Mega Ray bulb's

Status
Not open for further replies.

earthyman71

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2010
Messages
106
Location (City and/or State)
Columbus, Ohio
i'd recommend coupling the bulb with a ceramic heat emitter. i have to do this for my pancakes who like it much hotter than my russians or my boxies.
 

tortoisenerd

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
3,957
Location (City and/or State)
Washington
It takes a few hours to warm up. Even with a room temp of 60 F you should have no problem getting 100 deg and still keep it > 12 inches from the tort. Its 18 inches minimum for the 160 Watt Mega Rays, 12 inches minimum for the 100 Watt Mega Rays.
 

Mean Guy

New Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2011
Messages
112
tortoisenerd said:
It takes a few hours to warm up. Even with a room temp of 60 F you should have no problem getting 100 deg and still keep it > 12 inches from the tort. Its 18 inches minimum for the 160 Watt Mega Rays, 12 inches minimum for the 100 Watt Mega Rays.
Thanks, and you are correct that it just took time to get to the right temp. All is good now at 12 inches.
 

Seiryu

Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Jun 10, 2009
Messages
798
Location (City and/or State)
SE Michigan
Mean Guy said:
tortoisenerd said:
It takes a few hours to warm up. Even with a room temp of 60 F you should have no problem getting 100 deg and still keep it > 12 inches from the tort. Its 18 inches minimum for the 160 Watt Mega Rays, 12 inches minimum for the 100 Watt Mega Rays.
Thanks, and you are correct that it just took time to get to the right temp. All is good now at 12 inches.

Good to hear that it worked out!
 

tortoisenerd

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
3,957
Location (City and/or State)
Washington
When you get the chance, I think one of the best tort investments you can make is getting a temp gun...very accurate and fast. I got mine for only $25 on Ebay (PE1). Once you get one, you will realize how silly those probe thermometers are. Temp guns are handy for all sorts of fun stuff too...we even like to take the tort's shell temp with it lol.
 

Badgemash

New Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2010
Messages
167
Sigh, my Mega-Ray burnt out this morning, it worked great for 4 months and then just blew out. I'm really disappointed, it was working great, the basking spot was just right with it 13" above the substrate and the babies (nice and smooth) growth rates went up when I got it too. I stuck their old Solar-glo back in so there would be some light/heat and they keep wandering around and looking up at it. I'll send the Mega-ray back for replacement and see what happens...

-Devon
 

scubatyler

New Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2010
Messages
18
I got a megaray 275 watt and it burned out after 2 weeks. It took 5 months to get a replacement. The replacement lasted about a month then it too burned out. They said that they would ship me another replacement right away but it has been a month now and it has not showed up. I don't know what to do. I am using a Solar Glo that I took out of my tegu's cage since it is hibernating and doesn't need it but she is going to wake up soon. I need 2 good UV bulbs and am sick of Megaray's faulty lamps. Does anyone know of any other brands of UV bulbs that are any good?
 

coastal

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
658
Location (City and/or State)
Florida
Get the ZooMed Powersun they're the next best thing and will last with a 1 year no questions warranty from Zoomed. Replacements are sent same day they get the bulb back. You can order from our website CLICK HERE
 

earthyman71

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2010
Messages
106
Location (City and/or State)
Columbus, Ohio
looking at uva/uvb output, i'd go with a t-rex if you can find one. there's a big difference between those and the powersuns.
 

tortoisenerd

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
3,957
Location (City and/or State)
Washington
As long as its the T-Rex Active UV Heat (the one that doesn't say "active" is a lesser output bulb).

I put in a newer Mega Ray (not the newest but the one before that) today and its making an annoying buzzing sound...hopefully I won't have any problems with it. Previously I used the T-Rex Active UV Heat ones, but they haven't been available lately for the most part. My third choice would be Powersun. There is no current reptile UVB bulb data that I know of (http://www.uvguide.co.uk/mercuryvapourlamps.htm has a note that new data is expected in Nov 2010, and they took out the older data...grrr).
 

tortoisenerd

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
3,957
Location (City and/or State)
Washington
My new Mega Ray now burnt out too! I replaced a 9 month old working T-Rex with a new Mega Ray I bought and waited a couple months for...it lasted less than three weeks. No chance its my wiring or fixture or mishandling as I've never had an issue with any others in the last few years. I plan to try to get a refund because honestly I don't want another. I had bought a second Mega Ray at that time, and put it in...now I'm worried that I'm going on a trip and have no back-up. I'll have a pet sitter, but I don't exactly want to pay $80 at Petco for a Powersun, and I don't have time to order one. I think I'll take the risk since its a short trip and he has other heat and light bulbs. I'll order some Powersuns online after I get back. Hope to learn if Mega Ray improves, because I had only heard and experienced good things with the brand until recently.

Read a notice on their website that as of March 8th, they found their server filtered out some e-mails...maybe that explains some of this? Hoping for a reply to the e-mail I just sent....
 

81SHOVELHEAD

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Messages
245
Location (City and/or State)
Galveston TX
I Ordered 2 in Oct 2010 they were back ordered .i received them Dec 27 2010.
the first one lasted 2 weeks the second lasted 3 weeks .
I e-mailed reptileuv and 2 weeks later finally got a response .
Sam Mckrueger is top notch.
I explaind to him i did not have the time or wanted to deal with the hassel of having to ship the bulbs back.
Long story short as soon as he received my e-mail with receipt of purchase he was in the process of mailing me 2 new bulbs .
The new bulbs come in a black box.
Solar raptor is what the new bulb is called .
It has a shorter neck than the old SB100's
Great bulb & great people @ www.reptileuv.com
My dragon & torts love this new bulb
Mike D
 

ISTortoiseLover

Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Jun 2, 2010
Messages
216
81SHOVELHEAD said:
I Ordered 2 in Oct 2010 they were back ordered .i received them Dec 27 2010.
the first one lasted 2 weeks the second lasted 3 weeks .
I e-mailed reptileuv and 2 weeks later finally got a response .
Sam Mckrueger is top notch.
I explaind to him i did not have the time or wanted to deal with the hassel of having to ship the bulbs back.
Long story short as soon as he received my e-mail with receipt of purchase he was in the process of mailing me 2 new bulbs .
The new bulbs come in a black box.
Solar raptor is what the new bulb is called .
It has a shorter neck than the old SB100's
Great bulb & great people @ www.reptileuv.com
My dragon & torts love this new bulb
Mike D

Do keep us posted on the status of your Solar Raptor bulbs, Mike. Thanks!
I do wonder if they're still shipping out the crappy non-solar raptor bulbs Overseas?
 

Mao Senpai

New Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2010
Messages
714
Location (City and/or State)
North Carolina
So the new "Raptor" bulb I got a few weeks or a month ago... is now DEAD. Surprise surprise....
 

webskipper

Member
Tortoise Club
5 Year Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2009
Messages
641
Location (City and/or State)
AZ
Wow! I'm glad they never called me back when the new lamps came in.

I learned that UVB is still lacking at 100 watts so their 80 watt lamps couldn't be everything they say. I looked elsewhere for lamps. Ended up getting a half dozen Zoomed 100 watt lamps off amazon to keep the super table and snake cages warm in the winter. Due to the warmer months I'm only using 3 lamps for the Torts.

Maybe the best route is to use what's plentiful? In an emergency you can always use a 100w GE Reveal floodlamp for heat.
 

Mao Senpai

New Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2010
Messages
714
Location (City and/or State)
North Carolina
Since I moved... I left zoomed lamp at home... big mistake it seems, for now i'll have to use the CHE until the new zoomed comes in. It would have been nice if it lasted just a little bit longer but ah well....
 

Watermelon

New Member
5 Year Member
Joined
May 6, 2011
Messages
147
I recently ordered a 100w Megaray from Kimbos. It arrived the next morning! Great service!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top