salmonslayer Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 Hi all. I have three 400watt HQI ballast. I ran three NEW Helios 20k SE bulbs. I fried all three in about three weeks. I went with HQI to over drive the bulbs. I found a place that sells Helios 400watt HQI single ended bulbs thinking great I wont have to replace them as quick from over driving them ( NOT ). I checked the ballast with some lower end bulbs from Eb%# for $9.99 and they are still up and running so I don't think its the ballast. I should say that the ballast are used and in great shape ( as far as the out sides ). I got the ballast from three different reefers. In a nut shell has anyone had a problem running Helios or any other bulb thats SE on a HQI ballast. Thanks/ Tracy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 I have tried Helios 20k and Radiums on HQI ballast and had no problems firing any of them. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salmonslayer Posted March 25, 2008 Author Share Posted March 25, 2008 Two of them just got cooked and the other also cracked at the socket. They state that there HQI SE bulbs and thats what made me get them also the color. I sent them back and there sending me new ones. They couldnt replace them again if they were to do the same thing. Coral vue say there not HQI. The people selling them say they are (scratch). Could be a batch of bad bulbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 SE bulbs *can't* be HQI. Only DE bulbs can be (info here). Running SE bulbs on a magnetic ballast designed for HQI bulbs (say, an M80 ballast) will overdrive that bulb by about 10% iirc (so a 400W bulb would consume 440W of energy, emitting a correspondingly large amount of light and *heat*). SE bulbs aren't specced for that. Some people do fine overdriving SE bulbs, others don't. Sounds to me like the bulbs you bought couldn't take the additional stress. I'm surprised the vendor is replacing them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H20cooled Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 I've used Radium 400w 20k and Coralvue 20k on my PFO HQI ballast with no problem at all. The Radiums go out a lot faster on an HQI ballast but the coralvues are supposed to last for quite a bit longer. I'm also testing the Sun Light Supply 400w 20k bulbs and they work fine too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefhut Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 I have bought many Helio's 400 watt bulbs, and tried fireing them on PFO ballast and had little success. This was awhile back but I bought like 8 bulbs and 4 worked. Not good! When they did work they were three differnet spectrum(ie color) of light. After more research I found that there a cheap japanese made bulb and are poor quality. So I, and many others have switched to the Coral View 20k bulbs and have had great success. Anyway's that's my 2cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salmonslayer Posted March 25, 2008 Author Share Posted March 25, 2008 Some update info. Come to fine out lets call the place "bulbs R us". Bulbs R us sold me some bulbs that went bad. They said contact the mfg. I sent the bulbs to the MFG and they said there not our bulbs. With out getting to into it come to find out so far. Bulbs R us is taking the bulbs out and putting there own packaging on them. Still trying to get this resolved. I think the bulbs got put in the wrong packing thats why they fried in two weeks. What a mess this is becoming. Every one is pointing fingers and my tank looks like crap. Been over a week and no bulbs yet. Hell as it sits the bulbs are sitting at a MFG that has nothing to do with it. Should have stayed with PFO mag ballast. Ouch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salmonslayer Posted March 25, 2008 Author Share Posted March 25, 2008 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from HQI) Hydrargyrum quartz iodide (HQI) is a special type of high-intensity discharge (or HID) lighting, where the light is produced using a very high voltage electrical arc through a gas. The "H" in "HQI" comes from hydrargyrum, the Latin name for the element mercury. When heated, mercury vapour is created inside the bulb, and deposited when it cools. An HQI lamp consists of a protective outer glass shield surrounding two heavy wires which are inserted into each end of a smaller inner bulb containing a gas. The lamp is powered by an electrical ballast, which regulates the current flow through the arc in the smaller inner bulb. Like all HID lamps, HQI lamps operate under high pressure and heat, and require special light fixtures for safe use. HQI lamps can produce different color temperatures when manufactured with different metal halides. They are relatively efficient light sources producing a high lumen/watt ratio (approximately 6x that of incandescent bulbs). Like HMI, HQI lamps are subsets (or types) of metal halide lamps, which in turn are subsets of high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps. They should not be confused with quartz halogen light bulbs, which are a specialized type of incandescent light bulb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 I agree with what reefhut said about the Helios bulbs firinf at different spectrums, (colors). That is why I went back to Radiums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CCR Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 I have run XM 15K and 20K on 400Wt Hqi WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS. PFO is all I have experience with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salmonslayer Posted March 26, 2008 Author Share Posted March 26, 2008 I have run XM 15K and 20K on 400Wt Hqi WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS. PFO is all I have experience with. Nice avatar. I have 5 of them. I didnt think you could run XMs on HQI. How long have you ran them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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