I try and keep all ballasts out from inside a hood, no matter how or
what kind they are. Be it a cheap common ballast or a top end ballast.
I have quite a collection of various heat sinks and I have been known
to attach a sink to some ballasts for kicks, and others I enclose in a
cabinet and cool with muffin fans etc. I do not but the so called
rubber water proof or salt creep boots for the light sockets either. I
coat all bulbs and contacts with krytox grease which is non toxic and
will not hurt anything. It will not melt and drip either. Works better
than any rubber boot ever did.



On Tue, 12 Dec 2006 01:43:48 GMT, George Patterson
wrote:

Tristan wrote:
Ballasts are not rocket science, and
even if the parts inside some of the ones like Ice CAp are slightly
different, odds are th eactual cost of th eparts is not that much
different if at all from a common electronic ballast would consist of.

Actually, if you try to come up with a self-starting ballast that doesn't put
out a lot of heat and is small enough to fit in a typical hood, you're into
rocket science territory. The common ballast typically runs too hot to touch and
measures about 10" x 2" x 1.5". It also corrodes easily and has a tendency to
ooze polluting acids when it fails.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!