Comments on: New Lighting Project – Ushio 14K & 20K Halides

By: light grow

light grow — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 21:51:00 +0000

Hey, this new lighting project is really looking just awesome. And this post really provides the best of information. I am really crazy about it. Thanks for sharing some great of thing regarding that one.

By: jnarowe

jnarowe — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:36:26 +0000

I used only Ushio 1000W 20K SE lamps on my reef tank and the look was great. In hind-sight, I probably light-inhibited my corals to some extent, but i went with the 1000W to make up for a perceived loss in PAR. These lamps are as solid as they come, and Ushio really knows lighting.

By: eric michael

eric michael — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:38:21 +0000

@Matt, not sure at this point. Something along the lines of LumenBright, or a fixture I’ve been eyeing from Japan. I will be using the spots and potentially some other smaller halides as well.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:33:07 +0000

@Eric, so which reflectors will you be using? With “additional Halide sources” being the spots?

By: eric michael

eric michael — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:27:33 +0000

@Matt, The 10ks are a nice white. With VHO actinic the crispness is hard to match.

So why 14 & 20? Two reasons. First being aesthetics, I prefer the deeper look for the animals I keep.

Secondly I plan on using LEDs and additional Halide sources, which are easier to highlight with white light than blue.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:17:02 +0000

Eric, any reason for a 14k and a 20k? When I was running DEs, I ran the Gman 13ks and those bulbs are dang bright and very white.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:36:07 +0000

@Jon

You probably already know this, but there are, I’m not sure if its Osram or Philips that make a electronic low frequency ballasts.I believe they use them in high frequency sensitive areas eg hospitals.
My question is why have they not made it to this hobby?

Your wright on the AC/DC motors except the DC motors are easier to control speeds.

By: Jon 'hahnmeister'

Jon 'hahnmeister' — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:03:57 +0000

@eric
I hear you. A while back, Icecap was supposed to be working with Ushio on an e-ballast that was designed for their bulbs in particular. There is no reason why say, an e-ballast couldnt be designed to run at under 300hz… the designation ‘e-ballast’ is rather misleading, as M80′s and HQI’s are ‘e-ballasts’ from a certain standpoint, since they are all electric. e-ballasts in general are supposed to use some sort of solid-state controller to manipulate the power going into the bulb, usually to be ‘self sensing’ like power factor correction and other things. There is no reason why someone couldnt make an e-ballast to HQI spec, or lower frequency, or make a hybrid of the two. This is much in the same way that when you start talking engineering level design of electronics, there is no such thing as ‘AC’ or ‘DC’ with electricity. The engineers here should know what I mean. For instance… what is the difference between an AC and DC motor? Nothing… at least not at the motor level itself.

By: amashun

amashun — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:40:52 +0000

when i say “flicker”, it does take some time for it to show the problem. I mean, how long would these lamp tester run these lamps for? 30 mins, 15 mins ,5mins or even less? so the duration and consistency would be questionable IMO.

by saying that there is no doubt that E. ballasts can fire up BLV lamp. my test were done from IC 250W e.ballast and one Chinese cheapy E.ballast that available in OZ local market.

By: eric michael

eric michael — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:15:00 +0000

@John, Very few know ANSI codes and it’s a gray area. The line “electronics can drive any bulb” is used all to often and as we know that’s not the case.

IMO it’s not as simple as ‘No’ on Electronic and ‘Yes’ on M80s. Certainly M80s drive the bulb optimally, no argument there and Ushio’s ANSI rec. attests. However, there are a couple electronic ballasts that have been successful at powering these lamps, with newer ballasts that are still in question.