Questions about Regent DIY 70w

Background:

No electrical background, no experience with metal halides. First DIY lighting project. Little understanding.

I just purchased a used aromat 5euf ballast, 70w MH aqualine ab bulb, and endcap from a fellow reefer on reefcentral.

I've already read all the REGENT threads on nanoreef many times over, but still have many questions

Question is, I'm not sure what I need to get to have it hooked up fully as a pendant over my ten gallon

1) Which regent pendant do I need? As I already have the end caps, the bulb does not have to have to fit the original pendants.

Crumb used this:http://www.epinions.com/Regent_Lighting_50...00WL_Shop_Tools

but others have used different ones.

2) What else do I need? Three prong power cord? Ceiling mounts? wire caps? anything I'm missing?

3) Do those regent fixtures come with a ballast inside that I have to remove and replace with the proper electronic ballast? If so, that would be great, because the wires on the ballast are all very short.

4) lastly, how do I wire the darn thing?! I can't find any simple wiring diagrams online, or on the ballast itself.

a) Where does the green ground wire on the ballast attach to? the green ground wire on the power plug?

5) How do I handle the bulb itself? It's still in the packaging (see that bubble wrap above the ballast in the picture). I know i'm not supposed to touch the bulb with my hands, so do I wear gloves? Or not wear gloves and only touch ceramic parts?

1. you can use an eq300wl model regent. personally i find it easier to chip away at the regent bulb holders. but if you want to take the time to put in the new end caps, feel free.

2. you need a grounded power cord in a length you think is decent(i used an 8 foot cord but my pendant is not hanging. wire nuts are ok, but to be safest i would solder the connections.

3. no ballast inside the regent fixtures...you wire your ballast to the grounded cord...then use the rest of the cord to wire to the pendant

4. cut your powercord in half(or however you want your ballast situated). match the black and white wires from the ballast to the cord. gather both ends of the powercord and the ballast's ground wire(green) and solder/wire nut them all together. the powercord leading to the pendant is the easiest part. it doesn't matter what color wire from the powercord you use to wire to the pendant...just connect the ground(green) from the pendant to the ground from the powercord. plug in and enjoy!

5. to handle the bulb i clean it first(windex, rubbing alcohol, etc.), then use a clean paper towel to put it into the fixture. if you need any more help...check out the diy regent thread. about a bajillion pages answering your every question.

whoa, really?

damn.

Where can I put the ballast then? On the side of the pendant? Wouldn't that get pretty hot? Or is electronic safe?

*as you can see, all of the wires are very short.. the red and blue lamp lead wires are only several inches each!!*

" it doesn't matter what color wire from the powercord you use to wire to the pendant...just connect the ground(green) from the pendant to the ground from the powercord. plug in and enjoy!"

Yoshiod, by this do you mean connect the ground wire from the ballast th at will be situated ON the pendant to the powercord? or is there supposed to be a green ground going directly from the powercord onto a screw on the fixture?

Thanks a lot for your help. You'd be surprised how much you DON'T have in the regent thread. (I've reread the entire thread at least twice, but everyone seems to have a different opinion about everything)

Okay, let's go over again:

1. You see the red and blue wires on your ballast? Connect that to the socket. Doesn't matter which to which really. If it is too short, find a wire to extend it (I cut the wire from a broken blender and extend it).

2. Get a cable you use to power up your computer. Cut it and you will see there is black/white/green wires inside. Just connect them to the same color with the wires on your ballast.

3. To handle the bulb, I just use my bare hand (just wash my hand first and dry it) to put the bulb in and wipe off with some tissue. I've been doing that for over year but no problem so far.

That's it.

So I bought a bunch of wire nuts, 16 gauge grounded power cord, and the regent 300 watt fixture. (Model WQ300, exact same thing as EQ300WL except in white- all specifications match as well as look and size)

it's a piece of junk

the 10k ab bulb doesn't fit in it properly, even after chiseling away at the top. The glass on the bulb still touches the lower ceramic part, and the bulb simply flickers on and off and on and off etc.

Yet when i hook it up to the endcaps that was sold to me, the bulb fires up perfectly fine.

moral of this lesson?

bulbs are all shaped differently.