Thursday 8 December 2011

Fluval Roma 90 Light Repair

Okay.  This post doesn't fit with the general theme of USM, but it's better here than over at PTWD, so here goes...


My Fluval Roma 90 Aquarium Light Canopy stopped working a few days ago.  Both lights failed simultaneously which I took as a pretty clear indication that I didn't just need to replace the bulbs.  

I googled the problem, and found absolutely nothing online, apart from a few links telling me I needed a whole new unit, and a number of sites attempting to sell me one for around £80 ($125).  So, "fuck that," I thought, and cracked the thing open.


There are six tabs that hold the lid of the unit on.  Use a flathead screwdriver to pop these out from underneath.  The lid is glued down, so you will have to use some force - I was fairly rough with it and didn't damage it all.

You can see the two starters on the left, one for each bulb, so again, very unlikely that they've failed at the same time.  That leaves the choke (the big white thing in the middle) as the only real potential culprit.

I googled the brand and model of the choke: "Helvar L30A," and found a few results.  I ordered one for just over £10 including tax and shipping from lightbulbs2u.com, which arrived in around 36 hours.


Two screws hold the choke in place.  Remove these with a crosshead driver, and cut the two wires going into the unit.  Twist your wires, and simply push them into the contacts of the new unit, they automatically clamp in place.
Put everything back together, test it, put it on your aquarium, turn it on.  Done.  You've just saved yourself £70 ($105).

9 comments:

Unknown said...

hi i had the same problem this week, took the centre strip of and wired the black mains straight to the two white wires on the centre white ballast and took off the swithces part, then either turn on and off at the mains or stick a lamp switch on the mains cable, easy and free :-)

Unknown said...

So so glad i saw this before forking out for a new unit. Part ordered and on it's way. The guy said they sell a lot of those parts so must be a common fault

Unknown said...

Thanks, this helped us get into the case of our Roma 125. We had a weird issue that the old Helvar L30a has decided it won't fire both bulbs, with a bit of rewiring we've got it to just fire up one.

Unknown said...

Hi

I have a Roma 90 unit and had the same problem. The tubes started once but then stopped working completely. I changed the starters, and no success. I've just swapped the ballast and still no luck? One of the tubes almost starts sometimes if I take one of the starters out and start to remove the second, but goes back out when I lock the starter back into place.

Any ideas greatly appreciated.

charley444 said...

The same thing happened to me after buying a new ballast & fitting it. I had high hopes so very disappointed.It seemed to try to work but then just died a death. Still stumped. Only compensation is I managed to find a new light fitting for £62 which is cheaper than I've seen previously. Any further advice I can find before I fork out my £62 would be very appreciated.

Unknown said...

Same problem with a Roma 125. Fixed exactly as you describe - many thanks

Phil Jones said...

Thanks for the post just got some new tubes and the damn things wouldnt light so ordered 2 x starters and a L30 so thanks for posting :-)

Unknown said...

The same with mine lights would not come on this morning cleaned everything down fiddled with the starters and hay presto the lights working again must of been starters not seated properly hope this might help someone else .Saved myself some cash.

Unknown said...

Hello where can I find the replacement holders for the starters?