T5s on Icecap Ballasts

[JUICE!]

My question is.....will an Icecap 440 burn four 48" 54W T5 Bulbs?

I have an icecap 660 right now, but I think putting that much wattage to the bulbs are a bit much! I have actinics that will overdrive at 80 watts per bulb on that ballast, which is 320 watts total which happens to be the wattage being put out by the 440

but it bothers me to see them saying not to run bulbs over 2 ft long on that ballast....but I was thinking that was for VHOs

Is anyone currently using an IceCap 440 on four 54W 48" T5s?

Also, does anyone know whether the icecap ballast put the full wattage to the bulb or are they like the e ballasts that only put the proper wattage to the bulb

I'm trying to make my tank as "green" as possible so If I can use the 440 instead of the 660, I'd rather do that!

and I'd really like to know whether they will send the full wattage to the bulb or only what the bulb can take! I guess the proper question would be.....when I'm using the 660, am I putting 320 watts to the bulbs total or am I sending the full 464 watts?

thanks in advance! I guess I can call IceCap and ask them, but I figured that someone on here would know!

 

[tangers]

If it helps, I am running 8x 48" 54w t5's on 2 660 ballasts. Look great and really bright!

 

[LuisC]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13573935#post13573935 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tangers
If it helps, I am running 8x 48" 54w t5's on 2 660 ballasts. Look great and really bright!

Of course you are overdriving them to 77W each ...

The 440 can only run 2 48" T5's and overdrives them by like 5%.

 

[tangers]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13574263#post13574263 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LuisC
Of course you are overdriving them to 77W each ...

The 440 can only run 2 48" T5's and overdrives them by like 5%.

Yeah, that's the reason I went with the overdriven. I love them though, just need to tweak the bulb color a little now.

 

[cook]

The 430 burns only 12 lamp feet

 

[gwrench]

Cook is correct 12 feet of bulb length on a 430 and 16 feet of bulb length on a 660. The jury is still out the effects and ill effects of the T-5's being overdriven. Here is an excerpt fro Gene at Icecap as of the end of Sept:
Hello All:

We are still working on the details and all various outputs for the Model 660 and 430 in conjunction with T5HO lamps. Sadly the process has taken a great deal longer than we had thought, however here are some general details:

4 lamp combination of T5HO lamps driven on a 660 will result in additional PAR of between 25-40% more output versus a standard ballast. 2 lamp combination of T5HO lamps on a 430 will result in 25-30% more PAR than a standard ballast.

The numbers have been varying(lamp length, brand type, color type) and we are still doing more tests. We expect to have a full matrix of results available soon. When you ask?? Soon...and we will try to get this done sooner than that!!

Sorry for the delays and thanks for your patience while we amass all the data.


__________________
Gene
IceCap, Inc.
If you really want to go green, ty using solar tubes, afterall this is the sunshine state...LMAO

Hope this helps Donovan
G

 

[tricky]

The max feet rule is used to T-5 lamps, but an additional limit of max bulbs applies because they require more power to fire. A 430 will fire a max of only 2 lamps.

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Rick