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[APD] IceCap ballasts hype or not?



I can comment on the Icecap ballasts with regards to metal halides.

The 250 watt metal halide light over my tank utilizes an Icecap electronic
ballasts.  I love it.  There is no noise and it only gets slightly warm.  It
has been on the tank for around 2.5 years.   It is reliable, I get the metal
halide shimmer lines in the water and there is no annoying noise ( the noise
factor is a big deal since the tank is in the great room).

I don't know if it is the bulb (6500K Iwasaki) or the ballast, which
supposedly overdrives it, or something else but plants grow in this tank
like they are on steroids.  It supposedly shortens the bulb life but my
first bulb lasted well over a year.

There has been some slight flickering periodically but it only lasts for a
second or two when it does occur. It doesn't happen often.  I did call
Icecap and they suggested a couple things that did improve it.

Due to a nasty storm, something fried it so badly (yes, I have it on 2 surge
protectors) the fuse assembly was completely melted together.  Icecap was
top notch and even fixed it the day it arrived and had it back out to me the
next morning.  Their tech support and customer service was outstanding.

Electronic ballasts are more expensive but well worth the money IMHO.

Daphne


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