I've not done it, but I'm confident that it would work.  One red to each lamp.  Total of 220 watts.  I do know that one red wire will fire a 55 watt straight pin lamp just fine, but I've not tried four at once.  Good luck.

I'm trying to replace my old helios ballast.  What I did was just take the helios ballasts out, and put in the workhorse.  However, when I powered it up only one side of all the bulbs lit up.  I also tried it so that I lit up 1,2, or 3 bulbs, and again only one side of all the bulbs lit up.  Any suggestions on what to do?  Here's a picture of how I wired it.

Hey cody the problem is in the canopy they are wired diffrent. when you wire a workhorse it has to be wired diffrent in the canopy aswell i have done this retro allready and can show you how to give me a call or stop by the store

Eric 809.4469

I used wiring diagram #7 on their website, which shows one red and one yellow to each of the bulbs.  I can't figure out why only one side lights up, it happens even when I unplug some of the red wires.  I would be happy if I could just get 3 or even two of the pc bulbs to fully light up.

I am planning on use the powercompacts for blue only to supplement my MH lighting.  The ballast will also be stored in separate cabinet away from the tank, with an open back.

Here's a picture of how I wired

  could I have some garlic bread with that spaghetti?   Seriously, I would have to look at the wiring to see what the problem is.  And I'm sure Eric and Mark could help you out too.

Mark, I know it's confusing, but the straight pin (....) are osram and the 55 watt osram lamp only needs one red wire to fire it.  the square pin (::) are panasonic and require two red wires to fire.  If you look at the bulbs you'll notice that the panasonics are basically a folded over T8 bulb while the osrams are a folded over T5 bulb (at least to my eyes).

Eric - what do you mean the canopy is wired different?  All there is is two wires coming from each bulb that go down to the ballast.  I already have the canopy torn apart and retrofitted in my canopy, before the ballast went bad.

Mark-Sorry, best I could do with the picture.  Yes I have had a course in electronics.  I have a yellow/green and red wire from one bulb plus a brown and blue wire from another bulb that goes together and plugs into the ballast.  Then the other four wires from the two bulbs connects to a heat sensor.  This wiring is the same for the other two bulbs as well.  Then inside the ballast each bulb is connected with one red wire and one yellow(split with the white wires).

The jumper wire is just to combine the two switches, so that you just have to flip one switch on to turn it on.

Not sure what those wires lead to since it goes to a concealed plug.  I also have put one red and one yellow directly into the plug and the same thing happens with one side of the bulb lighting up.

I have taken it all apart and then put one of the red wires with the green wire and the yellow wire with the white one.  It still did not work.

Cody,

cut the black piece out and wire them with the blue and green wire to the red of the ballast and the brown and white to yellow of the ballast

Success at last .

Thank you everyone for your help .

the black peice is a floating ground ( i think)  so did you do it how i explained it?

when i did a retro for the same bad ballast it took me a bit to figure it out

Eric,

I did it exactly as you told me, and it finally worked.  I have been trying to figure this out for a while now, even posted it on reefcentral.  I was about to give up until you came along. 

What wattage and how many bulbs did you run on it?

Cody

HAHAHAHAHAHA.... I use a work horse 9 and its 34 x 23 and works SICK.  I also have a belgian but it does not work as well as the work-a-lot 50000.

my pupils also use workton 4500 but thw reef tens to produce oil and get all lavaish.   My fish ate my child, but im not sure what to do.. Thanks for this totles ya'lll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!