VHO's & PC's on same Ballast?

MikeS · May 31, 2008

Hi all...

A quick question for those of you more electrically inclined than myself...

Can you run VHO's and PC's together on the same ballast? I have an Icecap 430 powering 2 110W VHO's. I also have 2 55W PC's in the same hood powered by a seperate ballast. The PC's won't turn on anymore, and after inspecting all the connections and wires, I'm guessing the ballast has gone bad. Rather than try to find a ballast, I was wondering if it was possible to wire them into the Icecap 430...I know the Icecap can handle 4 bulbs totalling 330 watts, but can you mix VHO and PC together on the same ballast? Any help would be appreciated...

MikeS

Scooterman · May 31, 2008

To put it simple, yes you can wire it that way & it will work but I haven't tried it. It will have to be wired modified from the wiring diagrams they provide to do this. Otherwise you would risk pushing 82.5 watts through one of your 55w PC's & burst it.

http://icecapinc.com/icecap%20430%20revised%20wiring%204%2029%202008.pdf

Do you have 4 pin straight or square PC's?

MikeS · May 31, 2008

Thanks Scooty...

They are straight pin PC's. I was looking on that site and on the ballast itself and it says that with 4 bulbs on the 430 they can only be max 2 feet each totalling 8 feet overall...I suppose this would be a problem...I have 2 46 inch VHOs and the 2 PC's are 21 inches long each...

MikeS

Scooterman · May 31, 2008

Yup it would have to be the short lamps & the wiring would be crazy. Maybe a good time to upgrade to T5's or a new ballast, I know Areo makes a very affordable ballast.