# Such thing as a straight pin to square pin adapter?



## trckrunrmike (Jul 20, 2005)

I want this lamp 55W / 65W 8,800K, 22" Square Pin Base but my fixture has a straight pin base. I asked the people at Frys and they didn't know what I was talking about. If I did get an adapter will everything fit inside the 24'' Coralife hood?


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## yoink (Apr 21, 2005)

I've seen them on eBay before, but I searched and couldn't find anything. Any reason you want this bulb specifically? Have you considered a dual daylight bulb(6700/10000k)?


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

I wish I could give you better information than this dim memory...

But I had the same problem one, only in reverse - I wanted to convert a straight pin bulb to a square socket. Unable to get any reliable info here, I wound up calling the tech support of a couple of bulb manufacturers. And for this life of me, the tech gobblety **** they spewed in explaining the answer to my question when blasting right over my head. But the upshot of their responses was real clear - sounds like it should be simple, but is in fact impossible.

Or at least that's how I recall it. And if I had heard otherwise, I'd be running a different bulb on my Orbit PC light right now.

BTW - While it seems hard to belive that this won't work, I've personally seen no evidence that anyone has actually done this successfully. If you DO find out how to acomplish this seemingly simple thing, please post your results so the whole community can benifit from what you learned. Thanks.


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## Left C (Nov 15, 2003)

scolley said:


> I wish I could give you better information than this dim memory...
> 
> But I had the same problem one, only in reverse - I wanted to convert a straight pin bulb to a square socket...


I believe that this is what you are talking about, scolley.
osCommerce

But this adapter won't help trckrunrmike.


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

Left C said:


> I believe that this is what you are talking about, scolley.
> osCommerce
> 
> But this adapter won't help trckrunrmike.


That is EXACTLY what I was looking for. Thanks! And this is EXACTLY what I was told by the "experts" would not work due to the differences in the electronics in the ballasts and/or bulbs! So I bought 2, just to see if they work. :icon_smil It's time to swap out the bulbs on my CF anyway...

I'll post back if this works. 

I'm sorry this won't help you trckrunrmike, given that this is indeed the exact opposite of what you are looking for. :icon_frow


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## Left C (Nov 15, 2003)

scolley said:


> That is EXACTLY what I was looking for. Thanks! And this is EXACTLY what I was told by the "experts" would not work due to the differences in the electronics in the ballasts and/or bulbs! So I bought 2, just to see if they work. :icon_smil It's time to swap out the bulbs on my CF anyway...
> 
> I'll post back if this works.
> 
> I'm sorry this won't help you trckrunrmike, given that this is indeed the exact opposite of what you are looking for. :icon_frow


If you will, let me know if it works. I have an Orbit fixture with two 65w square pins bulbs. I'd like to try one of GE's 9325K straight pin bulbs in this fixture sometime.


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

Left C said:


> If you will, let me know if it works. I have an Orbit fixture with two 65w square pins bulbs. I'd like to try one of GE's 9325K straight pin bulbs in this fixture sometime.


That is EXACTLY why I want one too - my only complaint about square pin - the lack of availability of the 9325 in that configuration.

Will do.


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## andrewwl (May 3, 2004)

I have this converter and it works great. It came with a 96W I bought on ebay.


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

I just saw this on eBay yesterday and was wondering if it would work...now I know! Thanks.


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## trckrunrmike (Jul 20, 2005)

Where can I find a 6700/10000k 65wt bulb? Does it come in straight pin?


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

Compact Fluorescent Reef Aquarium Lighting: Current Compact Fluorescent Straight Pin Bulbs


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## trckrunrmike (Jul 20, 2005)

How about this? eBay: Aquarium Power Compact bulb converter, (....) to ( :: ) (item 300044662254 end time Nov-04-06 16:37:26 PST)


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## bharada (Mar 5, 2004)

I think someone in sfbaaps replaced a straight pin end cap with a square pin one. You can buy the end cap online from places like AH Supply or Innovative Lighting. Then it's just a matter of connecting the existing wires to the appropriate sockets.

To make the endcaps swappable you can add a 4-pin Molex-type connector between the endcap and ballast.


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

Left C said:


> I believe that this is what you are talking about, scolley.
> osCommerce
> 
> But this adapter won't help trckrunrmike.


I got a couple of these straight2square adapters this week. Thanks Left C!

But when I went to look for GE 9325K's today, I noticed they are 55W, vs. the 65W any square pin bulb is in this size. I ordered two just because I can't help it... but before I blow a ballast on my Orbit or something, will this be a problem?

Can I put a straight2square adapter on a square pin 55W GE 9325K and plug it in to my square pin 65W Orbit? Assuming it will even fit...


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## Left C (Nov 15, 2003)

I'm not an electrican but I've read about people using them in their 65w/130w Freshwater Aqualights that are straight pin. 

Also, many folks say that 55w/65w are basically the same thing. 

And, Coralife has 55w and 65w square pin and straight pin bulbs in the same Kelvin rating. Here's the 6700K bulbs. Energy Savers Unlimited | Coralife | ESU Reptile | Birdlife | Pondlife | Deep Ocean | A Worldwide Manufacturer of quality pet products

It's confusing, isn't it?

Here's Hello Lights comments. They say it's OK. Read the part below the picture of the bulb. 55W / 65W 6,700K, 22" -Square Pin Base


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## otter (Oct 22, 2005)

It drives me insane that they have two different pin configurations. I bought a Coralife 3' fixture, and a 2' fixture... when I ordered 6700k's for both to replace the actinics, I got the wrong ones for the 2' fixture because the base was different then the 3' fixture. Why!? You can replace the base if you want. Here's both straight and square pin bases:
- Marine Depot - Marine and Reef Aquarium Super Store


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

Thanks for that clarification! Great links BTW Left C!

So here's the conclusions I'm drawing:

1) The "Experts" I spoke to about this issue initially were wrong. You can indeed put a straight pin in a square socket and vice versa.

2) A 55W straight pin CF bulb will run at 65W if driven by a 65W square pin ballast, and vice versa again.

3) As per the supplied links, square pin bulbs are longer. So if one were using a length-adding adapter, you'd be more likely to be able to fit an adapted straight-pin bulb into a square pin fixture than the inverse.

4) It might be possible to just swap the base hardware to facilitate a pin configuration conversion. Seems reasonable - but that is also specifically what the "expert" told me could not be done, due to electronics in the bases.​

Cool! I guess I'm luckily my fixture is straight pin! Now I can't wait to for those GE 9325K's to arrive so I can see if they will fit!


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## Left C (Nov 15, 2003)

Good observations and I hope it works.


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

It works!

The GE 9325K's came in today. I pulled out my old square pin bulbs, slapped on the straight to square adapter, and it worked like a charm! Between the adapter and the shorter bulb, it worked out to about the same length as the original square pin bulb. The only issue that I can see is that the new straight pin bulbs are not quite as wide, and did not sit as firmly in the clips. But it was good enough to hold.

And FWIW (this is a bit off topic) the light thrown by those GE 9325K's look amazingly like the light from my Aquamedic T-5 "Planta" bulbs. I can't see the difference.


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## Left C (Nov 15, 2003)

Thanks for the info Scolley. I'm glad it worked!


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## Porkchop (Feb 9, 2009)

I decided I wanted to go from square to straight also...I don't know if anyone else is interested or not but for the time being you can find the adapters here :

http://stores.ebay.com/Tons-Of-Good...W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ11254669QQftidZ2QQtZkm

This is a link to the guys ebay store. If this link dies or whatever try looking up "tonsofgoodies" on ebay and see if you can find this guy that way. 

Also your search will work better if you're type in compact fluorescent adapter in ebay and in google when looking for these things.

This guy is selling 4 in a pack and they are going for about 15 or so bucks...a pretty good deal I think.


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

Thanks for posting this Porkchop! Not infrequently people contact me about how to get those, and lately, until your post today, I've had no idea where people could get them now. So if you need these folks, now's the time.

If you've ever regretted buying that Orbit because you can't run GE 9325 lamps, this will change that for you. Worked for me. :thumbsup:


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## Raimeiken (May 20, 2004)

I think this is the solution to my problem!

I just bought another light fixture for my vivarium, but the fixture requires square pin bulbs. It came with two bulbs already but one of the bulbs was Blue, so i have no use for it. I started hunting for these bulbs but I cannot find them anywhere but in aquarium/reef website which they charge a lot for. 

I tried looking for them in light bulb specialty websites but no luck. I even tried emailing www.planetbulb.com to see if they have it. All they got are the straight pin ones that I already use for the the AH supply fixture I got in there (which BTW are pretty cheap in that website compare to AHsupply's prices for their bulbs ;D)

Im going to have to buy that square pin to straight pin adapter!


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## Left C (Nov 15, 2003)

What wattage bulbs are you looking for?
Current and Coralife sell 28w/32w square pin bulbs
ADA sells a 36w 8000K square pin bulbs
Current has 40w 6700K/10,000K square pin bulbs
Current, Coralife and others sell 55w/65w square pin bulbs
Current, Coralife and others sell 96w square pin bulbs

adapter: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=380102764565


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## Raimeiken (May 20, 2004)

Left C said:


> What wattage bulbs are you looking for?
> Current and Coralife sell 28w/32w square pin bulbs
> ADA sells a 36w 8000K square pin bulbs
> Current has 40w 6700K/10,000K square pin bulbs
> ...


really? how much? any links to those bulbs? 

I did find a few square pin bulbs but they're a bit expensive especially when you buy them from aquarium specialty websites. 

I saw that eBay listing, but I dont need all four. I found this one aquatraders

http://shop.aquatraders.com/product-p/59010.htm

But i dont know whether it's a square to straight or straight to square


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