Cheap lighting - ODNO

[fedge]

How long will these bulbs last when overdriven????

I would be interested if it were cheeper than doing a 55watt PC retrofit on my 29 gallon...in the long run.. and if it were really safe..(hate to melt down the tank)

[GulfCoastAquarian]

I've yet to actually burn out a bulb. After about a year, the ends of the bulbs will start to blacken and overall output will drop a bit so I change them once a year.

[dewcew]

Thanks everyone (especially Gulfcoastaquarian). I have been lurking here for a couple of weeks and saw the suggestion for ODNO lighting. I have a 100 gallon tank and I live in California. This is a bad combination when it comes to the electricity bill! I followed your directions and hooked up the ODNO lighting last night.


All I can say is WOW!!! Even my wife noticed the difference!

Thanks again.

Dan

[GulfCoastAquarian]

Anytime. I can't believe this thread has been read over 20,000 times!!

[tuvix72]

Great thread, here's a link that may be of interest:

http://www.gpodio.com/overdrive_twin_strip.asp

Regards
Giancarlo Podio

[Oqsy]

1 - 24" T8 6700K Daylight 18w

1 - 24" T8 18000K "Power Glo" 20w

(above overdriven in series with a 4 bulb electronic ballast)

when wiring a fixture in series with 4 leads going to what is essentially one 38 watt bulb from what i understand about series, what is the increase in wattage coming from the ballast? if i "trick" the ballast into thinking it's powering four 32-40watt bulbs, is it providing up to 160 watts to the pair of 24 inchers?

if that's the case, when trying to determine how much light i'm getting from this fixture, do i ignore the fact that i'm using 24 inch bulbs altogether and just imagine i'm doing a 4x 48" setup, and use those estimates, which would be a lamp that's 2.7 times brighter than NO?

i've done the math two different ways and come up with the *equivalent* of 99.9 - 128 watts from this setup.

can anyone clear this up a bit for me?

Oqsy

[GulfCoastAquarian]

4x ODNO generally provides about 2x the regular output. So you should be seeing the equivalent of about 75watts with those two 2' bulbs in series (4xODNO). You lose a lot of energy to heat.

[mpa90]

Again, Thanks for all the great info.!

So if I understand this correctly, My two 18" 15 watt bulbs running in series should give me approx. 60 watts over my 18 gal.? 3.3 watts per gallon.

[Thanks]

tuvix72, the link you posted has no pictures... Im thinking about overdriving my 18 watt T8's; anyone have a link with a good procedure for it? great thread, btw

[rich9521]

I am getting ready to do a reef tank and have read your lighting thread. Is there anyway you can send me a drawing of how to convert my single bulb 24" florissent light to a 2*55 od light. I want to try this mod for my reef if bulbs are available...Thanks Rich.

[ksand]

Hi all. I'm new to this forum and planted tanks. I just noticed that this thread has been going for two years! It's a fascinating subject. I'm going to Home Depot on my lunch hour (in about 20 minutes) and poke around the electronics dept. Is this a great hobby, or wha t?

[GulfCoastAquarian]

Man, I had no idea ODNO would be this popular. I figured that most people would be too apprehensive to try anything this unconventional.
There seem to be a lot of recent questions I've missed so I'll try updating the first post to make a few things more clear.

[ksand]

I think it's the Tim Allen thing. Just too much fun pushing stuff to the limit. Reminds me of the home-made bombs we made when we were kids.. er, never mind. Anyhoo, Home Depot has the baby you're talking about, a GE-432 MAX that's a 4-F32T8 for $27.87. What's really cool about your thread is I can now look at a shop light that says "2x32 T12" and realize that you can put T8's in there and replace the ballast with an electronic one. They have several 4-ft shop lights, but the reflectors are no more then dust hoods, although there was one called the Diamond-Back from Lithonia Lighting that looked pretty good ($24.95). So for roughly $54 I can have lighting for a 4-foot tank.... hmmm... that sofa's gotta go.

[GulfCoastAquarian]

Yeah, I suppose it is a bit of a 'Tim Allen' thing. It's not isolated to just planted aquariums for me, either. I modify my cars, my computers, everything, just to try to get the most I can out of them.

[ksand]

Exactly.