Modification of a T5 fixture

[kdx7214]

I have a 6-bulb T5 lighting fixture of unknown manufacture. It has a little control panel on the front that is supposed to cycle the lights on/off. The problem is the clock is inaccurate and loses about 2 hours a day, thus shifting the photoperiod. The fixture has 2 channels for T5 bulbs and one channel for some moonlight LEDs on the fixture. How difficult would it be to rewire this fixture so that it bypasses the timer stuff and just operates as on when plugged in and off when unplugged? I'd like to use it with my reef-pi setup.

I am familiar with simple wiring of ballasts for industrial fluorescent fixtures and basic soldering and the like.

Is this doable?

 

[LeBon]

why not just stop the timer and plug it into its own socket timer

 

[kdx7214]

why not just stop the timer and plug it into its own socket timer

There's no way to stop the timer on the darn thing short of cutting wires inside, and if I have to do that then I'll just separate things the best I can and let robo tank control it.

 

[LeBon]

Ahh. i dunno then mate. Id imagine that there is a way to by pass it if opened.but yeahh hope electrician can pop on forya

 

[gbroadbridge]

I have a 6-bulb T5 lighting fixture of unknown manufacture. It has a little control panel on the front that is supposed to cycle the lights on/off. The problem is the clock is inaccurate and loses about 2 hours a day, thus shifting the photoperiod. The fixture has 2 channels for T5 bulbs and one channel for some moonlight LEDs on the fixture. How difficult would it be to rewire this fixture so that it bypasses the timer stuff and just operates as on when plugged in and off when unplugged? I'd like to use it with my reef-pi setup.

I am familiar with simple wiring of ballasts for industrial fluorescent fixtures and basic soldering and the like.

Is this doable?

Without knowing the fixture it's difficult to tell.

If the wiring is accessable it should be easy to bypass the timer, but if you cannot figure it out, best bet is to ask a local sparkie to do it for you.

 

[3ft of sps]

Sounds to me like it's an ATI dimmable

 

[landlubber]

Sounds to me like it's an ATI dimmable

Sunpower fixtures do have 2 channels but if i remember correctly they also had 2 plugs and no display screen until the dimmable versions arrived. The channels only controlled the T5's (2 on channel 1 and 4 on channel 2. Also, i'm not aware of any ATI fixture that has dedicated moonlight LEDs. Moonlight LEDs seemed to fall off by 2015.
I suspect this is an older fixture