MH retrofit questions

[Warren Bailey]

Hello

I want to fit 2 new 250W Metal Halide bulbs to my tank. Im going to use BLV
10K 250W Single ended bulbs.

Is it as simple as buying the correct ballast and reflector and wiring it
all up?

Im pretty good at DIY and will fit the reflectors in the hood but i have a
few questions:

Will i need any special heat resistive wiring?
Do i need fans for cooling?
Can i run a 3m cord from the ballast to the bulb without problems?
Can i keep the ballast in a closed cupboard ok?

Can you get dimmable MH lights/Ballasts ?

Thanks

Warren

[Croosh]

Warren,
Some bulbs require pulse start ballast, so obviously you will need to
make sure you get the right combination. Advanced Trasnformer ballasts
run $49 each. I think Ushio bulbs require pulse start. Iwasaki and
Hamilton work ok on magnetic AFAIK. I'm not sre about your brand.
If you have A-Boy store in your area then mogula base is $2.75 each. I
used metal electrical box (I'm not sure what's the right P/N) to mount
the base to. They also have sheet aluminum that can be polished and
used for the reflector.
You will need pretty hefty cord for MH, as they draw a lot of current
on startup. Mine is 4m long and it works with no problems. Make sure
everything is gounded properly though.
Ballast doesn't get really hot, but you'd still need to mount it to
some kind of heat sink (thick aluminum plate at least). I have two fans
in my canopy.

I'd imagine you'd be able to dimm MH via electronic ballast, but I
haven't seen one yet (I aven;t looked though)

Hope this helps
Yuriy

[Marc Levenson]

I've never heard of anyone dimming a MH bulb before.

Marc


Croosh wrote:
> Warren,
> Some bulbs require pulse start ballast, so obviously you will need to
> make sure you get the right combination. Advanced Trasnformer ballasts
> run $49 each. I think Ushio bulbs require pulse start. Iwasaki and
> Hamilton work ok on magnetic AFAIK. I'm not sre about your brand.
> If you have A-Boy store in your area then mogula base is $2.75 each. I
> used metal electrical box (I'm not sure what's the right P/N) to mount
> the base to. They also have sheet aluminum that can be polished and
> used for the reflector.
> You will need pretty hefty cord for MH, as they draw a lot of current
> on startup. Mine is 4m long and it works with no problems. Make sure
> everything is gounded properly though.
> Ballast doesn't get really hot, but you'd still need to mount it to
> some kind of heat sink (thick aluminum plate at least). I have two fans
> in my canopy.
>
> I'd imagine you'd be able to dimm MH via electronic ballast, but I
> haven't seen one yet (I aven;t looked though)
>
> Hope this helps
> Yuriy
>

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[Croosh]

If Mark says "no", it means NO :)
I called one of our vendors that manufactures ballasts among other
"coils" and they say that due to the nature of the bulb it requires
particular current/voltage and can not be dimmed.
Regards
Yuriy

[Wayne Sallee]

There used to be one on the market that was dimable, and
came with a dimming balast. The bulb actualy ran on dc.
They don't make them anymore.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Croosh wrote on 2/10/2006 2:17 AM:
> If Mark says "no", it means NO :)
> I called one of our vendors that manufactures ballasts among other
> "coils" and they say that due to the nature of the bulb it requires
> particular current/voltage and can not be dimmed.
> Regards
> Yuriy
>

[Pszemol]

"Croosh" > wrote in message oups.com...
> If Mark says "no", it means NO :)
> I called one of our vendors that manufactures ballasts among other
> "coils" and they say that due to the nature of the bulb it requires
> particular current/voltage and can not be dimmed.

This is what I found in 1 minute using google.com search:
http://www.aboutlightingcontrols.org/education/papers/hiddimming.shtml