HQI Lighting?

[bluetang]

Hi folks, Ive never really paid atention to this type of lighting and other threads that have mentioned it before mainly because I was content with the lghting I have.
Well the time has come and I'm scoping out Halide options. If you dont mind what is the diference between HQI and regular metal halide lighting. What are the output comparisons?
thanks
rob

[Rick_B]

HQI will put out approx. 1.6 times the candle power of a mogul halide, and the colour spectrum will not fade as fast as a mogul will. The HQI should however be mounted no closer to the tank than 9-12 inches. This makes it difficult if you like canopies. Look for retrofit units if you have a canopy, they will save you $$. I have not seen HQI in retro form.

Rick

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Rick_B

HQI will put out approx. 1.6 times the candle power of a mogul halide, and the colour spectrum will not fade as fast as a mogul will.

Rick

not true at all, a good mogal bulb on a HQI ballast will put out more light than a DE bulb over a given area and be just as intense. as for colour you would be pretty hard pressed to notice a difference in longevity also as long as they are on the same ballast.

Originally Posted by Rick_B

The HQI should however be mounted no closer to the tank than 9-12 inches.

Rick

you can mount them as close as any other MH bulb, I have been running my Mogal bulbs on HQI ballast 5 to 6" above the water for over 2 years now. it depends on weather you have a lot of splashs and such in your tank.

the only advantage the DE has over a Mogal (SE) is that it is smaller and comes in a housing so you can actualy mount it lower to the water as it has a protective glass on the housing.

as for retrofit kits yes there are lots out there doe DE bulbs you buy the minni pendant and mount it inside the canopy (going to need about 12" of space between the water and the top of the canopy as they are aprox 6" tall, for running a SE bulb on a HQI ballast you can use what ever socket and reflector kit you like and just buy bare ballast and make your own case or buy a PFO ballast already cased and plug them in.

Steve

[Rick_B]

Steve, you are assuming that everyone reading knows enough about lighting to switch ballasts around. What I said is true for bulbs with matched ballasts but you are correct if you mix up the ballasts as your post reads. Most suppliers and retailers will only supply matched equipment, switching ballasts requires a more in depth knowledge and usally special orders.

Rick

[StirCrazy]

PFO makes HQI ballasts with quick connects, they connect to the mogal PFO retrofit kits also.

no I didn't assume anything. Also any German mogal bulb is actually the right specks to be called an HQI bulb.

there are SE HQI bulbs and DE HQI bulbs, and while we are on the topic only the ballast can really be called HQI as the only real HQI bulb is made by Sylvania for the movie industry and burns at 5600K intensely (might be a couple other color temps available now but the cost would be out of this world for us.)

Steve

[Rick_B]

I have always been under the impression that an "HQI" term is a double ended metal halide designed to run on an M80 ballast (for a 250W). A "mogul" style metal halide screws in to the socket and runs on an M58 ballast (for a 250W). Any brand of halide system can come with quick connects (PFO, Hamilton, Ice Cap) so long as they are rated at 600V. As for the bulbs, DE, SE style terms are new to me. Can you explain these terms? Are we just talking about the same thing using different terms?
Rick

[StirCrazy]

HQI deals with the composition of the bulb rather than the shape of the bulb.

here is a HQI description from Sylvania
"SYLVANIA HQI® metal halide lamps combine excellent
brightness, long life and high CRI in a compact package
for optimal lamp performance.
The HQI family of metal halide lamps is manufactured with
the addition of rare earth metal halides to improve color
rendering and luminous efficacy. With their compact size
and very short arc discharge length, these lamps come very
close to being a point source of light allowing luminary
manufacturers to design highly efficient fixtures. The very
high color rendering, white light, compact size, long life and
high efficacy make these lamps ideal for replacing tungsten
halogen in certain retail applications."

here is some More on the physical design

"• Excellent CRI, up to 93
• High luminous efficacy
• Available in warm white and cool white correlated
color temperature
• Compact single ended or double ended design for
optimal fixture efficiency
• Low thermal output
• Long life
• Double-ended contacts allow for exact
fixture alignment
• Operate in enclosed fixtures
• UV-Stop outer jacket"

Now where the confusion comes in is that every tom dick and harry has called DE bulbs (double ended) HQI bulbs which is kinda true, they are one form of HQI bulb but not the only one, you can get them in PAR formats and SE (single ended) mogal isn't really a proper term as it only describes the north American standard size socket. if you check a Ushio or BLV or AB SE bulb closely it doesn't fit perfectly into the mogal sockets and there is an actual # for a different screw in socket that is slightly different than a mogal size that fits them properly.

the difference is that the HQI ballast (ANSI M80) actually mimics European specs so it drives all the bulbs based on European design better than the north American standard. I have found that my SE AB's burned about 30 to 40% more intense on the M80 ballast and also lasted about 1.5 times longer. and even at a time of 2 years My AB bulbs still put out more PAR than a brand new SA 250 watt bulb on the same ballast (it was close though )

the main problem comes in as the industry is making them out to be different from each other so they can sell you new reflectors and bulbs as an upgrade. In my opinion going to a M80 ballast is an upgrade but switching to DE is a down grade unless you have a shallow narrow tank as they are limited in the foot print they can cover. a SE bulb on an HQI ballast will be limited only by the design of the reflector as there increased size and length allow it to illuminate a larger area.

Steve

[Aquattro]

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why we let Steve answer the lighting questions!!

[Doug]

[bluetang]

Wow...I'm impressed... Can you go over that again?