I've lost my PC lighting for my 10 tank. I had an extra hood that had a 55 watt PC bulb in it and last week it just went out. I thought the bulb was done, so I replaced it. No luck there so I dismantled the hood and I'm thinking that the ballast may be faulty. Any idea where I can pick one up? Marchant electric or a place like that? Are they the same as a flourescent ballast in which case Home Depot would more than likely carry them. I'm thinking about making a custom hood out of oak since this one is just proped up over the glass cover.
Thoughts?
Home depot can order one for you. Or you can go to Litmore at Old Innes old. It will be cheaper even it's a division of HomeDepot now. ;)
Sorry I wrote CF instead of PC in my post. ;D
PC Power compact or CF compact flourescent they refer to the same thing. Ballast for regular flourescent and CF/PC are not the same. I believe the CF ballast output is high voltage DC. I'm not expert on that, please let me know if I'm wrong.
Any good quality fully electronic ballast rated for at least your bulb wattage should drive it.
For example, I'm running a 36W CF bulb off a standard brand electronic ballast that normally fires a single F40T8
Litemor, Buchanon or Marchand are all places that will have the ballasts in stock usually
Ok great! thanks for the help. I'll have to head to one of those shops and pick one up. I hope they aren't too expensive though.
A ballast to drive a single 55W should cost around $40
I've ordered two Workhorse 5 ballasts from Litemor. They were about $40 each. Has anyone used these before? Pros vs. Cons?
Workhorse 5 is a very good ballast. Used by All-Glass and AHSupply in their setups if memory serves
Excellent documentation and support... you shouldn't have any worries.
www.fulham.com will have all the wiring diagrams you will ever need.
I got mine from AC (http://aquariacanada.com/osCommerce/default.php?cPath=1_74_89_124)
Don't have any complains, works great for about year over my reef tank. I got 2 WH5 to replace my existing WH7, so that I would be able to control 2 pairs of 48" T5 lamps separately.
Regards