Ballast?

partypalooza5

partypalooza5

Member
Here's the situation: I have a 4x 65W PC light from Coralife. It works pretty good for my tank. A few weeks ago one of the ballasts finally decided to die. Now I only have 2 bulbs working. The replacement ballast is too much money, so I'd rather try to use a different ballast and re-wire it.

So, I went to the local lighting store and bought two Fulham workhorse 5 ballasts. From what the owner said, I need one ballast for each bulb. Is there any way I can run two lights on this ballast? Or do I need to get a workhorse 6-7? These ballasts say 128w max, the two 65W bulbs are 130W :(

If anyone has any suggestions that'd be awesome.
 
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DaveK

Well-Known Member
You can check out the manufacturer's specifications here (offsite) - Fulham - Ballasts and Lamps (Note - you'll need to look at the products, then ballasts to view the spec sheet)

Note that the various ballast / bulbs selection guide doesn't specifically mention your bulbs. You might want to contact Fulham and ask them directly.

In your application, the two 65w bulbs would be just over the limit for the ballast, so the lighting supply store was technically correct, but as the previous poster points out, the overage is 2w.

In theory, you want to run electrical products like this below their maximum rating, so it would be ideal to use 1 ballast per bulb. That being said, I likely try running two bulbs on the ballast. It comes down to this, are you willing to risk the bulbs and ballasts in this configuration?
 
Frankie

Frankie

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
Hey Party, I think I have that ballast in my "box O stuff"

Shoot me a pic of yours so I can make sure. It is a dual PC ballast with the small square pin connectors on the front right? Black with red paddle switches on the front where the pins are? I would be happy to unload it for a small fee and shipping.
 
partypalooza5

partypalooza5

Member
Well, I decided to just hook it up and see what would happen. It works :D

From what I read on their website it will do 2x 55W and for some reason 65/55 are extremely close. I guess its a "gray area" or something in the lighting world. All seems to be good for now. Thanks for everyones input :)
 
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