Which VHO ballast?? Help

[BCReefer]

I work as a company as buyer so I have some contacts for electronic products. I spoke to a company called Data Networking regarding wire harnesses. I forwarded this thread to him so he can look at what we need, I am also going to research the Albrite catalog for the wiring diagrams and discuss this with him.

Is anyone interested in purchasing wire harnesses either completely assembled or partial. Due to the fact that they are a company their might be a problem with assembled harness requiring CSA approval but partially assembled could/should be OK.

Cheers,
Patrick

[smokinreefer]

thanks fo rthe info victor,
1 more question tho'...will the WH7 run 2 6'VHO bulbs or just 1?

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

WH7 will drive a single VHO to full power, but it can drive two VHOs to 70% power.

- Victor.

[Troy F]

Hey Victor, thanks for the information. One more point of clarification; will the ballast power two of the 110W bulbs to full capacity?

Do any of you believe that IceCap is burning the VHO with equal output using less power because they are running them more efficiently? Is this physically possible?

One thing that has to be considered is that the length of bulb life is a huge factor in operating costs. Yes, of course, output is a major factor but if bulbs are costing as much as three times more on one system versus the other it would make any savings at purchase time for the workhorse almost irrelevant.

Using Darren's figures: if the IceCap runs the actinics for 2 times longer you'd really have to add $154.80 (price of 4 actinics including tax) to the total price. This is assuming you are using the IceCap as supplementation not as your primary lighting. If it is the primary lighting your savings would be even more. The Aquasun bulb is worth more than actinics and by IceCap's claims, last 18 months which would be 3 times longer than the WorkHorse and a savings of an additional $100 or so.

I'm not trying to sway anyone's vote here just wanted to point this out. I'd sure like to have some solid facts on the life of a bulb running on the WorkHorse and IceCap. I personally wonder if it is not the most important factor. Unless of course, you're rich [img]images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img] .

[StirCrazy]

hey Troy, there are a few good questions there.
1, "Do any of you believe that IceCap is burning the VHO with equal output using less power because they are running them more efficiently? Is this physically possible?"

I am not going to say it isn't possable maby they have desscover a secreat no one else has but I can tell you that ANY electronic balast will extend the life of a bulb over a tar balast by a fair bit and they will also make the bulb brighter. not because of any NEW descovery but just from the virtue of the frequency the bulb is fired at.. a old tar balast fires at 60Hrz and electronic balasts operat at frequencys of 20 to 40KHrz. This in efect creats a solid light output instead of a flickering output which means the light is ON more creatingg more light output.
IceCap has capatlized on these principles by bring out aa electronic balast in a time when everone was using tar and no one has questioned them untill now. now on a old tar balast you had to change VHO tubes every 6 to 8 months I would say one a electric balast powering the bulbs fully that time would be extended to 12 to 14 months (but this is a guess as I have not tried it and I am going by the results of my NO bulbs on my fresh water tanks. I have gotten twice the life out of them and they are a lot brighter sence I have started using electronic balasts)

now as for comparing price by how long the bulb lasts I guess I just made that harder.. people have to get rid of this "6 months" unless they are running tar balasts. IceCap clames 3 years on a VHO bulb befor changes and the way they are getting this is 1, using a electronic balast and 2, underpowering the bulbs.
Ash's figures were 270 watts consumed by 4, 110 watt VHO bulbs now asuming that the icecap is 98% efficient (which is about as good as it gets with todays electronic balasts) that leaves 264.6 watts going to the bulbs so you will be powering each bulb with 66.15 watts or only 60.1% of there rated power. so just like a car, you drive it nice and it lasts longer.

with this I don't have a problem with and I am sure everyone likes having there bulbs last 3 years, but what I wonder is if the icecap or a simular balast was powwering the bulbs at there rated power ie. 100 to 110 watts ( a workhorse 7 is rated of a load of 220 watts so even if they are including the waist in this figure they will still send ~107 watts to each bulbs as the workhorse balasts are 98% effecient)
now how much of a increase in intensity would this be?
would you be able to keep sps with 4 fully powered VHO bulbs?
and if so how much did you waist on MH because you thought you needed it but you realy only needed to fully power your VHOs?
these are the questions I have and am atempting to find the answers for.

Steve

[ 04 January 2002: Message edited by: StirCrazy ]

[reefburnaby]

Troy,

Just to clarify, IMHO, I don't recommend VHOs because a Iwasaki setup costs about the same. At least with Iwasaki, you know that you have enough light -- VHOs are very setup and reflector sensitive. If you are really tight on cash, then I recommend the overdrive NO (T8).

On to the questions....

Troy,

One WH7 will power one (1) VHO to full power -- that is 110 Watts to the tips of the 4 foot tube and 165W to 6 foot tubes. 220W to 8 foot tubes... So, no you can not drive 2 (two) VHO to full power with one WH7.

If you are clever, you only need 3 (three) WH7 to power 4 (four) VHOs. You'll understand when you look at the wiring diagram.

Icecap can be doing a number of things. It can be driving harmonics in to the tubes (i.e high energy bursting) to get more light power to the tubes with less average power. That means it drives lots of energy for short durations, but not too much so that the tubes get too hot or break down. In some ways, we are doing that with the overdrive NO. It is true the switching ballasts (i.e. electronic) will produce a more solid output (rather than flickering).

However, since I don't own an Icecap, I have nothing to compare against. Since Icecap is fairly secretive about their technology, all we have are guesses. A simple probe with a scope (oscilloscope) should answer all of our questions to what it is doing. Any takers ? Please don't do this if you have no idea what you are doing -- it can smoke a scope really quick.

As for VHO bulb cost...they are expensive. You can buy ballasts that are less damaging to the tubes (i.e. enhance tube life). These are called program start ballasts -- IMHO, program start and Icecap start are roughly the same.

IMHO, tube life is largely dependent on the starting technique used and how many times the tube has been started. The more times it has been started, the less life it has. As the tube ends (electrodes) get damaged by the starter and blacken, the electrodes become less efficient and less light is produced.

SPS and fluorescents...

Wow...we are going from one contraverse to another. Please don't flame but...I am growing SPS on overdrive NO (two 6500K and one actinic - 240W total power consumed) in my 90. So, far I have a couple of montis and acros growing in the tank. They are not growing like wildfire, but they do grow. They are the orange/green/brown variety. When I feel brave enough, I'll buy a blue acro frag and see if I can keep them and keep them blue. [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] Please don't try this at home unless you have take a light measurement of your tank. You need at least 7000 lux of light or 150uE/s to keep basic SPS.

- Victor.

[Troy F]

Steve and Victor thanks for the replies. Much appreciated.