Beware of the "Jebo"

[andretti]

My son loves this hobby so much he wanted a tank to call his own, so I agreed. We had most of the pieces needed for a simple 40 gallon reef. Anything he wanted I would help him buy 50/50. He only had to save up another $20 or so to pay for his share of Corallife's twin bulb 220 watt VHO ballast. To make a long story short, he bought Jebo's 36" lighting system from the famous auction site. It (claimed) to have atinics (2), and (2)5000K bulbs. The "actinics" were nothing more than a blue light. Nothing close to an actinic spectrum. This "lighting system" lasted for three months before it began shorting out. The only positive to come of this was a valuable lesson for my 12 year old, and that is... you get what you pay for. I told him what did you expect when all of the other ballast/retro kits on the market are about $180 or so (for what he needed). And he gets this for $67 dollars...bulbs included!!!

Thats about what the bulbs cost alone

 

[fishman72b]

wow what a coincedince. i am also 12, and i have the Jebo Oddysea from "the famous auction site" also. actinics nothing but a lie. my ballast blew in 1 month. and it cost 100 for a replacement. kinda sucks. but better than nothing i suppose.

 

[mrstwig]

anyone else have an experience with this light? Just curious......

 

[squidd]

I have several sets of Jebo PC lights...and can appreciate them for what they are...
The cavaet "Buyer beware" is not neccessarily a "Skull and Cross Bones", but a reminder ...
Buyer...BE AWARE...of what your buying...There is plenty of commentary on the Jebo fixtures and the blue bulb nature of their "Blue Actinics"...Research will show you want a purple (true) actinic...
But then what you get for the price IS a good deal...The price of the better bulbs justifys the $180 tag on the others, but you couldn't buy the ballasts, reflectors, bulb holders, and fixtures for the $80 cost of the Jebos..The 10k bulbs they come with are fine..
I used 1/2 a fixture (guts)... the ballasts and reflectors 2x55, for actinic supplementation on my reef...I bought GOOD bulbs...But then you have to do that every 6 months or so anyway...
The "Blue" bulbs then become my "Dusk" lighting on my FOWLR tank on another 4X55 fixture....and the other 1/2 fixture (easy to cut and convert) became the lighting over my Fuge with the 10Ks...Good lighting for the Macros...
So I have 3 tanks covered for the price of one good fixture "including" buying a pair of good bulbs...
I'm OK with that...
Only thing I can say is sorry to hear your trouble with the ballasts...Mine have been going over 2 years now...
But I bet if you contact the distributior, you'de get a replacement quick and cheap (shipping)...On low dollar fixtures like that, it's easy for the dist. to send replacements...

 

[mrstwig]

Thanks for the info Squidd..........I have a set coming and I didn't run a search here to check them out first. I think they should work fine on my 29 gallon along with my T5.

 

[chipmaker]

Its not just the JEBO lights that are probolematic. In the other forums on the internet its not uncommon to hear all kind os horrow stories of JEBO "anykind" of products. While it may be true lots of stuff today is made in china, but the china made stuff JEBO imports/sells is basically too poor of quality to even be classified as junk...... My neighbor bought a light system from that auction site as well, and the metal itself is so thin and poorly assembled it made one think if it was safe to even put up over a tank of water......But his horrors and nightmares did not last long enough for the light to physically fall apart as the ballasts only lasted a bit over a month and went up in smoke....

 

[dfrick23]

I have the Jebo odyssey 36" With the 175 mh And two actinic 03 bulbs and four moons. Havent had any trouble with it electronicly but one of the cooling fans burnt out. The only thing is you cant put the mh on a timmer becouse the power cord that runs the mh also runs the moons. I had to add some light to it. Didnt seem bright enough. If I had to do it again I would go with the pendants or vho bulbs. This system was also purchaced on the auction site. just got to be careful what you buy. Gotta check that feedback.

 

[krazyk]

I just yesterday hit the buy it now button for a 48inch 260watt oddesy light system...
anyone try this new updated light or should I back out from it and get the coralife series lights?

 

[moprint]

i have the 24 inch odyssea 2 x 65 on my 15 gallon, i have to say that i am pleased with it, for the money. the fans on the odyssea are quiter then the fans on my 96 watt coralife. i bought the odyseea off that auction site from the seller hobby_palace, great service. i bought 2 of the odyssea 54 watt x 2 t5 ho fixtures, haven't got them yet, for my 55. hopefully they are as good as my pc light, i am going to by new bulbs for the t5 fixtures.

 

[pool-boy]

I've had the Jebo Odyssea 36" PC's for several months now and haven't had a single issue with them. I do think you have to lower your expectations a little when you're paying so little for lights. How can you expect it to be the same quailty as a lighting system worth twice as much? It's 10 times better than my single bulb NO setup I was using before. Research everything before you buy, that way you'll know exactly what to expect.

 

[roofis]

Ok, Jebo. How do I start this. I like what was mentioned as to "BE AWARE". I have purchased many jebo products in the past, and have some saved for "backups", such as heaters and what not.
I have the 48" Oddy. light fixture, and I have had no problems with it. in 8 months. My old fixture on my other tank is 2 yrs and it works fine also. I also have powerheads from them that have lasted YEARS. AS OF NOW, the main problem I have with the lights is the light switches. They are on the side and when installed in a wood canopy, you have to modify one or the other. The heaters, I have had bad luck with as a Main heater **temp fluctuations all the time** and keep a couple ONLY as backups for a day or so if needed.
This is just my opinion. I have used the equipment and some I like. The price is right for what you get. Be careful of the lights and who you buy them from. Bought the same light fixure from two different people, and one of which came w/ bad bulbs, one of which came with upgraded bulbs.

 

[milomlo]

Well I have a 24" 130Watt Odyssea set. I have had it about a month and I have had no problems with it. Although I can say I purchased a JEBO heater and it was junk. Almost cooked my fish. It never stayed the correct temperature. I even set it in the 60's and it still would heat way above 80 degrees. Junk
I honestly had no idea that the lights I bought were Jebo or I would not have bought them (only because of the problem with the heater) I thought Odyssea was the brand. OH WELL. So far so good with the lights.

 

[kdfrosty]

I have Jebo 55w x 5 fixture that I dismanteled much like squidd. i retrofitted it into my canopy, and things couldn't be better.
I run 2 50/50 bulbs and 2 true actinic (not Jebo bulbs) to supplement my 400w MH 20000K.
These are MUCH better retrofitted and with new REAL actinic bulbs.

 

[cheapfish1]

I really like my jebo odyssea. It seems to be really nice i have only had it two weeks though. The thing even worked after falling into my tank while it was on. Does anyone know though how to get the glass out to change the bulbs as mine came with no manual

 

[bluegirl]

yeah, I had the same problem with my odyssea, no manual, figure it out yourself kit, I got it on sale at lfs, stupid me should have researched it. I want to change out the lights, let me know if you figure out how to do this. :thinking:

 

[blue20051]

Cant you just slide the glass out?

 

[andretti]

Yeah, you basically slide the glass out towards the side of the switches. That's how my son's worked anyway Use a pencil's eraser or something with some "grab" and just push the glass out. Careful putting it back in. We (I) broke my sons after trying to fiqure out this piece of -#$* worked

 

[payne66801]

They both have good warranties.. My orbit has run good and it is a high pwer 6x96 watt. I was going to go with jebo but it was just toooo cheap and I am a suspicious person by nature..

 

[popnfrresh]

i have a 2x65 odyssea and it has worked fine for the past 6 months. Only problem is fan is a little loud. Reliable unit for the price. ALso 1 chord and 2 swithces... 1 for moons and one for both lights... bad design there.

 

[winstew]

From reading all the stuff on the forums it looks liek the people who buy the jebo lighting of of that famous auction site are the ones having the problems... I'm not saying that it has anything to do with it becuase i know a lot of those "online stores" have their own websites too.... but if you think about it if I buy a new jebo light switch the actintics out for colored bulbs and then sell the the light for a discounted price and the bulbs seperate i could probably make out in the long run too.....