Help Repairing My Aquarium Light

[Eb0la11]

Originally Posted by zum14

Depends on the light, I had one that wouldnt work on me and was thinking of doing that, turned out to be a 50 cent starter. (small cylinder shaped piece) If its a good shop they should be able to tell you wether its worth it or not to have it repaired as its pretty tough to diagnose with no tools. Is the light run on a timer?

Yes the lights run on a timer. I've unplugged it form the timer and tried a working wall socket with no luck as well.

[zum14]

hmm well without the tools to do the tests joe suggested your pretty much shooting in the dark. Best bet if you dont want to get the tools is to look into repair costs vs new cost. Any electronic repair shop or possibly a lighting shop should be able to tell you wether or not its worth it. Sometimes if its a ballast, you factor the part, plus there time and you could of bought a new light.

[Eb0la11]

Yeah, thats what I was thinking.

What is a good repair shop that would be smart to take it to for that kind of advice?

[Eb0la11]

Anyone know of a good shop?

[ILIKECOUGARS]

If I were you I would just pick up a electronic ballast, that rated for a single tube F40T12 or T8 and install it in the fixture. All ballast, has a wiring diagram for connections.

[BlueWorldAquatic]

More than likely the starter, kind of looks like a "perfecto" T8 light. Those starters are cheap, and can be found at PetSmart. It has like a small white cylindrical part right?

Ken - BWA

[Eb0la11]

Hmmm, I'll take a closer look at the starter and then decide if I think it's that or the ballast.

Ive gotten pretty busy, my fish have just had a lamp on top of the tank for the time being. Though my SW tank radiates quite a bit of light as its only a few feet away so it can't be that bad.

[intarsiabox]

For less than $40 you can pick up a whole new fixture at home depot and either try retro fitting the components into your fixture or make a cheap canopy and use as is.