workhorse ballasts and T5's

[hawk]

Originally Posted by AndyL

Now this is where it gets sticky, because some say it overdrives, some say the start pulses are wrong... The list goes on and on as far as reasons.

Icecap ballasts do overdrive bulbs - that we do know... Not sure how they get the longer life while doing it however.

Do we know that Icecap gets longer lamp life? I have been shopping for t5's as well and the info I have been able to find is very contradictory from one source to the next. One retailer I trust tells me the IC 660 shortens lamp life because it is overdriven. He actually sells both Tek II(new version with the wh) and IC. With the growing interest in T5's I don't know why Tek would change the ballast from Triad to WH on their "new improved" version if it were detrimental to overall performance.

[midgetwaiter]

I had some time to kill so I looked around for some info on this, it really is a bunch of hand waving.

The idea that the workhorse ballasts will give you shorter bulb life due to the "hard" start makes some sense. From that perspective though you need to reframe the question. If you are comparing a $40 mass produced part to a $180 Ice Cap specialty product it makes more sense to say that the Ice Cap gives extended bulb life. The only way you can make a good judgment is to get a decent idea just what "extended" is. If we're talking 10% then it would take quite a while to justify that extra $140 just based on this one aspect.

Has anyone ever found some numbers on this?

[AndyL]

I have a good idea why tek went to these... Look around for ballasts for multiple t5 lamps - except for 54w's the majority of ballasts are only capable of firing 2.

more ballasts = more weight = more parts to stock... Workhorse 7 will drive 4, wh8 will drive 5. And isn't limited by length/wattage of the lamp.

Whole reason I'm looking at these is I want to drive a total of 20 lamps; the need for 10 ballasts is ridiculous!