Replacing an Odyssea ballast before my house explodes..

[BBoley24]

I have ordered a really great looking 4x24w T5HO Unit for a cheap frag setup. 2 months later... both ballasts start smoking one right after another and blow out. So it turned out to be one of those ink jet situations. It was cheaper to buy a new fixture than replace the ballasts plus I got new bulbs. Im an idiot. Both of those ballasts smoked out after a few months. Now I tore apart the ballasts and surprise surprise... IT'S A NIGHTMARE

Are there any ballasts out there that are direct replacements for this ballast that meets my qualifications?

 

[DSP]

I have 2 of those fixtures and both ballast on one of them starting smoking just like yours did.i would just get a good icecap ballast

 

[BBoley24]

Do you have to rewire the interior of the fixture?

 

[DSP]

No you wont need to touch anything inside the odyessea fixture u would just have to cut the connector part off the cord"the part of the cord that screws into the odyessea ballast"And just connect the wires to the new ballast..check the selling forum on this site I saw a icecap ballast for sale pretty cheap last week.

 

[DSP]

The quick disconnect plug is what's its called lol.just noticed the name on he pic u posted lol

 

[BBoley24]

I found this ballast. It will power all four bulbs and is under 3o bucks shipped. It sounds like a logical and safe decision. I just wanted to avoid taking the fixture apart to rewire it.

 

[BBoley24]

Fulham WH5-120-L Workhorse 5 Electronic Fluorescent Ballast, 120-Volt, Instant Start

 

[DSP]

Give it a try that's a good price.i think tek fixtures use those workhorse ballast.also if u realy wanna make the odyessea even more powerful look into changing reflectors and puttin in some individual reflectors.u can get top notch ones for 20 a piece.And it makes a huge huge difference in the amount of light that goes into your tank.something to look into.theres even some 10 dollar reflectors on amazon and ebay that look pretty good and def a a lot better then the odyesseas.i may try them myself

 

[BBoley24]

That will be my next move after this ballast install. I did find a few ballasts laying around the garage. Can you tell if these things work as well?

GE Electronic F96T12HO Ballast (72109) - Replacement Glass - Ace Hardware

 

[BBoley24]

Ok I ordered that Fulham for 25 bucks on amazon!