Dimmable Flourescents!

[Anonymous]

At work I recently came across a DIMMABLE flouerescent ballast. I am wondering how useful it would be in an aquarium setting. On the train home, I worked out how I would have to build the circuitry, and was wondering if I built them, would they be usefull?

the ballast is a NO ballast. I haven't done hte research to see if they make HO or VHO dimmable ballasts. , but I figured this would be an 'add on' light system not hte primary one for a tank.

Does anyone see the need for me to persue the project?

The way I was thinking of designing it was:

You set the time you want your lights to be on and the duration. IE your lights should be to full intensity at 8am, and then stay on for 12 hours.
So, at 7am (or 7:30 or so) the light starts to fade up. and at 8pm they start to fade down until 9 or so, when they go out.

would there be an easier way to program?
Should I make the Fade in/out times controllable?

Has someone else already done this, so it is a mute point?

thanks for all the help,

B

 

[Kenny]

I think it would be a great idea! I could use a setup like that for moonlight simulation. I would like it to get brighter right before my VHO's come on and then it could shut off during the entire day. Before my VHO's turn off, the dimmable flourescent would come on at full power and gradually dim to a moon light after the VHO's go out. Keep us posted on what you find out!
Kendall

 

[schubert]

I'm not sure if you are aware of this but the ICECAP electronic ballast has a dimmable version with an optional Solar dimmer for VHO. But both the ballast and Dimmer controller are not cheap

Daniel

[ January 24, 2002: Message edited by: Daniel Schubert ]

[ January 24, 2002: Message edited by: Daniel Schubert ]</p>

 

[jimmyreef]

Hey I have that dimmer.
I purchased them from champion lighting.

The thing is it dims, but I thought it would
be a smooth gradual dim. Mine kinda goes down
in steps. like really bright wam not so bright
to not so bright to wham dim....

Uhm does anyone have the solar dimmers? I'm thinking it may be cause my ground is not that great. Should I ground it better?

 

[bstreib]

Bingo,
I'm sure there would be a lot of interest if it could be built at a reasonable cost. I experiment with dimming regular ballast several years ago. The big problem was firing the NO tube. I had to turn it on at full output and allow it to stabilize for a few minutes before it could be dimmed down.
Please keep us advised of your progress and we would interested in what ever information you would like to share with us.

Bill