dismanteling Glo units
 

has anyone ever tried to take apart a glo unt and used it as a retro fit? thinking of this in the future. just wondering as the actul retro kit has an external ballast, and the unit its internal. i would assume that if i am going to remove it then i will need to make a housing for it?


ANYTHING!???!

A retro kit ballast should still fit inside the Glo housing... very easy to take apart and put back together... There ain't much to them..

no i want to take apart the unit itself and use it as a retro fit. just wondering about the ballast in the unit itself. there is probably a major shock hazard once removed. i am thinking i would have to build a box for the ballast as not to get zapped.

I think as long as you wire it properly with marettes or electrician's tape that there wouldn't be any issues. You will probably have to buy some wire to make the connections longer. I've been thinking of doing this to my GLO and my Degenbao fixture as well so I can make external ballasts.

I dismantled my two lamp 36" GLO a while back so I could use the reflector for 2 MH lamps that I ghettoed up over my tank. Didn't take any photos unfortunately. The ballast is quite long & narrow and as Myka mentioned you can mount it externally (or in a hood) no problem as long as you use safe wiring practices. This includes grounding the metal case of the ballast. You'll see that the grounding wire for the ballast is screwed to the housing, just use the same wire and attach it to a good ground when you wire up the retro.

The other thing to watch for is the distance from ballast to lamp, you don't want to extend that too far since not all ballasts are designed for 'remote' mounting, they may have trouble firing the lamps. If you do need to extend the wiring, make sure it's at least 18 guage, solid wire, not stranded. IIRC, I popped the top off the ballast casing and it was completely potted inside, that is all the components are sealed in 'tar' so it's quite water resistant. Don't think a box is required for the ballast, just make sure the case is grounded and the top is secured so it doesn't fall off. If you don't pop it off like I did, it should be fine. You'll need to stick to the same size & number of lamps too, don't try to add another lamp or use a 48 if your GLO is a 36.

great thanks

This makes good sense, but if the retro is going into a wood stand (either for the top or below the tank for the fuge) what should you use for a ground?
Vic

The ballast is grounded through the plug but if you want extra protection just get a 3 prong plug and 3 wire cable (white, black, green) and connect the ground wire from your ballast to the ground in the cable. To make the wire to wire connections secure and not bulky I would solder them together and shrink wrap them then they will never come undone. You also have a guaranteed connection and the new connection is only a little fatter than the wires themselves. If you need to increase the length of the wires the heavier the gauge the less voltage drop of there is.

You need to wire corectly and use soder and heatshrink tubing so no moisture can get in the conection and cause truble but it would work well.

Bill

So always ground back through the house wiring - I suppose this is the same method the manufacturers use, except they have it "built into" their circuits & housings.
Vic