# DIY rain gutter PC lights



## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

We put together our lighting system from an old, discarded, power compact fluorescent lighting system. This build is built around a Fulham Workhorse 5 ballast. The Workhorse electronic ballasts can power a very large range of bulbs in different types, wattages, and numbers of bulbs. Their user friendly site makes it very easy to pull up a wiring diagram for whatever you wish to power. The old system we started with originally powered two 28 watt power compacts. We have changed the wiring to power two 65 watt power compacts using the same ballast and bulb endcaps. If you go to this site Fulham - Ballasts - you can enter the type of bulb you wish to power, the number of bulbs, the wattage of your bulbs, and your house current. Then they give you a choice of ballasts and pop up a wiring diagram. I find that the workhorse 5 ballast is widely used in power compact reef lighting. They use the same ballast for 28 watt PCs, 32 watt PCs, 55 watt PCs, 65 watt PCs (which actually burn at 64 watts), and 96 watt PCs. They are also used in some T5 fixtures and can be used for T6, T8, T10 and T12.
Power compacts have a reputation for being hot compared to a T5 but much of this comes from the fact that people are comparing a 3 foot bulb to a 3 foot bulb. If you keep in mind that a power compact actually has 2 tubes, then a fair comparison would have to be one 3 foot power compact, compared to two 3 foot T5 HO bulbs. Granted, T5's are a little more efficient because the smaller the tube, the more efficient it is. A power compact twin tube is approximately a T6 so it's not that far off. The biggest advantages to using T5 over PC (power compact fluorescent) is the wide variety of spectrums available in T5 vrs the comparatively few choices in PC. More than that, however, is the fact that with a small T5 bulb, you can wrap a killer reflector around it, making it very efficient. We simply cannot do that with the same results in a PC system. We will do what we can, though, to maximize reflection. We are going with PC for now, for 2 reasons, economy, and because the double tube PC should give us a lot of punch to try to illuminate clear down to the bottom of our 75 gallon, 3 foot deep viv. 
Here is a picture of the lighting system we tore into to loot it for parts and the ballast we found inside.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Torn apart. These are the discarded pieces which include the old housing and the cheap, flat reflector that most PCs use.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

The good stuff we will be re-using.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

We purchased a section of white, plastic (vinyl) rain gutter from Lowes for about $6 or $7. We have cut two 24" sections from it. This will function as a housing and partial, wrap-around reflector.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

We looted our old reef closet for a couple of used, 4 foot, TEK 2 reflectors. These are actually T5 reflectors and are some of the best ones on the market. They used to be available through Sunlight Supply but I don't see them on their site anymore. These are a little shorter than 4 foot, we cut them down to 21 1/4" to get 4 reflectors out of them. You could also look into a reflective film to line it with, like this Reflective Tape


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

We drilled and ran about 4 small nuts and bolts through the rain gutters to hold them together. We mounted 2 small black wood blocks for the PC endcaps. We looted the wood blocks from the old fixture, too.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

We have taken two of the reflectors and put them side by side, with about 1 inch overlapping. This gives us a wider, and more half rounded reflector to be able to use them with the PC bulbs. We drilled them and mounted them in the rain gutters with a couple small nuts and bolts.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

The bulb clips were looted from the old reflector and mounted with a single nut and bolt each.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

The endcap is mounted to the black wood block with two small screws.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Here is the overview of the first side.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Repeat for the second side.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Our wiring is still not right. Remember this was wired for 28 to 32 watt bulbs. The Fulham Workhorse 5 ballast has 4 red wires coming out. Each red wire controls 32 watts. It was originally wired to have one red wire going to each bulb and the extra two were not used. We need to use the extra red wire to combine with the one already in use so that it will supply 64 watts to each bulb. If you wanted to, you could combine 3 red wires to control one 96 watt bulb. This would be where you need Fulhams easy to use diagram finder. Fulham - Ballasts - First pic shows how it was. Second pic shows what I changed it to. Don't forget that the ballast MUST be grounded. Make sure to reconnect that green ground wire if you took it off during dis-assembly.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

I chose to take the old, cheap, flat reflector and screw it onto the top of my new fixture. I screwed the ballast onto the top of that. The cheap reflector makes a nice little heatsink. That's it. It's ready to plug in. If you wanted to, the whole setup could be mounted into a nice wood canopy. Here are some shots of the completed light and how she looks doing her job. I may still add one LED spotlight to punch down between the big branches at the back to light up the bottom better.


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## WeeNe858 (Sep 13, 2010)

Great DIY. I love having leftovers from other hobbies!


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## Reef_Haven (Jan 19, 2011)

Looks like it will still be pretty warm. Are you burning 64 watt PC's or 55's? What spectrum? Are you going to install pc fan at the ends?


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Reef_Haven said:


> Looks like it will still be pretty warm. Are you burning 64 watt PC's or 55's? What spectrum? Are you going to install pc fan at the ends?


65 watts 67K. It is a 75 gallon, 3 foot tall, viv. That's less than 2 watts per gallon. Don't worry, I am well aware of potential heat issues but it's not like I'm putting this over a 20 gallon viv.


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## stevenhman (Feb 19, 2008)

Hurray for DIY! Nice job!


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