SaltFish35 Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 Okay.. I am going to kill the mod details on the Odyssea 250w Electronic HID ballast - to limit further wasted effort. The end result from my tweaking and testing is that a simple replacement of the Odyssea 250 watt DE bulb that is included, to a USHIO 14000K 250w DE bulb gives you about a 20 - 25% lumen increase and better PAR/CIR levels. The Odyssea Ballast is good and will start and drive the USHIO bulb with no issues. I would suggest that the Odyssea ballast only be replaced when it fails - as it is quite usable and thermally stable. The Odyssea 15000K bulb seems to have a poorer PAR and less lumen than the USHIO 250w 14000K DE bulb. The change is dramatic in my opinion. On the Odyssea 250w electronic ballast, the USHIO 14000K 250w DE bulb looks a very crisp white light with a tad bit of pale blue - keeping it from being yellow like a 6500K. The USHIO 250w DE bulb fires/starts well and fast with the Odyssea Electronic 250w ballast (less than a min or two) - I use the ballast on a timer with no problem - running 12 hours a day. I would say the Odyssea halide lighting system is a good buy. Replace the included bulbs though, as they are cheap and do not perform well or as desired in a established reef environment. To start your tank as a FOWLR or new start up period.. the included bulbs would be fine. When you get to adding coral and the like - swap the bulbs out to USHIO halide bulb and UVL Compacts. Cheers. Link to comment
Whacked Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 Great stuff! I've always thought that their (mostly as Jebo) negative reputation was greatly exaggerated. Altho I wont use a Jebo product, I have several Odyssea stuff and really like them. Only reason why I dont have one of their lights over my tank is I found something cheaper plus their MH units are a bit too wide fro a 20H. But if I upgrade to something bigger, their lights are definately on the list. Link to comment
FateX9 Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 the only thing ive heard bad about the odysseas were from the magnetic ballasts which is why they went with electronic ballasts Link to comment
121a Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 you obivously know what your talking about! i want to see some pics too! Link to comment
evilc66 Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 Nice write-up. I had always been tempted to pull one of those apart and take a look. Have you measured the MOSFET temperatures since you did the mod? Measured the wattage after the mod? Have you thought about replacing the offending MOSFET with a more beefy unit. Something like a IRFPS40N50LPbF? It has a considerably lower RDSon resistance, and is rated at 29A @ 100C continuous. Also has a better derate curve. Link to comment
Whacked Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 We get so many questions about the Odyssea/Aquatraders/Ebay fixtures that this should be stickied. Link to comment
devmasa Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 Thanks for the great write up SaltFish35.I am surely going to try this mod. I have a couple of questions : 1) I am a little confused about the fans.Are you upgrading the existing fan or adding another fan on the other side of the ballast to push the air out to help cross-ventilation ? 2) Are those heat sinks specific for MOSFETs or any contact heatsink would work ? How about the regular computer CPU heatsinks with fans mounted on them...any room to fit those in? Link to comment
evilc66 Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 I don't think there are any fans on that ballast, which is the problem. I wouldn't count on there being enough room in there for something like CPU heatsink. Ebay usually has a good number of heatsinks listed that could work for cheap. Link to comment
SaltFish35 Posted September 16, 2008 Author Share Posted September 16, 2008 No need for the mod - just replace the bulb with an new USHIO 14000K 250W DE. Light is much brigher with USHIO bulb and seems to have better PAR/CIR. IF, you would like to tweak the ballast - apply thermal grease on the two MOSFET devices mounted to heat sinks. Outside of that - just replace the bulb. Cheers. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 Nice. My buddy just replaced his ballasts. I'll try and convince him to let me play with one (shouldn't be too hard). I'll replace the MOSFET with the one I posted earlier to see if it will make an improvement without a fan. Nice work. Link to comment
Whacked Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 123W to 247W by just applying thermal grease and a fan? VERY nice work. What it would be without the fan? Link to comment
SaltFish35 Posted September 16, 2008 Author Share Posted September 16, 2008 Nice. My buddy just replaced his ballasts. I'll try and convince him to let me play with one (shouldn't be too hard). I'll replace the MOSFET with the one I posted earlier to see if it will make an improvement without a fan. Nice work. Very cool! Let me know how it works. Link to comment
devmasa Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 nice update again SaltFish35.... The 123W to 247W jump is pretty big..with just additional cooling. evilc66..please let us know how the improved MOSFET betters the wattage Link to comment
evilc66 Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 I have been thinking about this more and more today. I'll order the new MOSFET tomorrow ($12 each ) and get the ballast from him this weekend. I'll mod one and leave the other stock. I'll take my Lux and PAR meter over and get a before and after reading. I'll try and pick up a Kill-A-Watt meter too. Harbor Freight has them nice and cheap. Link to comment
devmasa Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 I'll order the new MOSFET tomorrow evilc66..where are you getting the MOSFETs from? I should have my new fixture by next monday..will try to pick up a kill-a-watt meter before that Link to comment
evilc66 Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 Either Mouser, Digikey, Newark, or Future. Depends on if I can find a better one than I found before, and who has it cheaper. I already talked to me buddy with the spare ballasts and he's up for the experiment. Might not be until next week that I have any kind of results. Stay tuned! Link to comment
wav3form Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 Try alliedelec.com They usually have pretty good prices. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 "where" is not a problem. There are many "where"s. It's the "what" that I need to pin down. Allied is ok, but their search system on the website kinda sucks. Digikey and Mouser I find are much easier to use. But thats just me. Link to comment
gulfsurfer101 Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 Can we get a pick of it in use. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 Think I may have found a better solution: Fairchild FDH44N50. 44A continuous, 32A @100C. A Little slower on the rise and fall times, but I don't know if that will make any impact. It's the same package as the original, and cost half as much as the first one I found. Got some on order. Only $22 plus shipping. This could be a great fix for less than $30. I'm going to try it without adding a fan to see how well that works first. I'll add the fan if needed. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 Parts will be here Monday, but I won't be. As soon as I have results, I'll post them. Saltfish35, ballasts running ok so far? Link to comment
SaltFish35 Posted September 22, 2008 Author Share Posted September 22, 2008 Can we get a pick of it in use. yep... here a couple. Link to comment
devmasa Posted October 1, 2008 Share Posted October 1, 2008 Hey evilc66..any updates with your new components ? Link to comment
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