How important is an Actinic bulb in a power compact?

[Moonrs]

Well, I'll keep you posted... I"m going to cross my fingers and see if I can get the ballast I need and all hooked up without starting a fire!

[Moonrs]

Oh, one more thing; can I use one Eballast for two bulbs, or do I need to get one ballast per bulb?

[samiam_orami]

you will need one Eballast per 96w PC ....
you could fire 2 55w PC bulbs with the same ballast but not 96w ...

and be sure to get the 120v Eballast
(they also sell the 240v but I don't think you'll be using that one)

[Moonrs]

Well, I went to Home Depot and Lowe's and they both had the appropriate ballasts, but not the endcaps that would accomodate a 4-pin bulb. I also have no idea how to hook up the ballast if they did have them. The ballasts I saw had 4 wires (I guess to accomodate 4 bulbs), but I wasn't sure what I'd do with the extra wires, once I had it hooked up. Would there even be extra wires? I think I"m just going to try my luck on ebay an purchase a complete ballast system that's already put together. That way, I'll already have everything I need; ballast cords, endcaps, clips, etc.

[samiam_orami]

No worries ....

the 4 yellow wires would go together so that you would get full power to the bulb
Yaeh ... the only place I could find endcaps were online
(Marine depot - hellolights about $3 and clips are $5pair)
all you would then need is a 3 prong extention cord (half of it to power the ballast, the other half to connect the ballast to the buld)

I could draw you a diagram if thats the way you want to go ....
Its an easy DIY project that saves alot of money ....

and also ...
its not as nice as the moisture proof endcaps you can buy but if you dip the $3 endcap in that plastic dip used for tool handles ... it's just as good ....

enjoy ...
samiam

If you don't want to

[Moonrs]

I'd love a diagram, if you have time to put one together. I'm not against a DIY project, it just seemed like I wouldn't be able to find what I needed. Thanks for the help, Sam.

[samiam_orami]

lets see if this works ....

http://www.naturallighting.com/balla...eDiagram13.pdf

I'll try and draw somthing up ...
samiam

[Moonrs]

Thank you. I am able to see the diagram. I need to order some square pin caps from hellolights, and maybe the ballast, or get it from HD. Still looking on the web, too

[samiam_orami]

Let me know If there is anything I can do to help ...
have fun ...