Anyone know odyssea website? NEED TO REPLACE BALLAST
- Thread starter brad1968
- Start date
brad1968
Member
Originally Posted by SCSInet
Oh sure. You can probably either replace the entire external ballast with one that's compatible with your lighting system, or you can use drill-n-save and retrofit a replacement ballast. There are a couple manufacturers that make ballasts that will run a great variety of bulbs, such as Icecap and Fulham.
SCSInet
I've noticed you've provided some excellent ballast advice in the past. Can you recommend a ballast / set to go with it that would be relatively easy to install. My light fixture has 2 96w pc outside of 2 175w 20k mh lights & moonlights. The mh & ml have their own ballast, and the pc has it's own.
thanks in advance.
Oh sure. You can probably either replace the entire external ballast with one that's compatible with your lighting system, or you can use drill-n-save and retrofit a replacement ballast. There are a couple manufacturers that make ballasts that will run a great variety of bulbs, such as Icecap and Fulham.
SCSInet
I've noticed you've provided some excellent ballast advice in the past. Can you recommend a ballast / set to go with it that would be relatively easy to install. My light fixture has 2 96w pc outside of 2 175w 20k mh lights & moonlights. The mh & ml have their own ballast, and the pc has it's own.
thanks in advance.
cgrant
Active Member
I am not trying to rub anything in...but after researching this subject when i was getting my lights I am sure glad i got the coralife aqualight.
I even remember finding a post about odysea lights starting a fire in someones home, i think it might have been on reefcentral?
I have seen alot of bad posts about odysea/jebo, from what i understand they are the same co.
I even remember finding a post about odysea lights starting a fire in someones home, i think it might have been on reefcentral?
I have seen alot of bad posts about odysea/jebo, from what i understand they are the same co.
scsinet
Active Member
Originally Posted by brad1968
SCSInet
I've noticed you've provided some excellent ballast advice in the past. Can you recommend a ballast / set to go with it that would be relatively easy to install. My light fixture has 2 96w pc outside of 2 175w 20k mh lights & moonlights. The mh & ml have their own ballast, and the pc has it's own.
thanks in advance.
Thanks for the compliment!
The thing is that every manufacturer wires their units slightly differently. Therefore, it's not always easy to simply replace the entire external ballast unit/enclosure/whatever with a different one, especially when the ballast runs both halides and flourescents. Unfortunately, you have to be somewhat knowledgable in electricity to pull it off, but you don't need to know how to rewire a house to do it either. Basic handyman knowledge will do.
We might be able to help you through though. The best thing to do is open the ballast pack and find out what you have in there. Unfortunately I've never owned or even seen in person an Oddysea system, so we'll have to shoot blind. What you're going to find is more than likely one ballast that runs both PC lights. Also more than likely is that the ballast will have a wiring diagram on it that tells you how everythign hooks up. If you get a close enough shot, I or someone else on here can tell you what replacement ballast to get, and what "old wires" go to what "new wires" to do it.
Be aware, however, that Odyssea is a chinese non-brand. It's not terribly likely that the ballast has an exact replacement readily available. What we'll need to do is look at what you have, how your wiring is set up and figure it out from there. More than likely, we'll have to use drill-n-save (drilling the chassis to fit a slightly different sized ballast in there) to fit a Fulham Workhorse or Icecap in there to replace what you have.
So, see if you can get some pictures of the inside of your fluorescent ballast pack, including some closeups of the ballast, we'll go from there.
Originally Posted by brad1968
does it matter as long as it's the same wattage?
Yes and no. Most ballasts are designed to run only one particular wattage and one particular quantity of lamps. There are a handful of manufacturers out there who make ballast that can run a variety of bulbs. The three I can think of off the top of my head are Fulham (Workhorse), Icecap, and Coralife (another chinese non-brand).
Originally Posted by CCGRANT
I even remember finding a post about odysea lights starting a fire in someones home, i think it might have been on reefcentral?
These were the older style metal halides. Apparently they've resolved this problem, but the quality of the entire Odyssea line I'd agree with you on.
Originally Posted by Brad1968
Does anyone know if I can just replace the ballast with another manufacturer?
Absolutely, as long as we can find a ballast that will fit into the chassis of your system, and is designed to run your 96w power compacts. Obviously the former will be harder than the latter.
SCSInet
I've noticed you've provided some excellent ballast advice in the past. Can you recommend a ballast / set to go with it that would be relatively easy to install. My light fixture has 2 96w pc outside of 2 175w 20k mh lights & moonlights. The mh & ml have their own ballast, and the pc has it's own.
thanks in advance.
Thanks for the compliment!
The thing is that every manufacturer wires their units slightly differently. Therefore, it's not always easy to simply replace the entire external ballast unit/enclosure/whatever with a different one, especially when the ballast runs both halides and flourescents. Unfortunately, you have to be somewhat knowledgable in electricity to pull it off, but you don't need to know how to rewire a house to do it either. Basic handyman knowledge will do.
We might be able to help you through though. The best thing to do is open the ballast pack and find out what you have in there. Unfortunately I've never owned or even seen in person an Oddysea system, so we'll have to shoot blind. What you're going to find is more than likely one ballast that runs both PC lights. Also more than likely is that the ballast will have a wiring diagram on it that tells you how everythign hooks up. If you get a close enough shot, I or someone else on here can tell you what replacement ballast to get, and what "old wires" go to what "new wires" to do it.
Be aware, however, that Odyssea is a chinese non-brand. It's not terribly likely that the ballast has an exact replacement readily available. What we'll need to do is look at what you have, how your wiring is set up and figure it out from there. More than likely, we'll have to use drill-n-save (drilling the chassis to fit a slightly different sized ballast in there) to fit a Fulham Workhorse or Icecap in there to replace what you have.
So, see if you can get some pictures of the inside of your fluorescent ballast pack, including some closeups of the ballast, we'll go from there.
Originally Posted by brad1968
does it matter as long as it's the same wattage?
Yes and no. Most ballasts are designed to run only one particular wattage and one particular quantity of lamps. There are a handful of manufacturers out there who make ballast that can run a variety of bulbs. The three I can think of off the top of my head are Fulham (Workhorse), Icecap, and Coralife (another chinese non-brand).
Originally Posted by CCGRANT
I even remember finding a post about odysea lights starting a fire in someones home, i think it might have been on reefcentral?
These were the older style metal halides. Apparently they've resolved this problem, but the quality of the entire Odyssea line I'd agree with you on.
Originally Posted by Brad1968
Does anyone know if I can just replace the ballast with another manufacturer?
Absolutely, as long as we can find a ballast that will fit into the chassis of your system, and is designed to run your 96w power compacts. Obviously the former will be harder than the latter.
brad1968
Member
Here are some photos of my ballast. Please let me know what you think.
http://www.aabel.name/photos/ballast/
http://www.aabel.name/photos/ballast/
scsinet
Active Member
Okay, it looks to me like it shouldn't be any trouble to replace this, but I need more photos.
- Bigger if possible
- I need a more zoomed out view, showing the entire ballast body installed in the fixture.
- I also need a close up view of the wiring diagram on that label.
Finally, could you measure the dimensions of the ballast itself?
There should be a flange on either side of the ballast where it's bolted to the chassis. The dimensions should NOT include the flange; just the ballast body.
I am confused as to the fourth picture, Ballast4.jpg. What is that a photo of?
Is this all in one unit or is there a lighting system and a separate ballast?
- Bigger if possible
- I need a more zoomed out view, showing the entire ballast body installed in the fixture.
- I also need a close up view of the wiring diagram on that label.
Finally, could you measure the dimensions of the ballast itself?
There should be a flange on either side of the ballast where it's bolted to the chassis. The dimensions should NOT include the flange; just the ballast body.
I am confused as to the fourth picture, Ballast4.jpg. What is that a photo of?
Is this all in one unit or is there a lighting system and a separate ballast?
brad1968
Member
I have the original photos and I posted them here:
http://www.aabel.name/photos/ballast...riginalphotos/
(ignore the background)
The ballast4.jpg is what was under the removed flange. I didn't want to pry any more without a little advice.
I'll work on additional photos tonight and measure the ballast inside the housing. Let me know if there are any more photos to take (i.e. under the flange)
thx again.
http://www.aabel.name/photos/ballast...riginalphotos/
(ignore the background)
The ballast4.jpg is what was under the removed flange. I didn't want to pry any more without a little advice.
I'll work on additional photos tonight and measure the ballast inside the housing. Let me know if there are any more photos to take (i.e. under the flange)
thx again.
brad1968
Member
here are the new photos with measurements:
http://www.aabel.name/NewBallastPhotos/
Thanks again! Let me know if there's anything else you need.
http://www.aabel.name/NewBallastPhotos/
Thanks again! Let me know if there's anything else you need.
scsinet
Active Member
Can you describe the wiring on the right hand side of the ballast that goes into the wiring that connects to the hood?
It doesn't appear like I expected it to, and I want to make sure I have it right.
There should be two sets of wires exiting, each set consisting of two red and two blue.
It looks as though one red and one blue from each set connect to the cable going to the hood.
What is happening to the other red and blue wire from each set? Do they connect together? Capped off?
It doesn't appear like I expected it to, and I want to make sure I have it right.
There should be two sets of wires exiting, each set consisting of two red and two blue.
It looks as though one red and one blue from each set connect to the cable going to the hood.
What is happening to the other red and blue wire from each set? Do they connect together? Capped off?
brad1968
Member
This should do it.
You can now see both sets of blue/red wires. There is also a second set of wires that are capped with tape. Let me know if you have any questions.
I'm really looking forward to getting this back in working order.
thanks again,
http://www.aabel.name/ballastlighting/
You can now see both sets of blue/red wires. There is also a second set of wires that are capped with tape. Let me know if you have any questions.
I'm really looking forward to getting this back in working order.
thanks again,
http://www.aabel.name/ballastlighting/
scsinet
Active Member
Well, here's the problem.
The way the lighting system is wired is not the way the ballast indicates it should be wired on it's wiring diagram.
The ballast diagram shows all of the wires being used, but only two are used for each bulb in your system.
The sockets have four wires as well, but they are wired funny. Two of the wires connect back to the ballast, but rather than the other two doing the same thing, they are wired together through some sort of component wrapped in heat shrink tubing. It appears to be a capacitor.
What has happened here is that Odyssea has chosen to save money by engineering the wiring differently. By doing what they've done here, they save a 4 wire run from the ballast to the hood. If you look, the cable connecting the ballast to the hood is 4 wires... they'd have to use two of those or an 8 wire cable to connect the ballast as shown, so they "rigged" it.
Unfortunately, this means that there are no guarantees whatsoever that a replacement ballast will work in the same way, since the way they engineered it is more than likely dependant on that specific ballast and the way it drives the bulbs.
Whats more, I cannot find a ballast that measures the same as yours... and trust me, I looked everywhere for one. You're lucky I didn't feel like working today. I also looked at the universal ballasts, such as the Icecap, and they require a minimum of 6 wires from the ballast to the bulbs. That's better than 8... but still two too many.
I do, however, have a potential solution. What I'm not sure of is if it's within your comfort zone as far as wiring is concerned.
I found a Coralife 2 x 96w PC ballast unit. It's an entire external ballast unit, so it would replace everything you've taken pictures of... the ballast, chassis, everything.
However, it looks to have two separate cables, one for each lamp. This would mean that you'd have to drill your hood (canopy) and run the new cables into it, and abandon the present cable. You'd then have to cut the sockets loose in your existing unit and splice the wires onto the cables from this unit (this coralife system has square pin sockets, your system has straight 'inline' style so you'll have to retro them on).
Theoretically speaking, this should work, but it will require some modification and wiring to make it happen. I'm sorry man, I was hoping that I could find you a drop in replacement, but unfrotunately I cannot.
I also cannot guarantee that I'll be able to completely help you through it. I've never had an Odyssea fixture in front of me and I've never seen this coralife ballast kit in person either. Therefore, we' d be in the dark.
We're not allowed to link, but it's on Marine Depot's web site, item number: ES00938
Take a look and let me know what you think.
The way the lighting system is wired is not the way the ballast indicates it should be wired on it's wiring diagram.
The ballast diagram shows all of the wires being used, but only two are used for each bulb in your system.
The sockets have four wires as well, but they are wired funny. Two of the wires connect back to the ballast, but rather than the other two doing the same thing, they are wired together through some sort of component wrapped in heat shrink tubing. It appears to be a capacitor.
What has happened here is that Odyssea has chosen to save money by engineering the wiring differently. By doing what they've done here, they save a 4 wire run from the ballast to the hood. If you look, the cable connecting the ballast to the hood is 4 wires... they'd have to use two of those or an 8 wire cable to connect the ballast as shown, so they "rigged" it.
Unfortunately, this means that there are no guarantees whatsoever that a replacement ballast will work in the same way, since the way they engineered it is more than likely dependant on that specific ballast and the way it drives the bulbs.
Whats more, I cannot find a ballast that measures the same as yours... and trust me, I looked everywhere for one. You're lucky I didn't feel like working today. I also looked at the universal ballasts, such as the Icecap, and they require a minimum of 6 wires from the ballast to the bulbs. That's better than 8... but still two too many.
I do, however, have a potential solution. What I'm not sure of is if it's within your comfort zone as far as wiring is concerned.
I found a Coralife 2 x 96w PC ballast unit. It's an entire external ballast unit, so it would replace everything you've taken pictures of... the ballast, chassis, everything.
However, it looks to have two separate cables, one for each lamp. This would mean that you'd have to drill your hood (canopy) and run the new cables into it, and abandon the present cable. You'd then have to cut the sockets loose in your existing unit and splice the wires onto the cables from this unit (this coralife system has square pin sockets, your system has straight 'inline' style so you'll have to retro them on).
Theoretically speaking, this should work, but it will require some modification and wiring to make it happen. I'm sorry man, I was hoping that I could find you a drop in replacement, but unfrotunately I cannot.
I also cannot guarantee that I'll be able to completely help you through it. I've never had an Odyssea fixture in front of me and I've never seen this coralife ballast kit in person either. Therefore, we' d be in the dark.
We're not allowed to link, but it's on Marine Depot's web site, item number: ES00938
Take a look and let me know what you think.