Curiosity? t5 timer

[mixedreef89]

Hey everyone its been awhile. The 90 is doing great and now I'm onto the 40B MR for upstairs. My question is has anyone ever done a retrofit t5 with digital timer like what comes on the aqua traders lights or higher end t5 set ups? Ive never had luck with plug in timers they always fail on me and usually not in a good way. Ive got some spare t5 parts laying around that I was going to build my 6x39w retro with but want to integrate a digital timer. can it be done or is there a special chip inside that only recognizes their ballast?

 

[tkeracer619]

Sounds like a good time for a reef controller.

I use an old reefkeeper2 to control one of my hoods. You could DIY pretty easy with an arduino.

 

[mixedreef89]

I'm not very code literate. I've looked into the arduino but not sure I feel smart enough to do it haha and yes a apex is in my future but not until around xmas

 

[Kyuss]

Any timer from a light fixture should work fine - it's just relays and a timer. Probably want to make a diagram or something before pulling it off the old fixture because you likely aren't going to find one online anywhere and I doubt anything is marked on the back of the timer itself.

 

[mixedreef89]

I've got an old odyssea that I don't use anymore off my 90. I planned on useing the parts from it to retro my 40b. I'm upgrading their balast to a workhorse 5 balasts. I just wanted to make sure I could still use the controller. It was a great fixture until the balast went bad. I would like to build an arduino because I am very DIY. But not in the writing code way.