Which ballast to buy?

[skinpuppi]

I have already bought the luminarc III reflectors. I am now researching balasts. I want to do 250W. I was looking at blueline and ICECAP. What do you guys think of those 2 and what would you recommend as the most reliable and efficient electronic ballast?

 

[snslarison]

I use ARO ballasts. They have been very reliable in the last two years. No problems at all. Good numbers on sanjays testing too. FWIW.

 

[DaddyJax]

I use Icecaps and love them!!

 

[rockindacheeks]

everyone's got their favorites and mine is ARO

 

[skinpuppi]

I understand everyone is going to have their own favorites, but what would help me is to tell me why it is your favorite. Is it cause it is just plug and play vs having to wire it yourself? Is it because it runs cooler? Is it due to versitility of options to wire your lights? Does it seem to make your bulb last longer?

 

[Entropy]

I think you will find that the magnetics drive the bulbs harder, but the E ballasts are more versatile (especially the IceCap) in case you change your mind on what bulb you want to run.

 

[skinpuppi]

My plan is to run a XM 250W 10,000k

 

[rockindacheeks]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6545570#post6545570 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Entropy
I think you will find that the magnetics drive the bulbs harder, but the E ballasts are more versatile (especially the IceCap) in case you change your mind on what bulb you want to run.

out of curiousity what makes Ice Cap so Versatile?

 

[Ploppers]

IceCap's customer service is second to none. I was worried about using them on XM bulbs because Marinedepot's site said they wouldn't work on IceCap ballasts. In the IceCap forum they not only said they would, but that they'd buy the bulbs back from me if I wasn't happy with them.

I have no experience with other ballasts, but IceCap really stands behind their stuff so all my future ballasts will be Icecap too.

 

[chadfarmer]

icecap


but the xms were yellow on mine

i suggest ushio 10k real white color