Artificial light and direct sunlight (behavior/color change)

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Ed707

Hatchling Member
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Hey tater I joined that group reptile lighting on Facebook and asked about the solarmeter 6.2 and 6.5 ratios and how to calculate it. I got this from one of the members.

"Check the solarmeter ratio (6.2 divided by 6.5) for your two meters for early morning sun and mid day summer sun. You will probably get a ratio of around 60 for the early morning or late afternoon sun, and something around 30 for the mid summer sun. It is important that you check the ratio for your two meters, because it can be different depending on small production tolerances.

fluorescent lamp should have a ratio equal to medium to intensive sunlight (~40 in my example). A metal halide or mercury vapour lamp can have a lower ratio. If a lamp has half the ratio that you get for intensive sunlight, you should become very suspicious and better not use the lamp or check your reptile very frequently for burnings."

So my take on that is if I take my solarmeter 6.2 uvb readings of say example 190 and divide it by my 6.5 readings of say example 5.2 I'd get a ratio I can use to make sure it's not to much light. I'm guessing anything under 25 or 30 is to much
 

Ed707

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Hey guys I got some good news for you! So I recently made a phone call to reptileuv and spoke to Bob Mac. He does have the metal hallide bulbs! Just the bulbs though, he said something about the F.D.A. giving him problems with the ballast, but the bulbs he said are the same bulbs he has been selling in Europe. I ordered 2 of the bulbs off of him but probably won't be installing them until I get my 6.5 meter fixed. I asked him and actually somebody else at a aquarium lighting store about wiring a ballast and it sounds pretty simple and straight forward. I think he said 1 bulb was around 45$, after buying 2 with shipping and handling it came out to 108$. I'll try to explain what they told me about what ballast to buy and how to wire it.

So the first thing I found out is you want the wattage of the ballast to match the wattage of the bulb. Bob's bulbs are 70 watts so you'll want a 70 watt ballast. I almost made a mistake thinking higher wattage would be ok until I read more about wiring them and asked about what wattage to use. A higher wattage ballast will put out higher wattageto the bulb then the bulb has the capacity to handle. It would work but it would make the lifespan of the bulb shorter.

The wiring is pretty simple. I wired all my fixtures and if you guys did then you should be pretty familiar with simple positive and negative wiring (just match the colors, black to black, white to white). The only difference is the outlet to the wall needs to be a polarized (or 3 prong outlet). The wiring to fixture stays the same with just positive and negative. On your ballast the side with 2 wires goes to your fixture and the side with 3 goes to the wall.

Bob told me his bulbs run on 120 volts, but you can buy what's called a multivolt ballast. It's a ballast that can run on 120/240/277 ext ext. I asked the guy at a aquarium lighting store about these. Inquiring wether these automatically switch to the voltage needed or have to be manually switched on the ballast. He said he's seen both, so obviously one that automatically switches to the needed voltage is preferred.

Bob also mentioned something about a respark or restrike ballast. It's pretty much a extra feature, if you lose power to the outlet where the bulbs plugged in it will automatically turn your bulb back on. Without it all you have to do is unplug and plug it back in. So just another luxury feature.

Electronic ballast are the newest kinds of ballast and what I plan to buy. I also see alot of "pulse start" and "probe start" in the comments when I'm looking them up. I was told the pulse start are the newer technology and electronic ballasts should have them.

Lastly the guy at the aquarium lighting mentioned something about matching the color temperature of the bulb with the ballast. I'm waiting back from Bob or waiting for the lights to come in the mail to find out what they are. Theres codes you'll see on metal hallide ballasts that match up to different metal hallide bulbs. I suspect bobs is M98 but going to wait until I get the bulb to be sure. I'll let you guys know when I do.

You can get one of these ballasts for as cheap as 40$-80$, ofc there is more expensive ones but there not really needed.

I also asked bob about supplemental lighting to use with the metal hallide. He suggested that the halogens come on first (like always) then 5000k-6500k flourescents next (as I suspected) and the metal hallide in the middle of the day to simulate bright light.

Hope this helps!
 

Taterbug

BD.org Addict
That's great information. I guys wiring them isn't as intimidating as I've led myself to believe. The high ignition voltage was making me uneasy. Let us know how jt turns out! I'm excited to see the bulbs in action and $80 is much more attractive that 100-200.
 
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