DIY HID car lighting as a tank light?

Not DIY tank...Not DIY stand, not DIY filter, so I posted in the root of DIY!

Here's the idea I have been contemplating. I'm a car guy, so Brighter more efficient lights are here and I jumped in earl to the game! HID car lighting is now gaining ground, very bright, and efficient, most draw 35W when on. I have a few kits, a couple ballasts and a couple bulbs. Different mfr different design, most orphans by either one bad ballast or a bad bulb.

So my DIY, create lighting from an orphaned HID bulb.

Housings are easy, Ebay $10-15 and I have x2., Glass is about $30. I can get brackets and maybe solder on a tad or x2, and I got a free standing lighting solution. (7" round H4 housing)

Now here is where I get handy. I can get +12 from a used computer power supply, they can be jumpered to be on all the time, so a simple timer to control when. I have a few old CPU's and more power supplies to experiment with.

So bulb = I have several test bulbs for free with several ballasts.
+12VDC power supply (reliable CPU stuff
+simple timer or connect timer to 12vdc jumper.


So really the question is, why is there no chatter on the subject in the DIY forums. is there something I am missing?

The stoners all know about it setting up hidden hydroponics systems. But nothing on MFK...

What do ya think?

All fantastic points to consider!

Here are my counter points...

-I have 4 or 5 HID bulbs for H4 and H1 housings-all orphaned systems from various cars and attempts at HID lighting 3 different cars. All of which were less expensive kits and failed for one reason or another. (x1 ballast, or x1 bulb) I also have 4 different HID ballasts that I have tested-as long as they stay indoors, they will work fine, it's outdoor moisture and rain that kills these.

So I have a supply of bulbs and ballasts sitting in a drawer-paid for and collecting dust.

Housings-correct, headlights have lenses to focus them and keep light out of oncoming traffic.
I have x2 7" round H-4 housings, metal backed, glass prismed front that I just pulled for strait sealed beam headlights. One has a crack in the lens.

I am pulling the glass and replacing it with clear flat glass that I can mount into some sort of wood housing-this will house the metal reflector and probably my whole transformer/ballast/light rig. So this takes care of the car part of the lens and will give me even more output. I will build it to sit atop either the 35 hex or my 50G column brackish tank.

Heat. If it is too bad, I can pull the resistor off the 5vdc leg and install a 6" 5W silent fan on top of the whole thing.

Computer PSU- I have 8 or so old ATX PSU's pulled from working computers-these were saved from the recycler. I have a 160W that is tiny that I put into use for this project. I have bigger, but why? This is small and can only draw 5amps max but there is always an over load that can handle this burst amperage. According to internet electricians with a 35watt HID (x1 bulb) when warmed up only draw 1.5-2 amps each and 5 to 6 amps at initial turn on. Way better than the T5 HO's!

Militant Potato- only 5vdc needs a load from what I have read-this is what keeps the PSU on. I have a 10W ceramic resistor on there for this.

This being said...

I have a functional HID light, It has an on/off switch and works great! I have to break out the lens still and mount it onto something, but this is doable and I think the light output should be incredible compared the the CFL bulb it wil replace and it will be @5000K not 3400 like the CFL's (Day light!)


Thank you all for your input, it is very helpfull!

Proof is in the video! :headbang1

Needs a diffuser, along with a lens, but works great.

[video=youtube_share;eLfp9J-W32M]http://youtu.be/eLfp9J-W32M?list=UUQMIMQNXKpzyrwSWPVsdXEA[/video]

Been on for over an hour now and the only item that I believe to be too warm is the lighted on/off switch I used! It's above my silver dollar tank and they are grouped all in it's glow. I guess thats all the approval I need, lol.

The Reflector is the H4 7" round housing. So its made to be focused straight out. I might try the metal cap that was fitted in front of the bulb to try to spread out the light a little. But I also found that if I hooked up that solenoid retract (ie:high beam) by also hooking that to the +12vdc the beam pattern is fuller.

Still in the planning stages...

I have LED's on the 50G column brackish tank... Works well but was $65 plus tax. This setup for me to build it this week end was a total of $3 for a package of x2 10W resistors to place a load on the PSU. I still need to get a diffuser in place to see how that affects things, so maybe another $5-10 I need to put into it.

This doesn't include the used bulb, ($5-10 per Ebay) ballast (9-20) and PSU(recycled used 160W=free.99 to $10). The Lens was $16 before broken by road debrise, and the aluminum utility light housing was like $5.99. So my DIY lighting with auto HID is roughly 1/2 the cost of an LED light if all purchased outright.

Perfect.

And noside, you got the point of this whole project. Bright light with minimal spent on it.