T5 wiring question...

[gREEF Stricken]

To the DIY(but knowledgeable) sparkies out here...




Built a canopy for my 90. Gonna wire with 6ea 3' lamps. Have a plethora of ballasts that will allow me to configure at will. Wish to add switches for flexibility in on demand color choices. Thought behind this is the fact that I wish at least 3 of the best growth spectrum and then the other 3 different colors for aesthetics. Haven't gotten to the point of bulbs yet so I can't honestly with any true educated preference say what I like Yet.


That said, initially a was a Ricky Retardo and assumed it would be simple to to get the biggest ballast they made and simply wire together all lamps and seperate each with a toggle switch and VOILA you have ultimate flexi-capa-bility. Well my buddy who is a former sparky of 20 yrs set me straight after a good guffaw at my expense. So my question is...with willingness to mount up to 4 ballasts that will each drive 2 bulbs or just 1, what would you reccomend for a configuration that would best enable the capability of flipping a switch or two(or 3/4) and instantly inspire ooohs and Ahhhs amidst my less than distinguished guests. Hope that made sense.


GS

 

[Blue Lip]

Put the switch before the ballast. Put your white bulbs on 1 ballast & your blue on another ballast.

 

[user 26995]

just remember you will need a separate power cord for each ballast in order to control the lights on that ballast independently of the others. so typically lighting is set up with just two. one for daylights and one for actinics. so yes, switch to ballast to lights. what size ballasts did you get and how many lights will each one manage?

 

[gREEF Stricken]

I have a plethora of ballasts I have collected. 2ea WH7's...5ea WH5's. The plan is six lamps total, so two ballasts total sounds good to me.