Any Electricians here???

[Chris Jones]

I have inherited a retro fit custom sea life 2x65watt fixture. 1 white 1 blue. there is only one power cord, and then two cords out of the ballast going to each fixture.

my question is, can i cut the two cords comming out of the ballast going to the lights, put a switch in line with each cord and then turn them on/off each independantly????

[Matt Rogers]

I'm not an expert by any means, but I've done that with incadecent lamps before.

I don't see why it wouldn't work if done cleanly.

[Chris Jones]

Matt, that was my thoughts too, the only concern was would that put some unusual stress on the ballast that i wasn't aware of. I'll wait a little longer to see if someone says " that blew up my lights!" or "it worked for me" or something to that effect.
thanks for the input though.

[Jason McKenzie]

I would have to say (not being an electrician) that you would want the switch before the ballast. I would try to open the ballast and see if there was anyway to separate the two lines.

[fletch]

I am not a electrician but my thought on this subject is, why don't the light manufactures do that if it is ok to do? I think you would need two separate ballasts.

[Chris Jones]

well, I'm thinking, if one bulb burns out, the ballast does not burn out or malfunction, the other bulb would keep working. The same could be true if one were to remove one of the lights. (I think)!

So I believe that a switch would just simulate one of those two scenarios.

Also, I believe that the maker of this light did not care if one or both could be independantly operated because it is only 130w and usually both are needed for the correct light, yet they weren't aware that reefs needed simulated sunrise/sunset.

You should be ok with an on off switch inline, what does the ballast say it is pushing again?
If you take this information that is on the ballast to HOME Depot the will tell you if it will work or not.

[JohnO]

Yep, will work fine if it's a compact type fitting :-)

John

[Chris Jones]

thanks, i'm gonna cut the cords and on the side from the ballast, i'm going to attach a female outlet plug, and on the other side (lights) of the cable im going to attach a male plug like a regular appliance. then i'm going to put a timer in between, just plug it in like it was out of the wall, and split my blue and white lights. i'll let you know if the fire dept. is needed.

[JohnO]

[quote author=Ben Dover link=board=lighting;num=1084752827;start=0#8 date=05/18/04 at 14:25:25]thanks, i'm gonna cut the cords and on the side from the ballast, i'm going to attach a female outlet plug, and on the other side (lights) of the cable im going to attach a male plug like a regular appliance. then i'm going to put a timer in between, just plug it in like it was out of the wall, and split my blue and white lights. i'll let you know if the fire dept. is needed.[/quote]


Be careful doing what you suggested as the output voltage of the ballast ( lamp side ) will probably be different ( higher ) than what the timer will run at.

Assuming that I have understood your wiring suggestion, please just check the output voltage before you proceed.

John