Dimmable Metal Halide/T5-HO Ballast Q&A

[LoneStar]

Do they make dimmable metal halide ballasts for SE Mogul bulbs?

From what I gather, only DE bulbs can be dimmable....

What brand(s) of ballasts are dimmable? Just running through a few options in a controller I am going to get.

[captexas]

It would assume it would have to be an electronic ballast. I thought Ice Cap made a dimmer that worked on their ballasts, but could be wrong and/or thinking of a dimmer for flourescent lamps.

[captexas]

Found some on Champions site - http://www.championlighting.com/home.php?cat=377

[LoneStar]

I think it may be for the flourescent lamps...but its been such awhile. Seems like the only ballasts ballasts (or fixtures) I see are those expensive European ones...which is pretty much out of my budget.

The controller I'm going to get is the Profilux II. That thing is awesome! One feature it can do is dim the halides. Then you add their colored LED spotlights and you can simulate thunderstorms and clouds in your tank. (minus the rain water). I might just stick with the regular 250w IceCaps and just use the LED's from the Profilux to simulate the storms.... Its a gimmick but a cool one to say the least....

Heres a rather long thread over on Ultimatereef.com.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?t=203239

[villjr]

I'm pretty sure all the dimmable ballasts from reefexotics.com work with SE.

[LoneStar]

All the ballasts sold on reefexotics.com are Coralvue electronic ballasts. Is it safe to say that all electronic ballasts are dimmable? :unsure (I'm thinking no but you never know without asking....)

[villjr]

I would venture to say no. Probably need to contact each manufacturere.

[thedude]

Lonestar,

Coralvue makes a 400w dimmable ballast and it rocks. Allows you to overdrive 10% or backoff the same. I don't believe they make dimmable ballasts for 250w or 150w. Bluewave also makes a great dimmable 430w ballast.

John

[LoneStar]

Thanks for the help guys. I sent Andy at IceCap a email this afternoon. I'll see what he says. My plan was to use IceCap 250w ballasts. If they do not dim, thats no biggie. Would just have been a cool feature.

So would the 400w Coralvue dim down enough to simulate a passing cloud perhaps John? I know it sounds kinda silly but I might change my purchasing ways :innocent Nothing is set in stone as of yet since I haven't purchased anything. The only thing I do know is that I will be using mogul based bulbs on Lumenarc III reflectors.

[LoneStar]

Ok talked to Andy. IceCap does not offer a dimmable ballast.

Looked at ReefExotics a little harder and found the 400w Coralvue John was talking about. I also found the 250w version of the same Coralvue ballast, which is dimmable. I'm going to post over on Ultimatereef.com and see if it will work with that controller ;)

[thedude]

No clue on the controller but that 430w coralvue ballast produces some sick colors with a 12k reeflux and a 20k radium. I've been REAL impressed with it.

It gets dim enough that you could definitely think clouds were passing. Weird thing is Lonestar, not real sure if the dimming feature would work as the actual ballast has a little knob you turn up or down. Unless the controller came with a knob twister of course :lol

[captexas]

Depends on if the dimmer is built into the ballast or is a separate box that controls the ballast. I think Mike has or is looking at a controller that has light dimming capabilities built into it to control the light ballast. If the Coralvue's have the dimmer built into the ballast box, you might not be able to have the controller hook up to it.

[LoneStar]

Weird thing is Lonestar, not real sure if the dimming feature would work as the actual ballast has a little knob you turn up or down.




If the Coralvue's have the dimmer built into the ballast box, you might not be able to have the controller hook up to it.



Ahhhhh ok. Well that answers the Coralvue question for now! I've found a few helpfull reefers over in the UK helping me out on getting ahold of the Profilux manufacturer. They have also reference me to the Canreef site. I'm going to sit down and read through that thread tonight and see what I can find. I'll post the links later...since I'm one foot out the door from work.

[LoneStar]

Ok well I learned the dimming a metal halide is not too feasible. I'll check that off my list of stuff learned in this hobby. Looks like what they were talking about more often was just dimming the t-5's on the tank.

Also learned Profilux has some great customer support! Heres the email I got from them this morning.


Hi Michael,



some time ago we tested dimmable MH ballasts. The results were very bad:

- the lifetime of the lamps is reduced dramatically

- the color of the lamp changes to green while dimming

- only very slow dimming is possible

- dimming range is very small



We are waiting for new versions of these ballasts. If the testing results are sufficient we want to introduce them.



And BTW:

Last year I have been to San Antonio (while Macna)

I am still impressed today – never seen such a pretty city. The river walk is great!



I hope i can be there sometime again.


Best regards / Mit freundlichen Grüßen,



Matthias Groß




General Manager & Development



GHL GmbH & CoKG
Jung-Stilling-Str. 21
67663 Kaiserslautern



Homepage: www.ghl-kl.de
eMail: matthias.gross@ghl-kl.de
Telephone: +49 631 6249485
Telefax: +49 631 6249486

[5.0Stang]

man i hate it when i dont check the boards for a day or two this thread got my hopes up and shot them right down! that would of been sweet though maybe its time to get a controller for my 660!

[LoneStar]

Now the 660 ballasts may be a different story. Some fluorescent ballasts are dimmable. I'm reading up on which ones are today ;) Not sure if the IceCap 660 is dimmable or not....

[alton]

Dimmable ballast for metal halide are not new to the trade. Back in the last century Coral Life produced what was called “The Solar System”, it consisted of a metal halide pendant fixture, dimming electronic ballast and a 175w MH pulse start lamp. The ballast could be programmed by sliding 4 toggles one way or another to go from dim up to 2 hours for 100 percent brightness and then it would take two hours to dim back down. I still have two of these collectors items, both still work great including the lamp color and the brightness. The only trick is you have to use pulse start not probe start lamps. Coral Vue Reflux lamps are the perfect fit. If you look at some of your old fish magazines the lamp companies would not warranty there lamps if you used these ballast because there lamps where probe start. Warehouses use a dimming system on MH light fixtures. They work by using a 0 to 10 volt dimmer or controller. No voltage and the ballast I am guessing operate at 100%. The more voltage you add the ballast dims. The trick is adding voltage then lowering the voltage slowly to simulate sunrise and then reverse the process to simulate sunset. Since I am not an electronics wizard, if any body has any suggestions I would like to try it because I do have one of these dimmable 250 watt ballast.

[LoneStar]

Well since I figured out I need a dimmable fluorescent ballast for the Profilux II controller, I finally found a T5 HO ballast. I'm still searching for a cheaper version ;)

Sylvania 49673 QT2x54/120 PHO-DIM
http://www.sylvania.com/content/display.scfx?FILTERNAME=%40URL\&FILTERVALUE=www%2E sylvania%2Ecom&id=003678766

http://www.goodmart.com/products/35846.htm


Does anyone know if the IceCap 430 or 660 ballasts are dimmable using a 1-10 Vdc controller?

The way the Profilux integrates to a dimmable ballast is using this add on:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a142/LoneStarSA/156g%20build/profiluxdimextension.jpg
http://www.ghl-kl.de/Produkte/Aquaristik/Download/WiringEVG-AP2_V400.pdf

[LoneStar]

Heres my response from IceCap on RC:

The 430 and 660 ballasts are both dimmable but ONLY with the Solar or Blueline Dimmers. They are the only dimmers authorized for use on an Icecap ballast and have the built in ballast protection circuit incorporated.

You can run 2 T5 bulbs on a 430 ballast and 4 on the 660 ballast providing they are 54 watt lamps or less. If they are the 80 watt lamps the 660 will run 3 lamps only.

[LoneStar]

In regards to the dimmable t5 HO ballast and the Profilux II again, here is some helpfull info:

Mark 7 0-10v Electronic Dimming Ballast
RZT-2S54
http://advancetransformer.com/uploads/resources/2006-07_Advance_Atlas_Section_2_Electronic.pdf
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a142/LoneStarSA/156g%20build/advancemark7specs.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a142/LoneStarSA/156g%20build/advancemark7t5howiringdiagram.jpg

and here is the Sylvania info again:

Sylvania 49673 QT2x54/120 PHO-DIM
http://www.sylvania.com/content/display.scfx?FILTERNAME=%40URL\&FILTERVALUE=www%2E sylvania%2Ecom&id=003678766
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a142/LoneStarSA/156g%20build/sylvaniat5hospecs.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a142/LoneStarSA/156g%20build/sylvaniat5howiringdiagram.jpg

Not a lot of people may need a dimmable ballast, but for those searching this forum later, the info listed above will help out a lot! Its only taken 2 days of reading to find the correct info on how the electronics work.

[erikharrison]

I think this is a great idea, it would be nice to see the tank change color spectrums throughout the day! Thanks for posting this!!!