Lighting Timer question

Need some help 3 reef. Just bought a 175 watt MH fixture with two 18 watt PC's and moonlight for my 12 gallon nano cube. There is only one power cord coming out of the ballast. Wondering if there is any way to fix this where I can have the Pc's come on before the MH and go off after the MH? Thanks in advance for the help.
Justin

 

pc's are powered by the mh ballast too? strange...

 

Yes, One power cord goin into the ballast, and three coming out. I thought it was very strange as well but got a steal on the light so could not argue.

 

If your pc light cord comes out of the mh ballast you could probably cut that wire, get a male and female extension cord plugs(at your local hardware store), splice the female end on the wire you cut coming out of the mh ballast and the male end on the wire going to your pc lights,get a timer and plug it into the female end and plug the male end into the timer.ReefSparky on the forum is an electrician by trade,maybe you can get him to confirm this.

p.s. please make sure everything is unplugged before attempting this.. .

 

This might work, but as Geoff stated, be careful. If you dont feel comfortable preforming this "operation" dont. PM ReefSparky if you are willing to try this, he's good at elec. Which lighting fixture did you get?



Luna

 

I don't think that would work...
Especially if it's coming out of the ballast, as MOST timers use the 110V to power themselves, as well as energizing the relay.

Take apart the fixture, and run separate power cords to each ballast. No way that one ballast is running all 3, they must all be sharing a common power line is all.
A photo here would really help, so i can help you.

 

Wiring is not a problem, I also had the thought of splicing the wires coming out of the ballast and putting male and female ends on the cords but like was said not sure of the voltage issue. Im gonna get a picture up this evening when I get home. I believe as FuzzBall03 stated the best option would be to disassemble the ballast and run separate cords to each one.

 

Is the pc ballast in the unit with the mh ballast or is it in the light fixture itself?