overdriving bulbs

[jrsatx20]

What Does It Mean. Does It Mean That If U Have A 65w Pc Ballast And Want To Run 54w T5 On It U Would Be Overdriving The Bulb By 9w.

Also Will All Ballast That Power Pc Power T5.

[SoLiD]

Good question. I didn't know it was possible to over drive a PC Bulb or a HO\VHO Bulb. I've only heard of Overdriving MH Bulbs.

Does Anybody Have Any Answers for Us?

[alton]

First of all you need to make sure your ballast is made for both PC and T5HO. Just remember there are T5, T5HO, and T5VHO. The ballast made for these are self regulating and you connect them following the wiring diagram either on the ballast or online as in the work horse ballast. Most ballast will run one, two, three or four lamps. Depending on the watts the ballast are rated for. When PC's first came out they where 55 watt and then over night they changed to 65w?

[Fish4life]

65w=55w. some manufactures use them interchangably (Sp!)

kurt

[aggie4231]

Overdriving is normally for T5. Normally a 4ft bulb is rated at 54 watts. You can use an Ice Cap 430 or 660 ballasts to overdrive T5s. 4ft wouold be overdriven to about 80 watts. It will shorten the life of the bulb a little. An important thing to also remember when overdriving T5s is to use fans to help cool the bulbs. IF you don't, the bulbs will overheat, you get diminished light quality, and you will shorten the bulbs life significantly.