Yesterday i ordered another tube for my 20gallon tank because i need better lighting. However these starter units cost quite alot these days, so i was wondering... could i use a 36W starter unit that i have to power the 15W tube?.... or will the tube blow?
36w Starter Unit For A 15w Tube?
- Thread starter guppy_man
- Start date
rabbut
I don't bite, all that often...
I'm not shure wha the outcome would be, so I'm mainly bumping this for you, but I don't think it likely to work...
Rooster
Fish Herder
It WILL work.... some will say it will shorten the tube life, but I ran 2 foot tubes on 4 foot gear for years !
yes it does. It will not shorten the life. Its a misconception that everyone seems to believe is real. I run a 36w starter on a 15w tube... well actually two 36w starters on 2 15w tubes.
Think of it this way, most computer power supplies are rated at about 30% more wattage than is actually in use. If it was to output its total capacity, then they'd be a lot of blown up computers. A 15w bulb will only draw 15w of the 36w the unit has to offer. The actual starter bit (which glows when starting up the unit) is the only bit you need to make sure will start a 15W bulb.
Try it out, you can buy a power adapter that you plug any 230 mains supply into it and it will tell you how many watts it'll output. My tank is just over 90watts with everything on. My laptop is only 18 watts when playing call of duty and my desktop pc is 230watts on idle and 390 on load.... makes you wander how much electricity a desktop pc wastes.
Think of it this way, most computer power supplies are rated at about 30% more wattage than is actually in use. If it was to output its total capacity, then they'd be a lot of blown up computers. A 15w bulb will only draw 15w of the 36w the unit has to offer. The actual starter bit (which glows when starting up the unit) is the only bit you need to make sure will start a 15W bulb.
Try it out, you can buy a power adapter that you plug any 230 mains supply into it and it will tell you how many watts it'll output. My tank is just over 90watts with everything on. My laptop is only 18 watts when playing call of duty and my desktop pc is 230watts on idle and 390 on load.... makes you wander how much electricity a desktop pc wastes.
three-fingers
Fish Connoisseur
[URL="http
/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overdriven_fluorescent_light"]http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overdriven_fluorescent_light[/URL]
May be an interesting read
.
There's loads of overdriven light units at my work, and IME those ones seem to blow more more often (which is why I looked up this article in the past), but not often enough to really worry about.
If I were you I would just use the 15w ballast to be safer.
/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overdriven_fluorescent_light"]http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overdriven_fluorescent_light[/URL]May be an interesting read
.There's loads of overdriven light units at my work, and IME those ones seem to blow more more often (which is why I looked up this article in the past), but not often enough to really worry about.
If I were you I would just use the 15w ballast to be safer.
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