Workhorse 7 ballast for VHO.

[dattack]

Hi guys new to this site and due to the push by guys like Stircrazy and Reefburnbaby? for alternatives to the Icecap, I finally went go my hands on a workhorse 7 ballast. He states that it should be able to run 2 x36" VHO in series also or 2x96 PC.
Fulham is 25 minutes from where I live and I talked to one of the engineers there concerning the ballast. He said the ballast should light pretty much everything if kept under 220 W. This is of course half of an icecap 660.
I ran a 72" VHO URI on my 6 ft tank which comprises 2x250 W Iwasakis. As you know the Iwasakis can be a little bit yellow but with just one VHO running with one workhorse 7, the tank looks a lot white and brighter.
The ballast does run a little hot, but I can place my hands on it without any problems. The URI VHO runs slightly hot but not too unmanageable.
I had it running alone in my garage and my eyes were blurry. [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
So this setup has been running for at least one week already and I planned to get another ballast for one more VHO.
I will take pics after this setup is done.
No more extravagant prices for ICECAP. [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Oh yeah, the ballast cost me $33 here. Not sure how much in Canada though.

[ 16 February 2002: Message edited by: dattack ]

[ 16 February 2002: Message edited by: dattack ]</p>

[StirCrazy]

hey Dattack, thanks for the info, one of the guys up here bought one also but we haven't heard from him how he likes it yet.

were you running VHO's befor you bought the workhorse? and if so what ballast were you using.

As for the heat from the ballast if you wanted to do a bit of fabracating you could make a heat sink and mount it to the ballast like IceCap does.

Steeve

[fishboy]

I've had my workhorse 7 running for a couple of weeks now. I'm very happy with it. I'm overdriving 3 36" NO actinics off of it. The heat off the ballast isn't that bad. After running all day it's warm but you can still hold your hand on it without a problem. I have it wired to power one bulb off one lead and the other two bulbs are powered by the remaining three leads with the bulbs in series. This combination makes my 250W Iwasaki look nice and white. I don't think I'll bother trying a vho bulb as I'm pleased with the results. Hmmmm, well maybe if I have some extra cash in the future [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

This picture shows the bulbs in action. The two on the left are in series(165W) the one on the right is by itself(55W).

[JoJo]

Hi Dwayne,

I have some questions in regards to overdriving NO fluorescent lamps. Can this be done with No fluorescent lamps?? How did you wire your's up??
Eg. If I had 2 24w NO lamps, will overdriving them show a significant difference?? Thanks!!!

Danny [img]images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img]

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

You might want to check this thread out first...it may answer all of your questions.

http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin...threadid=48133

- Victor.

[JoJo]

Thanks Victor for the thread. The ballast you mentioned, will it work for 24" 20w tubes??

Danny [img]images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img]

[JoJo]

Thanks Victor for the thread. The ballast you mentioned, will it work for 24" 20w tubes??
Danny

[img]images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img]

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

Yupe, they will work with the 24" tubes (F20T12).

- Victor.

[JoJo]

Thanks!!! Victor

Danny [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[Silverfish]

I picked up a workhorse 7 from Allbrite yesterday and got it going today. I am running it the same as Fishboy, with three 3' actinics, wired the same way. I also have a 250 Iwasaki 6500k and I am totally happy with how it all looks now. I am running Phillips 03 actincs and I think it works very well.

Cheap alternative to Icecap. Who needs 20K ?? [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]