Realizing benefits of electronic ballast on MH lighting?

[thefedz]

i've had a 250 watt PFO regular ballast running 20K radiums

I upgraded to 250 watt icecap electronics. STill running the same bulbs

The bulbs are MUCH brighter then they used to be. The color used to be overly blue and I was thinking of going back to 10k bulbs. but thought I'd stick with the bulb until it burnt out. But now that I've run it on the Icecap, they burn a very very nice white/purple/blue color. Much more aesthetically pleasing.


Also the PFO ballast used to make an audible hum when the bulb was turned on. The icecaps are completely silent

In terms of energy consumption. i don't know. but at 12 dollars a bulb per year, I wouldn't even consider that real energy savings. Eat 2 McDonald meals less a year and it'll compensate =)

So if you're thinking of getting electronic ballasts, do it for a brighter burning bulb and the silence (if you don't like the noise coming from your current ballast)

 

[ChrisRD]

Here's some data compiled from Sanjay Joshi's testing. The first chart shows some common 250 Watt Mogul socket lamps and their output on the electronic IceCap, on the M58 (standard magnetic probe start) and on the M80 ("HQI" magnetic) ballasts...

 

[ChrisRD]

Here's some more of Sanjay's data, this time for DE lamps. Here only the IceCap and M80 are shown (M58s are not intended to be used with DE lamps)...

 

[ChrisRD]

BTW, Sanjay has not published data for the Radium on electronic ballasts (at least not that I know of) which is why it's not shown.

Joe Burger has tested the 250 watt Radiums on electronics though, for those interested: http://www.cnidarianreef.com/

According to Joe's testing, the Radiums don't perform as well on the M58 (which they are not intended for) as they do on electronics, however, they perform better on magnetic M80s ("HQI") than electronics.

The "gospel" of Paul :wink:...

European 250W lamps (like the Radium 250W) are designed for a European reactor ballast or equivalent. The north American equivalent is an ANSI M80 ballast.

You can operate a Radium 250 on a pulse start but it will not operate to the fullest and isn’t recommended by the manufacturer. The Pulse Start 250W ballast will underdrive European lamps.

An electronic 250W MH ballast will operate any 250W MH lamp like a 250W pulse start will. The reason is because both use a high Open Circuit Voltage (OCV) to start up a 250-watt lamp.

The PFO 250-watt HQI ballast is an ANSI M80 ballast. The Radium 250W is actually designed to operate on a M80 or European ballast.

PFO HQI 250W = ANSI M80 (HX-HPF Type)
PFO Standard 250W = ANSI M58 (Probe Start CWA Type)

Of course 400 watt lamps are a whole other ball game... ...which is why, as I said before, you really have to look into the specific lamp/ballast combinations you're interested in. My point - general statements about halide lighting are not very useful as they tend to not apply in many cases.

FWIW...