1105 Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 Alright, I was at Lowes today and was looking through their lights and came across a 30w bulb so I decided to pick it up and give it a try. On the circuit board I don't see and A1 A2 A3 A4 (got thoes from th $3 ballast thread) All I see is F1 F1 on one side, then F2 F2 on the other side. Everything else looks the same so I'm guessing one side is pos and the other is neg or would there be a pos and neg on each side? Link to comment
stoney waters Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 My guess would be that f1 would would power one end of the tube and f2 would power the other. Try it in order left to right from ballast to bulb. If it does not fire, immediately cut power and try a different sequence. Trail and error worked for me. Link to comment
jfish Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 ok iam a littel confused on this(sorry to hijack) so the ballest in the light bulb lets fire a PC without the need to bye an expensive hood for a tank or upgrade to a new light?(sorry iam just not vary good at this stuff)is there a page somware that has more on this or directions on how to do it for dummies? thanks! Link to comment
1105 Posted December 28, 2005 Share Posted December 28, 2005 The hood is just what holds the lights in place, the ballasts are what powers the lights. As long as the lights are wired up right to the ballast, and they are compatiable, then the bulb will fire. I'm sure you could fire any 4 pin bulb like a VHO with one of these ballasts as long as its wired corectly. I've looked for more info on this, but all I could find is how to get to the ballast, then trial and error with the wires until they are in the right order. How you mount the light and what to is completly up to you. I ended up ordering 2 28w-32w PC bulbs and the 4pin receivers from hellolights.com Link to comment
1105 Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 Well I finally got my two PC bulbs in from hellolights.com today and wired up my ballast and the bulb fired almost instantly the first try Tomorrow I'm going to make a hood to hold the lights. For the ballasts I used a Sylvania 30w Bulb to power one light. I chose this light because it was right inbetween the 28w/32w range that the PC bulbs came in. Anyways, here is a pic of how I wired it up to the bulb to test it. The two middle wires go to the two middle connectors on the endcap ( http://www.hellolights.com/pcentypbas.html ) the the two outter wires go to the outter positions on the endcap. Well here is the pic of the wiring and one of the light turned on. Link to comment
danskim Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 nice, how much was the sylvania bulb? at home depot? Link to comment
1105 Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 I got the bulb at Lowes but HD should have it too. It was $8.xx, little more than I wanted to spend but it was the perfect watt for the bulbs I wanted to get for my tank. Link to comment
1105 Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 Thought I've give an update on my DIY ballasts. I finally got around to wiring up the second ballast and it fired up the bulb instantly. I used double sided tape to hold them on a piece of acrylic just for now until I build a hood for the tank to see what it would look like. The bulbs have been running for about 3 hours now and no problems at all. The bulbs are actually hotter than the ballasts are so they are running pretty cool So far I'm very pleased with the PC bulbs and these ballasts although I wish I could have found the bulbs used for the ballasts a little cheaper. Anyways, here is the pic. The bulbs go from front to back: Actinic/10k Actinic/Actinic Link to comment
dga Posted January 11, 2006 Share Posted January 11, 2006 Just remember, if your running a "reef" tank, the power compact bulbs should be replaced within 1 year as the color spectrum shifts causing algae blooms and not as much benificial spectrum for corals. see other articles for important info on why. Link to comment
koeovo1on Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 I think i found a 60 w powercompact. I haven't brought one yet. But planning to do so once i find some bulbs that will be suitable for the ballast. Don't want to buy it and can't find the proper bulbs.. Will this work:: http://www.hellolights.com/55wat8821ger.html Link to comment
nanoguru Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 this sounds too good to be true! you guys are using the circular circuitboard (=ballast from the store bought bulb with attached base) to light up tank lights in similar Wattage? so in essence, I could get a 60W store bought bulb...take out the base circuit board..hook it up to my aquapod12g endcaps (removing the bulky ballast originally came with the hood) and purchase 65W PC bulbs for my tank and they should light up no problem? will it effect the wavelength output at all? if this does work...then why are these ballast that came with the hood so damn big and bulky..taking up so much space and producing so much heat? questions!! I need answers!! nano Link to comment
Jamescoop Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 If i got a ballast that is, say 48W, could i wire two 24W bulbs in parallel? Link to comment
Vnnie Posted December 20, 2006 Author Share Posted December 20, 2006 I've been away for a while but I thought I'd update this post a little bit in case anyone still wants this info. Here is a diagram I made to help explain the wiring. It's quite easy. Before you completely dismantle the old bulb, keep track of which wires to to the power supply and which to to the bulb and rewire the new bulb the same way. You may have to try different combinations of wires going to the bulb. Hope this helps! Link to comment
Vnnie Posted December 20, 2006 Author Share Posted December 20, 2006 If i got a ballast that is, say 48W, could i wire two 24W bulbs in parallel? I believe you would need to wire them in series not parallel although I'm not sure if it will work. Here is a diagram of how I think you need to wire the bulbs. If anyone knows if this is right or wrong, please let us know. On a side note, these ballasts also work to overdrive bulbs but do so at your own risk! In response to some comments, a big reason these ballasts are so cheap and other PC ballasts are so much more expensive is that these ballasts are massed produced in huge numbers now. Link to comment
Nuhtty Posted December 23, 2006 Share Posted December 23, 2006 Nice mod. I would have given you an unused ballast from a NC12 for free though. Link to comment
Juanhunglo69 Posted December 23, 2006 Share Posted December 23, 2006 Nice mod. I would have given you an unused ballast from a NC12 for free though. I could use that ballast! Link to comment
Nuhtty Posted December 23, 2006 Share Posted December 23, 2006 I could use that ballast! You pay for shipping and packaging and you can have it for free. PM me anf let me know. Link to comment
zman98 Posted April 14, 2007 Share Posted April 14, 2007 Any Updates on this MOD? I just did this mod today. Hopefully it will last a while. Pretty easy following the directions posted here. Link to comment
reefdan Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 my 13w bulbs only have two wires going into the bulb. any ideas? Link to comment
The Propagator Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 my 13w bulbs only have two wires going into the bulb. any ideas? Twist the same two corresponding wires together. Solder on a lead from the two or use electrical tape. IE take the same two from one side.. twist them together. Take the same two from the other side..twist them together. When your done you should have made two in to one on each opposing side. One side note here though guys.... Hello lights 13w GX23 based dual tube PC bulbs ALL must be ran from a magnetic ballast. This ballast won't work for those bulb types. ANY bulb with a GX23 base must be ran from a magnetic ballast. This is because the starter is built into the base. 20 watt magnatek NO ballasts for $5 something a piece from HD will light 1x 13w or 9 watt or 2 x 9 watt. Those 13w ( and I believe the 9 watt as well) DIY bulb ballast kits they sell are all GX23 based bulbs. If you want a ballast with end caps set up to run two bulbs buy a PC shop light with dual bulbs. Less head ache that way but a little more costly. And yes you can run two bulbs from one ballast if the ballast your trying to run is strong enough but you have to wire them in series (Like the second diagram shown earlier) not parallel. Link to comment
Kirin1 Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Vinnie, I'm looking at this as a fix for a 24W fixture that got wet a while back. I have a question for you, In your wiring diagram for one bulb your power leads are connected to your NC hood. Do you know what kind of power is required? Is is straight AC120 to those two leads, or are you powering these balasts with a power supply of some sort? Link to comment
Dc110770 Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 Ok this is an old thread but I live in the UK and want to upgrade my 12g D-D nano to 96w. Question is will this work: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/45w-Blue-Spectrum-64...=item2c53102c34 Thanks Link to comment
dan3949 Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Ok this is an old thread but I live in the UK and want to upgrade my 12g D-D nano to 96w. Question is will this work: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/45w-Blue-Spectrum-64...=item2c53102c34 Thanks The bulb appears much too large to fit in the canopy. Also, a 6400 K is great for plants in a freshwater system, but I don't think it is a desirable spectrum for a reef tank. However, it would be inexpensive to wire it up since it would use a standard incandescent bulb socket with no ballast. Link to comment
Dc110770 Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 The bulb appears much too large to fit in the canopy. Also, a 6400 K is great for plants in a freshwater system, but I don't think it is a desirable spectrum for a reef tank. However, it would be inexpensive to wire it up since it would use a standard incandescent bulb socket with no ballast. No sorry you have the wrong end of the stick. I only want to use the ballast out of it to run my 2 x 24w PC. I presume it has a ballast within the bulb case as show in the other energy saving bulbs in this thread? Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.