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View Full Version : 400W eballast vs DIY core


easttn
04/14/2003, 04:42 PM
I had made up my mine to upgrade to 400W 20K Radiums over a month ago. I did a lot of searching and found that I could do a DIY retro with magnetic ballast for $394 (dual system). The other route is $600 for blueline e-ballast all else reamining the same. Has anyone seen or read why the investment is worth 1.33x?

gregt
04/17/2003, 01:44 PM
^

captexas
04/17/2003, 03:47 PM
From what I have read, these are the differences that I know of.

1. An electronic ballast will run any bulb on the market, probe or pulse start, and even double ended bulbs. The conventional M59 ballast is a probe start ballast and can only run certain metal halide bulbs. So of course you have much more flexibility with the e-ballast and don't have to buy a new ballast if you want to go with a different bulb type.
2. The e-ballast runs bulbs at a much cooler temperature, not overdriving them, producing a better light output and making the bulbs last longer.
3. E-ballasts are supposed to be 25% more energy effecient, therefore saving you money on your electric bill.

The 400watt electonic ballast is fairly new and as you probably know, all things are more expensive when they first come out. The 175 and 250 watt e-ballasts have been out for awhile. M59 ballasts are cheap as they an old technology and are mass produced for commercial light fixtures.

Hope that helps.

Eric Boerner
04/17/2003, 03:49 PM
The electronic ballast will save you cash in the looooooooong run. You'll use less energy per hour running your lights. Your lamps will last more hours. You'll get a constant steady light, rather than occassional flickering from the lamp (better for your corals).

Plus... The used resale value stays really high on name brand electronic ballasts like Ice cap and blueline.

If you can afford the extra cost, they're definately worth it.

easttn
04/17/2003, 08:38 PM
Eric and captexas,

The cost of energy savings is moot. Sanjai's (sp ?) white paper did show a savings but it is miniscule, we don't blink an eye at $60 for a can of salt. The long run is not what we consider when upgrading, besides it is pennies/month.

Eric, I respect your reply, but... resale on 400W 20K Radiums and the ballast that run them is also odd to me. What does one upgrade too? Why would I want to sell 800W of HID lighting, and each year we buy new bulbs anyway. The graphs I have seen of the bulbs performance are precise electronic measurments, I really don't believe the human eye or the animal will be able to discern any diff.

I guess I rationalize my decision with audio components. There is equipment out there that can measure audio levels that the human ear cannot discern, yet the industry tries to convience us that we must have it . I might eat crow, but I did not buy the eballast because I do not think the animals in the tank could read the label, and the new technology is not always the best. Case in point, icecap's latest attempt. I opted for the tried and true, soooo many satisfied customers thus far can't be wrong.

Eric Boerner
04/17/2003, 09:33 PM
Actually, the cost savings on eballasts vs tar ballast in California is quite substantial, when you're paying $.0274 a kilowatt hour. If I was purchasing my reef equipment over again no, vs several years ago, I would be very midful of power consumption of each piece. I would purchase sequence pumps over Ampmasters for instance. They may cost more to do exactly the same thing, but the power consumption is nearly 1/4 of the ampmasters.

By resale, I mean, say I'm dumping my reef (It happens). The resale of Halide eballasts would net you upwards of 80% of your investment into the ballast. Where tar ballasts, you'd be lucky to get 50%, unless you sell them to someone, new, or desperate.

I can understand if you lived in an area where power flowed like water and was dirt cheap. Magentic ballasts as disposable equipment would probably be a good investment.