Overdriving lights.

[StirCrazy]

Well I did a pre wire on my 03/actinic NO bulbs and ballast to check its operation, and against better judgment I decided to use my expensive bulbs for a over drive comparasen.. I am glad i did as the blues show the difference in intensity better.

first the data, I am using a GE Electronic
B340R120HP PC#80156 3 lamp rapid start ballast and 2 philips 03/actinic 36" bulbs.

the first picture is the two light beiong drivin normaly (this was just a functional test)

the next 3 are the pics of the one bulb over driven and the other bulb normal so you get a side by side comparasen

far shot


a closeup


and a end view


and finaly the end cap arangement used to over drive compared to the normal one


I only ran it for about 30 min and the over driven was a bit hoter than the other but it was hardly noticable.

Steve

[ 19 May 2002, 15:41: Message edited by: StirCrazy ]

[StirCrazy]

Ok I bought a new multimeter (my old one was a joke and wouldent do curent.) and I found a light meter for 30.00 it measures foot-candles but there should be a conversion to lumin somewhare I just have to find it. we tested a 96watt PC quad light (smart light) and it put out 1300 foot-candles at a distance of 12" on a ice cap lit 4X 110 watt bulbs the result was 750 to 800 foot-candles at a distance of 12" so it will be interesting to see what my over driving project does in both power and light output . this I will do tomorrow morning

Steve

[DJ88]

Wow.. looks good. we may have to get together on this thing I want to do Steve.. [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[StirCrazy]

I found it 1 lumens/squar foot = 1 foot candle

Steve

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

10.76 lux = 1 footcandle

Pretty cool...

As a reference...my lighting is (OVRNO @ 80W X 2)

At the surface, 16000 to 20000 lux. (5" away)
At middle of tank, 7000 lux. (17" away)
At bottom of the tank. 4500 lux. (24" away)

And...the commonly accepted lighting for reef is 3000 lux for general purpose and 7000 lux for SPS.

- Victor.

[StirCrazy]

cool thanks Victor, oh did I mention.. I love radio shack LOL, oh by the way.. how did you get the measurments for under water? is your meter water proof?
oh a other qustion comes up from reading the package on a bulb I have.. it is a 20 watt 2' T8 power glow. well the box says 1100 lumens, 80 lux, 18000K so from what I have seen on normal packages lumens is always higher than lux, so if 1 foot candle = 1 lumens how can 1 foot candle = 10.something Lux ?

Steve

[ 05 December 2001: Message edited by: StirCrazy ]

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

Well. I sort of cheated...I assumed the water would block off 10% of the light and measured it in air.

if
1 Candlefoot = 1 lumen per foot^2.
1 lux = 1 lumen per meter ^2.

and
1 meter = 3.28 feet
1 meter^2 = 10.76 feet^2

So
1 Candlefoot = 10.76 lux.

QED

- Victor.

[StirCrazy]

ok your making me get out a pen and paper LOL sorry it just doesent look right to me.

Never mind you were right.. sorry .. had to working it out.. I hate it when conversions don't look right hehe [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Steve

[ 05 December 2001: Message edited by: StirCrazy ]

[reefburnaby]

Very nice...glad it worked out for you !

- Victor.

[StirCrazy]

Ok now that I am complete my testing for this balast and lights here are the results. First to mention the equipment I am using again 1, GE Electronic
B340R120HP PC#80156 3 lamp rapid start ballast and 1 philips 03/actinic 36" bulb.

to record this info I am using a new radioshack digital auto range multimeter, and a GE light meter.

first, the test setup looks like this

I took initial reading and then again took readings after 25 minuits of the set up running and having a chance to settle out.
here is the first test runing the bulb at normal power.
the inital current was 0.330 amps (39.6 watts)and it climbed to 0.332, (39.84 watts)not a significant change so I only recorded the start curent, the ballast was cold after this test and the bulb was warm.

the light output remained constant at 13 foot candles @ 12" and 190 foot candles at the bulb surface


for the second set I used 2 sets of leads to the power side of the bulb.
the inital current was 0.460 amps (55.2 watts) and the final curent droped to 0.455 amps (54.6 watts), the balast was 84 degrees F and the bulb was warm (about the same as test 1).

the light output remained constant at 19 foot candles @ 12" and 320 foot candles at the bulb surface


Steve

[ 19 May 2002, 15:46: Message edited by: StirCrazy ]