shawnts106
Member
Well buiding my own the way I am doing is costing me about 200$ or so, this is everything, so if you can find a complete DIY MH 175Watt Kit online including 14,000K Hamilton bulbs you let me know!!! LOL!!! 
magnetic vs electronic ballast?
- Thread starter hkgar
- Start date
squidd
Active Member
I've been building DE HQI 150s with magnetic ballasts for less than a buck a watt..Complete...
Which will produce twice the PAR of your 175 mogul on electronic...
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/show...ight=Buck+watt
Which will produce twice the PAR of your 175 mogul on electronic...
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/show...ight=Buck+watt
golfish
Active Member
Originally Posted by shawnts106
Well buiding my own the way I am doing is costing me about 200$ or so, this is everything, so if you can find a complete DIY MH 175Watt Kit online including 14,000K Hamilton bulbs you let me know!!! LOL!!!
so you bought two bulbs, two reflectors, two mogul sockets, all the wire, switches, heat sink, MH ballast for 200.00?
Well buiding my own the way I am doing is costing me about 200$ or so, this is everything, so if you can find a complete DIY MH 175Watt Kit online including 14,000K Hamilton bulbs you let me know!!! LOL!!!
so you bought two bulbs, two reflectors, two mogul sockets, all the wire, switches, heat sink, MH ballast for 200.00?
tony detroit
Active Member
With all the people I know locally, myself included that have tried to go the penny pinching route and DIY a good lighting system, we would have been better off just buying the right things online for a reasonable price and have been done with it. I'm all done DIY'ing lighting setups.
Shawnts, In the end you'll want the good setups anyhow, and really won't have saved that much money, if any at all.
Shawnts, In the end you'll want the good setups anyhow, and really won't have saved that much money, if any at all.
tony detroit
Active Member
The pendants and ballasts are all you need to do HQI.
The pendant is the fixture, reflector, socket, and UV shield in most cases. The ballast usually needs to be purchased seperately. I've seen the pendants for a little over 100 before, that's pretty cheap IMO.
The main thing that makes HQI's so good IS the reflector. By saving money on the pendant, you're not really doing yourself any favors, and are just spending more money on bulbs, when you could have just went with SE.
ReefOptix III's are as of right now the top of the line pendant. You'll still need a ballast to power them.
Again, just me, but by the time you DIY a HQI setup, you could have had much better, more professional results if you had just bought them to begin with.
JMO
tony
The pendant is the fixture, reflector, socket, and UV shield in most cases. The ballast usually needs to be purchased seperately. I've seen the pendants for a little over 100 before, that's pretty cheap IMO.
The main thing that makes HQI's so good IS the reflector. By saving money on the pendant, you're not really doing yourself any favors, and are just spending more money on bulbs, when you could have just went with SE.
ReefOptix III's are as of right now the top of the line pendant. You'll still need a ballast to power them.
Again, just me, but by the time you DIY a HQI setup, you could have had much better, more professional results if you had just bought them to begin with.
JMO
tony
tony detroit
Active Member
BTW,
Shawnts, make sure you ask your parents how well their homeowner's fire policy is.
Shawnts, make sure you ask your parents how well their homeowner's fire policy is.
tony detroit
Active Member
Here's the headline from next weeks newspaper:
Alabama Free Press
Juvenile leaves house after duct taping parents to bed. Parents found dead after house catches fire. The case is currently pending arsony investigation. Mysteriously, fire seems to have originated around the home's fish tank. The suspect under investigation is the couple's son.
Shawnts, do yourself a favor. Save some money and buy the right lights and ballasts. In the end I can almost guarantee you that you'll wish you would have.
Alabama Free Press
Juvenile leaves house after duct taping parents to bed. Parents found dead after house catches fire. The case is currently pending arsony investigation. Mysteriously, fire seems to have originated around the home's fish tank. The suspect under investigation is the couple's son.
Shawnts, do yourself a favor. Save some money and buy the right lights and ballasts. In the end I can almost guarantee you that you'll wish you would have.
shawnts106
Member
Good night, all these negitive comments, what to do, what to do!
ok look here, I will save about 200 dollars building my own Vs buying one from a LFS.... a duel 175watt MH Retrofit kit including the bulbs and ballast and mogul base, wire etc... is approx. 420$... this is rediculous!....
I can build my own for approx.
200 ish dollars!
I am using a Regent 175 watt Mercuy Vapor lamp fixture for 22.96$ at LOWES, I bought two of these and am using these with a PVC Box with a metal plate to put the ballasts in and running a 3'' by 3'' Computer fan mounted inside the PVC box connected my a 12V 500mah converter from radio shack to supply the fan with power, the 2 mag ballasts will be wired to some computer cord then pluged into the wall, therefore supplying the ballasts with electricity, any questions?
There is a website that you can view, its
justin under water dot com slash mhkit dot htm
, lol!maybe you can find it in the above sentence!!!!
I am modifying his design a bit, instead of making the accual metal canopy too, Im mounting these bulbs in my own, well new canopy that I will be getting!
If Im not mistaken he used the same fixtures that I am using except he got his from Home Depot!
ok look here, I will save about 200 dollars building my own Vs buying one from a LFS.... a duel 175watt MH Retrofit kit including the bulbs and ballast and mogul base, wire etc... is approx. 420$... this is rediculous!....
I can build my own for approx.
200 ish dollars!
I am using a Regent 175 watt Mercuy Vapor lamp fixture for 22.96$ at LOWES, I bought two of these and am using these with a PVC Box with a metal plate to put the ballasts in and running a 3'' by 3'' Computer fan mounted inside the PVC box connected my a 12V 500mah converter from radio shack to supply the fan with power, the 2 mag ballasts will be wired to some computer cord then pluged into the wall, therefore supplying the ballasts with electricity, any questions?
There is a website that you can view, its
justin under water dot com slash mhkit dot htm
, lol!maybe you can find it in the above sentence!!!!I am modifying his design a bit, instead of making the accual metal canopy too, Im mounting these bulbs in my own, well new canopy that I will be getting!
If Im not mistaken he used the same fixtures that I am using except he got his from Home Depot!
golfish
Active Member
Originally Posted by tony detroit
Here's the headline from next weeks newspaper:
Alabama Free Press
Juvenile leaves house after duct taping parents to bed. Parents found dead after house catches fire. The case is currently pending arsony investigation. Mysteriously, fire seems to have originated around the home's fish tank. The suspect under investigation is the couple's son.
Shawnts, do yourself a favor. Save some money and buy the right lights and ballasts. In the end I can almost guarantee you that you'll wish you would have.
I sure hope bang got a good look at the link before he deleted it. Maybe we can use that to save Shawnts before he goes up the river.
Why are you trying to use MV ballast to drive MH bulbs? We both know it going to cost you more to build that POS ballast then buying one that will work..
squidd
Active Member
Originally Posted by Bang Guy
I had no idea you could make a MH ballast out of two MV ballasts. Interesting.
That makes two of us
Not to bust anyones bubble but the probe start ballasts of the correct voltage will fire either MV or MH bulbs...
The M-59 is the same "parts" as the H-33 (400watt) and the M-58 and H-37 (250 watt) and the M-57, H39, and M-107 (175 watt)...all the same/interchangeable...
I had no idea you could make a MH ballast out of two MV ballasts. Interesting.
That makes two of us
Not to bust anyones bubble but the probe start ballasts of the correct voltage will fire either MV or MH bulbs...
The M-59 is the same "parts" as the H-33 (400watt) and the M-58 and H-37 (250 watt) and the M-57, H39, and M-107 (175 watt)...all the same/interchangeable...
golfish
Active Member
Originally Posted by Squidd
Not to bust anyones bubble but the probe start ballasts of the correct voltage will fire either MV or MH bulbs...
.
Not to burst your bubble but that's pretty much a given............. so what does that have to do with a MV ballast firing a MH bulb.
The EYE ballast (AKA MV ballast) is not a MH ballast (im my terms). Its a Mercury Vapor ballast...Too lazy to look up the ballast number but these are not the same.
Not to bust anyones bubble but the probe start ballasts of the correct voltage will fire either MV or MH bulbs...
.
Not to burst your bubble but that's pretty much a given............. so what does that have to do with a MV ballast firing a MH bulb.
The EYE ballast (AKA MV ballast) is not a MH ballast (im my terms). Its a Mercury Vapor ballast...Too lazy to look up the ballast number but these are not the same.
squidd
Active Member
Originally Posted by golfish
Not to burst your bubble but that's pretty much a given............. so what does that have to do with a MV ballast firing a MH bulb.
.
That is what I'm saying..they are the same...
Order a M-59 "MH" ballast and then order a H-33 "MV" ballast...
You'll get two boxes with the exact same parts...
Ballast Specifications
Lamp type & ANSI Designation: 400W Metal Halide (M59) or Mercury Lamp (H33)
Capacitor: 7C240P40-R
Ignitor: N/A -This ballast does not require an ignitor.
Not to burst your bubble but that's pretty much a given............. so what does that have to do with a MV ballast firing a MH bulb.
.
That is what I'm saying..they are the same...
Order a M-59 "MH" ballast and then order a H-33 "MV" ballast...
You'll get two boxes with the exact same parts...
Ballast Specifications
Lamp type & ANSI Designation: 400W Metal Halide (M59) or Mercury Lamp (H33)
Capacitor: 7C240P40-R
Ignitor: N/A -This ballast does not require an ignitor.
shawnts106
Member
My question is will a MV ballast run a MH bulb? I am only assuming they will concidering it is the same thing!
What is the difference between a MV ballast and a MH ballast then?
I see no difference!
BTW SQIDD, I have a MV ballast that is a 120V, 60HZ
it says Current: 2.7 amps, starting: 5.1 amps, Lamp H-39MV
is this ok? Will it run a 14,000K MH Bulb? on the Ceramic Mogul Base it says Pulse Rated 5KV
is this a PULSE START BALLAST?
is this ok? please explain thanks!!!
What is the difference between a MV ballast and a MH ballast then?
I see no difference!
BTW SQIDD, I have a MV ballast that is a 120V, 60HZ
it says Current: 2.7 amps, starting: 5.1 amps, Lamp H-39MV
is this ok? Will it run a 14,000K MH Bulb? on the Ceramic Mogul Base it says Pulse Rated 5KV
is this a PULSE START BALLAST?
is this ok? please explain thanks!!!
squidd
Active Member
Perhaps I should clarify by saying not all MH ballasts will fire MV bulbs and not all MV ballasts will fire MH bulbs..
But the ones I listed will, as will Golfish's "EYE" MV ballast fire the iwaski MH bulb (as well as others)...
Shawnts106..the H-39 is the same as the M-57 MH ballast.. but is a probe start ballast.. Get a SE probe start bulb...
Alot of these pieces are interchangeable, just need to do the research to find what works with what...
(that's your job)...
But the ones I listed will, as will Golfish's "EYE" MV ballast fire the iwaski MH bulb (as well as others)...
Shawnts106..the H-39 is the same as the M-57 MH ballast.. but is a probe start ballast.. Get a SE probe start bulb...
Alot of these pieces are interchangeable, just need to do the research to find what works with what...
(that's your job)...