Who uses workhorse ballasts for t5?

[Fish_Freek]

I am looking into adding another 2x39w t5 retro light to my 37g. I can't swing for another IC ballast right now and i'm wanting to try overdriving my bulbs. What are the pros and cons to using say a WH 5 to accomplish this? I know a local fellow reefer who swears by them, but i just want a few more experiences of others who have used them.

thanks

 

[fat-tony]

by overdriving them through WH ballasts you're just throwing more voltage at them to achieve the overdrive. By using the IC to do the same, the IC sends voltage through at a higher frequency causing their overdrive. Bulbs tend to like the latter a little better.

If you end up using the WH ballasts you end up using more wires.....just make sure to secure them

 

[goreefer]

I use the WH5 ballast to fire my 4X24 T5HO bulbs.
I use two of them and have one of the ballast overdriving two of the bulbs, and another one not overdriven to fire the other two bulbs.
Workhorse ballast have been used for many years in industrial lighting, but not used much in the aquarium hobby.
They are good ballast, but do not have many of the features of the Ice Cap or other specialized ballast.
They also come at a fraction of the cost.

 

[Fish_Freek]

Goreefer, I was looking at the wiring diagram for the WH 5 on the Fulham site and the wiring scheam looks kinda confusing to me. Is it easy to wire up? I'm used to wiring IC ballasts and Triad ballasts. Do you wire the ballast up differently to overdrive bulbs? I wasn't aware there was a choice to eighter overdrive or run standard output through the ballast.

 

[hohmfree]

just tagging along to hear results

 

[goreefer]

Fish_Freek,
The wiring is very simple.
The yellow wire goes to one end of the bulb, and the red wire goes to the other. You make a short jumper to connect both of the pins together.
If you want to overdrive all that you do is put two of the red wires together.
I am not an electrician, so I take no responsibility in the wiring, but Fulham posts their diagrams on their website.

 

[Fish_Freek]

Sounds easy enough. sounds like the ballast come with only one red and one yellow wire, correct? If so, to connect a two bulb set up, do you put one yellow wire in one connector on the first endcap and just jump a wire to the to the next endcap? I also notine there is no ground wire comming from the ballast. How do you go about grounding the unit?

 

[jbittner]

I use a workhorse 3 to drive each of my 54wt T5. I get about 14 months out of the bulb.

 

[goreefer]

FishFreek,
There is one yellow wire and on the WH5 there are four red wires.
The yellow one goes to one end and the red ones are the other end.
In the case of the WH5, each red wire supplies 32 watts of power.
you can use any multiple of 32 watts to power from one to four bulbs.
In my case I use one WH5 to power two of the 24" bulbs powered at 32 watts for each bulb, and a second WH5 to power two other bulbs at 64watts per bulb. I use two ballasts so I can have my actinics on one circuit and the other overdriven bulbs come on at a later time.
I am trying the overdrive to see how it effects the bulbs. I am coming up on four months and no bad effects as of yet. I am specifically looking for blackened ends of the bulbs. The ballasts both seem to run at the same temperature. And yes the overdriven bulbs are much brighter.

 

[Fish_Freek]

It makes much more sence now. I'll probably just pigtail the four yellow wires together at one point and run two of each to the two end caps(on one side). Does that sound about right? Do you ground your ballast?
thanks

 

[goreefer]

There is only one yellow wire, so that makes thing simple.
Yes I do ground my ballasts. I use computer power cords, I seem to have a few of them around. I ground the case of the ballast.