[whitepine]

I would just go to homedepot and buy the 4 foot shop light for $9. It comes in a whitebox and is pretty basic. This ballast is a sunspark electonic ballast and can run lots of stuff... such as one 55 watt cf bulb...etc. If you are planning on building a hood you can just strip out the ballast, wires and endcaps(light sockets) and install them in your hood or set it up with a remote ballast. You could also just cut down the metal shoplight and reflector... of course you have to take the light appart for this. I just go to my local Bulb supply house and buy some cheap 6700k bulbs that are 18 or 20 watt bulbs. I get them for like $5 a piece. figure out how long the cut down hood needs to be for your bulbs and use a pair of tinsnips and cut it in half or where the relocated bulb sockets will go. slid the socket into the new slot you cut and put it all back together and now You are over driving your t-8 or t12 bulbs too. Pretty easy to do and really cheap. I guess I should take pictures and post this some time... not the greatest lights just cheap. and on a 20 long it has plenty of light to grown most plants. not bad for $20 and about an half hour of your time!

Cheers, Whitepine