diy t5 question

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my question, i have a 36" 2x39 watt t5 fixture. can i take the ballest, wires, and sockets get 2 18" or 20" t5 bulbs and make a retro kit out of it for a 10gl nano? thanks

 

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http://www.vividaquariums.com/10Expand.asp?ProductCode=04-2170-10
some thing like this bulb. it an 18" 18/20 watt bulb from current usa. would somthing like this work?

 

[MGDMIRAGE]

I believe it's doable, i think the ballasts will go down in wattage but not up. If you have the 36" reflector you could cut it in half even

Hopefully someone else can chime in i don't know a whole lot about ballasts but i believe that is how it works.

 

[Pentagona]

The most important thing is to look at you ballast wattage rating. How many channels does your ballast have? Whats the max wattage it can support? Divide the number of channels into the max wattage to find out what each channel supports. One 39w channel will support two 18w bulbs, but not two 20w without underdriving the bulbs and respectively shortening their lifespan.

 

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I believe it's doable, i think the ballasts will go down in wattage but not up. If you have the 36" reflector you could cut it in half even

Hopefully someone else can chime in i don't know a whole lot about ballasts but i believe that is how it works.

i do have the refletor for this, it is a complet fixture. that is what i was thinking to.

The most important thing is to look at you ballast wattage rating. How many channels does your ballast have? Whats the max wattage it can support? Divide the number of channels into the max wattage to find out what each channel supports. One 39w channel will support two 18w bulbs, but not two 20w without underdriving the bulbs and respectively shortening their lifespan.

well, its an odysea fixture and if i remember right it has two ballests on for each bulb. so what i was thinking was to run one bulb of each balist. if one balist will run two 18 watt bulbs how would i do that, and could i run four bulbs with what i have? i know odysea isnt one of the better lights but i was thinking because they would be running smaller bulbs it would do fine.

 

[Pentagona]

Here's what the diagram would look like

 

[MGDMIRAGE]

pic doesn't work..

How would you wire up a single channel to run two bulbs?

 

[Pentagona]

trying to fix it hang on

 

[Pentagona]

there you go...

 

[Pentagona]

Very simple, your tombstones should already be bridged with the factory wiring, so that shouldn't be an issue. However, if for some reason they are not you'll need to bridge them on both sides of the bulb which simply means creating a U shaped piece of wire that is inserted into both contacts. This is assuming it is a SINGLE channel ballast which means only one red wire and one yellow wire.

 

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how does over driving a bulb afect the bulb?

 

[Pentagona]

The same way, if it doesn't blow it right away, it will dramatically shorten the life of the bulb and or ballast. The only T5's that are made to be over driven are the UVL V-HO or variable high output bulbs that can be run at a standard 39w output in a 36" bulb or overdriven to 60w. The smaller bulbs would be similar but in their respective wattages.

 

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thank you, now all i need is to get the bulbs.

 

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this is the ballast i was talking about. it does have two red and two black on one end and two black on the other. i have two of these, will that diagram work for wiring this to two bulbs?