DIYbeginnr

Hi guys!

I have a bunch of scratch materials that my grandpa gave me for building a vivarium in his den and need your help with the wiring. Specifically I could really use your input and advice on the following subjects:

1. Wiring, powering and safety precautions for multiple lighting fixtures in a single, open space. To expand a bit on this here is a list of my lighting supplies:
   
   1. 
      
   2. I have one 2' T-5 fixture with 4 bulbs.
      
   3. Fourteen CFL's (eight 28 watt, two 36 watt, two 100 watt, two 250 watt - yes this is going to be a big vivarium) - It looks like they fit in any standard light socket?
      
   4. Want to wire these using as few materials as possible.
      
   5. Keeping safety in mind so I'm looking for advice on power requirements, wire gagues, max volts, amps & watts, etc.
      
      
   6. Wiring, making sure I meet proper power requirements and utilize any safety techniques for fans, water pumps, and air pumps.
      
      
      Questions:
      
      1. What measurements should I be posting here/paying attention to for each component? ie. lights, wires, plugs, pumps, etc.? I did not post all of them because I wasn't sure which would be most useful or necessary - watts vs amps vs voltage. I know the difference between them all by definition, but as for measurements and making sure that I'm not putting things on the wrong circuit, etc... I haven't been able to find a very clear guide on this kind of information.
         
      2. Not sure about this so I'm hoping one of you can help me find the right answers: Do I need to get something special like a ballast for the 100 and 250 watt CFL lights? I did not want to get a ballast because I have a bunch of free lamp cord, lighting sockets, and plugs my grandpa gave me. So I'd like to use these and save money if I can, but that all depends on the answer!
         
      3. How can I tell what the maximum amount of power is for a wall outlet aside from gradually adding more power until the breaker flips (I would never do this). What units of measurement should I be looking at for this?
         
      4. When choosing which wires to use, how do I tell what kind of power is coming in?
         

I don't have the air pumps or water pumps yet. I wanted to wait to make sure I'm taking all of my measurements before hand, and doing it right (do I measure the volts, amps, and watts? I notice some products don't give you the wattage...).

Looking forward to this! Hope we can create a really awesome vivarium.

Thanks in advance,

Seth

Woohoo! Let the adventures in DIY begin

Hey there everybody. Hi Richard.

About me:

I'm a web programmer. Growing up I never had any DIY or shop influences in my life, which stinks because I love this stuff now that I've finally got my hands on a set of tools and some supplies.

My first DIY project is building my own set of living room furniture from old Craigslist furniture. I'm careful about what I get off of there - so far I've got:

Repurposing materials:

• A TV center made of laminated particle board.
  
• A computer-hutch/storage cabinet.
  
• A solid wood dresser (not sure what kind of wood, its pretty old though).
  
• A really nice Ikea Coffee table with a glass top (it comes right off).
  

Materials from scratch:

• A bolt of navy blue and a bold of olive green microfibre.
  
• About 152" x 72" of high density upholstery foam (I think it's somewhere between 5"-8" thick) and I have another 152" x 72" of even higher density soft upholstery foam that is only about 3" thick.
  
• A couch frame that I built from 1-1/4" galvanized steel piping (think modern style..)
  

For the first three I want to cut them up and convert them into couch-benches (upholstery and all).

For the coffee table I want to convert it into a light-bright coffee table (google it - there are a few different tuts for it. I found one on ikea hacks website).

Here is a partial list of all my tools:

Circular Saw (corded)

Orbital JigSaw (corded)

Reciprocating Saw (corded)

Drill (corded) and a decent set of drill bits.

Kreg Jig Master Set

About 100 wood screws of varying lengths, mostly below 1" in length - not sure about width but they are all fairly skinny.

Electrical Tape

Various metal brackets - triangular shaped, L shaped, T shaped brackets for securing joints and angles to supplement the Kreg.

6 9' 2x8's (which are actually more like 1.75" x 7.5") NOT planed or surfaced.

Cheapo ($17) staple gun.

Anywho I have a TON of DIY ideas and I want to complete at least the two couches by tomorrow afternoon. I would appreciate any advice and info you all can provide!

Oh and one more thing... In this post what do you mean by "and what you get up to?" Looks like a typo!

Cheers ,

Seth