VHO bulb

[shawn]

So I have two T12 VHO bulbs that measure 33in in length. I am wondering what kind of wattage they are and also isn't 33in kind of odd. I know there are 24, 36 and 48in bulbs. Are the ones I have really 36in bulbs. I measured end to end on them. Help me

 

[liveforphysics]

I guess the weak sauce answer you are looking for would be roughly 75watts.

Its weaksauce because the design of the bulb and the ballast are what determine the wattage the bulb will actually see, not whatever is written on the bulb.

If you want to run them hard, I would recomend useing a workhorse5 ballast by fullerham, and connecting them in SERIES (it will overdrive them nicely). The ballasts cost about $25 and really work well. I regularly push 2-3 times the max rated output from them and they just keep on singing.

 

[shawn]

I am using a workhorse 7 to light one up. I thought they were 48in bulbs, but obviously they are not. It seems to be working great, I wonder if I could run both of them on a workhorse 7?

 

[shawn]

Also does anyone know where they sell this length of bulb? They fit perfect in my hood and I will eventually need to replace the bulbs I have.

 

[liveforphysics]

Ohh yeah, umm, you could lite about 6 of them off a single WH7. Just connect all the red wires together, and run that to the end of a bulb, then run a little jumper of the other end to the end of the next bulb, so they are daisy chained in series. Connect the remaining yellow wire to the end of however many bulbs you end up going with.

Now, Krish or other audio guys might be thinking I'm retarded for saying series, but with a controlled current supply, it reacts in an opposite mannor to how a controled voltage supply(amplifier) reacts to loading. Series with florecent bulbs is like running voice coils in parrelle as an analogy to audio equip to make it easier to understand.

 

[Al G.]

I think the 33" VHO bulbs are rated at 95watts, the same as the 36" bulbs.
There are the spacesaver version of the 36" bulbs, like the 46.5" is to the 48" bulbs.

ESU Coralife use to make 33" bulbs, though not anymore.

 

[MikeS]

What brand are they? I too use an off-size VHO (46.5")....

MikeS