4 lamp F32T8 powering 1 VHO????

[GinKu]

ok i have a 4 lamp F32T8 ballast = 112 watt
and i was woundering if this would work
instead of using 40 watt tubes can i use 1 VHO tube?
right now i'm overdriving my NO tubes to 4x
so shouldn't i be able to power 1 vho on to my F32T8 ballast?
has anyone ever tried this
or am i missing something here?
and if it doesn't work can u tell me why
how does is it different from the WH5

[StirCrazy]

you an but it might not light.. a WH7 is made to be able to raise the curent level to that requaired by a VHO.. with normal ballasts the best you get is a double in curent as showen in my tests. so it might work and it might not..

Steve

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

You'll be fine...I am using this configuration at this time with my VHO actinics. As for what type of current levels this would be equivalent to, it would be similar to what Icecap is driving its lamps with (around 50 to 60% of the maximum VHO current).

I have been doing experiments to determine how the Icecap has been able generate VHO level output with lower current/power. I think I have figured out why...it has to do with the temperature of the bulb. The higher the temperature, the lower the efficiency of the VHO. By driving less current, the temperature drops and the efficiency rises. Although the current drops by 40%, the efficiency can rise by 20 to 30% (depends on the temperature)...so they almost cancel. This effect can also be seen on overdrive T8s too....the explains why 4x and 2x overdrive are very similar when they are left on for a long period of time. So, I have reverted back to 2x on my main 6500K lamps and 4x for the VHO. T5s and PCs have been improved such that they can run hotter before it degrades...about 20F hotter.

- Victor.

[StirCrazy]

Hi,

I have been doing experiments to determine how the Icecap has been able generate VHO level output with lower current/power.

- Victor.

Victor.. they don't.. a VHO on a icecap is concederably dimmer than a VHO powered corectly. I got about 70% of the PAR from a IceCap drivien VHO than from a WH7 with 3 wires. so maby a little increas in efficience sence they are powering with ~66% of the power and getting ~70% of the light.

Steve

[GinKu]

great thanx for ur help
i'm gonna order 4 vho tubes and 2 WH7 anyways so it wouldn't hurt if i try it anyways right
hopfully i can borrow my friends digi cam and take some pics and compare the F32T8 ballast 0d 4x with the vho and the WH7