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coreyk 
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 Topic: PC Ballast ?
Posted: November 23 2003 at 5:40pm |
i found a nice lighting setup that i am considering buying ( CSL 1xMH and 2xPC hood ), however the PC Ballast are missing. They are 32W PC --- i know that i can get two retro to replace the PCs, but was wondering ...
1) can i buy a electronic ballast to wire into this setup, locally somewhere?
2) would a 32W ballast from Lowes or Homedepot work w/ PC lighting? OR the ballast from a Lights of America 32w?
thanks for any help!
Edited by coreyk
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crazy-sps
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Posted: November 23 2003 at 6:40pm |
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Go to Commercial Lighting and get a Workhorse ballast. They don't know what a Power Compact is but they do know the term compact flourescent. They are really easy to wire. The ballast from Home Depot will work, but they are heavy and big. If it were me, I would get a workhorse. Custom Sea Life actually uses workhorse ballasts for a lot of their stuff.
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crazy-sps
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Posted: November 23 2003 at 6:41pm |
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I forgot to mention, Workhorse ballasts are made by Fullham. Fullham does have a website where you can see what ballast will sork for your application.
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Sarnack
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Posted: November 23 2003 at 6:55pm |
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It's fulham not fullham..
The workhorse 5 would do it:
http://www.fulham.com/wh5dia11.html
I saw that deal too ($270 is not bad) but for the money I would get a DE 250 over the 175 with power compacts (PC's are useless IMO)
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crazy-sps
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Posted: November 23 2003 at 7:28pm |
Thanks! 
I'm not the best speller.
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coreyk
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Posted: November 23 2003 at 8:16pm |
thanks! for the info... 
DE 250?
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jfinch
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Posted: November 23 2003 at 9:21pm |
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coreyk
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Posted: November 23 2003 at 10:06pm |
-- thanks for the pointer on the DE HQI 250 --
looks like it would only be about 50$ more AND i could put it off til AFTER christmas. hehe. so which bulb do you guys prefer 10,000k ushio (white) or a 20,000k radium (blue). i've only read that those are the colors that those bulbs put out.
EDIT: doh! just saw the 20K XM bulbs thread 
Edited by coreyk
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crazy-sps
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Posted: November 24 2003 at 8:04am |
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IMO, I like the Aqualine Busch 10k bulbs which actually have a color index of 13000K for an HQI bulb. You pay a little more for them, but they are vey high quality. They also make mogul socket and the standard smaller socket halide bulbs.
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coreyk
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Posted: November 30 2003 at 6:29pm |
well... i decided to bite-the-bullet and get the hood... i think it will fit my tank better than most of the other options. so, i'll be going down to pick-up the pc ballast sometime this week and hook them up. I might be posting for advice on the front 
i did look at the workhorse 5 on the fulham website, but i didnt see where it noted an output... i dont doubt that they will work, i just want to understand why the will work. (?) would one of you guys mind explaining it to me
I ended up going with the XM 10k bulb, but i do also really like the color of the aqualine 10k
sarnack: just curious why you said that you feel the PC's are useless? i am thinking that the actinic bulbs will give a nice color to the tank. ?
Edited by coreyk
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coreyk
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Posted: December 15 2003 at 5:01pm |
wondering if this ballast would be ok to power the two 32w PCs?
Work horse 3 Solid State Electronic Ballast, Model # WH3-120-L, 64 max Watts.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=23662 67137&category=46314
thanks for the help... still a little uncertain on the lighting end of things.
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Crazy Tarzan
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Posted: December 15 2003 at 5:06pm |
I have a workhorse 3 electronic with 2 32 w pc's. It fires them right up and I only paid about $20 or a touch more for it. Easy to wire in also. Let me know if you need help with it.
Nate
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jfinch
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Posted: December 15 2003 at 5:14pm |
Thanks Nate. I would have said it probably would not have worked (info from their website). How did you wire it, one red to each bulb or did you series the bulbs together?
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coreyk
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Posted: December 15 2003 at 6:01pm |
thanks! i'll go for it then ...
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Posted: December 15 2003 at 9:48pm |
Can you buy these workhorses online, do you have to call them to order? Is there a place local that sells them?
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Sarnack
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Posted: December 15 2003 at 11:36pm |
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cpearce - 2nd post answers your question, "Go to Commercial Lighting and get a Workhorse ballast" they are local.
coreyk - If you are just trying to add a blue color to make the MH look more white then PC's are fine but IMO they are not true actinic. I will not bring up any points on aesthetics - because everyone has their own view of what a tank should look like. My problem with power compacts is only that the "actinic" bulbs are really just blue.
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KeoDog
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Posted: December 16 2003 at 5:35am |
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Sarnack, I just purchase one of the new true actintic PC's from www.hellolights.com. They sell both the blue and the actintic. The color is almost exactly the same as my URI super actintic vho's.
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Kevin Kunz (Sandy, UT)
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"A trade by which one gains and the other loses is a fraud." Ayn Rand
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Crazy Tarzan
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Posted: December 16 2003 at 6:57am |
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I printed the wiring diagram off their website, but I believe I ran one red to each bulb, and then connected them both to the orange. It was not hard to do--they also tell how to wire it into one bulb instead of two.
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jfinch
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Posted: December 16 2003 at 8:00am |
There is no diagram on their website for running two 28/32 watt bulbs using a WH3. According to fulham you need at least a WH5. The panasonic bulbs (:: pin pattern) apparently require more juice to start-up then the osram bulbs (.... pin pattern). Each bulb would require two red wires from the WH3, but the WH3 only has two wires. That's why I was wondering if you were running them in series?
Kevin, what wattage and pin pattern is the true actinic bulb that you have?
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KeoDog
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Posted: December 16 2003 at 8:22am |
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96w :: square pin. They come in all varieties I think.
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Kevin Kunz (Sandy, UT)
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"A trade by which one gains and the other loses is a fraud." Ayn Rand
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