Fulham Ballast/VHO Lets put it to bed.

[Catharsis70]

Here is a copy of the email reply I got from Fulham on the subject. As I posted several times they suggest only one ballast for ANY vho situation. One ballast per tube no matter the length/wattage rating.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Dhalia Jennings" <djennings@fulham.com>
Date: 2006/02/06 Mon PM 02:51:09 PST
To: <catharsis70@cox.net>
Subject: VHO ballast

Hello,
At this time Fulham offers a ballast for VHO ONE lamp application ONLY
WH7, wiring #12 OR WH8, wiring #19

Should you need any further information, please do not hesitate to
contact me directly


Dhalia

-----Original Message-----
From: catharsis70@cox.net [mailto:catharsis70@cox.net]
Sent: Saturday, February 04, 2006 12:20 PM
To: techhelp@fulham.com
Cc: customerservice
Subject: VHO ballast

What of the workhorse ballast can be used for VHO? I either want to use
two 24" 75 watt tubes or one 48" 110 watt tube. Also, what diagram do I
use?

Thank you in advance
----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[WiscSea]

You might want to edit your email out of that post before all the crawlers find it.

 

[dattack]

I have used the WH7 to run 2x110 VHOs for about year. It burned just as bright as the hellolights VHO ballast that I also purchased.

 

[orlenz]

same here I run two 110w VHO's on my WH8, just wire them in paralell, it works fine fulham just never got it registered with UL for that application, so they cant suggest it.

 

[Nano_reeflover]

Whats the difference between the WH8 and WH7?

 

[kgross]

When you hook it up to a wattmeter, you are not quite a full VHO wattage, very close though, close enough that you can not see the difference with your eyes.

Kim

 

[Catharsis70]

The question I think becomes what happens at end of bulb life burn outs. I remember reading that there was issue with that and WorkHorse series ballasts. Is this an issue with the newest ones or just older ones? What is the actual running current of a VHO bulb vs what the WH7 puts out?

 

[orlenz]

WH7 puts out 220W @ 1500ma,

 

[dougwilliams]

I'm not sure who you spoke to there (possibly thats the answer from their sales people)- but as an electrical design engineer myself, I was able to get in touch with some of their designers and emailed and phoned about a few applications involving putting multiple VHO's on the same ballast. You have to realize a few things, including the fact that they are a business and have liabilities. If any random person calls in they will always give the most conservative and safe answer. I was able to get more out of them about multiple bulb setups, because, as an engineer we are aware of the risks at driving things different ways, and the liability would be our own. I cant imagine they'd ever extend that courtesy to an individual because they would still be liable.

Blah blah blah I'm not a lwayer etc etc - and like them I'm not advocating nor recommending that anyone do anything outside their specs either

PS- they went out of their way to answer all of my questions with lengthy, descriptive answers, and I was very pleased with all of their service and attention.

(And for my aquarium I happen to use a WH5 and a WH7, and I am driving a few VHO's problem free for a few years now)...

 

[Adam]

Catharsis and all,

I also spoke to Fulham engineers and the reason they do not recommend running two VHO's in series comes down to two issues:

First, the ballast barely has enough starting power for two lamps. They will start, but it is stressful on the electrodes in the lamps. I was told that this is only an issue if the lamps are turned on and off many times per day.

Second, if one lamp fails, the other will not fire either. For an end user, this can be a PITA to troubleshoot and expensive if they trash one good lamp everytime the other on the same ballast fails.

In any case, I have also run 2x110w VHO's on a single WH7 with good results, however I would only recommend this for those who are very comfortable with the design and wiring of lighting systems.

Another important note for all Fulham applications (especially two VHO's in series).... ALWAYS "Y" the wires so that you use BOTH contacts in the endcaps. I tried to cheat and only use one and burned up a couple of endcaps, coming very close to having a fire.

HTH

Adam