T5 re-wiring problem

[MyNemesis]

Happy weekend, all. I had a Workhorse 5 ballast take a crap on me and two of my T5s weren't working. Got a new Philips ballast, a couple of new bulbs and started the project. I followed the wiring diagram carefully and must have rewired the four end caps half a dozen times. I can't get it to work. None of the end caps are fried. About the only thing I can think of is the contacts in the end caps aren't good anymore because the wires have been inserted/removed several times. Any brilliant ideas out there? Or should I just get a couple pair of new end caps and see if that's the ticket? Thanks in advance for any suggestions. I was so irritated last night my dog was looking at me funny.

[youngtimothy]

make sure the new ballast is rated for T-5's that could be the issue.

[MyNemesis]

The ballast is the right one. I just rewired the whole thing again, re-stripped the wires and discovered I had one of the yellow wires in the wrong end cap. Chalk it up to stupidity, I guess, small wiring diagrams or insufficient reading glasses. They fired up and now work. Now I can finish the project and get things put back together. Thank you for the suggestion, Mr. Young.

[youngtimothy]

I hate when that happens to me! at least problem solved! have fun with the rest of the project!

[MyNemesis]

Thanks! I only take the canopy off to replace bulbs, so now I can clean bulbs, reflectors, all the salt creep, clean the overflow out and so on. Good Saturday project! I also read this morning that fans shouldn't be blowing over the middles of the T5s which evidently decreases the life of the bulb; they should be directed over the end of the bulb with the logo according to Grim Reefer, so I will be moving those as well.

[Tom@HaslettMI]

A good Saturday project indeed. Glad you got the wiring figured out,

Tom

[youngtimothy]

I have fans blowing in from both ends, wonder if that effects the life?

[MyNemesis]

Here is the link to the article where I read the fans should be blowing over the ends of the tube with the logo:
Reef Aquarium Lighting - T5 Basics Good basic information.

Here is what was said specifically:
"T5's have what is known as a cold spot where the temperature determines the gas pressure inside the lamp. Some, but not all of the lamps have a dedicated cold spot which is at the label end. On other lamps regulating the temperature at either end will give you top performance but it is good practice to just cool the label end of all lamps to remove any doubt. Using a fan on the center section of the lamp will quickly over cool the lamp which actually will hurt performance more than not cooling at all in the case of the normally driven T5's. T5 VHO systems which are T5 ran on Ice Cap ballasts to overdrive the lamps must be cooled. Not doing so will lead to early lamp failure which is typically a crack at the reflector clip. The Same rule applies to cooling HO or VHO T5’s, don't cool the center of the lamps.