Ballast

S

Spectorman

Member
Are there different qualities of T5 ballasts? The reason I ask is,I have a 6 bulb T5 fixture that I bought on Amazon. I assume it's a Chinese item. That said....Is there a quality or output difference between their balast compared to ATI? Or,are they all pretty much the same?
 
They are nowhere near the same. A quality ballast is an absolute MUST for T5s.

There are 4 main components to a properly setup T5 fixture/retro:

1) Proper cooling
1) Good and proper ballasts
1) Good reflectors
1) Good bulbs

Skimp on any of those and you are looking at a huge drop in PAR and life of the bulbs.
 
Recommendations for ballasts? I'm kinda thinking the frame is just fine. I'm wondering if the ballasts suck? The reflectors seem super nice.
 
Spectorman said:
Recommendations for ballasts? I'm kinda thinking the frame is just fine. I'm wondering if the ballasts suck? The reflectors seem super nice.
Click to expand...
ATI ballasts. Which I believe you can get at most hardware stores. They will be sold as HEP or Centium if I remember correctly.

What kind of cooling does the fixture have? Active or passive?
 
No cooling fan. I bought the fixture off Amazon. It's been dependable for sure. 6 bulbs. Works great! Decent response from corals. What you'd expect from T5. That's why I had asked. It was an $100.00 fixture. I was wondering if the likelihood of an inferior ballast was possible. I suppose anything is. I'm a VHO/MH user from old. I converted to T5 /LED a couple years ago. I've noticed my montipora not doing so hot lately. It's also time for an bulb replacement too. That could be it.
 
No cooling is killing your output and bulb life. Better ballasts and some cooling would go a long way. A non-cooled fixture will put out about 50% of the PAR compared to a cooled fixture.
 
If you are looking for a 4ft T5 ballast then Home Depot has what you need. You can buy Centiums in 2 or 4 bulb configurations for $40. The 4 bulb one is prewired while the 2 bulb is not.

As for needing cooling if the light you bought on ebay comes with no splash guard you might be ok. At standard room temp a light with no splash guard should stay within the 35C recommended ambient temp.

Also note that if switching from a rapid start which is what most likely your light comes with to programmed you will need to remove the shunts on the endcaps. Rapid requires shunted endcaps and programmed does not. Most of these lights are just shunted by wire vs internal and to find out just check the wires on the encaps. If there is a small jumper wire from + to - then it's shunted. Just remove it and you can reuse the endcap for the rewire.
 
Last edited:
gus6464 said:
Programmed and Rapid start are 2 different kinds of ballasts. Rapid or instant start is bad, programmed is good.
Click to expand...

Rapid start was the best ballast for getting lamps to last longer due to soft starting, but if you lost a lamp, you lost both until you changed the bad one out. Then came the instant start so even if one lamp went bad the remaining lamps stayed bright. The problem was the starting of the lamps was so severe the lamps did not last as long. With the energy codes and motion sensors, the lamps on the instant start ballast technology where not lasting very long due to the lamps turning on and off so frequently, so the the Programmed Rapid Start ballast was developed. Most manufactures have dropped the Rapid from the name and only use the Programmed start now in their description.
 
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