Overdriving lights.

[titus]

Hello All,

Interesting thread. Nice to see the work/results of us trying to get ever more factful on the equipment we purchase. I wonder when we could do the same on protein skimmers and calcium reactor. um......

Anyway. I do have one major concern. While all these numbers are possibly useful when comparing the same bulb driven by the same ballast with different overdrive level, I don't know how well the test data can be used to compare different bulbs with different ballast.

Just like measuring radio signal's energy, we need to have available a receiver with a wide enough band to capture all of the signal's energy. Best thing is to be able to hook up a spectrum analyzer and have the machine show us the power response and total power. However, even at a low 300nm wavelength for blue light, the frequency is at 1tHz. To my knowledge, no spectrum analyzer operate at that high of a frequency.

Unless we have access to a light spectrometer somehow, we still are a step behind from being truly factful.

Just a thought.

Titus