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Metal Halide downgrade

D

dmense

Seedling
Joined
13 Apr 2010
Messages
9
Hi all,
You should be able to swap the ballasts over easily, the electronic control gear is just a ballast, magnetic ones had a condenser as well. You may need to get new fixings for the contacts, sometimes they use really cheap "single use, crimp on" ones.

The flood light is fine to use, the important bit is the ballast and the lamp, the luminaire used is irrelevant, other than on grounds of aesthetics, fixings and possibly health and safety (have a look a the IP rating of the fixture, if it is an external flood light & IP56 or IP66 it should be fine). I wouldn't use the one in the link as it is IP20 and definitely not suitable near to water. IP rating details here: <http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/DataSheets/IPNumbers.htm>.

cheers Darrel
 
The Arcadia's have a separate ballast and starter. The starter has a very wide wattage range on it (35-400W) so thats no problem. However I gather some ballasts come with integral starter, so I need to find a suitable replacement which doesnt have a starter if I am to do a straight swap.
I think this doesn't but it says 2x70W:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/70-Watt-Twin-Meta ... 3cb0e56a0c
They have an alternative, but this might include the starter:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/70-Watt-Metal-hal ... 3cb0ba6398
No replies from the seller yet, so will keep looking for alternatives. I want to make sure i am buying the right thing and I don't do anything too dodgy.

With 2x70W halides and 3x16W T4's I will have 188W for my 450L tank (total volume is 500L, but 50l is just in the filter tank). I think this might be an easier starting point and shoudl be enough light to grow most plants?
 
Hi all,
The Arcadia's have a separate ballast and starter. The starter has a very wide wattage range on it (35-400W) so thats no problem. However I gather some ballasts come with integral starter, so I need to find a suitable replacement which doesnt have a starter if I am to do a straight swap.
Click to expand...
Most modern electronic fittings don't have a separate starter, just the ballast. There are some cheap utilitarian MH floodlights available with separate ballasts and starters. I don't know anything about this company, but this sort of thing. <http://www.lyonlighting.com/acatalog/copy_of_Metal_Halide.html>

cheers Darrel
 
They look like they would do the job, like I say I almost wish I hadn't spent nearly £150 each on teh Arcadia's now! However, I have so I will try and reuse the housings and just replace the ballast. They are the older style squarer pendants, so that might explain why they have the separate starter unit. I guess if I buy a new ballast with integral starter I can swap the whole lot, just means I basically bought a £150 lamp holder!
 
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