can you re-wire your light fixture?

[papijames]

Hello there,
I've purchased a 216w light fixture with 1 switch for the 2x 10k, 1witch for the 2x Actinic, and 1switch for the 8x Moonlight. the only downfall is that it came with only 1 power plug:cry_smile:. so at night I have to unplug it from the timer, put it in regular plug to turn on the moonlights, then in the morning replug it on the timer to use the regular lights:at_wits_end:.
Everything was fine, except for the last 2days I had to be at work at 5AM and forgot to do the whole unplug and replug process and there was no light for my corals 2 days in a row.
Is there a way to open that light fixture and tap the cable so I can create a new plug for the moonlights? I don't mind buying the parts needed and "PAY YOU" to do it for me. (if you're an electrician, or have done it before and didn't burn down your house)

[subsailor]

post the model of your light

[papijames]

it's the 48" long T5 light fixture from odyssea. It has 1power cord with 3 on/off switch.

[ErikH]

I doubt it, unless there are seperate ballasts. If there are, you should be able to wire it past the ballast before the main plug.

[papijames]

well the fixture only came with 1 ballast, what can i do now?

[subsailor]

your best bet would be to just not utilize the moonlights unless you are veiwing the tank and leave your timer on

[CoryDude]

Are those the one's that have a rep for catching fire? It makes sense from a manufacturor's standpoint to have 1 pwr chrd and 3 switches to save on production costs, but from a user's standpoint, it sounds like a pain.

The idea of foregoing the moonlights sounds like the best bet.

[ErikH]

Oh yeah, you could buy the moonlights that Jason has at AD. They are 2' long and look great to me! I have two of them mounted in my canopy. You could find a way to attach them (loctite!) to your current fixture.... I'm ghetto as far as mounting goes since I keep adding, then upgrading, then adding.....

[papijames]

:innocent2:erik how can you be so ghetto and still have that neat looking tank? lol. not such a bad idea either

[the CL poster]

hm...

with one ballast, you have very few options.

you *could* wire each hot wire with an inline fuse + individual switch, with the main switch bieng the on/off for the entire setup.

however, im not that framiliar with t5 lights running off of one ballast. im not sure if you keep one wire with a broken circut and one with a complete circut, im not sure if that ballast will pump all the wattage to the completed circut, or if each circut is capped.

maybe one of our more electronically-inclined ppl will chime in...

[papijames]

the moonlight fixture from AD is $50 so I think I'll still try to get advice here on how to update the fixture.

THE CL POSTER. You sound like you're tried something like that before