# What about ODNO?



## malkore (Nov 3, 2003)

1. no, but the bulb burns out sooner, proportionate to the level of overdriving. I think you typically have to replace a 3x or 4x overdriven bulb every 4-6 months.

2. no idea, I haven't done it. Do a search though, as I know someone wrote up a lot of info on ODNO here.


----------



## John P. (Apr 10, 2004)

I'm using an Advance REL-4P32-SC Ballast.


----------



## BOTIA (Dec 23, 2003)

*ballasts?*

One of the best deals on ballasts is fulham workhorse ballasts. They are very high quality and cheap since they non aquarium specific ballasts. Go to fulham.com and it has calculator for deciding which ballast to use and they have a dealer locator function. They are sold through commercial lighting suppliers. I paid 55 canadian for a workhorse 7 which is a 4 tube 228 watt ballast.
bOTIA


----------



## imnappy2 (Aug 6, 2004)

I did 6 - 2x ODNO T8 bulbs for my aquarium. I used the cheap shop lights you can get from home depot or where ever for 7 dollars. They all have electronic ballasts So I bought 6 of them took them apart retro fit the other ballasts in riveted them in. Used all the Ends that were with the bulbs and they work like a champ. SUPER Bright at 2x almost glad I didnt go larger because the heat from these lamps is quite warm. If I were trying to minimize room on top of the tank I would probably go for 3 or 4x but 2 worked great.


----------



## Raul-7 (Oct 17, 2003)

So if I were to use a 6,500K it wouldn't get washed out by how many times I'm 'overdriving' it? Thanks for the ballast recommendations, I've heard a lot about Fulham..I should go looking for it. I also understand that the more times you overdrive a bulb, the less effecient it is?


----------



## T_om (Sep 2, 2004)

imnappy2 said:


> I did 6 - 2x ODNO T8 bulbs for my aquarium. I used the cheap shop lights you can get from home depot or where ever for 7 dollars. They all have electronic ballasts So I bought 6 of them took them apart retro fit the other ballasts in riveted them in. Used all the Ends that were with the bulbs and they work like a champ. SUPER Bright at 2x almost glad I didnt go larger because the heat from these lamps is quite warm. If I were trying to minimize room on top of the tank I would probably go for 3 or 4x but 2 worked great.



Sorry, but this is incorrect. 

Home Depot DID, in fact, have a shop light with an electronic ballast... in actuality, they had two models. However, only one was capable of overdriving bulbs, the other was not (not even all electronic ballasts work). All the rest of the cheap shop light models at Home Depot had the old ballasts that will not work at all. I'm glad you lucked out and got the correct ones, but everyone might not be so lucky.

Further, Home Depot stores did not ALL have the same shop lights... there were variations from store to store and model to model, and you cannot tell until you open up the unit and look at the ballast.

The safer approach is to buy the Fulham Workhorse ballasts or the GE electronic ballasts that Home Depot DOES carry and wire them according to the diagrams available on the web.

Tom


----------



## AaronT (Apr 11, 2004)

1. No, the color stays the same, it's just brighter
2. I prefer the home depot ballasts myself. True they are harder to find, but man are they cheap and isn't that the whole point? The shop light you want is a dual T8 fixture that comes in a white box w/ grey lettering. You'll also know it because it's the cheapest fixture they carry at around $7-8 a pop. You can always just open the box and make sure the ballast inside is the Sunpark SL15. I've used this ballast for about 6 months now and couldn't be happier. You'll need one ballast for every bulb you plan to use. Here's a great how-to site that I used: http://www.geocities.com/teeley2/overdrv1.html I've even driven a 55w CF GE 9325k bulb w/ this ballast and it's SUPER bright


----------



## GulfCoastAquarian (Jul 30, 2002)

You can use just about any electronic ballast designed to run four F32T8 bulbs to run a 55W PC bulb, but the power factor may not be quite up to par and you may not get the full brightness you'd expect. 
You can get a Workhorse 5 for $25 here...
http://www.petsupplyliquidator.com/htm/aparts_pwrcompactballast.htm#b2

You can find the answers to many of these questions in the FAQ on the first page of the ODNO thread...
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=175


----------



## Rolo (Dec 10, 2003)

I'll also second the fulham ballasts. Almost an infinite array of bulbs you can run. I think it was Wasserpest or Botia that said the WK5 hooked up the proper _non_-overdriven way on T8 still burns them brighter then other ballasts.

Ouch $45!? You can get them for $23 here on Ebay.


----------



## T_om (Sep 2, 2004)

GulfCoastAquarian said:


> You can use just about any electronic ballast designed to run four F32T8 bulbs to run a 55W PC bulb, but the power factor may not be quite up to par and you may not get the full brightness you'd expect.
> You can get a Workhorse 5 for $45 here...
> http://www.petsupplyliquidator.com/htm/aparts_pwrcompactballast.htm#b2
> 
> ...



Paying $45.00 for a Fulham Workhorse 5 is a blatant rip-off.

Go here: www.naturallighting.com

They sell the WH5 for $23.99 and all the rest of the Fulham line. You can also ask them about volume discounts... I bought a batch of 4 for $21.45 each. They also have just about everything in the "Lighting" line you could possibly want without "fish store" price markups.

Standard disclaimers about Natural Lighting, Inc. apply, I am a happy customer, nothing more.

Even if you don't buy from Natural Lighting, you can search the web and find about a zillion sites that sell these things for WAY less than $45.00

Caveat emptor

Tom


----------



## GulfCoastAquarian (Jul 30, 2002)

Quick Note: I made a typo. It's $25, not $45.


----------



## aquaverde (Apr 15, 2003)

for some reason, the link doesn't work, but copy and pasting the typing will
strange


----------



## Raul-7 (Oct 17, 2003)

But as a note, I notice all of you are overdriving 48" bulbs. I'm soon going to setup a med-light tank(54g corner), so I don't want to go above 130w...which Workhorse ballast should I use, and for effeciency I only want to overdrive around 2x. 

GulfCoastAquarian, nice to see you back...where've you been for so long?


----------



## Rolo (Dec 10, 2003)

The ballast you use depends on the bulbs you want. On the front page of the fulham site is a guide to pick the proper ballast. You will have to get the next size larger though to have extra power leads to OD.


----------



## T_om (Sep 2, 2004)

GulfCoastAquarian said:


> Quick Note: I made a typo. It's $25, not $45.



Whew!

Glad to see that. With all the help you have been giving to folks on this and other forums regarding ODNO I could not believe you would send someone to a site charging that much..

Tom


----------



## BOTIA (Dec 23, 2003)

*The skinny in fulham and my odno setup*

hey guys here's the deal. I f you get a fulham 7 it has 4 outputs each lead puts out 400ma. 
Here is copy of an email from fulham
"Dear Erik,
The lamp operating current for the T8 F32 is 210mA, if you operate the
T8 lamp on the WH7 as planned below, the operating current the lamp will
see is 400mA. 
The lamp will operate very hot and deliver very short lamp life."
There fore if you use t8'S on each lead each T8 will be overdriven by x .9= 60.8 watts. I use a mix of grolux standard tubes T8 65K 'S of one fulham 7. 
I also have added 1 more T8 that is odno x2 of an 2x32 advance ballast. So my tank looks like gingerale and my cabomba grows 1 inch a day.
Btw my fulham 7 cost 55 canadian. Everything from the us cost double pretty much after shipping ,taxes and exchange.
Botia


----------



## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Yep... a T8 connected to a WH7 is brighter and warmer than connected to the "normal" Advance SC whatever 4x 32 ballast. 

I don't think "very hot" and "very short bulb life" are correct statements, I guess it depends what you compare it to. I have it running for a few months now and the bulb doesn't get as hot as the 54W T5's, and it looks still great (no black ends... knocking on glass).


----------



## imnappy2 (Aug 6, 2004)

I still like the Home Depot Version. And that was my mistake on the lights I do realize they make all kinds of different models. But for a college student the shop lights i got work great. I have 6 bulbs on my 75 gallon and is keeping it super bright!


----------



## GulfCoastAquarian (Jul 30, 2002)

Sorry about the price typo. There's obviously a lot of places you can find the Fulham ballasts, but I've ordered from petsupplyliquidator.com before and have had a good experience so I figured I'd just pass it on.


Raul-7 said:


> GulfCoastAquarian, nice to see you back...where've you been for so long?


I've been pretty busy with work, being on the road a lot, but I'm still around. Not nearly as active as I used to be, though, and unfortunately the tank is showing it.


----------



## cdnburt (Feb 11, 2005)

*SL15 ballast supplier found*

I have been looking for a reliable source for some Sunpark SL15 ballasts. Since I am in canada, the Home Depot Stores here carry different lighting than the US counterparts, so the low cost light fixtures were not an option.

I contacted Sunpark directly and low & behold, they will sell to individuals! I placed a credit card order with them today for qty 8 of the SL15T ballasts. The price quoted to me was $5.95usd each + shipping.

Visit www.sunpkco.com for addidional info, or contact them using the following:

Sunpark Electronics Corp. 
1850 W. 205 Street, 
Torrance, CA 90501, USA

Email: [email protected]
Tel: (310)320-7880 , 
1-866-478-6775 
Fax: (310)320-7875


----------



## ScottMorris (Jan 18, 2005)

Ok, I will be the first to ask. Whats an ODNO?

Scott


----------



## Raul-7 (Oct 17, 2003)

Here's the best article written on ODNO: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=175


----------

