R&R Odyssea 24" T5 Ballast with Fulham ballast

[Deano]

Warning: Odyssea owners, NEVER unplug the bulbs or light fixture from the ballast while the ballast is hot/plugged in and turned on. It appears that the Odyssea ballast has no way to regulate the current in this case. The result is a burn out ballast. I have had this happen twice to me 1st on my MH ballast and then on the T5 ballast. You can see the burnt out ballast in the provided photo. I can see how someone can think this is a fire hazard, due to the smell but since the ballast is in an aluminum case and once the ballast fails the event ends, so I really don't have a big fire concern with this issue. BUT! Odyssea really needs to address this issue.

 

 

I received my Fulham WH3-120-L Ballasts Friday. I removed the Odyssea Ballast from the Odyssea ballast housings. As you can see the WH3 fits perfect.

 

 

My initial test indicate the bulbs run cooler with the WH ballast then the stock Odyssea.

 

REMEMBER the WH3 is rated for a max of 64 watts of light for 1 or 2 bulbs. We are wiring X2 24 watt T5's. You can not run all 4 bulbs with this ballast.

 

This is a pretty simple switch. I didn't take any photos of the wiring. But since the Fulham ballast is a wired linear you will need to rewire the fixture after you have the ballast installed in the Odyssea ballast housing.

 

1st: remove the end caps from the ballast housing. The housing is 2 pieces and slides together. With the end caps removed you can slide the top of the housing apart from the bottom.

 

On the power supply end just cut the 2 red wires of the Odyssea ballast. On the bulb supply end cut all 4 wire as close to the circuit board as you can. Now remove the Odyssea print board and trash it. It is a POC anyway. Connect the white and black power leads from the WH ballast to the white and black wires from the housing, done. Now connect the blue wire from the housing end cap to one of the red wires of the WH ballast. Repeat this with the black end cap wire to the red WH ballast wire. Now connect the green end cap wire to the yellow wire of the WH ballast. The brown one is not used for anything. Ballast is complete put it back together. Now you will need to move to the light fixture.

 

Once you disassembled the Odyssea light fixture and the wiring is exposed. One bulb set has a Blue, Black, White and Yellow set of wires. At the bulb socket plug end where the black lead with the yellow one is cut those 2 leads and connect them together and then connect them together back to the black wire from the main wiring harness you just cut the black lead from. Now do the same with the Blue and White wired end plug and connect them back to the main blue wiring lead. At the other end of the bulbs are the Yellow and white wires. Cut the brown wire from the white or yellow lead (i can't remember what color it was) But in the end you want to connect all 4 of the wires 2 yellow and 2 white to the green main supply lead. You are set with this bank of lights. Now for the others you will do the same thing but the colors are different. This is black end cap leads connected to the black main lead from the harness. Then the end cap with the light blue and dark blue leads. These are connect together and then back to the dark blue lead from the main wiring harness. On the other end are the light blue and black wires running to the brown and green main harness wires. Cut the wire connected to the brown main harness wire. Remember we do not use the brown wire. Now connect all the black and light blue wires to the green main wiring harness lead. Thats it, hook everything back up and you now have a quality ballast to run your Odyssea T5 bulbs.

 

Overall the Odyssea fixture is a good fixture but the ballast is a POC. But for the cost of the Odyssea fixture and 2 WH3 ballast and a little time wiring you can have a pretty good fixture for less then most other fixtures out there. My Odyssea fixture cost me $70.00 with free shipping and the WH ballast were $60.00 with shipping. $130.00 is not to bad for the end results. Of course my Odyssea fixture has now been gutted and put into a Wood Hood with Individual GLO reflectors. Counting the cost of the DIY Wood Hood with adjustable fan controller and temp monitor I still have considerable less in my light then a top quality fixture.

 

 

Odyssea housings complete with a top quality WH3 ballast.

 

[Deano]

Had a question on the wiring for this mod so here is a detail of the wiring.

 

Power coming in from the source (wall) Red to Black and White to White. green ground to case.

 

Ballast to lights

Yellow to Green - Red to Blue other Red to Black. Does not matter which reds go to blue or black. Brown wire from the Odyssea plug is not used. Leave disconnected.

 

 

 

[drews89]

I got that correct ... But now do I have to do any mod on my light fixture and if I do .. Do u have any pics on that ???

Had a question on the wiring for this mod so here is a detail of the wiring.

 

Power coming in from the source (wall) Red to Black and White to White. green ground to case.

 

Ballast to lights

Yellow to Green - Red to Blue other Red to Black. Does not matter which reds go to blue or black. Brown wire from the Odyssea plug is not used. Leave disconnected.

 

 

 

[Deano]

Sorry about that. I do not have photos but here is the wiring diagram from Fulham. You want to wire it LInear.