MH 150 - 175 parts

[pat8you]

so i've been looking at doing a 150 or 175 metal halide pendant. I have found a few retro kits that wern't to bad. I have heard that Icecap makes good ballasts but i was looking for a few other good ones as well for some options. I know i want an electric ballast and not magnetic. On a bit of a budget with this project. Any ideas or suggestions are appreciated.

 

[ccCapt]

I asked Sanjay about electronic ballasts. He told me there is very little difference between any of the electronic MH ballasts. If you go to his lighting site and check some performance results, for the most part there isn't a big difference in any of them.
I specifically asked him about ballasts from Ballast Wise. He said they should perform as good as any other. Here's a 150w for $50 and a 175w for $60.

 

[pat8you]

Thank you. I had just heard that even though the performace from the bulb was very similar that the magnetic ones got a bit hot and had a hum to them. Don't have any experience or anything to back this up so it is all just going by what a read at this point. Which is why i like to double check thing with people i know i can trust here : )

Those ballasts look good to me. So now i would just need the reflector and the bulb to complete the set up i believe. Any suggestions for a good place to buy a reflector? I might just buy a pendant type of thing so that it looks nice and i can hang it over the tank since i don't have a canopy or anything.

 

[ccCapt]

Hello Lights is great. They have a nice choice of reflectors.

 

[pat8you]

So i was looking at this reflector and the ballast you linked earlier. The only problem is with that design since i'm not putting it into a canopy i feel like its going to have a lot of light pouring out of the two open ends into my room. The lumen bright seems to be a bit more contained and would seem to look better as a stand alone pendant. I've also heard a lot of good things about those reflectors.

Do you suggest getting the cheaper reflector and building some kind of enclosure for it or just go with the more expensive lumen bright?

 

[ccCapt]

You got it sorted out?

 

[pat8you]

yeah i'm going to order parts today actually. thanks again.