ok guys ordered my first t5 ho light

john0deere7

AC Members
Jul 31, 2009
35
0
0
36
north carolina
I have one under the "Odyssea" name, that I got on eBay. It's a 4-tube 48" T5 fixture.

Light output: 7/10.
I've changed all four bulbs since I got it, mostly because I wanted a different color temperature for plants. It came with 2 x 12000K and 2 x Actinic, which would have been fine if I didn't have a freshwater aquarium. The reflector design is the ultimate in "cheap", but gets decent amount of the light in the right direction. I haven't had any problem with ballasts yet. (In about 4 months so far).

Construction: 3/10.
The first thing I did was disassemble mine. I ended up re-routing a few poorly routed wires. I tightened several mounting screws for the ballasts. I also had to modify a mount for one of the cooling fans, which had a malformed plastic tab that prevented it from snapping into place. All the wiring looked as thin and cheap as possible. There is no question this was manufactured fast and cheaply.

Design: 5/10
I ended up hacking the inside part of the tank mount clamps off, so that I could use them with a glass canopy. The light is well-weighted, and stays stable even without the full clamp. The outer shell is somewhat metal-ish and solid. It includes a plastic splash shield. The bulbs are somewhat tightly packed together, and the endcaps and wires are mashed together worryingly tight. The reflector is super-thin and I suspect some kind of coated plastic. This wouldn't worry me as much if the whole unit didn't get so hot under full power. The ballasts are packed inside tightly to the point of restricting air flow, which is provided by a pair of muffin fans at one end. These seem to turn on if one pair of lights is one, but is not affected by the other pair (odd wiring choice).There appear to be vents for two more fans at the other end, but these are left unused and partially blocked by the ballasts from the inside. Separate rocker switches (on my unit) for each pair of lights, and the night LEDs is a nice feature.

Overall: 5/10.
The price is the main selling point. It's hard to get a complete commercial T5 solution in this price range. The product is passable, but not a good choice if you want as little hassle as possible. If you don't mind a bit of fiddling, you should be fine.

light_combo.jpg
 
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thanks geekboy....yea i have no problem re routing wires and what not for the price lol i hope it works out fro me though...money has been tight for a while now
 
I got one of these for free the other day, however either the bulbs are burned out or the ballasts are bad (LED lights work fine). I still haven't decided if it's worth fixing or not.
 
I got one of these for free the other day, however either the bulbs are burned out or the ballasts are bad (LED lights work fine). I still haven't decided if it's worth fixing or not.
I'd definitely check out the internals and look for issues in the wiring. It seems very unlucky that both ballasts would go bad, and you should get at least some signs of life from a spent bulb.
 
i got my light today...the outside box was perfect...picked it up and well.....jingle jingle jinlge......opened it up and all 4 of the bulbs where busted and the bulb sockets are broken. emailed them today and they said they would replace all the broken parts for free and would get back in touch with me tomorrow. im pretty ticked off right now!
 
i got my light today...the outside box was perfect...picked it up and well.....jingle jingle jinlge......opened it up and all 4 of the bulbs where busted and the bulb sockets are broken. emailed them today and they said they would replace all the broken parts for free and would get back in touch with me tomorrow. im pretty ticked off right now![/QUOTE]
i know it stinks but they solved your problem so you should go relax and enjoy yourself. no reason to be angry at something that has gone wrong but was made right. it is just wasting your time.

good luck with the light once all the pieces come in!
 
I find it ironic that I had mine shipped with the post office across the border into Canada (from the States). It was covered with inspection papers and had clearly been molested at customs. Despite this, it arrived intact. That must have been quite the trip with UPS.
 
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