T5 cooling and power consumption questions...

[DavidinGA]

I added a LET T5 2 bulb 80w setup (hep ~ati ballast) to supplement my leds and plan to run them about 4 hours a day or so. Is it worth trying to cool the two bulbs somehow to extend life? If I did what's the best way to cool them? I have some cpu fans laying around and some old phone chargers to wire them up, but I'm not sure how to go about trying to cool them.

Here's how they are ghetto hung right now (the led will be between them; it wasn't hung in this pic tho)

I assume I don't want to mount fans on the underside of the bulb and blow air up because it would encourage rust from the salt rich air.

Mounting the fan on the top would just have the air flow detected by the back side of the reflectors and be worthless.... So I assume I would need to remove the moisture cap to be able to cool it properly, right?




Power question:

I'd like to add another 2 80w bulbs over my 210gal that currently has 3 led boxes and 2 80w bulbs, but I'm not certain I can squeeze in 2 more bulbs. If I were to only be able to add one more 80w bulb will the ballast still pull full power from the wall or half power? It would be another LET kit (hep ballasts) btw.



Thanks

 

[DavidinGA]

???

 

[Reefing Madness]

Cooling fans can be mounted on the sides blowing in air, and having an outlet for the air is enough. Or if the canopy is big, adding fans on both ends woukd work.
A ballast runs off of 120v, it doesn't care if one build is plugged in or 2 it still draws 120v. So stuff in what you can, it won't matter, unless the ballast water made to run 2 lamps at a time, some will not fire without the 2nd lamp. But I'm pretty sure your good to go.

 

[DavidinGA]

Cooling fans can be mounted on the sides blowing in air, and having an outlet for the air is enough. Or if the canopy is big, adding fans on both ends woukd work.
A ballast runs off of 120v, it doesn't care if one build is plugged in or 2 it still draws 120v. So stuff in what you can, it won't matter, unless the ballast water made to run 2 lamps at a time, some will not fire without the 2nd lamp. But I'm pretty sure your good to go.

Ok. Thanks.

 

[jedimasterben]

HEP does not make a 120v input 80w ballast, so I'm not sure what brand the LET kit would be using. Do you have a photo of the ballast you have for the current kit?

 

[DavidinGA]

HEP does not make a 120v input 80w ballast, so I'm not sure what brand the LET kit would be using. Do you have a photo of the ballast you have for the current kit?

Ok...

HEP does in fact make a 80w ballast. It drives 80w ati bulbs at spec too. I don't know if they are 120v or not though...


ATI sells 60" fixtures and they use HEP ballasts; shocking right?

LET kits also use HEP ballasts (one reason they are so highly rated along with the better reflectors they offer). I don't have a pic of the kit with me but after googling it online it looks like my ballast is a HEP model SI280.


Here is a fact sheet straight from the manufacturer... http://www.hepgroup.net/proimages/Product_spec/universal_ballast/SI280UNI-UL.pdf

 

[jedimasterben]

Ok...

HEP does in fact make a 80w ballast. It drives 80w ati bulbs at spec too.


ATI sells 60" fixtures and they use HEP ballasts; shocking right? :tongue:

LET kits also use HEP ballasts (one reason they are so highly rated along with the better reflectors they offer). I don't have a pic of the kit with me but after googling it online it looks like my ballast is a HEP model SI280.


Here is a fact sheet straight from the manufacturer... http://www.hepgroup.net/proimages/Product_spec/universal_ballast/SI280UNI-UL.pdf

Where in the world did you find that datasheet? It is not listed under 'universal ballasts'.

 

[DavidinGA]

Where in the world did you find that datasheet? It is not listed under 'universal ballasts'.

First I found a reef reference to the HEP ballast model number then searched by the model number to find it on the HEP site


On the HEP site its under Electronic Ballasts -> For T5 Lamps then

• Models: 2 x Lamps

 

[jedimasterben]

First I found a reef reference to the HEP ballast model number then searched by the model number to find it on the HEP site

I was literally just talking about the lack of a 2x80w ballast on their website a few days ago. *** :xd:

 

[DavidinGA]

I was literally just talking about the lack of a 2x80w ballast on their website a few days ago. *** :xd:

Nope lol

I only recently added the two bulb LET 80w kit to my leds and backtracked/researched off the best T5 seller in the biz -> ATI and found out that I can buy the same ballasts in a retro kit

Here's the kit I bought: https://www.reefnerd.com/products.php?72&cPath=2_11_17_88&sid=6df4633b01ee5c41131cd46a6f3e38bf

 

[DavidinGA]

You can buy just the HEP ballast too

https://www.reefnerd.com/products.php?332