Ballast ?? for T-5's

[Roland Jacques]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8903495#post8903495 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jag1979
I think you can do two icecaps but not sure, I think they run at 85 watts each on the icecaps. I am running 3x80 watt t5 bulbs on my icecap, I think they run at 100 watts each

where did you get the info that IC overdrives a 54 watt lamp that much? 20 % the most i heard of.

 

[Roland Jacques]

nevermind you were talking about 60" HO 80 watts lamp i have never seen them yet. i just got it.

 

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8912848#post8912848 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by badpacket
But, as a software engineer you should be able too look at the mechanics of this site, the #users, the server h/w, and bandwidth requirements, etc, and know that this has too cost some $$. I really doubt they are running it on several old P3/P4 servers running FreeBSD. What is the feature that causes the most load on the system, someone reading front page articles, manually stepping through the forums, or doing an SQL query of the entire n million posts?

The main feature of RC is not just the community, but also the stored wealth available. If searching were free, and I remember IIRC several years ago when it was, then there is very little reason for anyone too join, outside of good nature or bragging rights. I'm sure there is a fair amount of $$ coming in from sponsors, however without at least some restraint placed upon growth, free would mean constant increased outlays in hardware, etc.

RC still gives people access to information if they want too search for it manually.
Just my $0.03 worth.

Because they make way more money on the sponsors than it costs to run this site. I was involved with a place that applied for sponsorship at one point, and the fee is quite steep, and with the amount of sponsors they have, theres more than enough money to run this site, assuming its being run properly.

If you want to make me pay for a service, you have to be able to promise reliability, and they can't do that.



I do a lot of work with some HUGE databases, and a huge part of the problem here is vbPortal. Its just junk, but they refuse to change. Thats their problem, not mine.



Now, back to T5s. 90% of the tanks I've seen with problems with T5s, are overdriven ones. Simply, the bulbs aren't meant to be run that hot... they go through all sorts of spectral shifts, etc. Theres just no advantage to it, and lots of disadvantages. If you have to, run extra bulbs.