Originally Posted by
Stanlalee
http:///forum/post/2931920
not true at all. there is virtually no performance difference between SE and DE of the same wattage (250w mogul bulbs perform like a 250w double ended bulb).
I agree with this...
whatever the case more than likely the electronic ballast just drives 175w bulbs to spec and overdrives the 150w bulbs (which a true HQI ballast would do anyway) so there wont be much to gain by going from 150w to 175w on the same ballast other than removal of the required glass sheilding.
... and this. The ballast isn't "aware" of what kind of lamp is installed or it's wattage. Since the ballast is responsible for regulating the current flow through the lamp, the same ballast used with a 150 or 175w lamp is not going to produce any demonstrable difference. IMO it's not worth the expense of changing over to an SE system just to use 175w lamps.
... and by the way, Pumper... it's not the mods fault. They don't set the filters, that's a setting in vBulletin that is controlled by Admin (saltwaterfish.com). The mods may be able to suggest to Admin that they change their filter policy, but it's up to Admin as to whether or not it gets done.
I myself have asked the mods on numerous occasions to see if they could get them to remove that particular word from the filter. I don't think Admin wants to.