# (Electric?) Pulley for Aquarium Light Fixture



## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

Well i was just looking at bicycle pulleys, and i read an article about someone using one for their reef light. Looks like it would probably work. But they don't seem to have electrical bicycle pulleys. D:


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

Small 12v electric wench? Wouldn't take much but could easily be figured out.


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## jwm5 (May 9, 2010)

you could also play around with pulleys and weight(s), pulleys on the ceiling w/ lines running over to a pulley on the wall that connects to a counter balanced weight, this would make it so you could simply lift the light up and it would stay in place when doing maintenance. not as cool as electric, but probably cheaper and easier.


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

easy peasy. Small winches will be slow and ugly. Can do by hand with little effort.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

One thing I overlooked in hanging my light is the power cord. When I raise the light, the power cord is lengthened, for my setup. And, when I lower it the cord is shortened. Making provision for this to happen smoothly is something I still need to work on. That might be the problem with the electric winch idea that over stocked showed above. It looks like it should be easy to get around it, but you have to make the effort.

And, I really like over stocked's idea! One more DIY project to enjoy working out. It actually takes two pulleys per cable to make this work, or really big pulleys, because the cables down to the winch need to run back against the wall. Perhaps by using bent conduit hangers you could run the cables down the inside of the conduits.


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## Sharkfood (May 2, 2010)

They aren't very cheap, but you can get wire management brackets for servers with sliding trays etc.. Just talk to your IT guy at work or go to a computer repair place. They're kind of like a spring loaded "w" that expands and straightens out when you pull on it. That would fix your power cord issue.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

My power cord issue is complicated by having one of the two cords having to go to a 12 volt power converter. My cord is a bit short, so raising the light entails hanging the converter on the power cord. I can easily fix it, but haven't taken the time to do so yet - it's only been this way for 8 months or so:icon_cool


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

Thanks for all of the replies.

I think i'll try over_stocked's idea. The only problem is i'm not sure how i'm going to use longer wires. Is there some kind of thing that you can put in between two wires to join them together? (to add length).


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

Well we got all of the materials today, and put it together, and I think it works fine- but my parents think it's putting too much strain on the ceiling. The hooks are only attached to the driftwood, not a beam. Is this an issue? Any ways we can get around it?


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

AzFishKid said:


> Well we got all of the materials today, and put it together, and I think it works fine- but my parents think it's putting too much strain on the ceiling. The hooks are only attached to the driftwood, not a beam. Is this an issue? Any ways we can get around it?


You can always attach a nice 1x8 finished off nicely to the studs in the ceiling and mount your hooks and pulley to it. 

Craig


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

AzFishKid said:


> The hooks are only attached to the driftwood, not a beam. Is this an issue? Any ways we can get around it?


You mean drywall? It depends on the anchors you used to attach the hooks. Do you know what kind you used?








This kind is one of the best, but it requires a bigger hole


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

CL said:


> You mean drywall? It depends on the anchors you used to attach the hooks. Do you know what kind you used?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA yes i meant drywall. LOL i think that shows how addicted i am to aquariums... :icon_mrgr

We used the kind that is in the second picture.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Assuming the light doesn't weigh something ridiculous, I'd say you'll be fine using a winch or pulleys.


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

CL said:


> Assuming the light doesn't weigh something ridiculous, I'd say you'll be fine using a winch or pulleys.


It's a 72" fixture, so it's fairly heavy.

This is the pulley. Is it too small? (one is at each end)










Another problem that we had was that we couldn't lift it by pulling the two wires. I was thinking we could maybe attach each wire to the end of a PVC pipe- bad or good idea? (to make kinda a handle thing, lol). I thought this might make it easier to lift. Tying both wires together didn't work, because the pulleys were at an angle and weren't able to function.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Yes, a pvc pipe acting as a handle bar should work fine. That looks like a nice pulley.


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Put wood across the ceiling joists as suggested, to attach the pulleys. Then hang a counterweight on the other end of the cable. When you lift gently on the light the counterweight will draw the cables through the pulley. Probably a good idea to have a hook accessible, but toward the back of the tank to hook the cable onto to hold it there. 

Look in the cable department of a hardware store to find a clamp that connects to the cable and you can put perhaps a loop in the cable, or attach an eye.


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## Digital (Apr 4, 2008)

Yeah make it a pulley system, they got one at my LFS over the plant tank, they can pull down a little and it will release and go up a bit.


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