Icecap vs E Ballast vs Coralvue M/H

[SJ Bushi]

Which are best based on personal experience , discuss



T/Y Pat

[Psyire]

BTT...

I'm trying to decide this as well. Which Electronic Ballast is better? Is Icecap worth the extra $$? I figured out by the time I outfit the Icecaps with ballast boxes in a similar fashion to the Coralvue's I would be able to buy a spare Coralvue and still be head $50-100. (I'll be needing 3)

[ricka]

I have both kinds of ballast (250W IceCaps and 400W CoralVue e-ballasts). They both work well and the main differences IMHO are the line noise put out by the CoralVue and the fact the IceCaps don't work on XM double ended bulbs.

My take on the XM problems is that I purchased an e-ballast so that I could run ANY bulb I pleased and the fact the IceCap has basically said, "It doesn't work, sorry!" ****ed me off enough to purchase the Coralvue's when I upgraded to 400W.

I ran the IceCaps fine for a long time with my aqua controller and X10, once I got the CoralVues my X10 stopped working. The fix it to get a $30 noise filter from smarthome.com. Once I figured that out, I couldn't be happier with the CV ballasts.

--Rick

[scarletknight06]

Check out the EVC E ballasts from ocean encounter. they outperform ice cap ballasts and they are $30 cheaper. I love mine.
I think coralvue ballasts dont get very good par ratings.

[Scott S]

They get pretty good PAR ratings on the CV bulbs, as I recall.

[scarletknight06]

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=254667

not from what this thread says

[ricka]

Originally posted by scarletknight06
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=254667

not from what this thread says

I would disagree. Look at the XM bulbs, the PAR difference is about 20. Not a whole lot. The CV bulbs are much higher on the CV ballast (43). The Radiums are within 3 of each other. The one stat that is shocking is the lack of output with the Iwasaki's. The IceCap does much better with the ABs tho. I'd look at this chart, decide which bulbs you are probably going to be using, then make a choice.

--Rick

CoralVue Electronic Ballast
code:

LAMP PAR WATT MaxWATT AMP MaxAMP
XM10K 620 252 270 2.05 2.33
IWASAKI 569 247 266 2.00 2.36
CV10K 430 262 265 2.10 2.13
AB10K 368 224 268 1.80 2.39
USHIO 363 255 265 2.08 2.38
RADIUM 337 260 269 2.13 2.89
CV20K 316 260 265 2.09 2.22
CV15K 311 260 265 2.10 2.16
XM20K 257 248 269 2.01 2.19
PFO13K 203 244 268 1.97 2.17


Icecap Electronic Ballast
code:

LAMP PAR WATT MaxWATT AMP MaxAMP
IWASAKI 651 252 275 2.17 2.45
XM10K 640 252 262 2.18 2.26
AB10K 422 254 257 2.17 2.30
USHIO 414 252 258 2.19 3.41
CV10K 387 250 251 2.17 2.46
RADIUM 330 252 275 2.19 3.56
CV20K 307 251 253 2.20 2.25
XM20K 270 252 301 2.17 2.81
CV15K 242 251 252 2.20 3.85
PFO13K 227 251 268 2.18 2.86

[SJ Bushi]

what about hamilton 14k ??

[scarletknight06]

on coralvue ballast:
xm-620
CV-430

that is a big difference in par. am i not reading this right?

[NHMarine]

Originally posted by SJ Bushi
Which are best based on personal experience , discuss



T/Y Pat

I have the Ice Caps 250W, I paid $97 at Macna 2004 Boston. They come with a three year warranty and great customer service.

I love them, Quiet and no interference with my TV. (running on the same circuit even!)

Just my 2 cents

[ricka]

Originally posted by scarletknight06
on coralvue ballast:
xm-620
CV-430

that is a big difference in par. am i not reading this right?

If you are talking about bulbs, yes you are reading it right. But he asked about ballasts.

An XM Bulb on CoralVue has a par of 620 and on IceCap it's 640. Not that big a difference.

--Rick

[scarletknight06]

sorry. i thought we were talking about bulbs.