MH ballast question

[Skeeter7424]

So the lighting setup I got with my tank is a little wierd, and old, and I am planning on slowly upgrading it. Right now, I am running a 400 watt ballast. It is powering 2 - 175 watt MH bulbs in parallel. I'm not a lighting specialist, but is this completely wrong? Both bulbs fire fine, and light fine, I'm just not sure this is OK. I am looking to replace the ballast with a newer 400 watt unit, and wanted to check before I spend the dough on a new one.

Thanks to the lighting experts!

Jordan

 

[jarrodsanborn]

um.....that dont sound right..... i would say either get a dual 175 ballast, or use this opportunity to get a dual 250 ballast upgrade.

it might be working now, but im sure the starting and operating specs for the single 400w ballast and dual in series 175w bulbs are completely different, leading to shorter bulb life, lessened par and skewed color temp.

with all of the people upgrading to t5/led, im sure someone would chime in for cheap if you posted a wtb ballast thread.........

g/l

 

[Turbosnail]

+1 this does not sound right. I would get a dual 175 watt ballast.

 

[Skeeter7424]

Yea thats what I thought, but it seems to work ok. I am planning on upgrading the ballast, but hadn't seen anything run like this before.

The dual 175w (or 250w for that matter), does that have 2 outputs for the lights, or can it be run in the same fashion that I am now? Again, the bulbs are not in series, they are in parallel...

I was confused when I got this hood, but it worked ok so I left it. Now I am thinking its time to upgrade. The ballast looks like its circa 1995 anyways...

Jordan

 

[jarrodsanborn]

there is dual outputs. they are a bit harder to find, but are available. maybe your best bet would be a dual chanel selectable wattage rig. then you could use 175 or 250!!!

not paralell or series lol. man series would have been much worse.