Hood light help!

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Eggheadfish

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Sep 13, 2014
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Hi,
The ballast on one of my hood lights is shot and I want to buy a replacement.
It's a 24" 120v 19w fixture. All I can find similar has lower wattage. What are the implications of buying a 17w? Dimmer light? Different bulbs? Sorry for sounding stupid I just don't know a lot about it.
I'm really not looking to replace both hood lights with something different.
Thanks!
 
Hi,
The ballast on one of my hood lights is shot and I want to buy a replacement.
It's a 24" 120v 19w fixture. All I can find similar has lower wattage. What are the implications of buying a 17w? Dimmer light? Different bulbs? Sorry for sounding stupid I just don't know a lot about it.
I'm really not looking to replace both hood lights with something different.
Thanks!

Question: is this light just for lighting the tank or do you plan on growing plants?
 
Check home Depot the have quite a few different ones and one thing is it dont have to be specifically a 19w it can be higher

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Home depot doesn't sell hoods and stuff for fish tanks.. They sell fixtures for homes and business's.. Youd have to fabricate your own hood.. Just get a new ballast... They have a million ballasts ask the electrical guy.. tell him you have a T8 or T5 Ballast tell him the wattage and he will point you to a new ballast.. unscrew your fixture remove the old ballast and install the new one.

You sure its your ballast though if you have a T8 lamp it could be the starter that's bad
 
Sorry guess I should have specified they have several different ballast I just picked one up for one of my hoods was actually better than the original and was only 6 bucks vs 35 for a new hood

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Candy man how do I know what part is bad? I took the whole thing apart cleaned all the metal and reconnected with no luck. I would like to try to fix it myself and would be willing to just pick up a ballast but only if for sure that's the issue...otherwise I'll jut get a whole new hood
 
Try a new starter first. That is the cheapest part. If that does not work, power off, remove ballast from fixture, twist white wires together, take a multimeter and place on ohms setting, place one lead on white wires and the other on the red, blue or other colors. If the multimeter does not move on analog or show resistance on digital....it's bad.


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I don't think my fixture has a starter so I'll have to get the tools to check the ballast. Can anyone tell me how to get the wires out of the switch?
ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1414770665.397994.jpgImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1414770694.000826.jpg
 
What is the make and model number of the ballast? Is there any other inscription on the ballast? As far as the switch goes, I usually cut the wires at the switch and then re-solder. I change ballasts quite frequently, so the tools get reused.


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On second thought, instead of buying all of those tools: check out the Fulham Pony Ballast, 10098-SC-120-115-CR8 on Amazon. I think this is your ballast.
 
Thanks! I will. I bought another complete fixture because well, I like to have backups of everything anyways. I still plan on trying to fix this one though so I appreciate the help!
 
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