Harry_Y
Valuable Member
I have an 8 tube T5 TEK light and I finally got around to putting my Dimmable ballast into it.
I'm using Sylvania Dimmable Ballast (0-10v control) and using an RKE to control them.
I set each ballast up with an individual power cord and control line
that way I can control each ballast independently (two bulbs at a time).
I also cut some air vents and added fans on the label end of the bulbs.
So as I have it setup I turn on two bulbs then have them start
to ramp up then the next two an hr later and so forth.
It is really interesting to watch the corals change into.
night mode extending their feeder tentacles etc.
Some interesting things I learned along the way:
The original ballast used in the TEK light fixture I have powered 4 bulbs per ballast.
I found they had an additional control line that you could use to turn off two of the bulbs.
(they have it tied to the hot line so it just turns all 4 on at once)
By adding an additional power cord per ballast you could use that feature to turn on first
two bulbs by applying power to the ballast, then by energizing the control line the other two would come on.
So in an 8 tube fixture you could turn on 2 then 4 then 6 then 8 bulbs
for an nice stepping up in brightness feature for minimal expense.
I also learned that you can cool T5 Bulbs so much that they dim down in brightness.
I thought I had a problem in my wiring then I slipped of the fan and the brightness
came back up (and here I thought I would not have enough cooling).
That was an easy fix I just went to Radio Shack and picked up a power pack with
selectable voltage and turned it down, as a side benifit it made the fans very quiet.
I did not take pictures and in the end the fixture looks almost stock
(Just added extra cords and a couple of screws, plus a fan on one end).
I'm using Sylvania Dimmable Ballast (0-10v control) and using an RKE to control them.
I set each ballast up with an individual power cord and control line
that way I can control each ballast independently (two bulbs at a time).
I also cut some air vents and added fans on the label end of the bulbs.
So as I have it setup I turn on two bulbs then have them start
to ramp up then the next two an hr later and so forth.
It is really interesting to watch the corals change into.
night mode extending their feeder tentacles etc.
Some interesting things I learned along the way:
The original ballast used in the TEK light fixture I have powered 4 bulbs per ballast.
I found they had an additional control line that you could use to turn off two of the bulbs.
(they have it tied to the hot line so it just turns all 4 on at once)
By adding an additional power cord per ballast you could use that feature to turn on first
two bulbs by applying power to the ballast, then by energizing the control line the other two would come on.
So in an 8 tube fixture you could turn on 2 then 4 then 6 then 8 bulbs
for an nice stepping up in brightness feature for minimal expense.
I also learned that you can cool T5 Bulbs so much that they dim down in brightness.
I thought I had a problem in my wiring then I slipped of the fan and the brightness
came back up (and here I thought I would not have enough cooling).
That was an easy fix I just went to Radio Shack and picked up a power pack with
selectable voltage and turned it down, as a side benifit it made the fans very quiet.
I did not take pictures and in the end the fixture looks almost stock
(Just added extra cords and a couple of screws, plus a fan on one end).
