MH Ballast Explanations, please

[kday25]

I didn't want to hi-jack threads anymore, so Ive started my own

What are the difference's in magnetic, electronic, HQI ballasts? In another thread, I noticed a reference to HQI ballasts not giving off as strong of a blue tint as electronic or underdrived ballasts. I have a Sunpod HQI on my tank.

Is there some literature out there anyone can point me to? Im not very electric savvy, but since reading Mojo's TOTM thread, Ive taken an interest in learning as much as I can about all the phases of this hobby.

Thanks in advance!

 

[kday25]

Ahhh, good. So obviously the ballast has just as much to do with the color spectrum as the bulb. My sunpod HQI might be putting out more wattage resulting possibly in diminishing my color temp. Maybe not very dramatically, but probably a tad. Am i understanding this correctly?

So a Phoenix 14k on an electronic ballast could be dimmed (and lose a little wattage), but still keep a bluer tint than a radium 20k HQI on a magnetic ballast??

 

[mufret]

This was a short explanation of the different ballast types commonly seen in the hobby that was taken from another site:

probe start will run american bulbs with ignitors built into the bulbs like coralife and venture bulbs. some german and euro bulbs will run fine on these, but without an ignitor, the bulb struggles to light and bulb life may be decreased. also reliabilty goes down.

pulse start will run the german/euro bulbs (ushio, AB, radium, etc.) these bulbs don't have built in ignitors, so the ballast has the ignitor wired into the circuit. the ignitor provides the high voltages needed to fire the bulb. you can run probe start bulbs on these ballasts, but the two ignitors may try to fight each other and possibly cause a fire.

HQI ballasts are similar to pulse starts in their wiring and ability to run bulbs. the output is a little higher which is meant to run the double-ended bulbs (commonly called HQI bulbs). people run mogul bulbs on these and they run a little hotter and brighter because they are being overdriven. this in turn shortens the life of the bulbs.

EYE ballasts are mercury vapor ballasts. they are similar to a probe start ballast, but the only bulb you can run on these are Iwasaki 6500K bulbs (because these are actually MV bulbs, not MH bulbs like most think). the ballast will damage MH bulbs if you try to run one on it.

Electronic. ahhh, the great electronics. these will run any bulb at the rated wattage: probe start, pulse start, iwasakis, DE (double ended-HQI). if you think you might change your mind in the future, get an electronic. you can change bulbs to whatever you want and not have to worry about the ballast being the wrong type. electronics run cooler (a magnetic MH ballast will burn your hand if you touch the coil after it's been running for awhile). they also use less energy.

Additional info:

175watt:
Probe start: ANSI: M57, core, capacitor
Pulse start: ANSI: M137, core, capacitor, ignitor
Electronic: ANSI: none, metal box with wires

250w:

Probe start: ANSI: M58, core, capacitor
Pulse start: ANSI: M138, core, capacitor, ignitor
HQI: ANSI: M80, core, capacitor, ignitor
EYE: ANSI: H37, core, capacitor, actually a mercury vapor ballast
Electronic: ANSI: none, metal box with wires

400watt:
Probe start: ANSI: M59, core, capacitor
Pulse start: ANSI: M135, core, capacitor, ignitor
HQI: ANSI: SON AGRO, core, capacitor, ignitor (this is actually a 430w HPS ballast used primarily in hydroponics)
EYE: ANSI: H33, core, capacitor, actually a mercury vapor ballast
Electronic: ANSI: none, metal box with wires

 

[grouper therapy]

HQI stands for hydrarygrum quartz iodide and refers to the gas and arc tube design in that particular halide bulb . They are made as both DE and SE(Radium). They usually require an ignitor to fire. The ballast that have this ignitors are very common used to run HPS lamps(street lamps) . Electronic ballast have a tendency to run most bulbs closest to their rated output(watts) usually giving a truer color. The colors vary so much between so many combinations that it is impossible to know exactly how a bulb will look with each ballast until someone fires the combo.

 

[grouper therapy]

ares;461439 wrote: hard to say if a 14k on electric would be bluer than 20k on magnetic... too many variables there, and no steadfast rule on how each bulb will react to a drive current. bout all you can say is the same bulb will be bluer on electric ballast, beyond that, its all grey.

when you see the "actinic" look, actinic really being all blue in the 420-480nm wavelength, and NO other wavelengths, most would be talking upwards of 24-30k temp. which does approach blue/purple in spectrum. no MH will ever get that far, but 20k HQI bulbs underdriven on electronic ballast get close enough for most peoples satisfaction.

Excellent point! For instance for my taste as my Radium bulbs fire and heat up driven by my HQI ballast they cotinue past the blue color I prefer and start to whiten . The Helios over driven by the same ballast max out at the perfect blue for my taste

 

[kday25]

grouper therapy;461448 wrote: my Radium bulbs fire and heat up driven by my HQI ballast they cotinue past the blue color I prefer and start to whiten.

Ive noticed that as well.

So if I took apart my Current Sunpod (which Im not gonna do), what would I find? An HQI, pulse start, that runs a little higher wattage? Or some lesser 'Current' version of an Icecap HID electronic? Im guessing pulse start, HQI.

Icecaps are good, right? It seems a lot of folks have those.

This is useful info because the next time i re-work my lights, Im thinking of going retrofit with a canopy, and Id like to get an idea of what parts to use. The ballast part was confusing me.

Thanks everyone.