double ended vs single ended bulbs

[roscoe]

I was wondering what is the life expectancy between a double ended hqi bulb ran on a electronic ballast versus a single ended bulb ran on a hqi ballast?

 

[Scooterman]

Typically your going to shorten the life a good bit using a se on a hqi ballast because your overdriving it.

 

[roscoe]

what about the hqi bulb on the ice cap electronic ballast?

 

[Scooterman]

I know some EB were designed to run them & claim they will extend the life, which I guess they would, at least last as long IMO. Other EB's has no mention of running De lamps but will run them.

 

[roscoe]

Yeah I have a reeflux 12k in a lumenarc de pendant right now and the bulbs are a lil more on the pricier end and wondering if I should go to single end.

 

[Scooterman]

That is a good lamp IMO, the Se 10 or 12K also!

 

[roscoe]

ok so does the double ended bulb have a longer life? Is that why they cost more?

 

[Scooterman]

I wouldn't go as far as saying that, they have benefits of higher performance but the life is probably about the same. I wouldn't let that determine what I should get. I like SE lamps, generally cheaper & preform very well, they all have advantages & disadvantages & on electronic ballast you will not overdrive them so you should get the most out of any of them.

 

[roscoe]

thanks scooter

 

[kevinpo]

Hello,
You will get at least 12-14 months good output for an HQI bulb on an electronic ballast (sometimes even longer). Overdriving a mogul bulb with an HQI ballast reduces the bulb life 2-3 months on average.

HTH,
Kevin

 

[roscoe]

Oh wow!!! May be it is worth spending the extra cash for them than. Thanks Kevin.

 

[roscoe]

So Kevin I have a ice cap 250w Eballast running a DE reeflux bulb. My question is, is that a safe combo I hear I should be careful which DE bulb I run on a Eballast? Are there any thing I should be concerned with running this combo and which bulb should I stay away from using a Eballast running DE?

 

[Scooterman]

Ice-Cap will run any lamp as claimed on their site, excluding only a very few.

 

[kevinpo]

IceCap was one of the first companies to have electronic ballasts for the hobby bulbs and at first they had trouble firing/running many of the newer band bulbs. You would have to send the bulb and ballast to them for tuning. That was years ago now. Today they run almost any bulb and do so quite well giving the maximum life from the bulbs. On average they produce PAR numbers somewhere between a pulse start (250W = M138) and HQI ballast (250W = M80).

Regards,
Kevin

 

[roscoe]

some great info there thanks kevin. So I should just stick to this combo then huh?

 

[kevinpo]

Yes, I don't think the expense is worth the slight gain.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[roscoe]

Thanks kevin you are very informative. Oh yeah i was thinking about going to a pheonix 14k how are these bulbs comparable to the reeflux I here the reeflux loses par pretty quick?

 

[kevinpo]

I have not run the Phoenix bulb myself but I have run the 400W 12,000K Reeflux and it lost PAR in about 6 months. I could have had a bad bulb but I use all 10,000K bulbs now and they have been lasting about 1 year on a HQI ballast.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[Scooterman]

One year on an HQI is great for an overdriven SE.

 

[trido]

12,000K Reeflux and it lost PAR in about 6 months.

I guess the rule of thumb is
10k = one year of life
14k= 9 months
20k= 6 months
Alot of reefers claim that anything other than a 10k is still more like a 20k regarding color and life. The newer 12s, 14s and 15s have come a long way, but the manufactures still have some life span issues to work out IMO.


I was just having a similar thread on another board.
FWIW I was running the phoenix 250 DE 14Ks on Icecap ballasts. After six months the par dropped so much that all of my torts quit extending polyps. At eight months I had a couple acros ( lower in the tank) lose color and then suddenly RTN. I had a similar event last fall when my first set of phoenix were near seven months old.

I kept looking for water issues but as soon as AEFWs forced me into putting my acros in the frag tank under 10Ks everything lit up and was happy within a couple days. I run reeflux 10 now and to my suprise, alot of my colors are looking much better than under the 14s. The blues and reds(and everything in between) really pop now.

Im not trying to knock pheonix bulbs. I loved the color and had great growth for the first six months with them. I was told ( and dont know if its true) that electonic ballasts can potentially shorten life span of certain bulbs. Anyone heard of such a thing?