how much
 

Sorry to add more confusion to an already murky topic. I got a couple of VHO's on sale from pet land. The commercial ballast for two 4' 110 W VHO's (from comercial lighting) is 93 bucks (100 ish with GST). You cannot directly buy from commercial lighting as they are only wholesale. That said...one can alway walk in all confident like and pick some large company (with an account with them) and tell them your going to pay for the item yourself. The really don't care :twisted: .

Here is where murky enteres it. I have quite a few standard phillips ballasts (6-8) gathering dust. Electrically you should be able to connect them together so 3X34=102 watts...which is in the VHO range. Anyone ever tried that?

How about connecting some 2' bulbs with pulse start ballast to the 34 W ballast to over drive them? would that work?

Note of caution...every electronic component contains a certain amount of smoke. Once all the smoke is out..well they quit working...plus that smoke is really really bad for you

I think you can only overdrive with electronic ballasts. The standard or tar ballasts are not overdriveable. I don't know the technical details of how's and why's though. Just going on what I've read somewhere.

Just wanted to add, when they say WH7 or WH9, they mean Workhorse electronic ballasts put out by Fulham. The guys out in BC are (I think) getting theirs from Allbrite. But the Fulham site shows that Litemor is also a distributor. Although the address shown on the Fulham site is an Ontario store, we have a Litemor in Calgary and so it seems plausible to me if one franchise in the chain carries them, then so will another. These ballasts are cool little toys, electronic ballasts capable of many different configurations (PC, VHO, NO, PC, or overdriven NO), and cheap. The WH7 is capable of, um ... don't quote me I might get this wrong, 220W output (so two 4' VHO [2x110W] for example) and costs about $50-$60. Compare that to an Icecap 430 which also is capable of running 220W output which costs more like $200. I know Coralife and I think some other VHO ballasts are also available but I think they're in the $100-$150 range and plus they're only VHO I think (ie., not capable of running other different configurations, eg. PC) so when you look at that it's pretty evident why these WH ballasts are popular.

I apologize if everyone already knows all this, just wanted to chime in with my own two pennies worth...

Thanks for all the input...I can see now my one question is going to leave me asking twenty more. :? Ah, I love this hobby. And to think it all started with a damn fish bowl.
I'm not using "electronic" ballasts'. Like Bob, I too am cheap. So that eliminates the option of "overdriven" lighting, correct ? I do like the sound of this WH ballast and it's affordable in the future. I'll price it at Litemore, but has anyone dealt with Eecol Electric ? I'd get a company discount there so I think it's worth lookin' into. They got lighting stuff up the ying yang there too. I find those places really intimidating. Those of you that recall a previous discussion about the reaction ya' get at Home Depot know what I'm gettin' at. At least I know what I'm talkin' about there... sort of. :wink:
Oh ya', what about the use of 50/50 bulbs ? Let's assume, ya' I know what it spells if it's broken down, I don't change my ballast configuration in the near future. Is my original theory worth trying ? Just to regain the Coraline growth and maintain my current corals ?

Re: how much
 

Ross, get thioes evil thought out of your head.. I tried it and all that happens is you see smoke then have to buy new ballast... NO MORE THAN ONE BALLAST PER BULB, AND NEVER HOOK BALLASTS TOGEATHER.. this is what Brad was talking about me smoking the front room.. :roll:

at anyrate.. the WH7 is cheeper than the industreal VHO ballast you were talking about and it is electronic instead of magnetic.. besides lower power costs a electronic ballast will also burn cooler and extend bulb life.


Delphinus, maby give them a call and see... it would be interesting to know what price you guys can get out there as we get ripped off on everything almost on the Island :roll:


Steve

dang...stir crazy I have these ballasts that are gathering dust...and I got a neeeed for light. OK how about this...what if ...OK anyone need any 34 watt ballast?? give me a shout.

On the commercial ballast...I completely missed the WH ballast when I was scouring the net ... in looking at these things they are the way to go.

Re: how much
 

HEHehe, I got my WH7 for $49.00. So if anybody goes in tell'em "Mak quoted you $49"...lol. Also got a few 03's 24", 36", and 48" for $13.50...shhhhhhhhhhhh shhhhhhhhhhhhh :roll: