Ohio Reef
Reef Discussion => Do It Yourself => Topic started by: lightningfront on February 23, 2009, 14:22:57
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I wired up my lights in a new canopy and a friend reasied a question about if I had them wired correctly.
The workhorse 7s have 4 red wires for up to 4 bulbs, but I am only running 2 bulbs off each ballast because i'm using 80w bulbs. I ran 1 red wire to each bulb (split to both terminals) and terninated the other 2 red wires.
Because the ballast has 4 outputs and a max wattage of 220w does that mean that I'm only giving 55w to each bulb?
If I connected 2 wires to each bulb (1 to each terminal) would I be overdriving the 80w bulbs with 110w?
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I believe you need to run two red wires per bulb if you are running 6 foot bulbs. Otherwise you are only supplying 55 watts, because the ballast has no way of knowing when what the wires are running so the max output is divided by the four red wires.
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Went to Fullhams website and found a tool that lets you select wht size and how many bulbs you are using, then shows what ballast to use and shows the wiring diagram.
I have it wired correctly with 1 red power wire to each bulb split to both terminals on the bulb and all the yellow return wires spliced together.