richnpoor Posted February 3, 2003 Share Posted February 3, 2003 For anyone thats intrested I found a way to get usable 13 watt ballast basically for free. I have several Compact flourescent light bulbs that are in use in general lighting in my house, you know the kind you buy at lowes for about $6. when one of these bulbs burns out after long use the ballast is still good. So I take a hacksaw and carefully cut in a circle all the way around the outside of the bulb base i.e.. ballast housing. snip the two wires that connect to the bulb socket and the two wires that connect to the bulb itself. Radio shack sells crimp on connectors that attach to the pins on a PC bulb perfectly and the other end is just wired into a stadard plug cord from some old lamp or whatever you have lying around. the only drawback is that so far I have only encountered tar ballasts which do get hot but since you are wiring the ballast to the lamp yourself you can make a long cord and enclose the ballast in a box away from the tank rich Link to comment
Nishant3789 Posted February 3, 2003 Share Posted February 3, 2003 toocool! any pics? id be interested in this. and also what about hte bulbs that say they use like 65 watts, does that mean the ballast will be 65 swatts too? this of course i mean for all the ones, the 13 watts the 20 watts teh 30 watts etc. etc. tthanks for teh info nishant Link to comment
freakaccident Posted February 6, 2003 Share Posted February 6, 2003 Go to Home Depot and get the book worm lights. CHEEP! 13w smart bulbs work great in them. Just zip tie them to the inside of your hood. Oh and the AC Delco flourescent garage work lights are 13w too. I would guess any of the flourescent shop lights are 13w. Link to comment
AquaMedic Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 Here's another good light that could be easily mounted in a hood, my friend has one in his work shop. It's made by craftsman. It's 52watts (13w x 4 ) of power compact fun! http://www.sears.com/sr/product/summary/pr...pid=03483897000 Link to comment
skipm Posted March 14, 2003 Share Posted March 14, 2003 Wal Mart has a small PC desk lamp that is a 13 watter and has the GX23 base that is the same as the bulbs sold at www.hellolights.com. It is real easy to take apart if you want to do a custom installation and even has a small reflector. The price is $9.97 at my local WalMart. Link to comment
MrConclusion Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 NISHANT - When they say "65 watt" on a cheap screw-in compact fluorescent bulb, they're talking "watt equivalent" or in other words, "this little fluorescent bulb puts out as much light as a regular 65 watt incandescent bulb." The bulb and ballast is not 65 watts fluorescent! Look at the actual power consumption (usually in smaller print) to see the actual fluorescent wattage. Link to comment
Nishant3789 Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 thats not what im talking about. they have 65 watt bulbs that CONSUME 65 WATTs they have an output of something over 100 watts which i understnad is the equivilent of an incandecent light. so i wouldnt take the 100 watts, d take the 65 watts. i can pull up a picture of u like nishant Link to comment
fenris Posted March 29, 2003 Share Posted March 29, 2003 I know the 13W are supposed to be equiv to a 50 watt bulb..so the 65 are something like 250 w equiv....this is a great idea though...I'll have to play around with it... Link to comment
Snootleather Posted April 7, 2003 Share Posted April 7, 2003 Has anyone tried the craftsman work light that Aquamedic mentioned? Link to comment
treylane Posted April 13, 2003 Share Posted April 13, 2003 Bought two today, going to try mounting them over my 15g refugium tomorrow or Monday.... Link to comment
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