AQUARIUM LIGHT ODYSSEA POWER COMPACT ARE STARTING ON FIRE!

[gagaliya]

i am sure there are many high priced snakeoil products out there, however we are not talking about anything else but the lighting strip, and i am not saying higher price automatically = better.

But the coralife aqualight is definitely a much higher quality product than odessey, and not just because it cost more. Actually any type of brand name lighting strip like the sunpod, nova etc.. are much better. I really dont think that is even debatable. My point is it's something that will be used daily for a long time, so why not pay a little more and get a better product.

the timers i personally never had problems with in all my years using it, but i know people who had them fail, (it's a $20-30 cheap plastic strip...). But again we are talking about the lighting not the timer.

This isn't the best logic. Just because something is more expensive, it doesn't mean it's better.

Look at the Sun Sun vs JBJ filters.Sun Sun on ebay is like half the price(or less) of the JBJ....but literally they are the EXACT SAME FILTER. JBJ slaps their name on it and marks it up 200-300%.

Another good example:

http://consumerist.com/2010/01/comp...case-charges-3000-markup-and-gets-caught.html

But the $3500 one MUST be better, right?

Regarding the coralife powerstrip/time, I've heard more accounts of these failing/causing fires than I've heard of Odyssea lights causing fires. Most of the Odyssea stuff is all hearsay, but a couple of years ago there were huge numbers of people having critical failures with the Coralife timer.

 

[customdrum]

odyssey had a problem with the halide fixtures catching fire years ago and they solved the problem long time ago, they had a ballast problem. the cf fixtures work great, there cheap but they work fine, i would not buy a 500watt fixture jebo/odyssey brand ( same company ) them but any small fixture from them is great.

 

[Squawkbert]

^ agreed - the OP was out of date when posted, their lights had already seen design and component improvements.

 

[Narwhal72]

UL listing

I was reading this thread and found that there are some inaccuracies concerning UL listing. Because there are zero light fixtures in the Aquarium hobby that are UL listed for saltwater and most power compact, HO T5, and metal halide lights have multiple power cords and are marketed for saltwater you simply will not be able to find a UL listed fixture.

There are fixtures listed for freshwater use only (Perfecto and Aqueon fluorescent light strips are examples) and have UL listing. However UL tests fixtures for saltwater to the same standard as for a boat light and there are no fixtures that can pass the spray test (because of venting and fans required to keep the high intensity fixtures cool). UL also requires that luminaires have a single power cord and most higher end light fixtures have mutliple power cords.

A few manufacturers have tried to cheat the system by submitting the fixture as a portable luminaire, which is the same as a desk lamp, (Hagen T5's are an example) but once they get turned in to UL or inspected they will lose the listing (which has already happened to Hagen). It's against the UL rules to advertise a product for something other than its intended use as stated to UL.

So what that all means is that when shopping for a high intensity aquarium light you don't need to concern yourself with UL listing at all.

PS. Coralife Power centers are UL listed too. Most if not all of the fires are the result of saltwater spraying or dripping onto the power strip. The fire would have occured with any power strip regardless. Coralife just makes a unique product that is popular with aquarium hobbyists so it gets a lot more publicity.

 

[odinthejd]

I believe they have fixed the problem

 

[<3Oscar]

I've got an Odysea T5HO lighting system. Yes, I'd perfer Coralife just because I'm more familiar with their product line. However, my T5HO system is a newer model. By the time I shut it off at night it has barely gotten warm. I did a lot of product research before getting the system and found the feedback to be about 50/50. Then I noticed that one of the complaints I read about it causing a fire came from a person who also claimed an electric can opener almost burned down their kitchen. In cases like that, it's more likely to be faulty wiring in the home and not necessarily the equipment. Regardless, I've got a newer model of the Odyssea T5HO and had zero problems. I've personally taken it apart and inspecting its wiring and tested the ballasts before even setting it up. So far so good. But if my house burns down, I'll let you know what the fire marshal says.

 

[asincero]

I just bought a 72" 384watt Odyssea power compact light fixture from aquatraders before coming across this thread. Too late to cancel the order now, so I guess I'll have to try it and see for myself. Will report back if my house goes up in flames as a result...




... not serious ... I'm sure everything will be ok *crosses fingers* ...

 

[PAL]

gagaliya, I just read through this thread and noticed some faults. First off, I do have a Coralife aqualight 48" with 2 6700k bulbs. Now the real problem is price (money money money), now you state that it is merely $100 more but completely contrary. Quoted from Takashi Amano himself "replace your lighting every 6 months". Now if we look to aquatraders.com, you can buy 4 bulbs for $40 including shipping. Coralife? $150 with shipping. Now this is a 100+ a year investment which negates your point. Next there is the whole fire problem. We must recognize the fact that many members have pointed out that many improvements have been made. We must also recognize that there have been very few complaints (around 7, BACK IN 2005) about the cords burning. If we look to the website, it states that there have been more than 10,000 sales, last updated on June 9, 2009. So you pretty much have the odds of this burning as you do getting hit by a car (1 in 6000). So IMO I would get the Odyssea light (my aqualight gets extremely hot) with the bulbs.

Now I would also like to touch on the point of turning your lights off at night. I have school throughout the day and the plants simply won't get the light necessary if they are only on at night. So what I do to prevent overheating is on my 55, have 3 different fixtures all attached on the Coralife timer (found at kensfish.com). I turn on the PC for 1 hour, turn it off for 15 minutes. During these 15 minutes, I still have a 33 watt GE brightstik and 72 watt LED fixture on. This leads to about 2 wpg which is still enough light. Now I also, at 2pm have a siesta where I have 24 watts or .5 wpg of lunar LEDs on and this lasts for 1 hour. This not only cools the lights down but allows CO2 levels to rise, maximizing growth. In total, I have the Coralife on for 7.5 hours, and the rest on for 9.

 

[olddesertrat]

Buyer Beware

Some people are claiming that Odyssea has fixed the problems fans failing and overheating on their CF hoods.

Sorry people, but from 1st hand experience I can tell you that is not true.

I have had two 2x55 watt CF hoods over the past two years.

Bought them because they were cheap.

Both failed in less than 1 year. Fans on both failed within 2 months of using them.

Both ran very hot, in fact, so hot the reason little fans failed is because the plastic housing they were in started to melt.

Just took my last one apart to see why it failed.

1. Fans failed because plastic housing melted.
2. Resin in ballast boiled before it failed. Ballast was right next to lamps with no ventilation. No thermal cut off switch on ballast. That would cost like another $1 or two to install.
3. When unplugged lamps, the plastic insulation on wires cracked and pieces fell off, leaving exposed wires.

In short. This is summer of 2010 and I just had all the same fan, wiring, overheating problems this thread started talking about 5 years ago.

For me, it is just quality external ballasts like icecap from now on.

later

 

[Plague]

This thread made me feel a lot better about buying 48" T5HO fixture for my 55gal from Odyssea. Being serious too