Bulbs on fire

[ldzielak]

I did not see the other pics, what type of end caps are they? When I had 3 NO way overdriven, on my 33g, a could not touch the bulbs, but those expensive IceCap encaps never showed any signs of melting, even the rubber is fine.

Lee

[Aquattro]

Jack, I guess that is a possibility, but I would think both tubes would have a problem. This setup has been as-is for a year+ without a problem, now I get 2 endcaps fried in as many weeks.
Funny thing is the centre of the bulb was fine to touch, but inside the endcap was like touching a MH bulb!! After 15 minutes, I still had to use a rag to undo the endcap.
Lee, they are Icecap ends, and they are rated for 220 degrees. The tube was way hotter than that.

[kb8]

Are you using 2 vhos on 1 workhorse 7 and plugging them in serie?
apparently workhorse 7 can only run one vho bulb
and if u plug them in series they will be overdriven by 20%. and they dont recommend that.

check this out

http://www.aquariumpros.ca/forums/sh...highlight=fire

http://www.aquariumpros.ca/forums/sh...5&pagenumber=1

[Jack]

I thought WH7 was the standard for 2x110w VHO?

I'm guessing youre ballast is broken, you've never had this problem.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by kb8

Are you using 2 vhos on 1 workhorse 7 and plugging them in serie?
apparently workhorse 7 can only run one vho bulb
and if u plug them in series they will be overdriven by 20%. and they dont recommend that.

check this out

http://www.aquariumpros.ca/forums/sh...highlight=fire

http://www.aquariumpros.ca/forums/sh...5&pagenumber=1

series decreases the on/off cycles of the bulb, but I have been doing it for 1.7 years now. using the 4the wire can over drive upto 20%. like I said I have been doing that also for 1.7 years but my measured current increase was only 8%, Also my bulb ends are not to hot to hold.

Brad cut one of the red wires and cap it off and see if you still get to hot with 3 wires.

Steve

[Doug]

Does not an Icecap ballast underdrive the bulbs? Good post from AP. I was reading it there also on the ballast Brad is using and was going to point him there also.

I dont see old bulbs being the problem. Some have run them for years.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

Brad cut one of the red wires and cap it off and see if you still get to hot with 3 wires.

Steve

Steve, the bulbs are not hot most of the time. I could always touch the tubes and the endcaps. This was a spike of some sort.

[Bob I]

Originally Posted by reef_raf

Steve, the bulbs are not hot most of the time. I could always touch the tubes and the endcaps. This was a spike of some sort.

I would then ask if there is more than one tube hooked up to that ballast. If so, are there any problems with the other tubes

The ends of the tubes should be warmer than the middle, as the cathode that emits the electrons is located there..

Is the tube still getting extra hot , if so I would simply try another tube in that location. If the new tube does not get hot, I would discard the old tube, and carry on with the motto "don't worry, be happy"

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Doug Lowey

Does not an Icecap ballast underdrive the bulbs? Good post from AP. I was reading it there also on the ballast Brad is using and was going to point him there also.

I dont see old bulbs being the problem. Some have run them for years.

a icecap runs the bulbs at 66% of the rated power.

you have to remember that the post on AP is from a manufacturer that wants to sell ballasts. so they are going to say that you need more than one ballast to run two tubes. makes ecanomical sence. but you have companies that have been running two tubes off there ballasts for years, they are just reproducing a icecap set up. also if you read and you hook up the tubes in series using only 3 red wires the only effect they mention is that you will reduce the amount of start cycles for your tubes. (I have been doing this for almost 2 years and they are still lighting fine.) if you use 4 wires you can overdrive up to 20% but mine tested out at 8%

so running in series using 3 wires is fine by them aside for start cycles.

Steve

[Aquattro]

Bob, the other tube was fine from tip to tip. The problem bulb was also cool to touch at the opposite end from the end pictured here. So, in a 2 tube setup, only one end of one bulb got this hot. Same thing happened 2 weeks ago with a different tube. I believe that there is something wrong with the ballast and/or wiring. For now, I'll use phillips 40w actinics wired in parallel.