odyssea MH fixture review... new electronic version

JohnL · #1 10/22/2007, 08:07 PM

This thread was automatically split due to performance issues. You can find the rest of the thread here: http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...2#post11029472

carlso63 · #2 10/22/2007, 08:07 PM

In any event, I am so looking forward to my "Christmas List":

(3) IceCap or Galaxy or Coralvue MH ballasts

(3) Pheonix 14K 250 DE bulbs

(4) URI / UVL new internally relflected 460 / 420 PC actinic bulbs

Gonna turn my bland Odyssea fixture into a

"big, bright, flourescing "Pop" Machine" !!!!!!!!!!

And...(sniff, sniff) do I smell ANOTHER split coming ???

carlso63 · #3 10/22/2007, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by carlso63
In any event, I am so looking forward to my "Christmas List":

(3) IceCap or Galaxy or Coralvue MH ballasts

(3) Pheonix 14K 250 DE bulbs

(4) URI / UVL new internally relflected 460 / 420 PC actinic bulbs

Gonna turn my bland Odyssea fixture into a

"big, bright, flourescing "Pop" Machine" !!!!!!!!!!

And...(sniff, sniff) do I smell ANOTHER split coming ???

WHY YES.... I **** DID ***** SPLIT IT AGAIN !!!!

.

SpencerG · #4 10/22/2007, 11:37 PM

Does the glass cover on the MH part of the Odyssea fixture filter UV?

Is it true that the stock ballast puts out only 160 watts? If so, can y'all recommend an affordable, plug and play upgrade?

carlso63 · #5 10/23/2007, 12:03 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by SpencerG
Does the glass cover on the MH part of the Odyssea fixture filter UV?

Is it true that the stock ballast puts out only 160 watts? If so, can y'all recommend an affordable, plug and play upgrade?

glass covers act as a UV filter on MH bulbs = yes

160 w per ballast = yes

Coralvue and Icecap make affordable ballasts (about $90 apiece) but they have to be spliced in - although that is VERY easy to do

LionFish-xS- · #6 10/23/2007, 01:29 AM

Here was my venture into the Generic M/h Pc combo

carlso63 · #7 10/23/2007, 06:15 PM

Lionfish:

That is the same unit I have. 8 months (so far) not one problem

Hey, do you know the "K" rating of your MH bulbs (10/15/20K)?

It would either be written on the bulbs themselves or the side of the shipping box...

carlso63 · #8 10/23/2007, 07:01 PM

I though of this last night, on the way home from work. It is probably not possible; however, I don't think the question has actually been asked. Perhaps someone with a little "electrical" backround (like 'miatawn2') could give an answer:

What would happen if you took TWO of these "inefficient" stock Odyssea ballasts - perhaps pushing out 160w each - and wired them TOGETHER to run the same MH bulb?

Would that mean 320w (approx) now delivered to the bulb?

Would it also mean double the amperage?

Would anything different happen at all ?

Would it damage the ballasts or the bulb?

Has anybody ever tried anything similar... or would we all be just guessing as to what would happen?

Part 2 of same idea:

Can the wattage of a ballast be split between 2 bulbs?

Meaning - could this be done --------

Ballast 1 (160w) + {1/2 power} Ballast 2 (80w) = 240w MH bulb 1

Ballast 3 (160w) + {1/2 power} Ballast 2 (80w) = 240w MH bulb 2

Is any of this possible or am I way off base here...?

DarG · #9 10/23/2007, 07:42 PM

You like firework displays ?

You could probably run 150 watt halides with them just fine though.

RGRDGR · #10 10/23/2007, 08:19 PM

Senario 1 would work but burn up a 250 bulb.
Senario 2 would probably fry the ballasts unless you could build a hi wattage voltage devider

RGRDGR · #11 10/23/2007, 08:21 PM

Senario 1 would work but burn up a 250 bulb.
Senario 2 would probably fry the ballasts unless you could build a hi wattage voltage divider

GSMguy · #12 10/23/2007, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DarG
You like firework displays ?

You could probably run 150 watt halides with them just fine though.

i think they would run DE 150w bulbs just fine.

LionFish-xS- · #13 10/23/2007, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by carlso63
Lionfish:

That is the same unit I have. 8 months (so far) not one problem

Hey, do you know the "K" rating of your MH bulbs (10/15/20K)?

It would either be written on the bulbs themselves or the side of the shipping box...

15k sorry thought it was on the lil logo thing lol!

miatawnt2b · #14 10/24/2007, 07:40 AM

I don't think either scenario will work., however I am not certain. Here is my thinking, and it may be way off. When connecting two ballasts to one bulb you have no way of making sure the phase of the ballasts is the same.
-J

carlso63 · #15 10/24/2007, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by miatawnt2b
I don't think either scenario will work., however I am not certain. Here is my thinking, and it may be way off. When connecting two ballasts to one bulb you have no way of making sure the phase of the ballasts is the same.
-J

OK... I'll bite. What's "phase"?

And if the 'phase' was the same, would you get the effect of
doubling the wattage to the bulb and / or the amperage?

I figured I wouldn't try this until I had new ballasts / bulbs on hand - in case of catastrophe - but I was curious as far as the "math" of electricity goes.

I figured I would run a timer that ballast one would go on and then maybe a minute or 2 later ballast 2 would kick in.

I guess, even though it may be a "pipe dream", I was hoping that if I could split one ballasts wattage to the 2 others - giving me 240w (160 + 80w from the split ballast) to each, that maybe I would only need to buy 1 additional true 250w ballast to have 3 bulbs running at (or very close to) a true 250w each...

carlso63 · #16 10/24/2007, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RGRDGR
Senario 1 would work but burn up a 250 bulb.
Senario 2 would probably fry the ballasts unless you could build a hi wattage voltage devider

Are you saying that in #1 the combined 320w would overdrive the bulb too much and cause it to burn out?

I thought I have read that some 250w magnetic ballasts drive their bulbs at like 300 - 320w...

iairj84 · #17 10/24/2007, 09:30 PM

I think he means the mixing of two streams (for lack of a better word) of energy trying to flow to the same point... it wouldnt be pretty is what I'm assuming he's saying.

Once I tried connecting up one subwoofer to two speaker leads and just connected both to the speaker terminals... yeah it didnt turn out too well. Luckily the amp had a fuse that blew as opposed to a capacitor or something.

DarG · #18 10/25/2007, 11:38 AM

Carlso, by connecting both ballasts to the same bulb, you are not just trying to drive the bulb. The ballasts are also connected together and the ballasts are sending current, or trying to, to each other. You're "bucking" power and depending on the protection circuitry in each ballast (and going from the pcitures, it probably isnt much) there is a good chance that you will literally burn out both ballasts and maybe take the bulb with it.

You are on track about the Magnetic HQI ballasts. The magnetic HQI ballasts will generally drive the 250 watt double ended bulbs with somewhere between 250 and 350 watts. + 300 watts give or take a bit is probably typical for a lot of DE bulbs. It depends on the bulb. Since these ballasts (M80 for 250 watt, M81 for 150 watt) are what the vast majority of DE bulbs are spec'd to be driven with, they do not technically overdrive the bulbs.

dhnguyen · #19 10/25/2007, 11:53 AM

nice avatar carlso63

Ok back on track now

iairj84 · #20 10/26/2007, 12:05 AM

I just got two 24'' models from someone here on the forums. I wont actually GET them til probably the middle part of next week at the earliest.... Anyways he's got only one stock ballast and I'm only needing one. I plan to eventually upgrade the ballast within the next couple months or so but can see any need for the second 24'' fixture.. No ballast included at this point but if you want one and would want to get your own ballast PM me and we should be able to work something out.

celebrityovernight · #21 10/27/2007, 12:14 AM

hey guys, i really need help. i haven't been keeping up w/ my reefcentral reading so i really need a basic review/input on these odyssey light fixtures. are the 72" fixtures any good?

iairj84 · #22 10/27/2007, 02:59 AM

Well I don't own one (yet) but i've read the entire 120 pages and have a feel for what they're about....

The Odyssea fixtures are pretty darn good. The only thing that seems to be a real weakness is the metal halide ballasts, and from what people have said you can order without the ballast's to save about $40 each on those. One can pick up a pretty good ballast for about $100 and have a pretty darn good unit. Some people upgrade the bulbs for a look that they like better but with the upgraded ballasts even the stock bulbs don't normally look too bad.

I don't think anyone really has had issues with the moonlights on these other than maybe a loose wire after dissasembling the unit.

The PC's on the unit are their mainly for aesthetic purposes and won't do much if anything for your corals (other than maybe making them look better.) The ballasts seem to be fine although one or two have reported issues with theirs I'm pretty sure aquatraders took care of them for the ballast.
Users have changed out the PC's for T5's as well as VHO's for better output and color range and have reported good results.

Overall it seems like a pretty good unit for the price. You can read it here probably 50 times throughout the thread where people compare to other name brand fixtures and even with upgraded ballasts and bulbs its still a lot cheaper than the name brand units.

I know it's a huge thread but it's worth reading through. It took me almost a week on and off to read it all but if you're looking to get one I would reccomend it.

Carlso has the 72'' unit, you could probably PM him about it with more direct questions on that model.

celebrityovernight · #23 10/27/2007, 04:38 AM

thank you so much for the response. i read through some of this monster thread back when it first came out. it was concluded that the ballast sucked but i thought maybe something changed over the coarse of the last few months.

miatawnt2b · #24 10/27/2007, 08:28 AM

AC current runs in waves... it "alternates" very quickly between positive and negative voltage. In order to drive the bulb with two ballasts, there would need to be some mechanism in place to make sure that the two alternating phases were completely 10000000% aligned. This is an impossible feat.

-J

DarG · #25 10/27/2007, 10:25 AM

Hello Lights dot com has the 250 watt ARO Electronic ballasts on sale for $95 each. Usually $129 I think.
Just thought I would let those here looking for new ballasts, know. I have used these and they work great, these are good ballasts. There are many who think that these ARO ballasts are made by the same manufacturer as the old style IceCap ballasts.
Just in a different case. I domnt know for sure but I believe they are. They are the same dimensions as well. Anyway, they are good electronic ballasts.

Also, for "celebrityovernight" ... Hello Lights also has the AquaMedic Oceanlight 72" with 3 X 250 watt halides and 4 X 39 watt T5's. External Magentoc HQI ballasts for the halides.
It was on sale for $1,049.00 but it's back up at $1,129.00, about $230 dollars more than the Odyssea after you pay for replacement ballasts for the Odyssea ($599 + $300 for decent replacement ballasts - $900). But it includes 3 Aqualine Buschke 10000K DE lamps which are excellent halide bulbs and cost $80 - $90 each.

I'm not going to add anything else or stir the pot again.
I wanted to post the ballast sale for those who already had the Odyssea and is needing the 250 watt ballasts, and the information on the Aquamedic fixture for "celebrityovernight" or anyone else who is researching new 72" combo fixtures.

Thats all.