Geiseman GHL upgrade

[Chew]

Thought I'd share my days work (well a couple of hours) with you guys since its GHL related. I've converted my Geisemann light unit to dimmable T5 ballasts that I can now control with my GHL.

I first stripped one side of the unit down and found it all looked fairly simple.



Gave the existing Phillips ballast a tweak and it was just stuck to the inside of the case with some blobs of silicone and came away with some gentle pressure.



So I stripped both ballasts and wiring out of both sides. I removed one of the 3 power leads as this was no longer needed. The remaining wiring is for the halide, the power lead that will be connected to the new ballasts and the control lead for the GHL which takes the place of the removed lead. I had to remove the lamp holders too but these will be re-clipped in place later when wired back up.



Stuck the new ballasts in exactly the same way as the old ones with a couple of blobs of silicone and then left it for a few hours to go off enough to start wiring.



All wired back up including the EVG-AP-2F. Most of the wiring was reused just had to add a few new bits as the wiring for the new ballasts was slightly different and also had to add some extra earth straps for EVG.



All back together and tested working perfectly. Quick wipe down and it was back over the tank and sat playing with cloud simulations etc

[Matthias]

thanks - a great job

I think these detailled instructions will make it very easy for everone to convert a lamp to dimmable (and GHL compatible)

[M007]

Nice retrofit. What make and model of the ballast you installed?

[Chew]

They are Helvar EL2x24s ballasts. Wiring for them is slightly different to the original Philips ones which is why I stripped all the wiring out and re-wired the new ones completely.

Little video of them dimming. Tubes are all ATI and are 2 super blue, one actinic and one pro colour. Halide is off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-s7gpGSoxQ

[Andyos]

I've just done a very similar thing with my AquaMedic AquaSunlight NG - I added a second ballast (Osram Dali Dimmable) to make it 4x54W instead of 2x54W and changed the original ballast for another Dali dimmable ballast....I just need to buy the Dali module for the GHL now! If anyone want's to know how to do it I have a thread on Ultimate Reef in the DIY section Cheers, Andy

[chrisrush]

Hi Chew. Where did you get the Helvar ballasts? Are they only avail in the UK? I am looking at adding 4 x 24w T5s to my PowerModule when I upgrade tanks.