Warning - Light Retrofit

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superstein61

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Dec 10, 2002
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For those of you retrofitting a light with power compacts - heed this warning.

Be sure to ventilate, ventilate - and when you are done - ventilate some more !!!

The reason I say this is I recently retrofitted a 48" NO flourescent strip light with AH Supply's 2x55W Power Compact kit. (I had planned to build a wooden enclosure to hold the AH Supply lights - but my wife prefered the low profile look of our existing strip light. So . . .

Anyway, the strip light already had 2 vents in the top - and I added 2 more (with the 1 inch circular covers provided by AHSupply in the back). The strip light sits on my 72 gallon tank which has split glass covers. The light is a fraction of an inch off the glass.

Well, today after about 1+ week of use - I noticed something strange looking in the tank at the bottom of the hood. Upon closer inspection - the glass on both sides under the light were cracked. Nothing fell, etc on the glass- so the only explanation is the glass (3/8" thick) cracked because of the heat of the light. The cracks were substantial - ie all the way thru - so I had to get some replacement glass (actually some replacement heavy duty 1/4" thick plexiglass like material at Home Depot).

Luckily no glass fell in the tank and I fixed it at a low cost. But wanted to warn anyone who uses one of these or similiar conversion kits - be cautios - you can never have enough ventilation for the heat. I though I did but was proven wrong.

My light strip now sits an additional 1/2" above my glass hood - to provide additional ventilation.
 
Raithan Ellis

Raithan Ellis

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Jan 24, 2002
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CF bulbs put out much more heat than standard fluorscents. I'd say they are just a little cooler than VHO.

Don't mount either of those in anything without either plenty of gaps for air circulation or a nice fan, mounted, that turns on with the ballast.
 
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a_free_bird73

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Jun 13, 2002
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A couple of comments,

1- While cooling is important in CF, VHO and MH lighting, it is important to recognise that they were designed to run at an optimal temperature. If you over cool them, they will not run efficiently and may also have a shortened life. If you use fans, never, direct the fan at the light. The fan should draw air out not force it in.

2- Glass can withstand significant temperature changes provided that it is slow. There is a number of reasons for why the glass may have cracked. The most likely reason is that the light source is too close to the glass. The other possible reason is that you have a tight fitting glass cover which did not have enough room to expand with the temperature change (I have rarely seen such tight fitting covers but I have seen them). If that is the case, becareful with the plastic cover replacment. Plastic can expand much more than glass so make sure it is not a tight fit after once it has heated up...
 
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superstein61

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Originally posted by a_free_bird73
A couple of comments,


2- Glass can withstand significant temperature changes provided that it is slow. There is a number of reasons for why the glass may have cracked. The most likely reason is that the light source is too close to the glass. The other possible reason is that you have a tight fitting glass cover which did not have enough room to expand with the temperature change ...
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It was likely a combination of both. The strip light basically sat on the glass (ok it rested on the sides of the tank - and there was about a 1/16" gap bewteen the light and the glass). Plus the glass cover believe it or not was indeed tight fitting.

I now have the light resting on some risers (basically some flat piece of leftover replacement material I used to replace the glass with) - so now the gap is much greater. Although I guess I made the replacement lid as tight as the original. I will have to take a look at that - although this new material (wish I knew its exact name) seems very strong. It was a real bear to cut - had to use a power saw. But maybe I will sand it down a bit - thanks
 
carpguy

carpguy

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Jul 15, 2002
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I have noticed that with my CFs the heater rarely troubles itself to come on during the day, but the glass never becomes hot (it does get very warm). I have about an inch or so separation between the glass and the bottom of the reflector. The bulbs do become too hot to hold, although I think you'd need to be quite stubborn to manage getting burned. The moonlight is directly above the plastic strip at the back of the cover and that has shown no deformity after a few weeks, but I'm not using the reflector on that and there is a lot of space around it. YMMV.
 
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