JBJ Nanocube 105w ballast failure

[snoopdog]

I bought this 28 gallon aquarium from Marine Depot with the stand a few years ago, paid $320 shipped for all of it.

My wife smelled a burnt odor and I tracked it down to the aquarium, since the light was not on. I took the lid apart and the bulb does not look burned but the light will not come on. When I got a shipment of snails in the other day I left the invoice on top of the tank, I wonder if that blocked enough air to burn up the ballast. The only ID on the ballast is 1x105w and it is made by JBJ. They want $110 for the ballast and $30-$50 for the bulb. That is half the price of the whole setup which is retarded.

Ideas ?

[snoopdog]

Okay, it is definitely the ballast. I opened it up and the left side is burned in two right at the plug for the output. This thing does not look well built. The thing is $128 shipped from JBJ, that is just this POS ballast.



Ideas ?

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[Babyreef]

What type of light is the ballast for? If its a t5 or compact flourescent setup maybe check out the workhorse ballasts? From an electric supply store they are very inexpensive.

[snoopdog]

Well this thing is extremely slim, it goes inside this plastic canopy so there is very little room for size difference. It is a quad 105 watt bulb.

[Babyreef]

I just looked that bulb up, never seen a bulb quite like that one before. not quite sure what ballast could fit your need with it, however i have a workhorse 5 sitting in a box if you have an old bulb and mabe a wattmeter to play around with. i think it pushes around 110 watts for t5ho just not sure about that bulb..

[snoopdog]

I just looked, those are pretty damn slim. The original ballast is 1.25" wide, the Workhorse 5 is 1.72" wide. It looks like the enclosure has room for maybe 1.8" inches so I may be good, all other measurements are close enough to not worry about. That bulb has two blue wires and two red wires. I would imagine it is basically a two wires for actinic, two for white. What part of town are you in ? I may actually take you up on that.

This is the bulb.

http://www.marinedepot.com/JBJ_28_Gallo ... BL-vi.html

[Babyreef]

im located near grelot and hillcrest

[Babyreef]

Sent you a pm

[Fishfood]

my only concern with the workhorse is the heat.. don't the workhorse ballast run hot? I honestly don't know because I've never had one but thought they did.

[Babyreef]

Come to think of it mine did run warm if the hood has a built in fan or 2 i wouldnt see it being an issue though but who knows

[snoopdog]

The hood on the JBJ has two fans.

[Babyreef]

Nice meeting you. let me know how that ballast works out for you, both on the size and the heat it may produce.
If you need anything just let me know.

[snoopdog]

Okay, after using Babyreef's wiring recommendations from the other post it did work. The Fulham Workhorse 5 is in the JBJ Nanocube and working like a champ. Seems even brighter but I could be wrong on that. Oh, and thanks Babyreef for providing the working solution and not even wanting anything in return for fixing my hood, you saved me $130.00

I promised some pics and here they are. The ballast is secured on the side, I had to turn it a different way but it did fit in the hood just fine. And just so that Google Spider does crawl this I want to add a few shameless plugs for the original ballast

Model KB336
USE 1x105W
JBJ Lighting Electronic Ballast Rapid Start

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[Babyreef]

Hi snoopdog wanted to say your welcome. Let me know how the heat is off that ballast. Glad to see it fit well.

[snoopdog]

There are two fans in the hood and they blow pretty hard, I would think it would be nothing major as far as heat.