Aquaspacelight lifespan

[MitchM]

I replaced my Aquaspacelight last week.
About a year ago, I had to replace a ballast, which was...challenging... (cheap, though, $30.00) , but about a month ago 1 light took longer and longer to light, then wouldn't light at all, then another started doing it...
I took it down to investigate and realized that it wasn't going to be fixed any time soon, as parts are difficult to come by, and the corals won't wait.
I read on RC where icecap had gutted and rewired a Spacelight, so I think that's what I'm going to do.
If anyone can think up a parts list for rewiring an external ballast, I would appreciate it.
The reason for going to an external ballast is that the Spacelight gets WAY too hot inside for the wires, clips and the nylon ties to last any length of time, as they were pretty brittle upon inspection. Mine is an earlier version that doesn't have vents on the top to allow heat to escape.
The unit is about 4 years old, 3 x 250wDE with 4 x 24w pc's.
Although it's pretty expensive, I'm really happy with the DE bulbs and the fixture itself that allows me to have an open top tank.

Mitch