DIY T5 6x 54W bulb Build,

[sailin_home]

first of all i would like to thank ktnch for his help in sourcing the parts for the electrics, and MrTang for kindly giving me his old T8 DIY unit, today i took delivery of the 3 54W Ballasts that cost me £20 inc P&P, and the wire needed to wire the unit together. still waiting for the 12 end caps and 12 bulb holders to arrive before i can crack on with the build, also still need to acquire the Perspex for the bottom of the unit from work. the unit will be going above my new tank, supspended from the ceiling using a DIY hanging kit that i will be building from parts bought from B&Q. will post pics when the unit starts going together. can anyone suggest a 6 bulb combination that will be good for growing corals under??

[sailin_home]

which bulbs would be more suitable? and in which order???
54W T5 Blue Marine Actinic
54W T5 White Marine 14000K
54W T5 White Reef 10000K


i'm thinking 4 x 54W T5 White Marine 14000K and 2 x 54W T5 Blue Marine Actinic , would that be ok???

[sailin_home]

the perspex i wanter from work is no longer available, so can anyone recommend a cheap place to have a sheet made to measure for the light unit?

[Mark J]

Try Trent fabrications in google as they're decently priced I think.
I would give you the URL but on my phone again at the mo. They're based in Gainsborough.

Mark

[Mark J]

did you find the place I posted earlier? if not let me know and i'll pm you the url.

Mark.

[sailin_home]

yeah, worked out about £60 for the perspex, need a peice 120cm x 59cm,

[sailin_home]

well the whole unit is now a sleek gloss black colour having undercoated and sprayed it yesterday using plasticoat spray paint, the 3 x 54w ballasts have been bolted into position, now just waiting for end caps to arrive and bulb clips. sent off for some quotes for a peice of acrylic or poltcarbonate 120cm x 59cm, so far cost wise:

light hood - free
3 x 54w ballasts - £20
12 end caps and 12 bulb holders - £15.99
10m 1mm lighting wire - £3.90 (will be unsheated and used as single strands)

[cl0wn]

this thread is useless without......:o)

[Mark J]

Ouch most expensive bit is the bit you'll be constantly taking out to clean lol!!! What thickness are you going for?

[sailin_home]

well went to local hardware shop today to pick up a 15amp connector block and some more bolts, turned round to walk out and there it was 3mm perspex 1210mm x 600mm, and only £7.99, so that saved me looking around for some more. lol. got home and wired the L & N wires from ballasts to the terminal connector, and don't worry clown i'm taking pictures at each step i take and will add them. looking nice and neat, no sign of end caps n bulb holders so at a stand still at minute,

[reefergeek]

your welcome any time, for the bulbs i went first for narva blues and osram skywhites and ge 6500k not a bad look to it at all and the bulbs were


narva blues £9.14 each
osram skywhites 880 £8 each
ge 6500k £2.50 each

now am still using the narvas but got a deal on some atis of macca
if i still had the other bulbs i would change all the whites to the osram skywhites

which endcaps did you go for

kev

and as stated above we need pics lol

[sailin_home]

lol, i have ordered 4 14000k whites, and 2 blue's to start off with, as will get deep penetration and should be excellent for coral growth, went with the endcaps that you bought, as the unit will be completely sealed. not at home at minute so will get the pics posted when i do,

[sailin_home]

bloody hell, forgot to add the earth wires. now done..lol.

[reefergeek]

lol not to bad if it was metal then a single wire on to the casing you will have to daisy chain it across if you put the eye termainls on for the earth just make sure it has good contact with the ballast

[MrTang]

coming on great there not bad to say its been stood in the corner of my living room for nearly 6months lol bet your glad i didnt bin it now like the wife wanted me to....

[sailin_home]

lol, yeah. it doin really well. apart from having trouble with the electrics at minute. wired it all up, added the bulbs and turned it on, bulbs glow really bright then they just go dull. wired ballasts up correctly using 1mm lighting wire, and the mains supply in is done using 1mm cable also, to a 15amp terminal block and then to a normal plug wire with 13amp fused plug on the end. can anyone suggest what i done wrong and how to fix it????

[reefergeek]

take a picture of one of the ballasts of the wiring diagram and shove it on here for us to have a ganda at, only think i can think is if you have crossed two wires to each lamp on one ballast

[sailin_home]

here's a link to the ballasts: http://www.helvar.com/download.asp?id=T070681G%2Epdf;4097;{BDC0CEB6-25D0-45D6-BE09-9DBA386DFCA4} at work at minute. so will try posting some pictures when i get home. gonna try changing the ballast mains wires when i get home see if that changes anything.

[reefergeek]

comes up with error, just upload pic or even model / serial number when you get home

[sailin_home]

the model is a helvar EL2x54sc. here's a new link to the page: http://www.helvar.com/download.asp?id=T070681G%2Epdf;4097;{BDC0CEB6-25D0-45D6-BE09-9DBA386DFCA4} its number 2 diagram. i have just tried wiring it up again, n same thing happened, removed a end cap off 1 tube then reconnected it and the lights stayed on, turned power off turned back on they dimmed again, so they work when lights are turned on then 1 disconnected and reconnected. i'm wondering if it's the endcaps that are wrong...

[reefergeek]

all the end caps should be fine, if you have got the wiring spot on like the connection diagram no 2, then only other thing i can think of is the dimming part of the ballast, now a tad in the dark the dimming part is controlled by 3 and 4 do these need shorting out to provide full lighting power or i wonder if like some ballasts if not connected defaults to full brightness

will have a look an read up more tonight when the kids are in bed

kev

[sailin_home]

cheers kev, tried wiring again and still doing same thing. bloody annoying, can get my dad to have a look when he gets home, but on holiday for 2 weeks at minute. even spoke to helvar today, they seem to think it could be a connection issue with the end caps as well, they advised the push and turn variety work better with the ballasts then the push variety i already have. connection 3 and 4 are for digital control, however i will be using analogue. might try and put a switch inline to turn on/off the unit, instead of at the plug like it currently is.

[reefergeek]

have you got a multimeter with continuity/diode test with, with the unit turned off place one end of the probe in to the tube holder and then to the ballast connection this will tell you if the ballast to tube connectors are ok, need to do 4 tests for each tube, all the 5/8 endcaps should be the same with the twist lock type make sure they are not above the sal****er as they soon get the terminal corroded i have a simple sheet of perspex at either end about 4" past the tube connectors, still think its something simple.

How long do the tubes stay bright for before go dim and have you got all three ballasts set up and are they all doing it or just one

[sailin_home]

my dad away so when he gets back i will borrow his multimeter, i have all 3 ballasts set up and they are all doing the same, also all the unit is enclosed at the base with perspex so Salt water can't get into the unit. the tube lights up and then starts dimming straight away. yet if i turn it on, disconnect 1 endcap then reconnect it straight away, it stays on fully.

[reefergeek]

very odd try the other endcaps then when we rule that out we will look at the ballast dimming circuit

[sailin_home]

new end caps arrived, at minute trying to get my decorating finished for tomorrow, so will have a play with the wiring later. hopefully can get it working now. will let you know how i get on.

[sailin_home]

well, well, well.....redone the wiring and end caps in between doing the glossing and painting the ceiling. it was the bloody end caps. now turned unit on and its blazing brightly without loosing power. gonna do each ballast separetly and then link the wiring together. woop woop!!!!!!!!!!

[sailin_home]

FFS, had enough of the unit now, it doin my head in, i fix 1 bit and it does it again. so taking it to my dad's tomorrow who will do all the wiring for me, and i'll finish it off. only 6 days till my new tank arrives so better get a move on.

[sailin_home]

dad wouldn't wire it up for me, going on about ip67 regulations etc,and wiring regs, but as i left his he told me to look at where the earth wire was, checked again and i'd put it in wrong hole. that why the unit was discharging power. smashed 2 brand new bulbs wiring it up, bloody don't realise own strength some times, so replaced the 2 14000 reef whites with 2 marine blue's, looks fantastic. just need to do abit of siliconing inside the unit, and build the hanging kit, and bob's ur uncle...

[reefergeek]

ip67 lol, what about halides 8" above water, all i did with the earth is used an 4mm eye terminal and daisy chain it to each ballast as long as it got good contact with the ballasts metal casing

[sailin_home]

it wasn't the earth lead for the ballasts. it was the earth lead for the mains supply, i had it in completely the wrong hole. lol. he was on about ip67 regs as the unit is not water proof, the end caps are not water proof and the ballasts were not water proof, apparently any thing that can be touched while touching the water needs to be IP67, not like i'm gonna stick my hand in the unit while maintaining my tank, lol. it looks good now though, changed wiring from how i originally had it, so all wiring runs around outside of unit instead of under the bulbs. turned it on to see how bright it gets and my conservatory looked like it was still daylight, so very happy with the end result so far.

[reefergeek]

if its plastic then will not matter at all, the halide or t5 units are not ip67, only thing you have to do with the mains earth is link it from ballast to ballast to an eye where you secure the ballast to the plastic/ wood dont even worry about shoving the earth in the earth terminal block, will have a read up on ip67 regs been a long time

[sailin_home]

the unit is metal.

[Bradlowes]

looks cool bud. :)

[reefergeek]

looks well, even better if metal just one fixing point anywhere on the lid for the earth, have you got any reflectors on it yet they make a huge difference to the lighting rig i would say on mine was like adding 1-2 extra bulbs in

[sailin_home]

no not added reflectors yet, cash flow issues have put a hold on things for now. get paid at weekend so will look into them after that.