Tristan's Do It Yourself Lighting

Over Drive Those Fluorescent Bulbs!

Ever heard of ODNO before? It stands for Over Driven Normal Output. That means you can take regular fluorescent bulbs and over drive them to put out more light! This is a very inexpensive alternative to aquarium lighting.

You can over drive several bulbs to get intense lighting for freshwater plant tanks (I assume would work on marine also), or if your limited in space you can over drive just one bulb to get that extra light out of a limited space.

Did I invent this? No. This has been done many times, I came across this concept on a forum online that deals with aquariums. I have done this successfully on many light setups, and that's what this page is all about. See what I did, and maybe you can take some of the info away with you.

Disclaimer:  I take no responsibility for you trying to attempt what I have done. You should only attempt this project if you have sufficient electrical skills and knowledge. It is possible you could electrocute yourself, your fish, or maybe burn your house down. I have not pointed out all the dangers involved. I am also not familiar with the finer details of the electricians codes. I do not state or imply that this is safe. Nor do I state or imply that driving to work in the morning is safe either.

Left: 2X ODNO, Right: Standard

Its difficult to photograph lights, but you can tell that the bulbs on the left are definitely brighter than those on the right. Both pairs are exactly the same bulb - G.E. Plant & Aquarium bulbs (40W T12).

So, what makes this work? Its really quite easy. All you do is take a ballast that is designed to run 4 lights, and instead of hooking all 4 up, we hook all 4 of the 'outputs' to just 2 bulbs. So theoretically the same wattage as 4 bulbs would consume will now be consumed by just two bulbs. Well there is some more details, read on.

How can the bulbs go beyond their design? Well the 32W or 40W specification printed on the bulb is well under what the bulb can really do. This is more of an economic operating point, a balance between how much light output there is compared to how much power it consumes and how long the life expectancy is. The lighting industry is mostly driven by commercial business, were the need for a longer life is probably much greater than a few more watts of power. Just think if all those office building with hundreds of bulbs had to change them all out twice as often!  The overdriven bulbs will have a shorter life, and wont be quite as efficient. These are not a big deal to the common aquarist and addressed later... read on.

Ok, here we go. First off you need an electronic ballast. A magnetic ballast will not work! Your lower end shoplights will typically employ magnetic ballasts. You'll probably have to buy a ballast. If you happen to have an electronically ballasted multi-tube light you can use it for parts if you want. I got a good deal on Ebay for mine, but any home improvement store will have them. Not sure if all will work but they should. There are a few that have been tested and used successfully with ODNO and they are:

Advance REL-4P32-SC

G.E. B432I120RH

Sylvania QT 4X32/120 IS-SC

Fulham Workhorse 5

I got the Sylvania's 4 for ~$15 each including shipping. All these ballast are designed to drive 4 bulbs that are 4 foot long T8 bulbs. The '32' refers to a 4 foot long bulb in T8 size. T8's will be the bulb of choice for this project but you can use T10, and T12 bulbs with the same ballast even though you may have heard otherwise. I believe all the ballasts for 4 foot tubes will also drive shorter tubes as well, your not limited to only 4 footers.

The bulbs get less efficient the more power you pump through them, that's why 2X is not 200%, and 3X is not 300%, and so on. I have run bulbs at 4X but I dont think its necessary unless you have a space problem. 2X is what I recommend, you wont loose as much effeciency or bulb life, and you gain a significant amount. Its also the safer bet.

Show me the details, pics, and how-to's!

Ok, so here is the project. Retrofit and existing twin tube shoplight to 2X using both tubes:

Twin Tube Shop-Light Retrofit

	Getting started. Some things you will need: twin tube light, electronic ballast, a pair of suitable light bulbs, wire nuts, screw drivers, cutters, wire strippers.
	Disassemble the light fixture. Normally there is just a screw or two on each end.
	Here I am removing the cover, exposing all the internals.
	These endcaps are to be re-used so try not to damage them or the wires going to them.
	Here is the old ballast. Typically if it doesn't say "Electronic Ballast" that means it is a magnetic (standard) type ballast. Not the picture on the ballast indicates 2 lights.
	Remove old ballast. I clipped the wires coming right out of the ballast since I am just throwing the ballast away and re-using the wires. (BTW thats the new ballast sitting there).
	Here is the new electronic ballast. Note the diagram shows it can drive 4 bulbs. Also note: yellow(2), white and black wires out one end, blue(2) and red(2) wires out the other. This is typical for a 4 bulb ballast. Also, the new ballast is much longer than the original, but take a close look and you can see the fixture has mounting positions for both length ballasts.
	Ballast can be attached a few different ways. Some have a clip on one end, some bolt down on both ends. Some light fixtures may not have mounting options for both. You may have to improvise. Here I am sliding the ballast to fit under that tab sticking up slightly.
	Other end bolts down.
	I used a new longer power cord, but you can probably just re-use your existing cord. Make sure the case is grounded!
	I use wire nuts for all my connections, and wrapped in electricians tape. I dont know if its critical but I did hook up the proper polarity, black wire from ballast going to the smaller plug on the wall receptacle, and the white wire going to the larger plug on the receptacle.
	OK, everything is wired up. I jumped ahead a bit because my pictures didn't come out. What I did was hook the yellow wires coming out of the ballast to the yellow wires going to the endcaps at one end. And at the other end I hooked both reds coming from the ballast to one endcap, and both blues from the ballast to the other endcap.
	Once you have stuffed all the wires back in and re-assembled the fixture, its time to put the bulb in and test it out. I chose T8 bulbs because they are more efficient than T10 and T12 bulbs plus dirt cheap at Home Depot for Phillips Daylight Deluxe - 2 for $7. They are 6500k and look much brighter than any other bulb they had there. The smaller size also helps the reflected light go back into the tank rather than hit the bulb (re-strike). Check out the size difference in the photo. Once you use T8 you'll think the T12's are archaic.
	Here is the light operating. I took a picture on automatic with flash. The light pretty much washes out the pic. Basically, its bright!
	Here I shut the flash off and turned up the shutter speed and lowered the aperture until the light meter red +/-0. You can see how dark it had to get just to get the light down to were it would wash the pic out.

Other options: So what if you want 3X or 4X. For 3X you need to put 3 outputs into 1 bulb. That would typically be done by getting a ballast designed for 3 lights and connecting all the yellows to one endcap and all the other colors (except white/black power wires obviously) to the other endcap. And with 4X you'll need a ballast for 4 lights that will be used to drive just one light. Hook up all the yellows to one end, and all the colors to the other (usually red/blue). This is the most costly (need 1 ballast for every light), inefficient (bulbs start really getting hot), and dangerous, so I dont recommend it. I have noticed while using 4X if the bulb does not make a good connection it will arc and scorch the endcaps quickly! This is what I mean by most dangerous. I have not noticed this problem with 2X.

Some more common questions:

What about the shortened life expectancy? Well, if your changing your bulbs as recommended (probably yearly) then your 2X overdriven bulbs will most likely last almost as long. They just might dim at a slightly higher rate. If you really want to then change them at 6 months or so. And the point with ODNO is that you can use CHEAP bulbs so the cost of replacement is just a few dollars in most cases. Try replacing a  compact fluorescent bulb for under $5.

Will it get hot? The bulbs will get hotter. But I am still able to fully grab a 4X overdriven bulb without letting go. Some bulbs may get hotter than others, depends on bulb manufacture. The ballast shouldn't get hotter in theory, as the ballast is designed to drive full power to 4 bulbs, its just now trying to put most of this power into just 1 bulb instead. On a retrofit with just one ballast like I did above, I would not be worried about extra heat. However, on the project I am doing below, with 4 bulbs and 2 ballasts, I am using cooling fans because the temperature does rise considerably in the enclosed canopy, and its wood. With the small amount of air flow my fans provide on my canopy the bulbs driven at 2X are barely warm to the touch.

What are the common bulb designations and what are the difference? When you see a 'T' and a number for a bulb size (like T12) it is referring to how many 1/8ths of an inch the bulb diameter is.  For example, a T12 bulb means the bulb's diameter is 12/8 of an inch. 12/8 = 1 1/2 or 1.5" in diameter. T10 is 1.25" and T8 is 1". T5's are 5/8" but are not compatible with the rest of these bulbs. They all have the same 2 pin mounting size and a relatively interchangeable (except for T5). Update: they now have 'T6' bulbs (well at least I just found out) that are 3/4" diameter, very similar to a T5 but have the common end pins that all the larger fluorescents do. So what effect does the size have? Generally speaking the smaller the diameter of the bulb the more efficient it will be. I cant say for sure what the scientific reasoning is but I have heard things like it is much easier to heat a very small bulb than a large one. Generally you can also tell the smaller bulbs do indeed get hotter. Most huge T12 bulbs barely are warm to the touch, but a T5 can get very hot.

So what are my bulb recommendations? The best bang for the buck has got to be the Philips Daylight Deluxe F32T8 bulb available from Home Depot for ~$7. Its a 6500K T8 bulb that looks pretty good in the aquarium and  works well in plant tanks. If you want as much light/efficiency as possible look into T6 options. They cost a bit more seeing how they are much less common. I have some on order so I'll post here when I compare them to the Philips. Here is a link to some T6's for sale: http://www.petsolutions.com/T+6+Lighting-C-40003082-C-.aspx

Here are some of the common sizes (still working on this chart):

So that's a retrofit in a nutshell. If you are wondering right now if I am going to come out with instructions in ENGLISH or your really confused, then you SHOULD NOT try to do this. I only suggest it to people who have some knowledge of electrical wiring and such things.

So what if I want to build a canopy from scratch and use ODNO lights built into this? Do I need the fixture? No, you can build a canopy from scratch like I am about to show, and use endcaps to mount the lights. So on to my next project: Custom Canopy.

So what if I want more light but dont want to use ODNO? Well if you dont want to change/modify your current fixture then you can at least upgrade the bulbs. Try a good bulb like the Philips Daylight Deluxe T8 or a T6 bulb for your application. Another thing you can do is get a reflector or paint the underside of your canopy white. And of course keep your glass clean if you have a glass cover on your tank.

So, is 4X too much and could bad things happen when pushed this high? I recommend 2X or 3X. I would only go 4X if you were retrofitting a metal enclosure and it wasn't directly mounted to wood. Also make sure everything is grounded properly, and use a GFI outlet, and some air circulation. One thing I have noticed... with a standard fluorescent bulb you can take it out or put it in while the power is on. No problems. But at 4X, if you take it out or put it in under full power it will arc and pop from the electrical terminals. The first time I tried doing that there were sparks and it left a black char on the endcap. No more 4X for me. But as long as your bulb connections are tight, its surrounded by a grounded metal canopy, and there is some airflow, then you should be ok, but proceed at your own risk!

This webpage originally created on 4/2/06. Last updated: 8/20/06

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