workhorse 7 ballasts

[rainingshots]

I wanted to know if anyone knows how hot workhorse 7 ballasts get? I have 4 of them enclosed inside my custom hood and each of them are running a 95 watt VHO lamp. I have a 2 inche hole for the cords to come out and for ventilation but thats about it. Is there any need for concern?
thanks

[Rikko]

I'm running 4x28W T5s on a WH7 and I find it actually gets quite hot. Others report theirs are cool to touch so I wonder if maybe my T5s are a little flaky.
Regardless, I have mine mounted onto a piece of aluminum as a heatsink and exposed to air, but no fans cooling or anything. I'd say mine probably runs at 50 degrees C or so - I can hold my fingers onto the casing for maybe 3-4 seconds before it's too hot.

You have a single WH7 for each 95W VHO? Each out on the WH7 can push 54W - you should be able to run two bulbs off each one...

[rainingshots]

I was able to get 4 so I just put 1 lamp on each ballast, this way it is not pushing the ballast to its max. I jsut wanted to know if they would get very hot for my hood enclosed. Generally I don't think they would.

[rainingshots]

^

[Ramble On Rose]

i run 2 48" VHO's off mine and it is too hot to touch within a hour of being turned on. If they are only running one lamp each though, they will not get hot at all. I ran one 48" VHO for awhile and it was cold to the touch. Once I added the second one, it started getting really hot.

[MK Reefer]

I have heard you should only run 1 48" VHO on a WH7 or it might melt the endcaps and blow the bulb. I know someone that this happened too..

Mike

[Rikko]

I'd like to see a scientific reference for that (not accusing you Mike, but that sounds bizarre to me). If the endcaps are melting it's because they aren't proper VHO caps (or defects). Nomatter what ballast is powering that bulb, if you're not overdriving it (and overdriving a VHO bulb would certainly be something to behold), the bulb will only reach its "on" temperature. I've never heard of a bulb getting hotter or colder depending on what ballast is powering it (assuming normal power draw).

I don't think the load on the ballast (provided we're within limits) is going to change the ballast case temperature much either. I'm running each ballast line at under half its rated output and it's still hot - I suppose solid state ballasts just get warm. Are you running all four leads of the ballast to the tubes? If you are, and VHOs behave the same way as an NO tube, I think that might be driving those VHOs twice as hard as they're intended to be, though I'd love an electrical guru to come and confirm that.

[Entropy]

I have been running 2x110w VHO's on my WH7 for 14 months now and have had Zero problems but it does get hot pretty quick. Mine is in open air and you can touch it but it is uncomfortable. I would think 4 stuck in a closed area would get pretty hot so I would keep an eye on it for a couple of days just to make sure you are not cooking the ballasts.

[Deuce67]

I have 4 WH 5 powering 8 54 w T5. I originally istalled them in the canopy and it got to about 135 degrees. I had to redo the setup and placed the ballast under the tank with a fan blowing on them. Now they stay mildly warm and not hot at all.

[david8956]

Good lord, I had no idea those ballasts got that hot !

I run 4-110 VHO on a single IceCap 660 ballast. It never gets even "warm", is always just slightly above room temp. (It IS mounted on the heat sink that comes with the ballast, I'm sure this helps keep the temp down also)

[Entropy]

Originally posted by david8956
Good lord, I had no idea those ballasts got that hot !

I run 4-110 VHO on a single IceCap 660 ballast. It never gets even "warm", is always just slightly above room temp. (It IS mounted on the heat sink that comes with the ballast, I'm sure this helps keep the temp down also)

Yeah there is no disputing the IceCap is a nice ballast, but you also pay for it. You can almost get the entire setup (4 bulbs, 4 sets of endcaps, and two WH7 ballasts) for the price of a single 660 and you can have the lights come on 2 at a time. Plus if you are looking for two actinics, with a WH7 you can set it up for about $110 complete, while with an IceCap660 you end up with half the ballast unused and a $150-180 hole in your pocket for the ballast alone. If you have the money, IceCap cannot be beat, but for us poor reef keepers I think the WH7 is a much better option.

[MikeD]

My ballast inside my 2x96 watt PC ABS hood just blew. A fellow reefcentral member pointed me to the Workhorse 7. Now, do you think the ballast would get too hot to be mounted inside the ABS hood between the ABS and the back of the reflector? What are my other options? I just don't want this fixture to go in the trash when I can fix it.

Mike

[jjmg]

MikeD, I had one mounted inside of a shop light fixture with no problems. It did get hot, but not so hot that I couldn't lay my hand on top of the metal where it was mounted and when I took the fixture apart there was no sign of heat damage and the ballast is now installed on the back of my canopy and running fine.

If your hood doesn't sit directly on your tank, I'd go ahead and put it in and test it to see how hot it's going to get. I don't believe it will get hot enough to harm anything besides heating the tank and if it's not directly on the tank that shouldn't be a problem. I would make sure I was going to be home for several hours after setting it up, just to be safe.

[MikeD]

Okay great, now, are there specific wiring diagrams for the work horse 7 specifically? The broken ballast has red yellow and blue wires going to the PC endcaps.

on one bulb, it's red, red, yellow, red and the other one is blue, blue, yellow, blue (I assume they're going to the pins inside the caps) Does this sound right?

Mike

[pjr]

Originally posted by MikeD
Okay great, now, are there specific wiring diagrams for the work horse 7 specifically?...

Mike

Use the link below to the manufacturer's site. They have a great tool for identifying wiring diagrams for a multitude of applications....

http://fulham.com/index.html

[MikeD]

Thanks PJR! That little thing they got going there is great!

Now, it says red should have a single wire... But in my unit, there are three 'red' and one yellow going to each 'endcap'. 4 wires (Guessing it's for the 4 pins). What do I do?

In the image below, I'm referring to the left side for (compact) as I'm working with 2x96 watt powercompacts..
http://fulham.com/NewFiles/wire11.gif
Thanks again,
Mike