Using a JBJ Canopy to house MH?

[tyr-sog]

Do you guys think it would be possible to house two 175w MH in a JBJ PC canopy? I could take out one of the bulbs and modify it with the 2-MH on each end of the canopy while keeping one Actinic. I'm just not really sure how big MH are.
What benfits would I get from acing the 96w PC and upgrading to 2-175 MH?

 

[daniel411]

I've only seen those lights set up in a store. The ones I saw, were 48" and couldn't fit MH bulbs in them. However, if you're willing to modify the lights "quite a bit"... I think it would be perfectly possible to install some. Depends if you're willing to risk playing with a dremel, metal hole saws, etc.

 

[tyr-sog]

Haha, Dremel you say? Sliced tile all day with one. Let me at it!
Yeah, I would Imagine they would stick below the canopy though. Id really only have maybe 2 1/2" from the reflector to the plexiglass of the canopy which I'd remove anyways.

 

[daniel411]

Originally posted by Tyr-Sog
Haha, Dremel you say? Sliced tile all day with one. Let me at it!
Yeah, I would Imagine they would stick below the canopy though. Id really only have maybe 2 1/2" from the reflector to the plexiglass of the canopy which I'd remove anyways.
Those darn dremels are mighty handy! You, or atleast I would keep the glass under the canopy in place. Haveing water splash up and touch a MH bulb would not be good... entertaining maybe! If it's plexiglass, and the canopy can support it, I'd switch it out to glass... just to prevent the plexiglass from melting. If you need the same size, thickness, of glass let me know; I can come accross it pretty cheap. I'll check in some catalogues of what the dimensions of some various HQl retrofit kits are, when I get home. You might be able to get some to fit in that space, with a cpu fan, without sticking out the top to high.
Would be an interesting project atleast.

 

[jpawson]

I tell you, I had a 48' 4 bulb JBJ power compact setup and just recently switched to MH. I think you would be better off selling the JBJ as is and buying a retro fit MH kit. That is what I did.
Reason:
1. The built in fans in my JBJ fixture were not that strong and would not be strong enough for the MH's.
2. You could not use the plexiglass cover on the JBJ- MH's would melt it.
3. You would need to buy new sockets and ballasts for the MH's
Basically, the only thing you could use out of the JBJ is the reflector. I would sell the JBJ lights as is, and shop around for a retro MH kit.
Good luck.

 

[daniel411]

Originally posted by jpawson
I tell you, I had a 48' 4 bulb JBJ power compact setup and just recently switched to MH. I think you would be better off selling the JBJ as is and buying a retro fit MH kit. That is what I did.
Reason:
1. The built in fans in my JBJ fixture were not that strong and would not be strong enough for the MH's.
2. You could not use the plexiglass cover on the JBJ- MH's would melt it.
3. You would need to buy new sockets and ballasts for the MH's
Basically, the only thing you could use out of the JBJ is the reflector. I would sell the JBJ lights as is, and shop around for a retro MH kit.
Good luck.
LOL, but that would take all of the fun out of it! CPU fan to replace the jbj's... problem solved!, glass to replace the plexiglass... problem solved! Of course you'd need to buy ballasts/sockets/etc... but thats the same thing as a retrofit kit.
Oh well... diy projects are fun.. till alcohol becomes involved and the attention span is lost....

 

[tyr-sog]

I found on ---- a new retro-fit/ with bulbs (10,000K or 20,000K your choice) Dual 175w MH for "buy it now" $225 shipped.

 

[daniel411]

Pretty good price! Beats most of the online catalogues I know of.

 

[lurch694u]

I yanked apart my jbj 48" kept the reflector and ballasts and bulbs. I just screwed the reflector to my canopy. I bought 2 of those 4 lightswitch housings from home depot and threw the ballasts inside those housing boxes. Even cut some square holes in the housings so you can run the old jbj switches for the PC bulbs. Bought a role of reflector and added my MH lights to the canopy.

 

[spsfreak100]

The whole system would most likely melt due to the heat of the halides. As stated above, the reflector would be the only thing that you could keep. Even the reflector won't do a good job for the halides, as the reflector was disigned for the JBJ setup. A spiderlight reflector would be much better to buy, as the power compacts would be able to mount right in.
As far as the Power compacts go, good luck getting them out of the JBJ setup! It took me almost an hour to get the power compact ballast out of the hood, using a few screw drivers, hammars, pliers, etc.
Graham

 

[lurch694u]

If you use the jbj reflector for the pc's and the spider reflectors for the halides you should have no problem. The ballasts for the pc's won't melt if you mount them away from the halides. It also only took me 15 minutes to pull the jbj system apart. This is only my .02 cents.