PC ballast question

[bennyinca]

I've been busy moving my friends 60g mushroom tank to my house. I'll be tank sitting until they are done with their home moving process.

I noticed that the PC ballasts are :uzi: LOUD. It has a black casing but can't see a brand name. Built in fans, which I believe is the source of the noise. Any suggestions for fixing it?
I was thinking of replacing the ballasts with icecap ballasts, but I think that requires rewiring. Are there cheaper ballasts for 65W PC lights?

Thanks!

 

[drake66]

you can get some cheap ballasts at hellolights.com ;o

 

[Entropy]

There are several inexpensive ballasts out there that will power 65w PC's. How many bulbs are there? A Fulham Workhorse 5 or 7 would probably do the trick just fine and cost about $40 shipped from www.reefgeek.com.

 

[ricka]

I get all of my PC/T5 ballasts at Home Depot. They have e-ballasts that cost less than $20. If you get the right one, they run T5s and PCs.

--Rick

 

[bennyinca]

Thanks for the suggestions.
The ARO-MR192 and the WH5 both seem reasonable. I will need 2 ballasts for the 4 bulbs, correct?

ricka: Do you know what brand are the HD ballasts for PC?

 

[Entropy]

I think A WH7 would run all four, but it would be all on or off at once 55wx4 should work, which will drive the 65w bulbs if I remember right. Otherwise two WH5's would do the job.

 

[Kenfuzed]

If it's just fan noise you could probably just blow them out with canned air. Not much different than a computer when the powersupply gets caked with dust. If you don't have any canned air you could always take the ballasts to the gas station and blow them out with the air hose

 

[ricka]

HD sells Advance ballasts. They have both electric and magnetic. I'm using an e-ballast that I got for $15 to power two 65W PCs. It has been working great for 6+ months.

--Rick

 

[bennyinca]

My friend wants them in 2 separate ballasts, so I was looking at the WH5... I will look into the Advance ballasts from HD as well.

It was very dusty and I tried to blow if off with the air compressor, but didn't seem to help... maybe I need to open the casing?

Thanks everyone