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solid mounting shop lights
>
>From: User275806 at aol_com
>Date: Mon, 1 Apr 1996 23:14:31 -0500
>Subject: Is My Shoplight/Ballast Selection SAFE?
>
>I was at the hardware store and saw a shoplight made by American Fluoresent
>Corp. that holds two 48" 40 watt tubes and costs $9.99. The ballast in it is
>made by Lumi-Con and has the following specs: 120 volts / 60 Hz / .650 amps
>/ class P automatic resetting thermal protector / sound rated A series
>ballast / for rapid start lamps / Recommended lamps- F40 CWX, RES, CWP, KB.
> It did have a warning on it that said- Do not surface mount, hang from chain
>only. Is this warning on all shoplights? Is this a quality
>shoplight/ballast that will be safe to use in my homemade hood that will not
>be hung from a chain? The man at the store told me the new shoplights coming
>out are switching from ballasts that handle 40 watt tubes, to ones that hold
>32 watt tubes for safety reasons. Jeff
>
I use 3 2 bulb shoplights over my 75G. I avoided using the chains by
cutting a 2x4 into 6" lengths. Then I flipped the hood upside down and
placed a chunk of wood between the shoplight and the hood at each end of the
light. Then I drilled holes through the metal of the shoplight(before bulbs
were installed) and put about 6 screws in each side so that the screws ran
through the metal backing of the light, through the 2"4" and into the wood
of the hood. After 2 or 3 months there have not been any fires yet :-) By
doing this you allow for about 1.5" of air circulation between the light and
the wood of the hood. BTW I picked up this trick from the basement at work
where they did the same thing. Try to keep the screw and wood backing plate
as far from the ballast as possible.