VHO Ballast Help - ARO, IceCap...?

[pikachusalad]

It seems I lost my ballast this weekend...burned out or something.

Anyway, I was looking at new ones - I need to power my 2 48" VHO bulbs.

Can someone please help me understand why I would pay 3 times the price of the ARO ballast for the IceCap one?

[JetCat USA]

the IceCap will fire Any fluorescent bulb, the ARO only NO and VHO, the IceCap also supports dimming with VHO bulbs. in a yr or two when VHOs are obsolete and unavailable you'll likely want to swap to T5 and the ARO will not fire them so buy the IceCap once and be done with it.

[reefkrazy]

you can go with a work horse ballast. That is what pfo uses in there ballast box. They are pretty cheap. Ice cap is a better all around ballast.

[pikachusalad]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10975337#post10975337 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JetCat USA
the IceCap will fire Any fluorescent bulb, the ARO only NO and VHO, the IceCap also supports dimming with VHO bulbs. in a yr or two when VHOs are obsolete and unavailable you'll likely want to swap to T5 and the ARO will not fire them so buy the IceCap once and be done with it.

Hrm...I was just looking at the 430 and 660...if I got the 660, I could actually add a couple of 4' t5s to the two 4' VHOs I currently have, and run them at the same time, if I'm not mistaken...am I mistaken?

[JetCat USA]

Yes you can.

[pikachusalad]

Thanks - really appreciate the help!

I've pretty much decided on the IceCap...so no further response is necessary...I'm curious though why the ads say this:

"using 40% less electricity and burning 40% brighter"

40% less and brighter than what? Is there any truth to this? I don't really need to know...

[JetCat USA]

for example: with 48" T5s, and IceCap ballast will drive the bulbs at roughly 80w as opposed to their normal 54w with a considerably lower line input wattage then most ballasts so you save electricity and get more light.