ronl Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Foo, I would be interested in one of the $20 ballasts. Can you give us any more info about them? Manufacturer? Model #? Any pictures of yours in action? I have heard of Aromat before and I would feel better if I knew what I would be getting from you. Thanks, Ron Link to comment
AbSoluTc Posted July 15, 2003 Author Share Posted July 15, 2003 So, I have 1 person so far? 1- Bertz_maru Shipping will come out of my pocket. So, don't worry about that. Link to comment
Wasabi Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 AbSoluTc, Put me down for one. Let me know where and when to Paypal the dough. Thanks, Scott asahitoro@yahoo.com Link to comment
foo Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Right pictures... No specifications that I could find on these but the ballast is marked M85 and Electronic so that's good enough for me. The ballasts are made by Warner Power and are marked as tested in 1997 on the side. The ballast appeared unused when it arrived to me but a little dusty. I recalculated things and it the shipping bring your costs to $21 not $20. $21 dollars! That's cheaper than that Catalina bulb. 70W MH HQI lighting for $50! Of course you need a bulb holder, and a reflector and a piece of glass, etc bringing your total actual cost to $$$. Oh right pictures... Damn sbc yahoo dsl they give me all of this picture storage but no web storage? I put up a yahoo photo album check it out: http://...photos.yahoo.com...?.dir=/HQI+Ballast... What you'll see in the pictures are the sockets and an Ushio 70W bulb I bought from Hellolights. I wired them up to test the ballast temporarily and took pictures with my digital camera. The pictures get overexposed as my camera gets confused by all the light put out by the setup. See pictures 3 through 6 as the bulbs light. You can also see pictures of the reflector I'm forming in the garage, I'm building my own pendant out of sheet metal. Link to comment
foo Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Okay I guess a few people are interested so I'm going ahead and trying to secure a dozen of these ballasts. I emailed the guy andm y cost is going to $17 for each ballast. You'll only need to pay that plus shipping when I get them. I need to weigh them to see how heavy they are for priority mail. He said he would ship them today. After I receive the ballasts I'll inform the people who expressed interest. Link to comment
CUNROE Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Foo, I just got back in town and saw this thread. I'm intrested in that $20 ballast or $17 whatever it is! Thanks, Chris Link to comment
foo Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 This is the guy I'm buying from. I see that he just listed another ballast of the same type starting bidding at $9.99. I wanted to wait before putting out the link so people don't drive the price up but since mine are on the way I guess it's okay. http://cgi.ebay.com...&item=2545744115... You can try to win his auction and get a good price if it doesn't get bid up or you can buy one from me after I get the shipment at the $17 price plus shipping. FYI The last one I bid on and one from him cost me $21.50 + $4 shipping. But now that more people know who knows. Play nice. Link to comment
DeskJockey Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Thanks for the info Foo =) Well just let me know when you get them. Ill take 2 if that is okay with you. If you can PM me or send me an e-mail cuz I never get notified when people post to a thread. Thanks! Link to comment
ronl Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Foo, Thanks for the info. Is there any problem with using a 75 watt ballast on a 70 watt bulb? If not, I'll take one. Ron Link to comment
surfy Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Where can you get the bulb holders for the bulbs? I don't know much about MH but I would love to get one. Link to comment
Wasabi Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 foo, Go ahead and put me down for one of the $17 ballasts. Let me know the shipped price and I'll Paypal it over to you when you're ready. Thanks, Scott Link to comment
AbSoluTc Posted July 15, 2003 Author Share Posted July 15, 2003 For those of you intrested in these "other" ballasts, here is some information for you. I called and spoke with a gentleman at the company and had a few questions answered. 1 - If you take a look at the ballast label in the picture, you will see a line at the bottom that states "lamp - to - ballast distance must not exceede 24" ". From experience and information from several sources (the company and another), exceeding the recommended length will result in no bulb fires, miss fires, improper lamp arcing and degraded life of the ballast and bulb. This is not to say it can't be done, however it would not be good. I personally would not want a ballast that close to my tank. 2 - Over driving Metal Halide bulbs, is not recommended. You decrease lamp life substantially and this also creates more strain on the lamp itself, which in turn may create more heat. 3 - These ballasts are no longer produced, warrantied, or supported by the manufacturer. Hence, if it breaks you must trash it and get another. I am not trying to discourage anyone from purchasing these, I am only offering information so those of you who are buying them, can make a better assesment as to what you are buying into. Kris Link to comment
foo Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Good points AbSoluTc. People should make informed desicions! Too often people give questionable advice, recommend dangerous or non optimal setups that leave people unhappy. It distresses me when people post bad advice on message boards. Always question what people tell you. But at this low price it's difficult to go wrong considering the alternatives and their costs. ronl wrote: ...Is there any problem with using a 75 watt ballast on a 70 watt bulb? ... There is no problem here the Ushio bulb hellolights sells is actually spec'd by Ushio at 75 Watts not 70 Watts I think. But any bulb rated as ANSI spec M85 is acceptable. The aqualine should also be okay. I assume Catalina is okay but there aren't any manufacturer specs I could find on that one. Even the Aromat ballast the other guy listed that says is 70 watts, if you read the specs from the manufacturer it says it puts out 79 watts. There are some tolerances that the ballasts operate in thats approved and safe. If you match the bulb specified usage to the ballast specified usage you're generally running in an approved configuration and operating within the normal operating limits. The Ushio bulb I'm using is rated as an ANSI spec M85 bulb as is this electronic ballast. Link to comment
AbSoluTc Posted July 15, 2003 Author Share Posted July 15, 2003 Even the Aromat ballast the other guy listed that says is 70 watts, if you read the specs from the manufacturer it says it puts out 79 watts. I don't beleive that is correct. I beleive it was 69watts. I know that it was 70 or below for a fact. Per verbal discussion with their technical dpartment. Link to comment
foo Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 I need to take my own advice! Bad or not quite correct information. I was looking at the input power characteristics. I went back and looked at the PDF for the Aromat ballast in question and it says Input power 78W @ 120V and 79W @ 277V. My bad. So I likely the 75W rating on the Warner ballast isn't output power, it is the input power 75W @ 120V. Anyway all you need to be careful about is the rating of the ballast and the bulb, match them and you're okay. The Warner ballast is rated as ANSI M85 which is the common aquarium 70W HQI DE bulb. The Aromat isn't rated for usage for M85 usage but AbSoluTc says the manufacturer thinks it's okay then you're probably safe there as well. Either way both the Warner and the Aromat should provide good price to performance, that is assuming these discontinued ballasts we're discussing perform in the long run. Link to comment
Graywolf57 Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Absolut, thanks for coming back to this thread with the info, I got one of these ordered at a slightly higher price when I didn't hear anything back, no problem it is still a good deal. Foo - I would like to get two of the ones you mention. If they are still available, I can use pay pal if thats what you want Link to comment
foo Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Okay that's it for the extra ballasts I have on order from the guy. These are the ones who I'm reserving a ballast for: QTY USER 2 bertz_maru 1 ronl 1 CUNROE 1 Reefer33 2 DeskJockey 1 AsahiToro 1 AbSoluTc 1 nano neophyte 1 surfy 2 Graywolf57 That makes 13! I only bought 12 extras so Graywolf57 you'll only get one. But maybe I should only let people get one anyway so more people can share at this price. I'm going to weigh the ballast to night to see how much shipping will be and get you guys a price. The seller said he shipped them today so I should receive them at the end of this week I hope. But keep your money in your pockets for now. I'm going to do a longer running test tonight on with the 70W Ushio bulb and see if it stands up to a couple or few hours of running. I only ran it for a few minutes last time. Who knows maybe these things are junk and I'm out a couple hundered bucks. If all goes well I could broker some more from the guy. Or you can contact him directly but I was trying to keep the demand hidden from him to keep the price down. I'll keep you guys posted. Link to comment
CUNROE Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Thanks FOO!! I hope the ballast holds up the the test. Chris Link to comment
Graywolf57 Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Foo - As I was the last in, one is fine. Up to you if you want to limit the others but don't do it on my account. I'll go ahead a post a bid on the one on ebay and wait for your test results. I will not bid past the $17 dollar mark to ensure he dosen't think he has a new market. Link to comment
foo Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 You can do what you want but try to keep it quiet and don't get in bidding wars with each other. And please don't let on that these things are commonly used in minireefs. As it is, the second ballast I bought from the guy went for $21.50 the dozen I got from him privately went for $15 but I had to add in the shipping he charged me, bringing my cost for those to $17. However if what I'm trying to do works out I could try to broker another set of ballasts from the guy and resell them here like I said. He probably just thinks I'm into something like indoor gardening or something, not aquariums so unless someone has tipped him off we may be okay. If I got more he might just think I'm expanding my operations. But I think we should wait untill I can do some burn in testing on the ballast before we get ahead of ourselves. Link to comment
AbSoluTc Posted July 15, 2003 Author Share Posted July 15, 2003 Foo- Sounds like a good idea. Link to comment
Graywolf57 Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Foo - That was the intent of my post....I did place a bid not communicate with the seller. Since I am on your list for one, I will refrain from any other bidding if there is concern it will start driving the price up. IIf you have a connection with this guy that benefits others, I'll go with that as well. Others can do as they like. Waiting for the test results. Link to comment
mane3215 Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Hmm I want one I'm not sure which to get. I dont mind shelling out the 40.00, but of course 20.00 is better. What do you guys think of the actual differences in these two? Thanks. Link to comment
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