the PCB due to overheating. There has been no liquid that has ever touched my boards. I entertained their bogus claim that I sprayed liquid on the board just to play this out. I unplugged the board and took a lightly damp cloth to the affected areas. No change. Some of the glue was kind of bubbling up where the melting was happening so I scraped it with my finger. Sure as shit the glue is literally melting forming little bubble spots of brown glue on the affected areas. Again, I entertained the idea that the spider farmer rep was correct. Perhaps something got onto my board and simply needed to be wiped / gently scraped off. As I gently scraped the brown area with my finger nail I could clearly see the waterproofing glue was the source of the visual defect. As I continued scraping the brown came off. However, what was left was a clearly visible outline where the glue had melted (which I removed) and the rest of the PCB.

What is most concerning for me here is the customer service rep handling my warranty inquiry attempted to blame me for spraying something on my board when in reality their board is overheating causing the glue on their PCB to melt. I suppose it's a lot easier to falsely blame your customer for negligence than accepting responsibility for a manufacturing defect. I had to use goo gone and a dry rag to wipe the disgusting remnants of burned glue residue off my board on 2 separate panels. And the proposed remedy for this defect is a $20 refund? Just wow man. I will not be accepting a $20 refund and I am very disappointed with spider farmer's handling of the situation. I look forward to scraping burned glue off of my SF-4000 in between flower cycles now. I guess I missed that in the product description under maintenance when I bought the board less than 1 year ago. I use to be proud of my SF-4000. How do you think I feel now? While SF customer service has been attentive and polite their resolution is as unacceptable as the problem itself. $625 for melting PCB glue in 11 months after going through 1 flower cycle at full power. It is what it is...

I've been following this thread as I've been looking to upgrade my lighting for my next grow. Thanks for the heads up on SF products as they are one of the vendors I am looking into. $20 refund on a $600+ light? WTF are they thinking, they should do much better than that. I would ask to speak with the Reps manager or otherwise escalate your very valid concerns. Any chance you could post a link to the units you bought on Alibaba?

660w qb with mean well drivers and lm301b diodes. Epistar reds.

They'll customize the board to your specs. I've ordered 1 in the 3000k/5000k chip setup with epistar reds and 2 in all 3500k chips with epistar reds. Great service and quality. Prices can't be beat. I got 2 660w qb's for $675 with shipping via express sea freight. Took 42 days, but saved me $200 on UPS air freight. Otherwise the order would have been $875. I was in no hurry

I also ordered these 110w qb's that I really love from the same vendor. They replaced a 432w HO T5. I only have to run them at 50% power. Love them!

And I got these 100W COB's from another vendor on alibaba. I really love these things. The output is just incredible. I bought them to supplement the SF-4000 so I could bring the total wattage up to 650w. That way it would nearly match the output of the 660w board next to it. Worked out great!

Thanks for the links. More frigging research to do heads spinning already lol. I'm looking to keep this purchase to around $500 Alibaba seems like the place to go for the best bang for the $. I've never ordered anything from there but I think I'll give it a try. Thanks again for the heads up on SF

sc.biker said:

Thanks for the links. More frigging research to do heads spinning already lol. I'm looking to keep this purchase to around $500 Alibaba seems like the place to go for the best bang for the $. I've never ordered anything from there but I think I'll give it a try. Thanks again for the heads up on SF

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Anytime dude. Check out meijiu and kingbrite vendors too. They are the most highly rated on RIU. Definitely worth a look. Happy shopping!

I really don't think there's anything else to add to this discussion. It is what it is. I'll leave you all with this:


After reading that it's really not so shocking how this is being handled.

Here's an old Meizhi COB light that was marketed on Amazon. You'll notice in the questions and answer section the responding seller (formally Meizhi) is now labeled as SPIDER FARMER. They just changed their name. Same outfit:


why is this light 400$ it was 100$ the other day and your 300w version in 87$ ?

Hi friend, because this light is not stock now, so we changed the price, if you would like, we can ship out for you next week, kindly please wait for several days. Thanks for your question. Have a nice day!MEIZHI
By SPIDER FARMER Seller on July 29, 2016

Old Spider Farmer store under the Meizhi name:

Read the reviews on some of those products Meizhi (aka spider farmer) sold previously. Sounds like their customer service and product quality hasn't changed much. Spider farmer does sound much cooler than Meizhi though, right?

@jonnynobody -- but the question is have they offered a new light if so is it the latest model ? , will you use it or sell it on to some other poor person

Scuzzman said:

@jonnynobody -- but the question is have they offered a new light if so is it the latest model ? , will you use it or sell it on to some other poor person

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I already posted they offered a $20 refund. No replacement of the light at all whatsoever. How on earth would I know if it's their "latest model?" It's less than 1 year old. That's all I can offer. Why would I sell a defective board to someone else? Is that the kind of thing someone like you would do? Most folks I know would consider that a really fucked up thing to do. Maybe it's just me that thinks that way?

I'm going to send one final email with pictures to the spider farmer rep. I will explain to them there was no residue on the PCB. It was melted glue due to excessive heat. It had to be scraped off of the board, and now there is no waterproofing on those sections of my light. How long until the rest of my water proofing glue begins to melt? Is melting glue on the PCB considered normal operation with your lights? Has the light's design been changed since last year to address this issue? Why are there hot spots developing on the PCB that would melt the water proofing glue? It seems like I received a defective light. I have 5 more LED quantum boards purchased from another vendor. None of them have melting glue on the PCB. Only the spider farmer SF-4000. This is clearly a defective light. Will spider farmer offer a replacement of the defective unit?

I'll post their response if I receive one at all.

Hi, i've got a couple of SF1000's, the first one has about 12 months use clocked up and it's clean. The 2nd (more recently bought) has just 7 months on the clock and it has the same (stain) colouring in 2 places like yours shows, but fainter, still visible though.

Any useful info from SF (I think we're wishing here) would be welcomed and should be standard really for anyone who owns similar units with concerns. Maybe it's just cosmetic or maybe not, what i do know is nobody wants to come home and find the fire brigade putting out your shed/trailer/house/grow or whatever, no thanks.

I mailed SF last week on another matter asking if an average lux meter was something I could rely on with these lights or not, the reply was barely understandable and without any answer to the question.

bodderz said:

Hi, i've got a couple of SF1000's, the first one has about 12 months use clocked up and it's clean. The 2nd (more recently bought) has just 7 months on the clock and it has the same (stain) colouring in 2 places like yours shows, but fainter, still visible though.

Any useful info from SF (I think we're wishing here) would be welcomed and should be standard really for anyone who owns similar units with concerns. Maybe it's just cosmetic or maybe not, what i do know is nobody wants to come home and find the fire brigade putting out your shed/trailer/house/grow or whatever, no thanks.

I mailed SF last week on another matter asking if an average lux meter was something I could rely on with these lights or not, the reply was barely understandable and without any answer to the question.

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The water proof glue is melting due to overheating. Packing too many diodes together too tightly and slapping drivers right on top of a thin heat sink unsuitable for the light's output is a recipe for premature equipment failure and potentially a fire. Melted glue. That's what the brown is. They will do nothing about it. Cosmetic? Excessive heat is what we're observing here. That is not cosmetic. The visible damage of melted glue is just a symptom of a deeper problem in the light's design in which it can not effectively dissipate the heat it is generating. The result is shit starts overheating and melting. Today glue. Tomorrow? Who knows?

Roger all of that.

I have an original sf4000 without the dimmer and the two drivers on the back.

I made a post a while ago about it in another thread, but the heatsink had me essentially worried from day one when I felt just how goddamn hot it got at full power. Had to have a fan blowing across the top of it just to keep it cooled. Not saying the lights don't work or anything but damn that heatsink is way too thin. Especially when I bought a proper lighting kit from a more reputable company and saw the size of the heatsink they provide which also has fins for heat dissipation.

I regret making that purchase and wouldn't recommend spider farmer to anyone.

I'm glad people are starting to see how bad their customer service is. I dont own any of their lights but I was considering them when I bought my first Led lights last year but found quite a few bad reviews.

Luckily you seem to have plenty of lights and nothing caught on fire.

f.r said:

I have an original sf4000 without the dimmer and the two drivers on the back.

I made a post a while ago about it in another thread, but the heatsink had me essentially worried from day one when I felt just how goddamn hot it got at full power. Had to have a fan blowing across the top of it just to keep it cooled. Not saying the lights don't work or anything but damn that heatsink is way too thin. Especially when I bought a proper lighting kit from a more reputable company and saw the size of the heatsink they provide which also has fins for heat dissipation.

I regret making that purchase and wouldn't recommend spider farmer to anyone.

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What is the name of the more "more reputable company?"

Emerslam said:

What is the name of the more "more reputable company?"

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Hey mate, i don't think it's necessary to say names I don't want it to seem like I am shilling for a company. The company does offer lights at a higher price point and are not put together in china.

so what's the best led money can buy?

ROCKTOTO said:

so what's the best led money can buy?

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In my view GLA( @Grow Lights Australia )customer service, products and backup including a superior product by far over cheap nasty Chinese rubbish as above .. I would be concerned adding a light to my home system that may catch a light or start a fire , my insurance company would say sorry if things went pear shaped... just my view

jonnynobody said:

About 1 year ago I got into LED lighting. I bought 2 boards. 1 SF-4000 branded as a Spider Farmer light ordered from amazon for $628 and change with sales tax. I also ordered a 660w qb from alibaba. The alibaba board arrived 4 days before the amazon board even with prime shipping. Which board do you think I'm having problems with only 1 year later? Today I inspected my 2 new 660w boards I recently ordered from alibaba. 4th light purchase from the same vendor. I verified the mean well drivers were authentic by running the serial numbers. As I was comparing the drivers and construction between the 660w alibaba boards and the 450w spider farmer branded SF-4000. I took the photos I wanted to take, and I was in the process of hanging the board. Then I discovered this on my UL listed SF-4000 bought in the good 'ol USA:

View attachment 4913974
View attachment 4913975

The fucking board is literally burning up. I will never again recommend spider farmer. This thing is a fucking fire hazard. I've ran 1000w HID's and 600w HID's for years without a single problem. I use a spider farmer board for under 1 year and the mother fucker is literally burning up at the PCB. Wanna see something else I discovered?

I noticed the heat sink was visibly much larger on my 660w alibaba board than the spider farmer sf-4000. I busted out my micrometer to check the thickness. Here are the results:

Alibaba 660w qb:
View attachment 4913983

Spider farmer sf-4000:
View attachment 4913984

The alibaba 660w qb is equipped with a heat sink that is nearly twice the thickness of the spider farmer branded sf-4000. I'm so fucking infuriated right now I can't even see straight. Let this be a lesson to anyone who is operating under the false idea that buying on amazon or from a US vendor is safer or than purchasing on alibaba. Just seriously what in the flying fuck man? Fuck spider farmer in their spider fucking asshole. Diodes going out? I can deal with that. A PCB literally burning up is un-mother-fucking acceptable. Sorry for my tirade. Avoid spider farmer at all costs.

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That a Pittsburgh mic? I have the same one.
Thx for info on the spider farmer led

ROCKTOTO said:

so what's the best led money can buy?

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Honestly in my opinion the best led that money can buy is the one that makes you happiest. The one that does what it claims at a price you agree to. Not everything in China is garbage. Just like any other mfg anywhere else you get the quality you pay for. Quality control and attention to detail cost money.