I have about $150 to spend on a seed lighting project.

My seeds still hasn't gotten here (slow mail, and my own procrastination), so i need to catch up... what do you think are the best cost effective fixtures/ballasts, for the most power?

Better to get longer tubes? More tubes? Fewer but better quality? More and lower quality?

Are there brands that get better over driving results?

I am going to be jump starting a 100 or more seedlings so
I'm trying to figure what will give me the most bang, I need these seeds in the ground quick so what will give the best effects?

ofmossandmoose,

"I'm trying to figure what will give me the most bang..."

I think Home Depot's Commercial Electric shoplights at about $8 per fixture are hard to beat. They will accept either T8 or T12 fluorescents. Home Depot also sells Philips T8 fluorescent tube in 10 packs for competitive prices. The 4100°K bulbs cost about $19.95 a pack, but the 5000° K bulbs and 6500°K bulbs don't cost a whole lot more and give whiter light. I currently have a variety of Philips bulbs in use, ranging from 3000°K, 3500°K, 4100°K, 5000°K and 6500°K and the 6500°K bulbs look by far the brightest and whitest. They are also cost more than the others, although not excessively so.

You will also want a three-wire timer and Home Depot has them for about $10.

MM

So i bought two of these:

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100253578

(though the store boxes did not indicate t8 compatability, even though the online model does and the model numbers match...)

and i'm wondering how do i rewire it properly?

This first picture is how it comes wired out of the box ( I didn't have it right in front of me but i'm pretty sure i remembered it right)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25777429@N07/2422109841/

I took the ballast of of the second one I bought and i'm wondering exactly how to wire it, as i'm confused as most of the diagrams floating around mention 2 and 3 wires going to the sockets as opposed to dealing with 4 on either side.

The coloring is off, there are no blue wires... there is a yellow wire with a bluish green stripe however

The second picture:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25777429@N07/2422109873/in/photostream/

Outlines what i'm guessing is the right way... however i'm also not understanding which wire goes into which port of the socket as indicated in figures lower case a through lowercase d...

Also i want to make sure i'm supposed to keep the different ballast wores sets totally independant of one another, or do i put some yellow from ballast 1 with red from ballast 2 to the same socket, or some other color combo?

ofmossandmoose...

first note: ive never tried overdriving anything (with the
exception of a short test of putting standard bulbs on a
VHO ballast)

second note: i can't see your pic's since they are on
flickr (i blocked that site due to "spam" ie: web-page ads)

I think i know the Home Depot shoplight you are talking
about... Its not the same thing as mentioned in this
thread. Not too long ago my brother got one of these for
his basement (as a normal light) when putting up i noticed
its different from the 'older' style - there's a different
ballast and now they're for T12 bulbs only! If i remember
correctly there was 4 'bulb wires' from each side of the
ballast (2 red, 2 yellow i believe)

(even tho the ballast says 'T12 bulbs' i wouldn't be
surprised if T8's would work...weather its overdriveable
i don't know (i'll be safe and say no) maybe someone else
here can say for sure?)

One thing: definitely keep each ballast's wires totally
separate from one another (except of course the black &
white)

ofmossandmoose,

Your Home Depot URL did not work for me. Perhaps it is one of those URL connections that has a time limit and simply "expires". Their website lists the Commercial Electric 4 Ft. Shop Light With Electronic Ballast, Model HBSL-16, $8.53/Each, with this description:

Energy Star rated, this fluorescent shop light with instant-on electronic ballast provides long lasting bright light while maintaining its energy efficiency. Made of high-quality steel, this shop light is perfect for use as a work light in your basements, work areas, laundry rooms, recreational areas or attics where a bright natural light is desired.

Energy Star approved
Extra long 5 Ft. power cord
Instant-on high power factor electronic ballast
High-quality steel construction
Uses 2-48 In. 32 watt T8 or T12 fluorescent tubes (not included)
Chain included and fully assembled
Dimensions: 48 In.L x 7 In.W x 2-5/8 In.H
MFG Brand Name : Commercial Electric
MFG Model # : HBSL-16
MFG Part # : HBSL-16
{{gwi:1020468}}
I know this is an overdriving thread, but to raise seedlings you don't really need to overdrive your fixtures. Overdriving becomes an issue when you attempt to raise the seedlings to a much larger, more mature form. For example I have raised tomato seedings to the blooming stage before setting them out and some of my pepper plants actually had pick-able peppers on them while still under overdriven fluorescents.

The last Commercial Electric ShopLights that I purchased from Home Depot were Model No. 732-334 and, like the original Model No. 140-904 shoplights that this thread started with, are equipped with SunPark SL-15 electronic ballasts, which are overdriveable.

Incidentally, those electronic ballasts are vulnerable to damage from voltage spikes and it is a good idea to connect your shoplights to an inexpensive (HD has several models under $10) surge suppressor. The surge suppressor will give you a convenient surge-protected on-off switch. My surge suppressors are connected to my timer.

It is also a bad idea to plug a commercial shoplight directly into a live outlet, because the act of inserting the plug can cause voltage spikes, particularly if the prongs don't go in evenly. I learned that by killing a fixture. It didn't hurt the bulbs, but it fried the ballast.

But, like I said, you can skip the overdriving for the time being, hang your fluorescents and plant your seeds under them to get them ready for setting them out in the garden.

MM

Xmaslightguy is correct,The Commercial Electric shoplights at HD have changed. A few of the older models may still be available. The boxes look almost the same-except for the the notation about T-12 bulbs only. Nevertheless, I did try overdriving the newer model (using my experience with and following the directions posted in this thread). The lights worked and to my eyes seem just as bright as the overdriven older models right next to them. I'm using T-8 bulbs in both the overdriven older and newer models. I hope this helps.

U can see my overdriven bank on flickr. A 6x4 foot garden illuminated with 22 overdriven T8's. The fixture with reflector is 6 1/2" wide, and I line the reflector with mylar, held down with carpet tape, for more efficiency. U can also see the rose cuttings I raised over the winter in that indoor garden, now outside on my back deck.
Paul Mozarowski.

So I wired it so that the 2 reds and 2 yellows from the right side of ballest one into one socket and the other 4 yellow and red wires from the left side of the ballast, in the another singles socket and then i did the same to the second ballast and the remaining two sockets... i followed the diagram i posted (here it is again: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25777429@N07/2422109873/in/photostream/
ignore the figures on the bottome apparently the oder you put wires into the the sockets doesn't matter??)

it works, nothing blew up and that light is on... however i'm not sure if its any brighter what makes me think i did something wrong... please look at the diagram and see if this is what your supposed to do to overdrive the new shop light models correctly...

ofmossandmoose,

You should see a definite increase in brightness, and the bulbs should feel noticeably warmer to the touch.

From your diagram, it appears that your two ballasts do not have independent connections to line current. Zink's diagrams show each ballast with its own black and white wire, and I wire mine that way by tying the power leads from each ballast together (with a zip nut or crimp connector) with the corresponding line current lead. I also connect each groundwire lead to the same screw attachment on the fixture frame. The ballasts can share the ground and they can share the attachments to line voltage. But nothing else with each other.

It looks to me like you need to change your line present wiring. Each ballast should be independent of the other in the wiring diagram, except for their shared connections to line current wires and a shared connection to the groundwire connection to the frame of the fixture.

MM

please look at the diagram again, it does show a black wire (ground) running from both ballasts to a common ground screw.

It also shows the power cords from both wired together, it also shows each ballasts yellow wire with a greenish blue strip also wired to the screw( i do not know what this wire is)

on either side of the ballast their are 4 wires, 2 red, 2 yellow... the diagram shows those wires sent all to one socket and the 4 wires on the other side being sent to the opposite socket....

this is repeated with the second ballast and the 2 left over sockets

in this diagram nothing except the black ground wire the yellow stripped wire and the whitish power cord wires hooked together.

ofmossandmoose,

I am a little curious that your ballasts seem to have two ground wires each, but if they do, they do. On closer inspection of your diagram,

I can see that you do have a separate pair of power lines going to each ballast. However, I am curious about your diagram of the original fixture, which you said was from memory. Can you verify that it is correct? I ask this because if the red lines do go to opposite sides of a socket, then your Figure b would seem to be mis-wired, with two red lines going to the same side of that socket and two yellow lines going to the other side of the socket.

At this moment, my suggestion would be to rewire Figure b to put the red and yellow lines on each side of that socket, to be consistent with the way you have wired the other three sockets.

Is it true that the red wires and the yellow wires are indistinguishable?

MM

I apologize i made a mistake there are three wires coming from each power cord... it changes the ground wiring configuration all together so I updated the diagrams here are the new links... I apologize for the confusion hopefully this will help solve my problem.

These are for real now, how i had them wired and what they looked like from the beganing...

when i first opened it up:
http://flickr.com/photos/25777429@N07/2429172141/in/photostream/

how i think it should be wired... http://flickr.com/photos/25777429@N07/2429984884/

if you minus the 2nd ballast that is where I am at now...

ofmossandmoose,

A "nit" on your current original wiring diagram is that the yellow wires on socket A appear to be a bit close together, but I am assuming that they go to different pins on the socket.

I notice that you have only two colors of wires (red and yellow) that go directly to the sockets, while the Zink's diagram shows three colors of wires (red, blue, and yellow). That means that for your A and C sockets, one of you red wires and one of your yellow wires corresponds to the yellow wires in Zink's diagram, but the problem is that we don't know which of your yellow wires corresponds to Zink's yellow wire, or which of your red wires corresponds to Zink's yellow wire, if indeed, either of them do.

In Zink's overdriven mode, both the blue and red wires are combined (I don't think it matters whether the left red wire is combined with the left blue wire or the right blue wire, etc.), and the yellow wire is not combined with any wire. That gives you the problem of deciding which of your yellow wires and which of your red wires should not be combined with any other wire in your overdriven diagram.

Assuming that the "short wire" end of your diagram corresponds to the yellow wire end of Zink's diagram, in the overdriven mode only one wire (the Zink's yellow wire) should be connected to one pin of the socket, and the other pin should have two wires (one of your yellows and one of your reds). At this point, I am not sure that your ballasts are overdrivable. (Grin) But your seeds need to be starting under some lights.

MM

yeah i just got them in and I'm having them soak over night... before doing the coffee filter and baggie method... it'll have to be normal florescent lights for now... I'll have to work on the over driving thing for winter....

Wow! When did these topic threads start going beyond 100 entries? Anyhow, Im glad to see you all are getting results from your efforts.

ofmossandmoose: What is the Make and Model of the ballasts you are re-wiring? I went to the HD website and looked up the part number from the URL you posted. The HD product image looked like the same fixture that always had the Sunpark SL-15 ballast in it. I have not bought one of them for over a year, but occasionally I still look inside the boxes at Home Depot to see if they are still using the same one that I originally used here. I was going to stop by HD in the next few days to peek in their boxes. The wire colors you show seem a bit unusual. That one diagram of yours showed a BLACK wire going to ground. If they are using a black wire for a ground they are asking for trouble. According to code, BLACK should be HOT and WHITE should be NEUTRAL. There is a definite logic to that. If it were reversed, and the WHITE(hot) wire had shorted for some reason, and turned black, you could easily mistake it for neutral. Bzzzzzt! The HD site had also described that fixture you referenced as being "Instant-On". I am not sure if they were referring to the lack of a plug, or that the ballast is actually "instant-start", or whatever. Until I know something more, I couldnt tell you for sure what I am looking at. By the way, what graphics program did you use to generate the fancy drawing you posted?

maineman: I was surprised to hear you had some ballasts burn out. I live near our local power station and my supply normally stays between 121v-122v. For over 3 years I have been overdriving a myriad of different lamps on a regular basis (including 55w T5s, 40w-54wBIAX types) with the SL-15 ballast all still working. The only SL-15 ballast I ever had fail was, oddly enough, NOT overdriven. I did actually kill another ballast myself, so it didnt really fail. I have used (and just played around with) a lot of other electronic ballasts, but the Home Depot fixtures containing the Sunpark SL-15 were just so damned affordable.

Paul: Your 22-lamp array reminded me of a setup I had 15 years ago. I had painted a coal bin flat white. Then I put 30-F40wT12s spaced at 3" across the ceiling. It was so bright (even though they were not overdriven) that I kept sunglasses nearby in case I didnt feel like dealing with the light.

People sometimes knock overdriving by saying that it wears out lamps prematurely. Some folks also say to toss your bulbs after 6 months because of reduced lumens-per-watt. I have had about 20 bulbs being overdriven for over 2 years and have only had 3 of them go out. EVEN AT THEIR END, they were burning brighter than a NEW bulb being normally-driven. After 2 years, the remaining lamps are still a LOT brighter than normal. And, strangely enough, lamps such as a 40wT12 which will no longer light in a normal shoplight, WILL light up again using an ODed SL-15.

For those who are interested, there is an aquarium site where someone has played around with a bunch of overdrive configurations and measured the power and light. They have posted the information here:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/21257-odno-measurements-power-consumption-vs-light.html

Zink

Zink,

Thanks for the ODNO measurements: power consumption vs light output message thread link. Very interesting and worthy of study.

In the case when I audibly fried a Sunpark SL-15 ballast, I inserted the plug a little crookedly into an old wall socket and there was an audible sparking/arcing at the plug and the fluorescent tubes flashed momentarily and went dark. The bulbs worked fine in another fixture, but the ballast wouldn't do anything, although there was no external sign of damage.

Since then, I have had several Sunpark SL-15 ballasts burn out, while only a couple of T8 bulbs burned out. I am beginning to think that the Philips 20,000-hour bulbs are going to outlast the ballasts. My wife suspects that our line voltage fluctuates, sometimes approaching a brownout. And we have had some power outages in which the power died with spectacular surges, sometimes spiking on and off several times in quick succession before dying altogether (and staying off for several days). I lost a computer and a monitor in one of those episodes, despite a $50 surge protector. Maine has a lot of trees and wind storms.

I started to order replacement SL-15 ballasts from the Sunpark Electronics website, but the shipping costs were exorbitant, bringing the cost of the ballasts alone up to very near the cost of the complete fixtures at our local Home Depot. I emailed them that it shouldn't cost over a dollar per ballast to ship ballasts, but they ignored me. I wonder if they even want to sell the ballasts.

I still feel grateful to you for turning me onto overdriving Home Depot's Commercial Electric Shoplights. Overdriving has been a big help with my indoor gardening.

MM

maineman,

You are very welcome. It is fortunate for us that electronic ballast circuits work as they do. Luckily, most e-ballast circuit designs cause the high-frequency driving currents of each output section to synchronize when wired in parallel. That nicely eliminates the AC phasing issues you would have with a magnetic ballast.

Have you ever dismantled a CFL? Wheven a CFL fails, either the ballast, or the tube is still good. You should try using a SL-15 to OD a 26w spiral bulb. They really glow! If the tube portion is bad, you can remove the circuit and replace/improve the magnetic ballast in a low wattage under-cabinet type fixture.

I seem to be routinely compelled to goof off with this stuff.

Zink

Zink,

Overdriven CFLs? What a concept! It might be fun to try just for the novelty of it.

MM

yah i made a mistake on the orginal diagrams however the last diagram that shows up is the correct one... the one that mentions what power cord wire connects to what...

and yes its the same model except no more sunpark... it might be an update...

oh and these fancy diagrams are 100% power point :)

if you look up you'll find a link to the flickr page where they ar eat... the old ones which showed the ground error are no longer there...

oh and zink, if you have the time and interest to help, and have any more questions you can email me at ofmossandmoose@yahoo.com

its nice to have someone more experienced as a sounding board when learning a new idea

I am using the instant start t8 ballast, instead of the rapid start ballast shown in the picture above. My 2 tube t8 ballast has 2 blue wires, one for the hot end of each tube that it was designed to power. I just use BOTH outputs for ONE tube, and it seems to work really well so far. I have verified the light output with a digital light meter, and the results match what others are getting with the rapid start ballast. The reason I am using this ballast, is I GOT THEM REALLY CHEAP ON EBAY!!! some guy had rain fall on a pallet of ballasts, the boxes got soaked and the cases rusted, so I was getting 10 ballasts for $40 with shipping included. :)

the never ending 5yr thread, nice...Quick thank you for the info, and appreciate the time taken away from your experiments. gla and thx for sharing .j.

I am obviously very late to the game but I have a question hopefully someone can answer. Is there any reason why I couldn't use this Sunpark ballast to overdrive 18" t8 bulbs? They are 15 watt bulbs. I only have a 28 gal bow front tank and it is barely 24 inches wide. I would like to not have any overhang with my hood. So I found the 18 inch T8 bulbs and plan to run 4 overdriven bulbs using 4 sunpark ballasts. Is this a bad idea?

Hopefully someone in the know still checks this forum for updates.

Just hook up ONE 18" t8 in the place of the 4' t8, to ONLY ONE set of output leads from the ballast. The ballast was designed to normally drive 2 32w t8's, so by substituting a pair of 15w
18" lamps, you will basically be overdriving already, I'm not sure if it will be x2 or x3, but you will clearly be overdriving it quite well. I don't have a lot of electrical background, but I do have an overdriven t8 garden, and I am quite sure you will only need two of the sunpark ballasts. Otherwise you will be more than 4 - 6X overdriving, that is too much, and something might burn out. (I imagine the lamp would be ignited into a blazing fury with 6x overdriving, but I would only do this is you are interested in pyrotechnics, and even then I would not recommend.)

I've never none anything with Sunpark ballasts so i can't
say for sure on this...
Swapping out the 48" bulbs as the above post states may
(or may not) work - some ballasts 'know' when you've put
in shorter bulbs and just adjust the output accordingly,
thus they won't overdrive.

Try it and see since its very easy to test since no
re-wiring is needed...

If it doesn't work/overdrive like that, there is another
way. First try putting 2 18" bulbs in series in place of
a single 48" (the ballast will see that as a single 36")
again you don't need to re-wire anything anything for this test.

Not all ballasts will light bulbs in series, but if it
light you can re-wire for overdrive as shown in various
posts above, instead of a single 48" just substitute the
2 18" in series (it may even work with 3 in series)

-hope that made sense

A very good way to use smaller wattage lamps is to connect them in series, the sum wattage being roughly equal to what you want to drive OR overdrive. So, if you connect 2-15 watt lamps in series you are basically driving 30 watts. Given the rather variable range that most electronic ballasts can drive, you can put together, in series, quite a useful assortment of bulb sizes. I have tried quite a few combinations using quite an assortment of ballasts and most all of them worked well. Overdriving is really nice in this situation, because you can put very bright lights in small (short) spaces.

The diagram, CONNECTING 2 LAMPS IN SERIES states 'Substituting 2-24" Lamps for a 48" Lamp'. You can actually use anything else that is close to those stated wattages A ballast made for a 32w lamp should easily drive 2-15w lamps in series. If is the ballast can be overdriven, then you could put 2, probably 3, 15w lamps in series and light them nicely. Ive done both, and built an really handy 18" 4-bulb overdrive fixture.

It is important to wire them in series correctly. The lamp=lamp connections need to be fully hooked together, with both end pins connected to one another as shown below. Always ground your fixtures casing. Ballasts are notorious for generating loose currents. Plus, having a grounded reflector always aids in starting the lamp.

Zink

{{gwi:1020474}}

Zink's image shows perfectly how to wire bulbs in series!

Before logging on tonight i tried 3 18" 15w T8's in series
and they lit just fine with an 'Advance' brand T8 ballast
both normal and overdriven (and that was in my ungrounded
wood-frame test 'fixture'...not to mention wired with just
a single wire between the bulbs as the first 'wrong' shows
...but it was afterall a test only)

In the past month or so i've done a little
experimenting with overdriving various bulbs
...why?...just because i wanted to see how
well it worked...and because i had some spare
ballasts sitting around.
below is a few reviews from some of those
tests.

One of the first trials I used an electronic
ballast designed for 2 96" T12's ('Pro-Line'
model '99612'). This was something i picked
up a couple years ago cheap at a store
closing sale.

First test: 4 48" bulbs (2 parrellel groups of
2 in series) - so the ballast 'sees' what it
should: 2 96" bulbs... that worked just as
expected they lit at normal brightness. Current
draw: 1.16 A (very close to what the ballast
states)

Second test: 2 48" bulbs - so the ballast 'sees'
2 48" bulbs (or half the length it should)...
that didn't work quite as expected: they still
lit at normal brightness... So it 'knows'
they're 48" bulbs and doesn't overdrive? Smart
ballast :)
Current draw: .62 A

Third test: 2 48" bulbs in series, but with
both outputs put into that 'single' 96" bulb -
so the ballast 'sees' ... um? ... i'm not sure
... but That deff made the bulbs light
brighter! Current draw: .98 A

I didn't try anything else like a single 48"
for fear of damaging something.

With the 3rd test/overdrive, the bulbs and
ballast deff generate some heat. I did not
compare how much hotter the ballast gets
compared to normal (2 96" T12's)....but i
would assume just as a guess it'd be like
this:
'normal' 2-96" (ie 4 48") ... fairly warm
'overdrive' 1-96" (or 2 48") ... srota hot
'short bulbs' 2-48" ... just plain hot
One other trial i've done is to run a standard
46" T5 28w bulb on a T8 32w Ballast...works
just fine and is bright (i don't have a T5
ballast to compare this brightness to though).
I've also had no problem running 1 48" T8 &
1 48" T2 on a standard (non-electronic)
ballast (it'll flicker slightly til the bulbs
warm up then is just fine...and has ran for
at least a couple years that way)
My latest test was done with an electronic
ballast designed for 3 48" T8's ('Advance'
model 'REL-3P32-RH-TP') ... Like the one
used in the first section of this post this
was picked up cheap at a store closing sale
(i picked up a few various ballasts 'just
because i might need them').

First test: 1 48" T12 (on the first output) +
2 18" T8 in series (on the 2nd output) and
leaving the 3rd output unused.
Current draw: .48 A

Second test: leave 1st & 3rd as is, put 3
18" T8's in series on the 2nd...interesting
that this takes alittle more juice...the
thing 'knows' its a longer bulb :)
Current draw: .57 A

Third test: leave 1st as is, Connect 3rd so
both it and 2nd are doing a 2x overdrive for
the 3 18" T8's ... visible increase in
brightness, and they get a fair amount warmer
as well...
Current draw: .69 A

After seeing that you can get good light out
of 18" bulbs i'd be tempted to OD them the
next time i need good light on a small
aquarium (or plant stand)...the only issue i
see is heat. (same goes for 24")

Hopefully that all made sense. i'd post some
images/drawings but don't see a way to upload
here...am i missing something for uploading
images?? Or do you have use something like
PhotoBucket?

Has anyone ever compared not only how much
hotter the bulbs get when overdriving, but
also the ballast? As mentioned somewhere in
the above text my guess is that it (ballast)
gets hotter when overdriving...

xmaslightguy,

The ballast should be COOLER when overdriving a single bulb by 2x, compared to driving 2 bulbs when operating normally. This is because, overall, the OD'ed lamp draws less than 2 NO(normally operated) lamps. Here are the measuments using a SunPark SL-15 and F32T8 lamps. Other similarly sized e-ballasts have nearly identical measurements.

Normally driven 2-lamp operation (2-F32T8s):
Measured Current= .53mA, or 63.6 watts

Overdriven 1-lamp operation (1-F32T8):
Measured Current= .46mA, or 55.2 watts

Here, overdriving 1 lamp uses only 87% of the power used to drive 2 lamps in normal mode.

You may find this interesting. Here is the power used by the SunPark SL-15, in 2x overdrive mode, lighting a single 54wT5/HO lamp:
Measured Current= .46mA, or 55.2 watts
It is exactly the same current draw that the ballast uses in normal 2-lamp F32T8 operation. Oddly enough, the recommendations in the specifications listed by Philips for the 54wT5/HO lamp is exactly .46mA.

Zink

That does make sense...i was thinking it would get hotter
only because you're driving it in a way it was never exactly
designed for, basically being harder on the ballast even tho
its using less amps.

With one light i'm running OD'ed now (2 48" T12's on a 2 96"
ballast described in my previous post) the ballast gets
fairly hot...but not nearly as hot as the standard
(non-electronic) ballasts in my other lights (those are 48"
T12 as well and of course N.O.) ... you could probably cook
dinner on those things in the summer!
As mentioned i didn't compare how hot OD vs NO got...
that might be a good trial for my test 'fixture' sometime

Your findings with the T5HO bulb are interesting...have you
tried running standard (28w) T5's on a T8 32w ballast - not
wired for overdrive?

Xmaslightguy,

"...Or do you have use something like PhotoBucket?"

You do have to use something like PhotoBucket (which is the one I use). Then use HTML to link the image inline.

MM

Recently i've been thinking about making the lights on
my housplants (and fishtank w/ live plants) more efficient...

So tonight i got the random idea and did some experimenting
with various f.l. lights & bulbs...was alittle surprised
at my results.

Lights/Ballasts used:
Standard (ie: non-electronic) 48" 40watt T12 2-bulb
Electronic 48" 32w T8 4-bulb (over-driving 2 bulbs)

I tried 3 diff bulb combo's in both lights (in all cases
48" bulbs)
A) 2 T12 (well...just light)
B) 1 T12 + 1 T8 (The T8 was bright!)
C) 2 T8 (Bright!!)

the T8's were deff brighter than the T12's (which i
expected) but... (and I don't have any way to measure the
light output) by just looking at it, the 2 diff ballasts
looked exactly the same brightness...and they took
basically the same power. I thought electronic was supposed
to be more efficient?? LOL

"T12 light":
A) === .75a
B) === .79a
C) === .85a

"T8 OD light":
A) === .74a
B) === .79a
C) === .83a

-------------------------
Since i use T12's (and have plenty of spares) i'll just
stick with the 'normal' ballast as the only thing i see
with the OD'en T8 ballast is that (the ballast) will be
alittle cooler
-------------------------
I did one other test too using a 2x96" T12 electronic
ballast (O.D.'ing 2 48" in series) ... in all cases it was
brighter than the above :) ...but also took more power :(
2xT12 = 1.0a ... (bright!)
2xT8 == 1.1a ... (Damn thats intense!)

I noticed that myself: instead of going through various convolutions, the easiest was to overdrive is run t8's with a 40w ballast. t12 ballast is available either electronic of magnetic. sure saves A LOT of labour, and still gives excellent results. or look into running t10's.

The ballasts I use are the t8 electronic instant start. You can get TEN of them on EBAY right now for ONLY FORTY BUCKS FOR ALL TEN. The guy has about 350 of them, and he'll even look at offers. I bought about fifty, and they work nice for overdrive.

I've seen the auctions cannabisgrower mentioned
above - thats a good deal if you need 2-lamp ballasts!
(and great to know those will overdrive too)

but, unfortunately the guy only has 2-lamp (no 4-lamp
ones...and yes i asked - LOL)

Well I don't know what happened to all the replies that are missing but this list of ballasts was the last one posted by me. They should all work for overdriving except maybe the few I listed under " Possible 4 lamp that cross reference with Sylvania, GE or Advance ". Please let us know if you have tried those ballasts and if they will work or not.

4 LAMP

Advance REL-4P32-SC
Advance ICN-4P32-SC
Damar 3093A
Fulham Workhorse 5
GE B432I120RH
GE B432M120RH
GE 432Max-H-Ultra
Magnetek B432I120RH
Sylvania QT4x32/120 IS-SC
Sylvania QTP 4x32T8/120 ISN-A
Sylvania QTP 4x32T8/UNV ISN-A
TCPI E-432-IS32-120N

Possible 4 lamp that cross reference with Sylvania, GE or Advance.
Howard EP4/32IS-120 SC
Howard E4/32IS/120-277 SC
Universal B432IUNV HP-A
Universal B432I120 RH-A
Triad B432IUNVHP-A

2 Lamp Instant Start

Advance REL-2P32-SC
Advance ICN-2P32-SC
GE B232I120RH
GE 232Max-H-Ultra
Sylvania QT2x32/120 IS-SC
Sylvania QTP 2x32T8/120 ISN-A
TCPI E-232-IS32-120N

Possible 2 Lamp IS that cross reference

Howard E2/32IS-120 SC
Howard Ep2/32IS/120-277 SC
Universal B232I120RH-A
Universal B232IUNVHP-B
SLI/Valmont E23PI120G01

2Lamp Rapid Start

Sunpark SL-15
Advance REL-2S40-SC
Advance REL-2S40-RH-TP
GE B232R120HP
GE B232M20RH
Sylvania QTP 2x32T8/120 RSN-D

Wow! What happened, iVillage??? It looks like we lost the last part of 2008, all of 2009, and the first part of this year in this message thread. Can the missing parts be restored?

And can the original 100-message thread also be restored from an archive? Zink was the founding father of fluorescent overdriving history here in this forum in that ground-breaking original message thread. My seedlings thank Zink every day for the extra light they are receiving.

ZM

Hi ZM. There's a lot of good info missing in those posts including (I think) the newest link to the wiring diagrams. I could repost diagrams but not sure if I would be violating the TOS since I'm not the one that created them. I also wanted to say that the list that I posted above has 2 la-mp IS ballasts not tested or listed as tested as far as Oding under " Possible 2 La-mp IS that cross reference ". If anyone has used these please let us know if they will also work for ODing. Looks like we'll have to start another continuation of this thread very soon. Not sure if they can do it but I will contact GW to see if the missing posts can be restored.

"Sylvania QT4x32/120 IS-SC "

I found a source for these... is there a wiring diagram to overdrive them?

Here are the diagrams.

Here is a link that might be useful: Zinks diagrams

Thanks, I wasn't aware that there is such a thing as "instant start" ballasts. The wiring diagrams for those instant start ballasts suggest to me that fluorescent bulbs with burnt out filaments will still operate with those ballasts. I am getting excited because I have a lot of expensive burnt out fluorescent bulbs that might be resurrected and, thereby, also have my pack rattiness vindicated.

Yes Struw some if not all your bulbs will ignite with IS ballasts. I've tried it with great results. I'm a pack rat also. I hate to throw something out that I might use in the future. Some call it clutter but I call it resources.

Exactly what kind of instant start ballast would you recommend for burnt out, two pin, F40T12 bulbs? Apparently, most are made for T8.

It's also fun finding stuff that you forgot you had.

I also just realized that I might be able to run two burnt out 48" T12 bulbs in series by using a 96" T12 rapid start ballast, which I already have in my stock.

Are you interested in overdriving your bulbs? If not I have no experience with F40 ballasts. I use 4 bulb F32 ballasts to drive 2 F40s. I get around 5000 lumen from each T12.
These are the 2 I've used.
Advance ICN-4P32-SC
Sylvania QTP4x32T8/UNV ISN-SC

Anything from the list above with IS in the part# should work. An R in the part# usually mean it's Rapid start.

I also just realized that I might be able to run two burnt out 48" T12 bulbs in series by using a 96" T12 rapid start ballast, which I already have in my stock.

Be careful. The ballasts you have may be magnetic. This thread is about ODing lights and all the ballasts used are (I believe) Electronic.

@Zink
Not sure if you're notified by email or not. Maybe you're lurking out there somewhere? Can I push a pair of 13w T5s with a 2X32w and 4 14w T5s with a 4X32w ballast without them blowing up in my face? I've used the 4X32w to OD 2 40w T12s so I know they are OD-able ballasts but don't know if the NO wiring will have the same effect on the lower wattage bulbs. I'd assume so but would rather get some input before trying it. TIA

Ok it just doesn't work that way! N.O. wired ballasts only draw the wattage of the bulb. There must be 2 wires to one end of the bulb on instant start ballasts to overdrive the bulb. I don't think I want to attempt pushing 64w through a 13w bulb. I'll try wiring the bulbs in series and see if that works.

Wiring the bulbs in series worked. The overdriven 13w are brighter than the N.O. 14w so I would call that success.

A few years ago I needed to increase the light in a kitchen lit by an overhead fluorescent fixture. As I found it, it had two 4-foot T8 735 tubes and an "energy-saving" (read: light-reducing) instant-start ballast. To make it brighter without the hassle and expense of replacing the lamp fixture, I replaced the ballast with the highest-overdriving ballast I could find that could drive a pair of F32 T8's. After some online research, I wound up buying a Philips Advance IOP3P32HL90CSC (a.k.a. IOP3P32HL90CSC3SI , sometimes with several hyphens inserted for readability). It can drive either 2 or 3 bulbs, but overdrives more when used with 2 bulbs. This was a few years ago, there might be something better now, but 1.37 ballast factor replacing a 0.87 or something makes a substantial improvement in brightness. I also upped the brightness slightly by replacing the TL735 bulbs with TL830 or TL835's which are slightly brighter and have better color rendering, which the eye perceives as adding brightness.

Re: Philips TL930/TL950 :I've used both the Philips TL930 (95CRI) and TL950 (98CRI) 4-foot tubes., which fortunately I was able to buy two at a time from the local retailer. The TL950s illuminated my kitchen; the 930s went into a basement rec room where they match the color temperature of halogen downlights.

The TL950s won't blow you away upon first turning them on - they look like typical cool/sunlight fluorescents at first. Its just that the different colors really pop out well and cleanly and the colors jump out at you rather than being dulled. The kitchen there has no windows, and in the morning sunlight, I noticed the ambient light from the windows across the apartment matched the TL950 light in the kitchen perfectly. If I take pictures with a film camera loaded with standard color film (daylight-balanced), pictures taken with available light indoors under typical "cool white" fluorescents lend an awful greenish cast to everything, but those shot under TL950s had perfect color. That says boatloads about the TL950's color accuracy.

As for the lower lumen output, I again compensated by overdriving them by about 25%. I needed a rapid-start ballast for these fixtures, and went with a GE/Motorola ballast that overdrives a pair of F32 T8's with a ballast factor of about 1.20 IIRC, not as bright as the Philips I mentioned above but adequate for my needs here, plus I needed rapid-start rather than instant-start for this application.

There are (were?) 2700K, 3500K, 4100K, and 6500K versions of these bulbs sold in Europe. Too bad they aren't sold in North America.