wizardgmb
08-02-2007, 12:34 AM
I have two small, < 4 gallon, tanks with 15 watt tubular incandescent lamps that I would like to convert to fluorescent lamps. The obvious choice would be the screw-in replacements for regular household lamps but all the lamps that I've seen are marked "not for use in damp areas". Some of these lamps have small holes in the plastic between the tube entry points which might admit water into the elelectronics. However, some of them appear to be well sealed, including a version that is intended to replace the tubular incandescent lamps.
The second alternative would be to replace the screw base sockets with plugin sockets for small, 7-13W U shape compact fluorescent lamps. The sockets could be connected to electronic ballasts placed in external enclosures. This configuration would provide a wider choice of lamps and color temperatures but would require rounding up the parts, swaping the lamp base and constructing/wiring an enclosure for the ballast.
The remaining alternative would be to purchase clamp-on fluorescent fixtures such as ones from Palm or Red Sea and swap their components into my current hoods. It looks like this might be cheaper than the second alternative because the ballasts alone would cost 80% of the clamp on fixture cost.
Does anyone have any experience implementing incandescent to fluorescent conversions? If so, have you used the common screw in replacements or swapped the socket and wiring?
Regards,
George
The second alternative would be to replace the screw base sockets with plugin sockets for small, 7-13W U shape compact fluorescent lamps. The sockets could be connected to electronic ballasts placed in external enclosures. This configuration would provide a wider choice of lamps and color temperatures but would require rounding up the parts, swaping the lamp base and constructing/wiring an enclosure for the ballast.
The remaining alternative would be to purchase clamp-on fluorescent fixtures such as ones from Palm or Red Sea and swap their components into my current hoods. It looks like this might be cheaper than the second alternative because the ballasts alone would cost 80% of the clamp on fixture cost.
Does anyone have any experience implementing incandescent to fluorescent conversions? If so, have you used the common screw in replacements or swapped the socket and wiring?
Regards,
George