Iwasaki's on electronic ballasts

[dakar]

Thought I'd pass this along for anyone concerned or considering using Iwasaki Halides for their tank.

I was able to confirm with a tech from the US HQ for Iwasaki HQ, it appears that the Advance H33 MV electronic ballast 78E4091 (F can) is 100% comparable in bulb performance and output as the standard H33/M59 magnetic ballasts (core and coil type). This is for the 400w Iwasaki Eye 6500K horizontal base bulbs. The ballasts should run a lot cooler and with less noise.

Just ordered 3 of them off eBay, so hopefully next week I'll have some great news to report.

Still researching the H37 & M57 MV electronic ballasts for the 250's, actually know of a pair of M57's that are en route now that we'll be testing in a couple of weeks.

[davejnz]

thats good to hear,too bad you alredy placed your order as i'm in the market for one of the 250w MV electronic ballast.

[dakar]

The ANSI code for the 250's MV electronic ballasts are the same H37 as well, Advance part #72C3584.

[dakar]

Well good news, bad new and more good news.... the H33 ballasts I ordered (Advance 78E4091-001) are not the 'electronic' ballast as I expected, the part numbers do cross reference but these are the standard magnetic core and coil type, just in a fancy enclosure. The enclosure is partitioned off and the coil and capacitor are completely sealed in some sort of epoxy, should serve well to dampen the vibrations down anyhows and can be easily sealed to make water tight. The enclosures are rather large 11"x6.5"x4" with 1.5" tabs on the top and bottom for hanging them.

A little disappointed they are not quite what I expected, but they will fire our 400w Iwasaki's just the same... and for $25 a pop I'm not too disappointed. UPS says they weighed in at 29lbs each.

The actual part number for the Advance H33 MV electronic ballasts is 72C44083, guess I was trying to manage too many part numbers at once or something... But I'll be keepig an eye out for one to play with.

So look out critters, the sun is really going to start shining here shortly.
Now lets see just how fast I can get that little wheel on the electric metter to spin, maybe she'll pop right off of there!

On another note the Advance 72C3584 ballasts arrived yesterday, I got a good look at them and they are in fact H37 Mercury Vapor Electronic ballasts, true F-can style. Big heavy critters too! Sirpat and I will be wiring and firing them up with 250w 'sak's in the next week or two for his 75g tank.

[shovelhead91701]

take a look at these units if you get a chance...... advance 78E6381-001. These are similar I believe to what you bought but I like the fact that one of these will run two 400w bulbs. I am thinking of using these for the upcoming big tank upgrade. What do you guys think?

[dakar]

Yes, similar enclosure as the ones I just got, the epoxy filled idea really looks to have some serious promise over the exposed core/coil type I'm running now, if your connections are all watertight you could probably dump a bucket of SW on it and not harm anything but the floor (not that I'd suggest trying it!!, but accidents do happen).

What bulbs are you considering? That ballast should fire just about any probe start bulb.

[davejnz]

Do you got a link for an online retailer that carries the Advance 72C3584 H37 ballasts?

[dakar]

I stumbled onto them on ebay, they were mislabled as M59 MH ballasts. But Google is only returning one valid retailer that *may* have them. The image for it is wrong but that's not too surprising...

http://www.wensco.com No prices listed, but you can call them direct @ 1-800-253-1569 for pricing and ordering.

Other than that and scouring ebay and such sources, maybe give the Advance regional sales office for your area for availability (http://www.advancetransformer.com/contact/salescontacts.jsp?type=distributor),
that and/or I'd check with local electrical suppliers/wholesalers in your area and see if they have or can order them for you.

I have one shop that is sorta local to me who does only wholesale to contractors, but he'll order and sell me anything I want without a contractor's license, think if you can talk intelligently about stuff they figure you won't burn down your house and blame them. I can check with them if you want or strike out local, going to give him a ring about the H33 72C44083 ballasts just out of curiosity.

Really finding Advance's website to be a very valuable resource since their changes, info is much easier to find now.

In any event post anything you find out so we can compare notes.

[dakar]

Double post but so what, Just as a side note Fulham is starting to bring electronic MH ballasts into their inventory, a couple of smallish ones right now <100 watts, stuff like the M98's for 70w bulbs. Maybe they'll expand in the future.

IMHO They are still a premium source for ballasts for all types of flourescents tubes.

[davejnz]

I've used the Fulham(Workhorse5)ballasts for years now,never had a problem with them.I do like the way the IceCap660 overdrives my 39wT5's at around 63w,it also fires them in a different way than alot of the electronic flourescent ballasts.I get less blackening at the ends of the T5 bulbs on the 660 than with the WH5.Yiou would think it would be the opposite considering the Ic overdrives them.They do get a little hotter on the IC but that can be overcome with fans.A must for all flourscents if you want to preserve bulb life IMO.But for the price,you can't beat the Fulham.In 4 yrs of use,I havn't had one burn outl.

[dakar]

Well the new ballasts are in and purring away... actually not so much as a purr, having the coils encased in that epoxy makes them virtually silent :) The Advance ballasts seems to bring the bulbs up a bit faster than the Magnatek did, not 100% sure why, but I think the Advance's are a tad more efficient.

In any event she's now up to 1200w of pure saki coral growing power.

And as Dave mentioned, I haven't had a complaint with the Fulham ballasts, I've got a WH5 over our daughter's 10g nano powering a 96w quad power compact and she just cooks right along, instant startups and holds the output very steady.

I have an extra WH5 for backup, since they are rated at 128w max output, might do some playing around to see if I can get it to overdrive some NO T12's and T8's just for fun, and see if it will actually do it or if it will throttle itself back.

[jerryc]

Sounds like a good dial i have a dull Hamilton that is made similar the only part
i don't like is its so big.
I wont to go eventual to a electronic ballast just to get more room under the tank

[davejnz]

The Advance ballasts seems to bring the bulbs up a bit faster than the Magnatek did, not 100&#37; sure why, but I think the Advance's are a tad more efficient.

I thought you used the Advance ballast for your 400w saki.I use the Advance H37 for my 250 and it fires instantly,its not even enclosed in a heatsink,just sits on top of the canopy,i do have a ceiling fan that blows on it so i'm sure that helps out.Been running it that way for a while now.I cant wait to get the new electronic Advance H37,I wonder what the efficiency is like compared to the magnetic H37?

[jerryc]

As for as the Standard ballast for 175 to 400 i can get them for cheap but
the electronic has not made it to standard use yet iv been checking with
my suppliers and haven't fond a good deal on them so far

[dakar]

I thought you used the Advance ballast for your 400w saki.I use the Advance H37 for my 250 and it fires instantly,its not even enclosed in a heatsink,just sits on top of the canopy,i do have a ceiling fan that blows on it so i'm sure that helps out.
Been running it that way for a while now.I cant wait to get the new electronic Advance H37,I wonder what the efficiency is like compared to the magnetic H37?>

Dave, I was using Advance H37's (71A3592) for the 250's, but for the 400 I was using a Magnetek, I couldn't find a cheap H33 Advance at the time. The 250's aways came up to full power faster than the 400 did. Now the 400's come up at the same rate the 250's did, makes me think Advance ballasts are better.

Be interesting to see... Think we've got the ballast conversion slotted for next Friday (Sirpat's ballast box) from the AB pulse starts to the electronic 72C3584's. Just waiting on his 250 saki's now.

Here are some snippets from the specification sheets for comparison. The Magnetic 71A3592 is rated for 285w and the Electronic 72C3584 is rated at for 280w. The electronic is rated at slightly lower operating current (0.05 amps) but this could be the difference between the max outputs. Not sure if it will drive the bulb any differently, the difference seems pretty negligible. Though the output voltage is 5V lower with the electronic.

[dakar]

Welll the verdict is in.... Yet another Iwasaki burner has been created :lol:

I converted the box over to the Electronic (72C3584) ballasts yesterday and the saki's jumped to life! Waiting on some pics now :) According to Sirpat they are ultra quiet, and significatly brighter than the 10K's he was running.

I'd guess there will be a pair of 250w M138/M153 complete ballsts showing up in the for sale section shortly.

[nofrills]

Just a quick question from a beginner on the whole Iwasaki 6500k 250watt w/mercury vapor ballast.Are those the ballasts that you just changed over? Can they be wired at 220v and does that help the power consumption? I just got back into the hobby and bought a 75g complete reef tank w/250+live rock estab. for 16 years for $200.00!! I also have a concern about the frosted glass brace on the oceanic tank,,,will that be a big problem as far as shadows and/or light penetration? Just rollin' it all round before i get the rock that's curing back in it's home.

thanks

[dakar]

The ballast used in this project the Advance 72C3584 are dual voltage 120/277 only. Here is a link to the datasheet
http://advancetransformer.com/eCatalog/out/5306775421.pdf

Generallyy multitap ballasts running either on 110v or 220v doesn't effect the overall power consumption, they'll produce the same lighting output without sacrificing effeciency.

No shadows from bracing running a halide on each side of the brace, the overlapping sorta cancels out and shadows.