I paid for IC430 and got an A4 was I "upgraded" or cheated?

[The Grim Reefer]

The jumper was just a short piece of wire I used to connect two pins on an endcap together. In your case you need the 660 harness because it includes extra wires the ballast uses to operate the lamps. In my case I simply had to use a wire to connect the ends of 2 lamps but you are in the opposite situation. You might be able to run a couple of lamps with the harness you have. Go to www.icecapinc.com and look at the 660 wiring diagram for the application you need. I think the 660 has 2 brown and 2 purple wires the A4 doesn't. If the wiring configuration you need makes use of those wires you gotta get the harness. Sorry.

 

[zapata41]

well i am running a A4 with my t5 setup, ice cap said you cant but it has been working fine so far, before i bought the ballst i was told that the only difference...bla bla bla. dimming... bla bla bla. then once i received the ballast the folks in the icecap forum said that it would run the bulbs, well i already had everything hooked up and running. if the ballst burns out the i will go with the 660 but until then i do see what the difference is, supposed to overdrive the bulbs just like the 660, but i havent seen a 660 on my setup so i cant compare, bubls are bright though.

also everyone said that the A4 would burn up without a heatsink, this thing doesnt even get hot so on that thought. but any how, i am expecting to have to buy a 660 without much notice

Tim

 

[The Grim Reefer]

How long has the A4 been running? I guess you are the official RC A4 T5 Guinnea Pig. You are joined by Horkn, the official RC Workhorse T5 Guinnea Pig, I think your title sounds cooler

 

[zapata41]

well i am also running a wh5 to overdrive one of my t5 also, been running the setup for 5mo now, still keeping fingers crossed though.

yeah the RCA4 T5 sounds cooler than the workhorse guy, but actually i am the RC A4 T5 WH5 Guinnea Pig

Tim

 

[mash2k]

I have a G1 working my 55 gallon reef. It kicks azz!

 

[The Grim Reefer]

well i am also running a wh5 to overdrive one of my t5 also, been running the setup for 5mo now, still keeping fingers crossed though.

yeah the RCA4 T5 sounds cooler than the workhorse guy, but actually i am the RC A4 T5 WH5 Guinnea Pig

Tim

You using the extra lead so the WH actually overdrives the lamp?

 

[jmicky41]

I checked my 2 bulb configuration against that of the 660 from the web site and they are exactly the same - red and yellow to one bulb and orange and blue to the other. A 660 does have extra wires, but if my disconnect plug on the harness fit the socket of the 660 I hope i'm in business.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

You should be good to go. I would post the situation in the Ice Cap forum just to be extra safe. I am pretty sure those wires are in the same position on the connector but ask the Ice Cap guys just to make sure.

 

[jmicky41]

Thanks for all your help.

 

[zapata41]

yeah i am using the extra lead to overdrive the bulb, well i am pretty sure it is overdriving the bulb, hooked it up like i used to hook up my NO bulbs for my FW tank, just double up the power into the bulb and good to go, on my FW tank i was 4x overdriving my NO bulbs, just took all four leads from a 4, 48" bulb ballast and ran them to one bulb, damn bright too

Tim

 

[Versus]

ahahaha how long did the bulbs last?

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hooking up more than one red lead (when the application calls for 1 of course) will overdrive the lamp, confirmed that with a PAR meter.

 

[zapata41]

the bulbs in my 4x overdriven plantd tank lasted about 6mo. then again they were phillips or GE flora bulbs from walmart and only cost like 4 bucks each. they did grow some plants real fast though, i was getting like 8" of growth a day from my anacharis in the tank.lol

Tim

 

[ddenham]

zapata41, Are you still running the T5s on a URI A4? How has it worked out so far?