13W PC light/ballast at WALMART $10

hey guys, walmart carries a blue desklamp..its a modern-ish type folding desklamp that doubles as a nightlight. (mainstays decor flourescent desklamp, sku 2213397038) Point is, it uses a 13w PC ballast and all you DIYers can dissasemble it and use it on a nano reef with a few easy mods. Lamp is 9.95 and comes with a 2700 13w lamp. They sell 6700 (or is that 7600?) replacement lamps for 3.97 on the same aisle! I just bought one to go over my nano along with another fixture i already had. this thing is awesome....buy 2 of them and a couple of bulbs and you have a perfect light kit for way under 30 bucks. good ol' walmart...who needs the LFS? enjoy and happy reefing.

I have one of those for my hospital tank. Beware of those replacement bulbs tho'. The base on the ones here (Home Trends?) is different than the socket on the lamp and the AH Supply socket. The bulb has one tab clip not two, and if you put it in the lamp from wally's you'll have a bear of a time getting it out. I know, I did it before I relized they were not the same. I used a Dremel to grind off the tab and I am using it over my fuge in the Ah Supply socket with no problem.

If you are looking for 2x13 cheap and local.... try getting the dual 13 watt work light from Lowe's. Two switches and 6400K bulbs, $24.99. I want to get one and tear it apart to see what exactly is in there but can't spend the money because right now I don't have a use for the light.

well, the bulb that came with light i picked up at walmart was only 2700K temp, so I stashed it in the closet and popped an extra 10000/03 bulb i had into it. makes a loud clicking noise when the bulb pops into place but it's sturdy and worked just fine with the fixture from walmart. also, i took a good look at the replacement bulbs they sell and it says right on them 7200K, also, i compared one to one of my 10000/03 bulbs and the contacts and plug are identical. at 4 bucks for a bulb, i think its worth it, especially since the LFS here sells the same bulb for 9.99. I was able to mount the ballasts and lights inside the hood that came with my new 5gal tank with no problem. The tank looks great and the softies are lovin the extra light. anyone want a 5gal hex tank with built in bio-wheel filtration? let me know.

the worklight from lowes sounds like a good idea as well, but all i needed was one more 13 watt fixture and I'm low on fundage like every other college student with a reefer habit. I don't see myself adding any more light to this 5gal..it'd be overkill. let me know if you do happen to get ahold of the lowe's fixture and if it works for ya.

yeah i was looking at those too! Also, in the hardware aisle they had a 65w 6400k outdoor light for 25 i think. It was either rite lite or loa. i think i might get the one you speak of for a quarantine tank. hmmm....

Lizbeth -

Are the dual 13W worklights the one's with the integrated handle or something different (one that was a dual bookworm type would be perfect). I was thinking about getting one, but wanted to be sure it was "guttable" and that I could loose the handle B4 spendin the $24....

-Ed

Ed,

It's the one with the handle. Like I said I've never torn one apart. I'm sure if you are careful you could try it and see what's in there. If it's not something you could use put it back together and return it.

The thing that interests me is it has dual switches and is pretty lightweight. I wonder what the ballast set up is? If you get one let us know what you find when you rip :woot: it apart!

lizbeth

can you get an sku or model number for that ballast, liz?

Bayco #FL-908

SKU 1739836808

Here's the back with the two switches. It's so lightweight it must have an electronic ballast.

walmart carries the same light except with one 13w bulb....i think it is the same company and they are for $9 something....

I got two words for ya: cable ties.

It looks like it comes with its own built-in attachment points (outlined in red). Add some sturdy eye pins to your hood, leave a hole over where the switches are, and use cable ties between your attachment points and the eye pins. When you need to change the bulbs, cut the cable ties.

Yep it has hooks on both ends. The thing that doesn't show in the picture (I took the camera to the store) is the handle has a bend to it so the whole thing has a slight V to it.

Somebody please please buy one of these so we can see what's in it. :*(

I will take lots of pics. My initial impression is "totally hackable."

BTW, I saw a 175W Merc Vapor lamp set-up (ballast, fixture, and cheapo bulb) at Lowe's for $30. From what I have read IWASAKI bulbs are designed to work on MV ballasts? If so this would be another 'Home improvement hack.' Rip out the ballast and socket, maybe reflector, based on application, and buy a quality bulb for $70 -80. Thoughts on this?

Originally posted by Chamkeeper

I will take lots of pics.  My initial impression is "totally hackable."  

YOU GO CHAMKEEPER!

yea actually i just picked up one of them too yesday. its not hte clamp on one im talkinga bout the desklamp thats blue in colour. it looks great btw! im going to run it on my fuge i think. cost is as follows

$9.95---- Desklamp

$3.95---- 6400K Bulb

total with tax:

about 16 bux.

I think we are being robbed by hellolights.com i mean gosh 20 dollars for a retro? even if u wanted hte 50/50 bulb buy the fixture from wally and the bulb from hellolights.com which is mabe 6 bux tops i think. thatd be round maybe 18 bux total.

i think we have been robbed.

nishant

i'm running my nano with 3 of those walmart fixtures. theyve been up for about a month and work with no prob. its ridiculous what people charge for these parts. you can get the ballasts and sockets from mcmasters.com for about 8 bucks, but then you have to buy wire and stuff. walmart may be the antichrist, but hey..they sell cool desklamps.

I bought one of the Bayco dual 13W lamps yesterday. I took it apart last night and it looks pretty easy to use as a retro. The AC in splits to a plug on the light itself, and to a circuit board. Board has wires coming off it for the two switches and wires for the bulbs. Should be easy to mount in a hood as long as you can keep the circuit board waterproof, and have some extra wire to extend the connections from the circuit board. I'll try to get some pictures up soon.

we just finished building a custom hood for the nano--looks great. anyways, we used 3 of these walmart fixtures and mounted the bulbs in the hood, then mounted the ballasts in a seperate electronics (with switches) box we got from radio shack. each bulb is controlled by a seperate switch built into the ballast box. this hood is ideal..the bulbs/fixtures put off VERY LITTLE HEAT. my heater is always clicking on and off just to maintian 76F temp.... the ballast box is always hot to the touch. it's imperative you mount the ballasts seperate from the bulbs, otherwise you'll have a big heat problem. ill post some pictures here tonight. just got a new camera and the hood was finished just last night. total cost to build was about 75 bucks including fixtures hood and bulbs..however you could make it much cheaper, depending on the quality hood you'd want.

peace,

tana

Anyone have a photo of the 13w Walmart fixtures? I poked around on Walmart.com but didn't see anything...

FWIW, Home Depot has ballast that will run 14, 18 and 22w PC bulbs. I'm running these right now on my nano. They're only $2.97ea. Just my 2 cents.

Originally posted by RudeBoy

FWIW, Home Depot has ballast that will run 14, 18 and 22w PC bulbs. I'm running these right now on my nano. They're only $2.97ea. Just my 2 cents.

I assume these are the tar ballasts, right? Is the only downside of tar versus electronic more power consumption and more heat?

$2.97! At that price, maybe my question is irrelevent. But then I look again at the price of power compact bulbs and I just have to ask.

well rudeboy, what about teh socket? where ya gonnag et taht from?

McMasters.com has the gx23 sockets for a couple of bucks, or you can use bullets connectors from any electrical store and these are only a few cents.

Originally posted by cmv

Anyone have a photo of the 13w Walmart fixtures?  I poked around on Walmart.com but didn't see anything...

Bad pic...sorry.

It's the blue thingy.......funny thing is, I bought three....one camr with 6500K...others had 2700....

....go figure !