DIY 70w Metal Halide Pendant.

[dakar]

Okay since we now have a camera that actually works here's my DIY Halogen worklight to 70w Metal Haide Conversion.
There really isn't much to it, so I didn't take everything apart to replicate the creation.

Started with a Home Depot 500w hologen Regent worklight, seen here with all the assorted pieces I removed.


All those brackets and the heat shield went stright to the junk bin. Removed the halogen lamp and replaced it with an Astralux 14K 70W MH bulb instead. They are a direct fit so no hacking needed on the lanp holder.


Wired in a Fulham HH-MH-120-70-C ballast into the little waterproof enclosure box between the power source and the bulb


I drilled some holes large enough for the wiring to fit through, they'll be sealed with silicon before put to use.



And there you have it... simple as pie... forgot I need to get rid of that stupid sticker



The only left to do is fashion a bracket to attach the ballast to the new pendant and add some S hooks and chain to suspend it from my shelf.

The lighting pattern from the dimpled reflector is very focused and concentrated, I'll post some more pictures of it fired up as soon as I'm ready to get the nano wet.

[jerryc]

Looks good
Just one suggestion id drill some openings in top or back to let some heat out

[Whoyah]

Looks good. How much do you think this project costs?

[dakar]

The worklight is $25-30, the bulb I got from Perpetual ($50 think he's still got a few more), the ballast I used is the real killer... the Fulham electronic ballast runs about $110, but I found a few Advance magetic's retailing for $46, so they may be found even cheaper. The work light's glass is already treated to filter UV, so it works out great for HQI bulbs.

The neat thing with the project is that with a little modification to expand the lamp holder you can fit 150 and 250 watt HQI's in there. The dimpled reflector really surprised me, the focusing of the light is much better than a smooth reflector, less restrike between the bulb and reflector.

As Jerry mentioned some ventilation would need to be incorporated for larger than 70w, with the 70 it gets pretty warm after a couple hours, but since it's designed to handle a 500w halogen bulb I think the 70w isn't an issue. If I can get my hands on a pair of M80 ballasts I want to build a pair of the 250's for our frag tank.

[flame]

Very nice project dude. Looking foward to seeing it in action

[jerryc]

If someone else is interested in doing it i bought a ballast for the one i did a couple years ago on eBay for $20.00 and still see them on their from time to time.
worked good but not as good a ballast as dakar got.

[flame]

Jerry which ballast are you talking about?

[jerryc]

Flame i just went to eBay and don't see one right at the time and don't remember the brand but it was a off brand.
Ill keep watch and post if i see some of them.
I do no it was a electronic ballast

[perpetual98]

I've still got a couple bulbs left and I'll give people deals on them from Captive Reefing.

[Tom McKenna]

mb im stupid but why the new ballast and not the normal bulb Im going to add some metal halide to my tank and looking for the best and cheapest way