250 Watts Radium bulb on LuXcore 250w Selectable Wattage Electronic Ballast?

[Bao]

Hello Everyone,

I was given some 250 watts Radium bulbs and a LuXcore 250w Selectable Wattage Electronic Ballast to try out. Now, There are 2 choices on that ballast, a 250 and a 250 Super Lumens. Which is best to run the Radium bulb? 250 or 250 Super Lumens?

Thanks,
Bao

 

[A. grandis]

Hello Everyone,

I was given some 250 watts Radium bulbs and a LuXcore 250w Selectable Wattage Electronic Ballast to try out. Now, There are 2 choices on that ballast, a 250 and a 250 Super Lumens. Which is best to run the Radium bulb? 250 or 250 Super Lumens?

Thanks,
Bao

250W Super Lumens for a Radium 250W.
What reflector do you have?

 

[Bao]

I have the reef Brite reflector. I switch between the 250 and 250 Super Lumens but honestly to my eyes, I really didn't see any differences at all. I was hoping that it would be brighter and more white when using 250 super Lumens, but it looks exactly the same as before.

So If I were to buy a Hamilton 250 watts bulb ( https://www.marinedepot.com/250-watt-14000k-metal-halide-bulb-hamilton-mogul-base ), then I assume the standard 250 is the right choice for that bulb?

I am hoping to have something a bit brighter than the current Radium bulb. Its so dim. 12 years ago, I ran Phoenix 14000K DE bulbs and I remember it was so bright and with such a good color. I want something like that again. is there any 250 watts mogul base bulbs that would look like the Phoenix 250 watts 14000K Pheonix?

 

[A. grandis]

The Radium is designed to be used with M80 ballasts. Running it with any electronic ballast will give you a more dim/blue look because the wattage from the e-ballast isn't what the manufacturer recommends for the Radium. It works, but as you can tell it will be dimmed.
Radium is a "20K" bulb, but it's kinda white comparing to other "20K" bulbs when using with the M80. If you want to use your electronic ballasts you could get the Hamilton 20K. I also like the Hamilton 14K a lot! I like the majority of halide bulbs, so..
Phoenix 14K is kinda unique on it's pedestal. The amazing 250W 14K Ushio was also a very special bulb IMO. They don't make it anymore.

If you have used and liked the Ushio 250W 14K, you will probably like the Hamilton 14K with electronic too. They are very similar!!

 

[Bpb]

The Hamilton 14k on electronics looks amazing

 

[Staghorn]

You can over drive those lamps. Use the super lumens setting.

 

[Bao]

I did use Super Lumens but it looks exactly the same. Didn’t look any brighter nor whiter at all. Just so dimmed

 

[A. grandis]

The Radium isn't designed to run on e-ballasts.
Get the Hamilton 14K. It's really nice!

 

[jda]

You can run the radium on that ballast but 250w will be 250w and Super Lumens is somewhere around 280w. The HQI that it was made for is around 330w. The lower power will be less output and slightly more blue, but it works. Hamilton 20k was formulated to look a lot like the Radium 20k, only on an 250w electronic ballast - I have one and it looks nice.