salmon alley January 31, 2003 Share January 31, 2003 I'm not interested in brand of ballast or wattage (yet) :p , but just curious as to what type people use... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROBZ January 31, 2003 Share January 31, 2003 I use electronic ballast (blue line/Icecap/ARO from hellolights) the three brands are good, the reason I use electronic is they produce less heat , small case, and I have a small space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridetheducati January 31, 2003 Share January 31, 2003 PFO standard and HQI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest snapper January 31, 2003 Share January 31, 2003 Sanjay's data suggests that standard (tar) ballasts actually drive most bulbs closer to their advertised kelvin rating. True they run a little hotter, but the increased power loss due to heat is nearly neglibible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind January 31, 2003 Share January 31, 2003 A "standard" MH ballast is called a core and coil. Tar ballast refers to the non-electronic fluorescent ballasts. I got the same info from Sanjays slides but because the ballasts drive the bulbs harder and brighter I would think they will need changing a month or so sooner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelg January 31, 2003 Share January 31, 2003 One thing to consider when looking at the #'s that come out is that the electronic ballasts are relatively new, not many available 7 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Grenier January 31, 2003 Share January 31, 2003 I didn't vote because I have only PCs right now but the M57 for a 175w and the M58 for the 250w are an awful lot cheaper than the electronic. Besides heat and space and perhaps slightly shorter bulb life, any other disadvantage? Since we're on the subject, what's a good cheap source for M57 and M58 ballasts? Prevyet; I'm naming the correct ballasts right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatortailale January 31, 2003 Share January 31, 2003 I might be wrong, but the electronic ballasts will fire almost every bulb including the HQI's (champ. now carries the electronic hqi setups - which leads me to think they will fire any bulb). Yes electronic is a bit more initial cost, but you save some in electric costs with them and possibly longer bulb life. The par output wasn't much less than any other ballast & they are a lot smaller. I run 3 x 250w blueline's on my tank. I have a 150w hqi sunlight on my 29 gal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgasmd January 31, 2003 Share January 31, 2003 One thing said clearly by Sanjay was that the type, wattage, and size of the ballast DOES NOT change the rating of kelvin in the bulb at all. I used blue line 400 watt e-ballast because they run pretty cool and save a little electricity per month. They also drive the radiums at the perfect color to my eyes and that was very important to me. I can also runt he 10K bulbs and run them at the color I like as well. Alberto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest snapper January 31, 2003 Share January 31, 2003 Larry, The cheapest way to go is to buy the ballasts from an electrical supply store. They won't be all pretty and enclosed, but will run you around $35-55 per ballast. You can make enclosures for them from HD electrical boxes. If you're not savvy with wiring, it could be a little confounding. BTW, I have only researched/thought about this idea, I have not actually put theory to practice. Snapper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest snapper January 31, 2003 Share January 31, 2003 dgasmd I gathered differently from Sanjay's data. That the type of ballast did matter for PAR and resulting true Kelvin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind January 31, 2003 Share January 31, 2003 Larry- That's correct! dgasmd- What I got was the ballasts did make a difference in the bulbs output as far as K temp went. The core and coils ran the bulbs harder giving more light output. It would be nice to see the info again to really study it. Snapper- CBO recently made a nice set-up like the one you mentioned from a core and coil. He might be able to help if you decide to DIY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Grenier January 31, 2003 Share January 31, 2003 FYI, HelloLights currently has M57s for $45 and M58s for $47. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salmon alley February 1, 2003 Author Share February 1, 2003 I guess my big question is how much more life do you get from a bulb using eballast vs. coil and core? When I run the comparison on wattage only, I would save $21.90 per year by using electronic instead of coil and core. Really not much. And the heat issue really seems to be a wash..I mean it increases your AC costs in the summer, but should decrease you heating cost in the winter..take your pick. I think the real question is how much longer is a bulb on an eballast good for? i.e what are the savings in bulb replacement costs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquariareview February 1, 2003 Share February 1, 2003 I use standard ballast's as I like the extra edge in the k it gives. I am using 14kk aqualine 250watts I ordered from germany I have seen the same thing sanjay's tests showed. 18 months and very little shift in color temp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sph2sail February 1, 2003 Share February 1, 2003 I think the real question is how much longer is a bulb on an eballast good for? i.e what are the savings in bulb replacement costs. Anecdotal, but Sanjay indicated that he tested a 1+ old year lamp w/Pulse Start ballast and saw that the bulb had no visible signs of blackening w/in the bulb. He commented that pulse start seemed to increase bulb life. Other than that, he had no data to support how long various combinations of bulb/ballast live. "That's work" and he only does what's "fun". :D steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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