Electrician help please.

[finaddictfred]

I'm building my hood and need to know if this is the right way to go.
going to run 4 - 54w T5'2. 2 per ballast. Ballasts are going to be Workhorse 5's from Fulham. I read that I will need shunted T5 sockets for these bulbs and ballasts..is this correct? Also..Where do I connect a ground wire to..would I run a ground from the ballast to an outlet or could I run 3 wire and use the ground off that to ground both ballasts? This has me slightly confused. And will a 1200 mA AC adapter work for powering two fans that will be rated below the 1200mA rating?
The adaptor says:
AC Adaptor
Class 2 Power Units
Input: 120 VAC 60 HZ 32W
Output: 12 VDC 1200mA
Thanks,
Fred

 

[SnowManSnow]

sounds cheaper and more simple to buy a retrofit kit for what ya want.

b

 

[finaddictfred]

Ineed this for a 6 foot tank. The cost of a hood and retro's would be around 375 and not cover the entire tank..my DIY will cost around225 and fit the entire tank.

 

[kgross]

First I would suggest getting true T5-Ho ballasts over the workhorse ballasts. The reason for this, T5 ballasts are programed start, while workhorse are instant start. You will get longer bulb life from the T5 ballasts, and the cost is pretty close to the same.

After that, you will ground both ballasts, and the reflectors if possible, if you use the workhorse ballasts, just connect a ground wire to the screws that fasten the ballasts down. The simplest way to do this is use a three prong cord, if you only have a 2 prong cord you should still hook up a ground

Shunted sockets. You don't need them because you can make your own shunts, just use a jumper wire to connect both pins on the socket to gather.

On your AC/DC adapter, as long as each fan is less than 600MA's you can run both fans off of the one adapter as long as the fans are wired in parallel to the adapter. IE connect the + from both fans to the + on the output of the adapter and the - from both fans to the - on the adapter.

Kim