My lights went out on my Nano Cube 6. I wanted to find a cheap fix to this light because I am only using this tank as a refugium at work. I basically have caulerpa, cheato and xenia in my tank so I didn't want to spend money on upgrading to LED or another PC fixture or components.
So I found a thread from Nano Reef and followed the same steps.
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/inde...ic=63992&st=20
The stock bulb is a 18watt PC light and the Nano-Reef thread uses a common Compact Flourescent (CFL) bulb used in any bulb socket at home. So I found a bulb at home that was 23 watts and broke the tube and removed the circuit board inside the housing.
I used P1 as the (+) power and P2 as (-) power.
Since the PC bulb is has 4 straight pins I wired them this way:
(left to right)
P3 first left pin
P4 second pin
P5 third pin
P6 last pin
I soldered wires to the circuit board and and twisted the rest of the wires with a cap.
I basically gutted the hood and removed the stock ballast, power transformer, fans, nite leds and fuse.
I tested everything for light off before I closed it all up.
I reassembled everything and tried to tuck all the wires and circuit board behind the reflector.
Everything works great and I connected the circuit to the switch inside the hood. I don't know how long the bulb will last since it is rated for 23 watts and the buld is 18 watts.
Hope this helps anyone who needs a cheap fix. I guess this would work in theory for anyone who wants to use it for multiple bulbs and T5 lighting.
So I found a thread from Nano Reef and followed the same steps.
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/inde...ic=63992&st=20
The stock bulb is a 18watt PC light and the Nano-Reef thread uses a common Compact Flourescent (CFL) bulb used in any bulb socket at home. So I found a bulb at home that was 23 watts and broke the tube and removed the circuit board inside the housing.
I used P1 as the (+) power and P2 as (-) power.
Since the PC bulb is has 4 straight pins I wired them this way:
(left to right)
P3 first left pin
P4 second pin
P5 third pin
P6 last pin
I soldered wires to the circuit board and and twisted the rest of the wires with a cap.
I basically gutted the hood and removed the stock ballast, power transformer, fans, nite leds and fuse.
I tested everything for light off before I closed it all up.
I reassembled everything and tried to tuck all the wires and circuit board behind the reflector.
Everything works great and I connected the circuit to the switch inside the hood. I don't know how long the bulb will last since it is rated for 23 watts and the buld is 18 watts.
Hope this helps anyone who needs a cheap fix. I guess this would work in theory for anyone who wants to use it for multiple bulbs and T5 lighting.
