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Building a T5HO fixture

792 views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  GxneFishing 
#1 ·
This will be a new adventure for me, so I'd like any input on whether I'm doing something totally wrong.

My idea is to take a 3 foot piece of 1x6 wood and stain it to look pretty, then take a 3 foot piece of steel ducting and affix it to one side of the wood so that the wood is outside the curvature of the ducting. This will help hold the ducting open and form the basic housing of the light fixture. To the wood I can attach eyes to hang it from as well.

I found an Advance ballast on Amazon for $30 + shipping. It is for two 39 watt T5HO bulbs (exactly what I want). I am going to use heat-safe paint and paint the ballast, then mount it on the TOP of the fixture using stacks of washers so that the ballast won't actually touch the wood. This will allow heat to disspate from the ballast without adding any extra ventillation.

For a reflector, I plan to buy a MIRO 4 reflector from AH supply and attach it inside the curve of the ducting, and also affix 4 T5 bulb clips to hold the bulbs in place. At the same time I order the reflector, I plan to call AH Supply and also order 4 of their water resistant T5 end caps, which look like this:



Have my dad help me wire everything together properly and figure out something to block the ends of the fixture, and I think I will have a nice fixture for around $60 minus the cost of bulbs and shipping.
 
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#2 ·
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