Electronic vs. Magnetic

I am still looking for MH and I have seem these ballast. What are the differences between them (except the obvious of E. and M.)?

I am looking at ARO electronic ballast because of the price. Is it good and better than magnetic ballast?

Thanks!
GKW

 

I hate to do this but.... here is a link
Ballast questions


J

 

Go Hamilton... quality guaranteed! I was told by a salesman at Hamilton that electronic ballasts were problematic in the long run. That they still had problems and would take some more years to perfect. He told me that the Magnetic is more heavy duty and very difficult to die off. Go figure, he must be right for not trying to sell me the more expensive one, dont ya think?

 

I think Ice Cap had some issues with their e-Ballasts about 3 years ago. Since they corrected it very little problems have been reported. ARO has a great rep and so do the blueline for E-Ballasts.
As for Hamilton. I have a 250W HQI pendent. It seems to fire different each day. Colour Temp changes from day to day. I'm not saying Hamilton is bad and I would buy another one if it suited my needs. I fund the fit and finish not the greatest. But again they are priced right.

J

 

Thanks for the links Jason. It has what I needed to know.

Also, I just bought a Hamilton 175w SE pendant and the light socket has this written on it: "4-KV Pulse Rated, Triborn." And the ballast is a M57 ballast from Advance model NO. 71A5500, which is probe start ballast.

So, what the "Pulse Rated" that's written on the socket mean?

What bulbs can this M57 ballast run (coralife, venture, XM, Aqualind and what else)?

Thanks!

 

as far as MH get ice cap or PFO if you are doing it as retro fit, now if you want a fixture get a PFO custom one from marine depot ive had 4 so far the best thing ive bought in a long time and the ice caps fire almost every bulb thats out their and NOW the hard part, what kelvin do you want and what do you want to grow and are u supplementing with VHOs for the blue color or what its complicated trust me.

 

To answer your question
It just means that you could use the socket on a probe or pulse start ballast. Nothing more nothing less.
ANSI M57 Ballast probe start ballast will fire the following 175 watt metal halide bulbs:
Coralife
175 5500K SE M57 Probe
175 6500K SE M57 Probe
175 10,000K SE M57 Probe
175 20,000K SE M57 Probe
Venture
175 5500K SE M57 Probe
175 10,000K SE M57 Probe
XM
175 10,000K SE M57 Probe
175 20,000K SE M57 Probe
Coralvue
175 6500K SE M57 Probe
175 10,000K SE M57 Probe
175 12,000K SE M57 Probe
175 15,000K SE M57 Probe
Hamilton
175 5500K SE M57 Probe
175 6500K SE M57 Probe
175 10,000K SE M57 Probe
175 14,000K SE M57 Probe
175 20,000K SE M57 Probe

And possibly some others. If you find a bulb and you like it and want to buy it, the safest thing to do is to email the manufacturer and ask if it will light and run properly on an ANSI M57 ballast.

Jim

 

Cool! I think I will be doing XM 10,000K since I heard some good review on it.

Thanks all!
GKW