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04/28/2008, 12:22 AM | #1 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Mansfield, Ohio
Posts: 111
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Electronic ballasts worth it?
Are electronic ballasts worth it? I'm looking into buying a hamilton pendant but it has a magnetic ballast. Are they any good?
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04/28/2008, 02:02 AM | #2 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Leduc, AB
Posts: 46
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depends really...
some electronic balasts are dimmable and consume less power than the magnectic counterparts. heres a good read... http://www.coralvue.com/metalb.html |
04/28/2008, 05:13 AM | #3 |
Registered Member
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Indy
Posts: 568
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Different bulbs take different ballasts. Match the bulb of choice to your ballast. Many bulbs take a magnetic ballast. Do you know whether it is pulse start or not?
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04/28/2008, 07:38 AM | #4 |
Reef Guru
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: the great South
Posts: 3,218
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I have the Hamilton double Reefstar unit, and it came with two magnetic ballasts. I didn't like the fact that they hummed pretty loud, so I sold them and wired in two IceCap electronic ballasts to my Hamilton fixture. They run silently, and I have been happy with them, and I like the color that they are putting out with the IceCaps and my 14K Hamilton bulbs.
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04/28/2008, 08:10 AM | #5 |
Team RC member
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I went to electronic ballasts because of noise (them and my wife complaining about them) but some of the neat features are nice as well. I have them on 250 and 400 watt fixtures.
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Warmest regards, ~Steve~ |
04/28/2008, 09:08 AM | #6 |
Awaiting Email Confirmation
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: On RC
Posts: 3,609
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I never liked Hamiltons m58 ballast. They never seemed to burn any of the bulbs I wanted to use correctly. They were also very noisy, big and get very hot. I now use Coralvue electronic ballast and love them.
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04/28/2008, 09:18 AM | #7 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Edge of oblivion
Posts: 1,708
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I just switched from M58 ballasts to a Sunlight Supply dual Galaxy electronic ballast and I'm very happy with it. The ability to run pretty much any bulb (probe, pulse, HQI) made it a no-brainer upgrade for me.
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