Radium and ballast ?

[Estevon]

Will a M58 pulse start mag.ballast fire a radium bulb,or is elect. required as a minumum ballast.

THNX IN ADVANCE

 

[jh2pizza]

I run them on HQI ballast.

 

[Stoney G]

The Radium perfers the pulse start ballasts or an HQI ballast. It might fire with the M58 but not ever time.

 

[Estevon]

Ther are 2 types M58.Probe and pulse start.I started a new thread with a different heading.Maybe that will help clarify.

THNX

 

[reef.fishman]

M58 is probe start.
M138 and M153 are pulse start.
There is no such thing as an M58 pulse start ballast.

 

[Estevon]

M138 my mistake. Sorry.Any input now

THNX

 

[reef.fishman]

The M138 will fire the "250W" radiums reliably, but it will under drive them with too little current. Under driving them will make them appear too blue.

Radium's specifications for the lamp actually call it a 270W bulb, not a 250 W bulb.

The correct ANSI ballast to use with the 270W Radium bulb is the ANSI M80 ballast. ANSI M80 is the closest ANSI-specification ballast to the true European HQI specification. M80 is also a pulse start ballast. It will drive the bulb with a similar amount of current to a European HQI ballast. Both the Euro HQI and the ANSI M80 will drive the bulb with more current than ANSI M138.