Work Horse 7
 

I'm planning on picking up a work horse 7 electronic ballast from Albrite, $55 for the sucker, can I use it to OD NO fluorescents? Albrite also sells Phillips 03 actinics in 4ft lengths for $12.85... so, two OD NO actinics or should I just go with 4 NO actinics and save the $55??

Doug

Yes you can OD those phillips bulbs. I've seen it done. Works great too.

If you get in touch with Lee he'll tell you how or send you in the right direction. He may chime in but he doesn't post as much as us.

Thanks Jack, appreciate it... Lee??

Doug

Lee is ldzielak

Ohh in nanaimo.. thanks

Re: Work Horse 7
 

ok so it is easy, you take two red wires to each tube and conect the other ends of the tubes to the yellow wire. make sure you conect the yellow to everytermanal on theat end pretty simple to do, when you got your endcaps let me know and I can help you more.

Steve

Thanks Steve.

Doug

I work way too much some times to check all the posts. But I do answer PMs.

When I was overdriving lights, I would find the best combination that works for you needs. You could put all 4 red wires on the end of one bulb, yellows on the other end, this will give you max power, take away one red at a time and see what you get. Other way to cheat is to put 2 bulbs in series. If you over do it, they simply will not fire up.

On a Work horse 7 I had 3x36" NO, 2 red wires on 2 bulbs in series, and 2 wires on a single bulb. By overdriving the lamps, you can make some $3 house hold bulbs look not too bad, almost 10k like. But I have always use atinics too.

Lee

Lee my main goal would be just to OD two NO actinics to HO levels if I can but when I looked that the Fulham web site today it says the WH7 has a max power of 220 watts... will it run VHO?... would be a heck of a deal if it does.

Doug

ok got to find your ballast section of there site and pick two 4' HO bulbs, then ... bah never mind her eit is

http://www.fulham.com/wh7dia11.html

a 4 foot VHO is 110 watts but if you run them at HO levels it will only be about 70 watts so yes it will power two VHO tubes to HO levels easy. if you do it in series (which they don't show as it isn't feasable for general lighting that is going to be turned on and off several times a day) you can run two 48" VHO tubes to full power.

Steve

I don't have a WK7 any more, but like Steve said, if you use only 2 red wires per 48" VHO bulb, they will only work at HO levels.

Since the max the ballast will put out is 220W, 2x48" in series with all 4 red wires, should give you 220W, but I don't know if this would fire up. I have only used 36" bulbs in series, they ran for 1.5 years no problems.

Lee

brad did it with the 48" bulbs

Steve

And boy, did they "fire" up alright!! :rolleyes:

Hey Brad,
Was this the cause of the crispy-end-cap-caper?
Steve said he ran 2x VHO X3ft in series with no probs....is there problems with 2X110w 4ft =220w the MAX output of the ballast. I believe Fulham said that 220w was the limit overall and doesn't recomend running continously at this level???? :confused:
John

repeated

Um, not a fair statment, they fired up cuz they were not wired properly.

Steve

Me thinks there is a story in there....

Okay so they'll run VHO 3 foots anyway, maybe 4.. .they'll Underdrive VHO at HO levels.. but, will they OD No Actinics...

Ya know if these do the same thing as an ice cap at such a lower cost.... oh well.. can't complain about a good deal can we.

Doug

I ran 2 36" NO Atinics in series with 2 red wires for 6 months, the other 2 red wires I connecter to a single 36" NO $3 bulb, made the color really nice IMO.

I used the IceCap end caps with no problems. The NO bulbs were way brighter than normal and put off way more heat.

Lee

Okay Lee, thanks that helps out.

Doug

make sure you wire corectly and use both pins for the grounds. here is a couple real quick pics to help.

http://members.shaw.ca/stircrazy/frontside(red).jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/stircrazy/backside(yellow).jpg

Steve

Steve, thanks so two reds and jumpers for the one end of each tube and two yellows and a jumper for the other ends of the tubes will OD to HO levels? That's great,

Doug

VHO levels
 

If both the Icecap and WH7 drive VHO bulbs at HO levels, what do you need to do to get VHO level output? If you run only 1 bulb on each WH7, will that do it? Are there any ballasts avilable which will run multiple VHO bulbs and give true VHO levels output?

Re: VHO levels
 

not that I know of yet, you might be able to buy a old magnetic dual VHO ballast. the WH7 does it in series (which is what I do) and I am getting close to two years with no problems, except for the ones I caused.

Steve