Re: [APD] Re: Custom Sealife Britelite

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

Well, it doesn't quite work that way. The net output is a
result of itneraction between the bulb and ballast. Putting
a 40 on a nominally rated 55watt ballast doesn't run the
bulb at 55 watts, nor vice versa. Well, it could, if the
ballast was made just a certain way. Unless a ballast and
bulb were made (in heaven) for each other, they don't
operate exactly like the specs. That's why the ballasts and
bulbs are made to accept reasonably wide tolerances.

For one set of examples, you can put a 36 watt bulb on an
WorkHorse ballast wired one way or put a 55w on it wired
another or put the 36w on it wired the same way as for the
55w. In the latter case, the 36 watt bulb will be driven
harder than in the first case, but it won't be anywhere
near 55 watts.

Also, some electronic ballasts have current limiters that
keep them from overdriving a lot unless you start getting
really weird with bulb ballast combinations.

If you put a 55w on a ballast supposedly made for 65w, the
bulb would probably burn insignificantly dimmer, last about
as long, and make the plants just as happy. Of course, the
exact operating characteristics depend on the specific
model of bulb and ballast.

I wouldn't hesitate to put a 55w on a 65w or vice versa.
Although I personally would hesitate to use a CustomSeaLife
device.


Scott H.

--- Syl K <syl2005 at verizon_net> wrote:

> I'm a little confused about this. When I put the lighting
> together using AH 
> supply kit, I recall the wiring was different for 40 w or
> 55 w lamps. I 
> don't remember exactly how the wiring differed, but
> assume the ballasts are 
> pushed a little higher. You can't get 55 w out of the
> fixture if you wired 
> it for 40. I "think" a 55 W bulb would then only produce
> the equivalent of a 
> 40W, and likewise, if you tried to push the 40W to run
> higher (55W if you 
> had it wired that way), you'd probably burn it out
> quickly? I do recall, 
> since they are wired in parallel, they had to be equal.
> 
> The Custom Sealife is rated and wired to run 65w watt
> bulbs. You could put a 
> 55 watt bulb in, but you'd get a tad less lighting out of
> it. I talked to a 
> rep for a while a few years ago about this. He very
> kindly sent me two 65 w 
> bulbs free (back when they were around) because I
> couldn't find replacement 
> 65s.
> 
> For others not aware when reading the below, AH Supply
> uses the straight pin 
> configuration. Custom Sealife strip is square pin, and
> the ballasts were 
> wired in series.
> 

_______________________________________________
Aquatic-Plants mailing list
Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
http://www.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo/aquatic-plants