Odyysea Lights and replacement bulbs

You have 4 ballasts in the compartment where all the wiring is, take out a few screws on the fixture ends and the reflector, you should see the four white ballasts bolted down.Two screws and unplug the wires and the ballast will come out. I got my ballasts from Marine Depot. The eaisiest thing for me to tell you to do is call their customer service and explain the situation and they will be glad to help you.Shipping was extremely fast.If you have any questions coldshot feel free to pm me.

 

Reefgeek doesn't sell odyssea brand bulbs. I bought uv brand bulbs and put in mine when the ballasts failed.Only thing I can come with is it maybe a heat factor for the cheap ballasts because my new bulbs ran a while before the ballasts went out.

 

Yea, Odyssea designed themselves after Coralife. some people buy the lights for the fixture and replace thier bulbs. They are not a bad unit for the price after you replace the bulbs..... I am happy and that is what matters to me.... there has been some issues with thier units in the past but they redesigned them....

 

The price of the 3 ballast exceed's the price I gave for the light's by two buck's so when I am ready I will just get a new fixture and pitch this one....They are even cheaper now....
Danny

 

Coldshot......Go here read this...

Fix your Odyssea 250W for less than $15, and actually get 250W from it! - Michigan Reefers
The above link may be for MH lights.. But a good read anyway..
I also have more links, info if you need it..

You need to check with Luna.. I think thats the member.On this site (3Reef) ..
They know alot about changing the bulbs in the odyssea

Some bulbs can be used with odyssea PC, some can't.. I'm going to replace my bulbs this month also..
4x65 watts.. So I have been checking bulbs, etc..

GEOFF.. My Bro lives in Jasper Al..
Behind Jasper Mall.. I'm from Dora.. Mobile now....

Later, Larry


Lunatik_69 ..... Is the one that knows ALOT about the bulbs, etc...

 

Thank you for your kind words Larry. I have read the whole thread and I have a couple of Q's for you. Some may sound elementry, but just bare with me. I need to cover all the bases.

1. Turning off the a/c is very important when changing out the bulb, which you said you did.

2. It could have been a bad bulb(that has happened to me before), but in this case, three bulbs is too much.

3. Did you notice any of the 4 prongs loose or bent?

4. I know this is a dumb Q to ask, but sometimes its the basic Q's that finds the answers. You did get the same wattage bulbs as the old ones........right?

How many cords does your unit have? There should be one power cord per ballast, which powers up two bulbs. Odyssea is not known to be high quality products, but to blow three bulbs or one/three ballasts seems a little too much. If your comfortable working with elec., like to work with your hands and like to take apart things, This will be easy to fix. If you want to keep the light fixture, just replace the ballasts. If you think its in your better judgement to get a better unit, than go with that feeling. Heres a web site that sells ALL kinds of ballasts. Just e-mail them and tell them that you have 2 or 4 ballasts that turn on 65w power compacts and that you need help on picking the right one for your application.
I did replace my ballasts on my Odyssea fixture, but it was the MH. I will be replacing the PC ballasts soon b/c I fear that am not getting the best output from the stock ballast. The site is called www.ballastwise.com
Let us know what happens.


Luna

 

Luna, I have the same fixture as coldshot and had the similar thing happen to me, changed bulbs (both white and blues with uv brand) and the only ballasts that went out was the whites(same wattage and everything by the book). I did go from 10000k to 12000k on them.I know they are the same wattage though. The odyssea balasts are very cheap and there are four of them in the fixture, one for each bulb but 2 bulbs per power cord.The fixture has 3 power cords,1 for whites,1 for blues and 1 for led lunar lights. The fans in the fixture are probably not doing much good.Looks too small to pull much air through the cramped ballast casing.I replaced my 4 ballasts for 2 current usa ballasts(had to cut off square connector and splice my straight pin connector to it) and everything seems to be working great. I do have a clip on fan now hidden in the corner blowing on top of tank/lights to ensure no overheating. Even though the fixture is pretty decent after money spent on ballasts and bulbs (plus the aggravation of it all) anybody would come out better just to buy a reputable brand light fixture, or any other equipment for that matter.Lesson learned here but atleast I learned on my 55gal instead of the 240gal I am currently working on.

 

I totally understand what your saying, but for me, I'd rather go with the Odyssea(O) brand. I paid $329.00(shipped) for my O unit. Add $260 for the new ballasts and $20 for the new internal cooling fans. Thats 329+260+20= $609 Lets say that I want to replace the PC ballast(which I do), thats another $20. So I've spent $629 in all. Go on-line and look how much a 48" (2) 250w MH, (2) 96w PC with 6 led moon lights goes for. I'll save you the trip, the Coralife goes for almost $1200 and I consider Coralife to be mediocre. So as on now, Im still ahead of the game. Plus, I like to open up things things to see how they work.


[SCROLL]Luna;D[/SCROLL]

 

I am going to Guinea Pig the lighting system from buildyouraquarium.com All I will need to alter on it is to cut a splash screen which they say it does not need one as the fixture stand's 5 1/2 inches above the top of the tank. It is a 6 bulb t-5 with individual german reflector's (1 ref per bulb) the reflector's go the length of the bulb and is made in the USA and has a five year warranty and also has moon lights that are adjustable as far as increasing the brightness or dimming them. I get this it will give me good lighting until I can afford to go Tek. I wanted to do a poll on the Tek 6 bulb or this set I am thinking about or the Nova Extreme Pro and see which route other user's on a limited income would go. Luna I do not have a clue as to how to start a poll here so maybe you could kick it off. And see what light's the majority on a limited income would go with....or any one else for that matter. I just want to know how others feel about the 3 lights mentioned....Tek is high plus almost 60.00 for the leg's and another 25.00 for the splash screen.....
Danny

 

I know what you mean about the MH lights, I'm setting up a 240gal and have been looking at MH/T5 combos and at the prices , but with the money I spent on my Odyssea pcs and the mods I had to make it would have been better to just buy a better brand but when you start getting into the T5s and MH seems like you would come out alot cheaper to build your own or buy cheap and mod. There's alot of people out there though that arn't the handy man type that throw out new equipment thats broke because they don't know how to fix something like a simple replacement part or they just don't know any different.
I wish I would've took a pic of the ballasts that I replaced,you would have got a big laugh out of that,I know I did. Looked like a dollar store buy-it-and-put-it-together-youself ballast kit :bucktooth!