Anyone using these lights?

Well the light came today and was even in ONE PIECE!

No broken bulbs everything seemed OK.. The bulbs were LOOSE in the fixture though which I thought was kind of weird.. But they werent broken. I was able to easily figure out how to get under the lens and reconnect them (even without manual) so that was cool. Seems easy to get at all the lights the way its setup. Not sure but the t5 lens also seemed to be glass too.

I Gingerly plugged in the ballast that comes with the lights and quickly tested all the lights to see if they would ignite.. They did. and fired up ok and began to work.. I figured I would see smoke shortly so I was careful just to run them for a few minutes :)

Well I promised some feedback about this light fixture itself if anyone is interested... First impressions of the light fixture only was pretty favorable. The fixture itself seems pretty solid, well build and pretty well thought out as far as I can tell. Lights are easy to get at for changing and the frame of the light is nice and solid and pretty nice looking actually.. Actually it really had a higher quality feel first impression, than my ORBIT EXTREME gave me when I first saw it. Even the cheesy T5 connectors on this light were easier to deal with than the ones on my OEXtreme. Dont know about quality of these type conectors vs the twist on kind, but I found them easier to use than wrestling with the ones on the OE... I felt like I was going to snap the bulbs trying to turn them in the holders on the OEX. (maybe mine are defective)

Fans seemed ok too for now. Will probably add another set on the other end.

Only a few things bugged me. First was there was no manual for the light, only the ballast. Though thats an issue with the seller not really the MFG as there was probably one in the box when it was shipped from MFG? Anyone got one they would be willing to e mail me? Please PM me.. Thanks.

So there was Nothing about the hanging mounting brackets either. Also the lighting cords should IMHO come out the BACK vs the sides like this as they are now, they will be a bit of an eyesore.

Also like others have said, on my unit the bottom of the legs for this are bizzare.. Just had to feel my way through on how they went.. by putting them on, as the feet that go on the tank part seem to be designed to fit over a 1x4 rail vs a flat tank surface edge, as there are two vertical extensions on them vs ONE that most have. There is some bar that comes with it, but without directions I had no clue how they are supposed to be used. Figured that goes between the legs with bolts to provide support. Or maybe im missing something.

Didnt spend too much time messing with the legs as I just tried to see how they might work. I will be hanging mine from the ceiling, maybe using this hanging kit If i can figure THIS part out on my own. Any feedback on the hanging kit please chime in.. I called AT for this, but they were no help. Anyone have a scanned copy of the hanging bracket instructions or an extra manual on my model (150x2 T5x4) please PM me.

Next it was onto pulling off the end of the light fixture to see about the wiring. Seems they SOLDER the wires together and use shrink wrap covers, which is OK i guess. I will have to be cutting and messing almost all of them at this point, at least the HQI lines for sure, as I need that special plug for the cords that power the HQI. Not sure why 600volts/cords are needed to run only 2x 150W HQI from the BW VII, But maybe so..with the BW. This type of cord is UL listed so I feel good about getting cords that are also UL listed.

I didnt install the light yet as I didnt have the funky 600 volt cords/plugs that I found out I needed today for my Blue Wave VII.. So I need some strange male plug to plug into the ballast... I figured it was standard plug that I could just install onto the existing OD light..but.... I figured wrong.

Here are the cords for the 600volt type

www.specialty-lights.com/10665.html

I wasnt about to run this light with the existing ballast for any amount of time except to see if the light even worked.. Certainly couldnt trust the enough to intall it and run it even one day on that thing..So I just left it down for now until I can get the UL cords and UL ballasts connected for this thing.

Far as the bulbs...
Yes the 21W T5 are lame and seemed very dim to me.. Though i didnt see them on my tank, they just seemed weak, looking at them...anyways,they will need replaced. The 2x150W HQI seemed Ok though.. seemed to be the same color? So im doing OK there? hahahahha Not sure which color they are.. assuming 20K.

The T5 upgrade should be no problem at all as I will either gut the existing ballast box that came with the light, and use that, and put in some real T5 HO ballasts in there, (from my extreme fixture) and or see if i can cram them into my BWVII. Then I will use the HO T5 Actinics I just ordered and remove two of the 10k HO lights from my Current fixture and put them in this light.

So in the end I will have 2ea - 03 HO/T5 and 2ea - 20k HO/T5

And will just run these HQI bulbs till I get sick of them and get the 14k''s or they burn out, which ever comes first :)

Overall Im pretty impressed with this fixture to be honest. I dont care If I had to GUT everything IN it, the FOUNDATION of this light is solid.. which can be built upon over time. The reflectors seem OK and I know the HQI is hammered.. and maybe not the best for HQI as somone mentioned above, but that can be changed out someday too.. seems easy enough to do If I felt necessary. Also could do a 4ea x T5 TEK reflector upgrade on the T5 reflectors to boost them up too.
 
i can't beleive your all still talking about those lights.i saw their add in a fish magazine months ago and did a search about them.they have the worst name period.do your own search and look what people are saying about the product they bought.i'd rather you saw it from them than me.search for talk about aquatrader,thats who sells them.
 
I did tons of research, I know all about Aqua Traders, the fires, the bulbs, the this the that.. But didnt buy from them, bought from a guy on EBAY. Maybe the people AT are better now, who knows. But Dont care about that. Dont really care about the warranty either. Not expecting one

But I could see if I person was going to buy these SOLEY as they are and try and use them out of the box.. I wouldnt and couldnt recommend that. All I wanted was an HQI ready fixture with T5 capablity. I am unique in that I have a lot of the stuff already to take this light fixture to the next level..with UL ballasts for the t5 and the HQI, and even better HO bulbs. In my case I can do it for a 3rd of the cost of buying the same light with the SAME bulbs and ballasts I already have. Basically what I wanted was the shell of the fixure The BLue Wave VII is what powers the TEK lights.. Have you priced one of those lately? ahhahah

From what I read and researched on them, was that the only real MAJOR problem with them BALLASTS were bad, mainly the capacitors burned up often (and that might be fixed now too, but im not taking chances) But some people had OK luck with them as well. More power to them. I couldnt sleep at night or leave them alone running if it were me, but I guess they can.

Then it dawned on me about the fixture itself. Not too much you can screw up with that as far as fire hazards ahhaha... Maybe wiring? or something. Ya you can talk about the reflectors being bad etc.. maybe thats true, but even that can be fairly cheaply upgraded.

I was planning on Modding a nice CSL older PC ORBIT and installing HQI x 150 on that. I also wanted to upgrade my orbit to T5 supplimental. For me doing it this was a little more epxensive than MODDING That CSL hood would have been, but I enjoy tinkering with stuff, and modding this OD light will be fun too.

The only sucky part is I had to buy this light WITH the ballast..Yea I probably could have done better looking longer to try and just get a fixture itself somewhere, but coudnt find one. But on the upside, Maybe I can put that OD ballast box to use by putting the OE ballasts in there. That way I have timers etc..

So bottom line the fixture shell is pretty nice, for anyone with the materials already Like myself, that can affordibly make this light pretty much UL listed, by changing ballast/bulbs...whay not? I would recommend that idea, as the fixture shell is attractive and nicely built. I also noted they VENTED the top of the fixture above the HQI bulbs.. I thought that was pretty cool. Maybe most do this, I dont know, but I KNOW I wouldnt or easlily couldnt have done that on my orbit :)
 
will do!

I will drop in from time to time and check in to give feedback in this thread how its going. Though I dont expect any problems with the fixture itself or the name brand ballasts... I should be O.K.

Figured I would share what i was doin FWIW, as someone might come across this thread and be able to do what I did, and upgrade basically everything :) hahaha

Will post some pix when everything is connected and working. Really looking forward to HQI been a long time a comin.

peace
 
Does anyone have the NEW 2007 Version ??

A friend of mine just purchased the 36inch MH fixture... I told him to sign up here and read this thread but he insures me its cuz people never cleaned the ballst boxs out from dust... I was like I dunno bro... I just hate to see something bad happen....
 
they say the capacitor issue was fixed in the newer models.. Not sure If I buy that.. Safe way to go would be to buy a UL listed ballast as I did and run the fixture with that. Also not sure about the PC or T5 he has on his light, I would probably change out those ballast too..

FWIW thats what I would do.. better safe than sorry. Still a cheap way to go even doing it this way, and at least you know the critical stuff is UL.
 
i would read what other people said and be careful.people don't take the time to type these reviews without reason.but i'm not getting caught up in this thread.later.
 
Krazy K,

They said they fixed the capicitor problem, thats a qood question to ask what the experience of 07 models has been. Though I would really doubt its been addressed. What they need to do is get the whole thing UL listed and make any changes that they requested.. Prob never happen.. hahahha

As for me, i wouldnt be the guinea pig to see how the 07 models are as I think mine is an older version (t5) not even sure about that to be honest.. One thing for sure, Im NOT USING their ballasts or timer box without gutting it. But, maybe someone else who lives/works at home can try! ahhaha....


Ive never heard of ONE problem with the light fixture itself, No one replied to my question about that..

Something I did notice that I wanted to pass on.. When I broke apart my light on the power end to see how everything was connected in prep for rewiring it, I noticed that instead of GROUNDING The fixture wire ground wires properly with their own screws, they had just stuffed the wire(s) into the HOLE where the outer casing screws into. So when you remove it , you have loose wires (which are very small btw) dangling around that dont seem to go anywhere. I realized this when I saw ONE left in the screw hole.

Not sure if this could cause something to blow in the ballast (ground wire comes loose) but Im not taking any chances, I will repair that in my fixture.
 
My capacitors went up in smokes after a year of use. I ended up buying a box of 20 off ebay as I couldn't get ahold of AT. If anyone needs replacement capacitors for the older models, let me know as I have a bunch!
 
BubbleMonkey,

Is there a CE, CSA, ETL, or Keti sticker on the ballast?
Would you be able to take some good pics of this thing (internals, stickers, markings for us?
-J
 
just got the new 1x250 w and 2x65 odyssea 36''. comes with an electronic ballast overall not bad, only the bulb is 20k which is too blue for me.
 
Actually Im getting rid of the Odyssea light, Its brand new.. never raided the fixture I decided that Im going with all T5 instead, cant afford the Electric BILL$...

anyone want a 48" 150x2 HQI, and T5x4 Odyssea With ballast? PM me for more info

thanks
 
Electric BILL?? damn thats killing me too >_< , does anybody know the blub shield weather is UV or not? and how to tell ? the seller hombby dont even know or sure.
 
I think it is, and this has been covered in this thread if im not mistaken...I think on my sale page I think it said it was..

If you are concerned to be positive it wouldnt be that hard to slide out the glass from the fixture and have some tempered UV cut from a local shop to fit in there. Then you could be 100%

But if these lights were NOT UV shielded I think people would report livestock dying after using them? havent seen that in here?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8350763#post8350763 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BubbleMonkeyIII
But if these lights were NOT UV shielded I think people would report livestock dying after using them? havent seen that in here?
Click to expand...

For the eight months mine ran before going down in flames I had no issues with UV.
 
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