Shop light dissasebly, help!

[Jack]

Hey guys, back in the day I used 2, 4' shop lights for 4 NO flourecents for over my tank, but now that I have a 400 Halide, I want to take 1 shop light for actinics. I just want to use the "guts" of the shop light(endcaps, wires, ballast, etc.) and scrap the metal jacket thingy. Will this work. I took one apart and it seems simple enough, Where the heck do I put the grounding wire?? And should I worry about the wires? I plan on just mounting the endcaps the inside roof of my tank, is this a stupid idea? Help!

[Canadian Man]

hey jack not a stupid suggestion at all.
you want to ground the ballast itself. I dont understand your question though about the wires. can you elaborate? thanks.

[Jack]

Well, shop lights come with casings/reflectors and I just want it off cause it is metal and It will rust over the tank. So what you can do is take the whole thing apart and there is all the wires with the ballast and such inside, I will just take the "hardware" out and use that without the cover. Will this be fine over the tank if I leave the wires open to the elements? I just want to make sure it's safe. And I just put the grounding wire attatched to the ballast?

[Canadian Man]

i would not put the ballast where the light bulb would be, as the ballast casing will rust as well and same problem had. i mount my ballst on the back or top of my hoods and have the wires going throught holes in the hood. i use the cheep endcaps (same as your shop lights) and have no problems with them. the only exposed part of my wires are where they plug into the end cap, so not alot of wire exposed. and yes ground the ballast case. thats all you need to do.. i dont have my wire nuts in the hood they are on the outside but if they were on the inside you could put a dab of silicone in the nut or wrap it with black elec tape.
cheers

[Jack]

Ok, great. Thanks a lot Jonathan. I appreciate it. I will do this DIY'er tonight. Thanks again! :D

[Canadian Man]

your quite welcom jack smile.gif

[Jack]

Well, I did it. I took apart the shop light and it works great. I would reccomend this. I got the shop light for 12$ CAD, that got me wires, ballast, and endcaps. No bad ;) Just bulbs and thats it.. pretty cheap and easy.

[Canadian Man]

Good to hear everything worked out! :D

[john.r]

hi jack, I did the exact same thing as we had extra light fixtures lying around. 1 thing I did different was use waterproof endcaps! this was suggested by many reefers as salt water will corrode standard endcaps as well as be a potential electrical hazard[saltwater is very conductive! hope this helps.

[Troy F]

I agree with the waterproof end caps. The other thing I'd do is make sure the ballast is no where near your water. Tar ballasts have a tendency to leak after time. Nowadays there aren't any PCBs in them but I don't imagine what is in there is any good for our charges.