Halides

Guy W

Guy W

AC Members
Apr 8, 2002
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Naples, FL
Do you think this is a good halide retrofit kit? I don't know if the ballast it comes with is good or not, but it says it can fire any halide bulb. I was thinking of either going with the Ushio 10k or the new XM 20k bulb. Which would you think gives a better spectrum for Bright Crisp White light with a little Blue, but NO Yellow?

http://store.yahoo.com/lamps-now/25methalbalk.html

Thanks,
Guy
 
The ARO ballasts have a pretty good reputation - you could do a lot worse. The reflector in that kit is also quite nice.

I run the 10k Ushio bulbs and they are very crisp white, but not a lot of blue. They look great with a little actinic supplementation though. If you're just looking for a 'little' blue, I think 20k bulbs would be too blue for your taste.
 
I was talking to my LFS and they said the Ushio's that they have used in the past went really pink on them within a couple months. Thats the first time I've ever heard that.

Also do you think if I ran the 2 96watt PC Actinics with the 10k Ushio's, that I would get enough blue out of the PC's, or would 3 250watt Ushio's over power the Actinics to the point where it wouldn't even be noticable?

Thanks again,
Guy
 
With the two Ushios and the two 96w PC actinics, I barely have enough blue. It's tough to say, but with three Ushios, you might not find you have enough blue for your liking. If I had it to do over again, I'd go with VHO actinics.

I've never heard about Ushios going pink either. They are orange-ish/pink when they first fire up, but they go ultra-white within a few minutes.
 
There is no magnetic ballast that will fire and operate all different bulbs properly. Ive had the Ushio bulbs both on 175 and 250 watt systems and neither turned 'pink' after any length of time. They both started out slightly blue and turned into a pure white and remained there throughout most of their life. You do have to add a bit of supplement if you want a bluer bulb, but most likely youll want actinics for the morning/evening shift anyways.

I believe the proper way to describe how actinics work with white MH is- you cant tell when there on, but you can sure tell when they're off.
 
LOL- thats what I get for not following the link. Last he was looking for the cheapest, now hes going to electronic... :p
 
I was looking for cheap, but not the cheapest. The ARO setup is in my price range. I just didn't want to spend 400 bucks on one light fixture/bulb/ballast.

I've never heard of ARO ballasts before, so I'm a little unsure about it.

Guy
 
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