Chamkeeper Posted December 11, 2002 Share Posted December 11, 2002 The pictures didn't come out so great, but you can see the guts of this light, $25 at Lowe's. Now someone has to find the 55/65/96Watt version!!! Pictures are here located here. Link to comment
lizbeth Posted December 11, 2002 Share Posted December 11, 2002 Thank you! I figured there couldn't be regular sized 13 watt ballasts in there, it was too light weight. Looks like it would work great for a retro. What are you planning to use it on? Link to comment
edying Posted December 12, 2002 Share Posted December 12, 2002 Very cool... gonna have to figure a way to enclose the ballast though. Also, do the sockets have any screw mounts? Doesn't look like it from the pic. -Ed Link to comment
BlackSumbel Posted December 12, 2002 Share Posted December 12, 2002 Would the weird little ballast it's got going drive the lights at the "correct" wattage? 'cause, that's looking like a really good supliment for my ten gallon... Link to comment
schrader Posted December 12, 2002 Share Posted December 12, 2002 I almost bought one of these yesterday.Just for some advice for someone going out to buy them look close at the bulbs.I noticed that some had 6500k some had 5000k some had both mixed.Just a heads up make sure you see bothe bulbs k rateing. Link to comment
Chamkeeper Posted December 12, 2002 Author Share Posted December 12, 2002 No holes or screws in the ballast. I don't see why you couldn't just put it in a small plastic box without mounting it. As far as the correct wattage goes, I have nothing to compare it to or measure it with. I suppose you could compare it to another 13W bulb and ballast and see how it looks. On another note, I ran this thing in a drawer for about three hours to check the heat. The handle (where the ballast is) was warm to the touch and the bulb area was warm as expected, but the heat issue I thought was pretty good, this thing shouldn't warm up a tank to much even with the ballast in the hood. Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted December 12, 2002 Share Posted December 12, 2002 In the same department at Lowes they have 'clamp' lights, which are similar. They are better however because the ballast is mounted in the power cord already, and you are able to remove the clip to mount the light inside it's protective tube in your hood. I'll try to get a photo of mine before I return it. (I bought it, but decided I didn't need it) Edit: I decided to make a whole thread about it, for refrence purposes. Click here. Link to comment
SaltyDawg Posted January 6, 2003 Share Posted January 6, 2003 Awsome! That is the same lighting I am using on my 5 1/2 gallon nano reef! Arent they great for the money! I built a wodden canopy and wooden riser also. The lights and balast fit perfectly. They have no bolt holes on the fixtures so you have to take a dremle tool and notch them in a u shape. then use a flat head wood screw and use that as a slip conector. I have the end of the bulbs facing the sides. I used the rubber bulb holer it came with and split it in two peices. then used wood screws and placed them so as they were holding the end of the bulbs . Just sqush the rubber down and slip them out when you have to replace the bulbs. I will just post some pictures and get it over with i guess ! Link to comment
BlackSumbel Posted January 6, 2003 Share Posted January 6, 2003 They also have these marvelous critters at Wallmart in one and two bulb form. Single bulb lamps are something like $9, whereas the two bulb lamps are $14. Walmart, and gods know I love wallyworld sooo, also has some lovely under-cabinet lamps around the $7 range which work swimmingly. I'll say that on the above lamps, older models are said to have a tendancy to go pop... so, drilling a few holes in the casing would definately be "A gooood thang" Either way, good low-heat lighting for a good price. Can't beat that. -Sumbel, buying crap so she can take it apart, so other people don't have to. Link to comment
technoshaman Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 Sumbel can you post pics of the 2 light things you got from WalMart? Also what kind of bulbs did they come stock with. All the clamp lights I have bought had 6500k in them. Every time I go into walmart I can never find these things and the clerks at walmart in my area barely speak English or maybe they don't understand what the hell I am asking them for. Link to comment
BlackSumbel Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 I did not actually buy the two "shop lights" mentioned at the top. The ones I picked up are Lights of America flourescent. Two single 15w t8's each in their own housing. Lights of America has their own website if you wanna check out their products. Link to comment
UncleTed Posted February 14, 2003 Share Posted February 14, 2003 Has anyone actually used this Lowe's twin bulb utility light in a hood with actinics? I've got the thing disassembled and placed in my hood. I soldered in some wire to move the switches to the back of my hood. The 6500K lamps that came with it work like a champ, but my actinic 13w won't fire at all. Anyone had experience with this thing? My soldering isn't top notch or anything so I thought the problem might be there. Do actinics require more umph to get them started up than the 6500K lamps do? I next plan on bypassing one switch to take all of my work out of the loop to see if I've caused the problem with my handy or in this case handless work. I've tried 2 13w actinic bulbs btw. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Uncle Ted Link to comment
lizbeth Posted February 14, 2003 Share Posted February 14, 2003 Yep Uncle Ted there seems to be a problem with the bulb thang. Mine won't fire a 50/50 from AHS either. So don't panic it's not your wiring. I will try my other 13 watt bulbs later today and report back. Link to comment
Chamkeeper Posted February 14, 2003 Author Share Posted February 14, 2003 I just use mine on a 10g QT tank, so the 6500Ks are fine. I QTed a Polyp that opened completely and seemed to really flourish under the "Stock" lights. Link to comment
loopy73 Posted February 14, 2003 Share Posted February 14, 2003 Would the 13watt be enough for a refugium on say a aquafuge for a 10gal. reef? assuming a 6500k lamp used. Link to comment
Chamkeeper Posted February 15, 2003 Author Share Posted February 15, 2003 I have not used these lights on anything but my QT tank. The light they produce is a beautiful, bright, crisp white. I think the $25 light would be plenty for a 10g 'fuge, Wally World & Lowe's sell a single unit for around $10, and it comes with a clamp for super simple mounting. Chris has links pictures of it in this post. In my opinion, this is a great 'emergency' light to have on hand. In case of a major castastrophy, this light would be enough to convince most soft corals to open and feed while waiting for a failed main lighting system to get repaired. Link to comment
darkblade Posted February 15, 2003 Share Posted February 15, 2003 There is a problem with these shop lights firing other bulbs...... ....posted here: http://nano-reef.com/forums/showthread.php...=&threadid=8583 wally world fixtures work fine.....at least for me.... Link to comment
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