WH7 ballast and pc

[marine newbie]

Hi all, just have a few questions regarding the wiring and heat issues. I looked at the diagram at fullham's website and wired up the wh7 to the endcaps for two 55w power compacts. I put two red wires into each endcap and it works, however i find that the lamps and endcaps get a bit hot to the touch . Anyone else have this happening? Anyone try using just one red wire?

Thanks

[Mak]

MB, you are overdriving both bulbs. Essentialy you should be running 4 55watters or 2 96watters. Either change the bulbs or add a couple more or get a WH5, cause as far as i've heard OD PC's is a no no. Yeah those bulbs must me smokin hot :shock: .

[GinKu]

where did u get ur workhorse from
is it in edmonton
i would like to get 2 if they are in edmonton thanx

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Mak

MB, you are overdriving both bulbs. Essentialy you should be running 4 55watters or 2 96watters. Either change the bulbs or add a couple more or get a WH5, cause as far as i've heard OD PC's is a no no. Yeah those bulbs must me smokin hot :shock: .

nope no overdriving at all there.. PC's run hot, hotter than VHO but not as hot as MH
.
to overdrive you have to increase the current.. two wires is the proper curent for PC's..
Just because the balast is rated for up to 220 watts dosen't mean that is what it puts out all the time.. a ballast only supplies curent to the bulbs, the type of bulb determans how much power is actualy used. I have been running my two 55watt PC's on a WH7 for 4 months now and they run at proper output and power consumption. All the 220 watt output means on the ballast is that it can supply the rated current to a MAXIMUM of 220 watt usage.

Originally Posted by marine newbie

Hi all, just have a few questions regarding the wiring and heat issues. I looked at the diagram at fullham's website and wired up the wh7 to the endcaps for two 55w power compacts. I put two red wires into each endcap and it works, however i find that the lamps and endcaps get a bit hot to the touch . Anyone else have this happening? Anyone try using just one red wire?
.

this is normal, don't worry about it. I can only breefly touch my endcaps on my PC's also. if you run one wire there will not be enuf current to start the tubes..


Steve

[Mak]

Errr....Ummmm..... maybe my WH7 is hooked up wrong... but it works. What I did was send 2 reds to the 48" VHO and 1 red to each of the two 55w PC's and just split the yellow into 4 leads, again 2 to the VHO and 1 to each PC. Everything seems to be working normally . Well I guess I should study up a little bit more on the wiring of ballasts .

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Mak

Errr....Ummmm..... maybe my WH7 is hooked up wrong... but it works. What I did was send 2 reds to the 48" VHO and 1 red to each of the two 55w PC's and just split the yellow into 4 leads, again 2 to the VHO and 1 to each PC. Everything seems to be working normally . Well I guess I should study up a little bit more on the wiring of ballasts .

naaa.. your just underdriving your PC's and VHO so they will last longer

you can always check fulham's web page for wiring diagrams also. but running two wires to a VHO is driving it at HO levels. (Just like a IceCap ).

Steve

[Mak]

Awesome thanks for the info Steve .

BTW the VHO does look a little underdrivin but the PC's don't :shock: .

[StirCrazy]

I am running my two 55 watt PC's on my bottom tank off one WH7 using two wires each... they look right and are not to hot.. maby try on with two wires and one with one.. see if you can see the difference. if not.. don't worry about it hehe

Steve

[Mak]

They are all actinics and the tank looks pleasing... for now . So I guess I'll leave the tinkering for now ( PIA to get the hood of by myself ). Ummm maybe when we get snowed in this winter .

[ldzielak]

MAK as the PC's get older they will need more power to fire and operate, you may get to the point where they will not fire up.

Lee